Classical Civilisation and Ancient History in British Secondary Education

ARLENE HOLMES-HENDERSON AND EDITH HALL

Secondary school qualifications in Classical Civilisation and Ancient History offer exciting education in
the worlds of classical antiquity. This unprecedented study describes the historical emergence of these
subjects, explains their contents and the skills and competencies that they confer, with practical advice
on how to introduce them at secondary level.

In the UK A-Levels and GCSEs in Classical Civilisation and Ancient History offer exciting avenues through which to access the cultures of people who spoke ancient Greek and Latin, and their neighbours, across the ancient Mediterranean and Black Sea worlds. They are inherently interdisciplinary, offering an outstanding opportunity to study a civilisation in the round, using diverse sources from literary and philosophical texts to legal documents, inscriptions, art, architecture and archaeology. Yet many people are either unaware of the existence of these courses, or do not understand their contents. This unprecedented study, by two Classics Professors at the University of Durham with extensive experience of teaching in schools and HEIs, charts the subjects’ historical development and emergence in their current form since the mid-20th century, explaining and illustrating their contents. It describes the skills and competencies that they confer, which are valued by university admissions offices and employers alike. It presents the results of interviews with several significant participants in the story of these classical subjects and of questionnaires filled in by many additional teachers and students. It also offers practical advice on how to introduce Classical Civilisation and/or Ancient History at secondary level, with guides to bibliographical and other resources.

The first ever study of Classical Civilisation and
Ancient History qualifications in UK secondary
education.
• Gives both an historical account of the qualifications’
emergence and practical advice for introducing them
in schools.

70 B&W illustrations

264 pages, 234 × 156 mm

• Based on meticulous research in archives and
documents that have never been analysed before.
• Both authors are Professors of Classics at Durham
University with considerable experience of teaching
at all levels in schools and universities, with
interviews by key participants in the evolution of the
qualifications.

Table of Contents