Teaching Classics as a non-specialist Rowlie Darby – Patcham High School, Brighton

Teaching Classics as a non-specialist

Rowlie Darby – Patcham High School, Brighton


Whereas in the latter [primary schools] …classics is part of the compulsory curriculum but [is] taught almost entirely by non-specialists, in [secondary schools]… it has no place in the compulsory curriculum but – in schools where it is offered – is taught mostly by specialists’

(Lister, 2007, p. 89).


In an article that appeared in The Guardian at the beginning of 2008, Chris Arnot reported that although ‘the demand for Latin teachers in schools is going up…the supply is going down’

(Arnot, 2008).


In fact, figures from the CSCP Phase 2 research suggest that seventy two specialist classics teachers will leave the profession per annum over the next five years, in stark contrast to the twenty eight PGCE teachers being provided per annum (CSCP, published Autumn 2008). There are more Latin teachers retiring or leaving each year than there are being trained.


The data from the CSCP survey shows that whilst there has been practically no change in Latin provision amongst state/independent selective schools in England over the last seven years – the provision for Latin in non-selective state schools in England has tripled (CSCP, published Autumn 2008). With just over a thousand secondary schools providing Latin, nearly one half of them are state maintained (CSCP, published Autumn 2008).


So here’s the question: If more schools are offering Latin than any time since the introduction of the National Curriculum twenty years ago and more teachers are leaving than can be replaced – then who’s doing the teaching? Non-specialists, it seems.


One of the CSCP remits in the mid-90s was to develop ‘new ways to make Latin available in schools with no provision for the subject, i.e. the large majority of maintained schools…as a way of supporting pupils in schools with little or no access to a Latin teacher’ (Lister, 2007, p. 89).


Interestingly, Lister reports on one school in London where after five years ‘…the Latin clubs are still run in Key Stage 3, and at Key Stage 4 Latin can be studied via video conference teaching by those wishing to take the subject to GCSE’ (Lister, 2007, p. 102). This implies that students working at examination level, beyond KS 3, need some sort of specialist input.


This got me thinking. With so much support from the CSCP what is stopping the many non-specialist Latin teachers continuing from KS3 to GCSE and beyond?


CSCP report that many schools are happy to provide courses of one or two years, seeing that as an adequate education of Latin for their students.


The majority of non-specialist Latin teachers trained in some form of languages.

67% were either qualified to teach English or MFL. Of those, nearly two thirds were MFL – indicating the transferable skills which could be used in both modern languages and Latin. One or two of the teachers mentioned the language skills that they can bring to their teaching and how they can ‘draw comparisons between Latin and the languages students study’.


There was an equal spread over how long the non-specialists had experience teaching Latin.

This suggests that there is a consistency to teachers, and schools, wishing to offer Latin. There is no ‘blip’ of popularity – the numbers seem fairly steady between teachers just starting to offer Latin (30%) through to those who have offered the subject for more than 3 years (25%). If anything, there is a slight increase of provision of Latin amongst non-specialists. Or, a drop off of existing teachers.


An interesting area was how qualified the non-specialists were, or thought they were.

This is interesting as it raises the question how do you define a non-specialist? Is it a teacher who is new to a subject and is learning from scratch? Can it be a teacher who has studied the subject to a particular level – albeit some time ago? Of the 21 teachers who replied 14 stated that they’d studied at either O Level/GCSE level or A Level. That’s 67% - two thirds. A number of teachers were self-critical that these qualifications counted and wrote ‘none except O level or GCSE’ on their questionnaires.


Tellingly, the majority of the teachers taught at KS3 – 60.4% which backs up the ideas that there is a dearth of provision at KS4. Having said that, the questionnaire revealed that although there was a larger percentage than anticipated teaching KS4 – 39.6%. But not necessarily to GCSE.


Bearing in mind the current issue of lack of provision at KS4, it was worrying that over half the teachers (57%) had no intention of teaching Latin to GCSE. 28.6% already taught Latin to GCSE, with the remainder (12.5%) intending to. This suggests that of the provision happening at KS3 less than half the students of those teachers will be able to access Latin at GCSE. Comments from those teachers who didn’t offer Latin to GCSE ranged from issues about lack of time ‘…it would be unrealistic to expect to get to GCSE level with only an hour lesson a week’ to a lack of confidence in their new subject; ‘… [I] need to improve my Latin first’ and ‘I feel insufficiently qualified to teach it beyond beginners’ level’.


Teachers who already taught to GCSE had fairly positive comments. One commented that they ‘enjoy it’ but with the reservation that ‘it is a struggle to complete the course in 2 years’. Again – the time issue. Another teacher ‘felt that …[they] had to go through the process that the students went through’ and sat the GCSE with their students. One non-specialist had ‘the usual worries about getting to the right standard and teaching the right techniques’


Both Oxford and Cambridge Universities are looking to offer support for non-specialist teachers of Latin – albeit in slightly different ways. CSCP is ‘launching a new initiative to encourage local links between specialist and non-specialist Latin teachers’ (CSCP e-mail, 2008) whilst the Oxford Classics Outreach, after many months of running study and revision days, are thinking about ‘a special GCSE Latin training day at the Oxford Classics Centre, specifically for non-specialist teachers wishing to/thinking about taking on teaching Latin GCSE’ (Oxford Classics Outreach e-mail, 2008). Both initiatives aim to increase support in the critical transition from KS3 into KS4.


The key observations in regard to non-specialist Latin teachers were:



A variable perception of the level of

support being received



A willingness for a third of non-

specialists to teach Latin without any prior knowledge



A limited amount of time available to

teach Latin. Most non-specialists provide Latin off the timetable



The unwillingness of two thirds of non-

specialists to continue to teach to GCSE, revealing a possible gap in the provision of Latin in state-maintained schools



The unwillingness of two thirds of non-

specialists to continue to teach to GCSE, revealing a possible gap in the provision of Latin in state-maintained schools


The next logical step would be to investigate, with the support of all the relevant agencies involved, how non-specialist Latin teachers might be best supported to provide the subject post KS3 to examination level. It seems unfair that a significant number of students who have had a positive introduction to Latin prior to KS4 are often unable to access the subject to GCSE and beyond.


IF YOU THINK YOU CAN


IF YOU THINK YOU CANor think you can’t


IF YOU THINK YOU CANor think you can’t

YOU’RE RIGHT.

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Teaching Classics as a non-specialist Rowlie Darby – Patcham High School, Brighton