Thousands of students to learn ancient and modern languages

More students across the country will have the opportunity to learn Latin through the new £ 4m program announced today (Saturday, July 31st) by the Secretary of Education.

The Latin Excellence Program aims to raise the bar for students in state secondary schools and to assist them in other subjects such as English, French, Spanish and even mathematics.according to British Council Survey Latin is taught only in major stage 3 in 2.7% of state schools, compared to 49% of independent schools.

The government has also announced the next phase of the £ 16.4 million Mandarin Excellence Program and the fourth year of a £ 4.8 million modern foreign language pilot supporting schools teaching French, German and Spanish up to GCSE. ..

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In addition to learning Latin, the new program announced today includes activities such as visits to Roman heritage to give students a better understanding of life in the classical and ancient worlds.

A group of experts has been appointed to work with schools that offer the best Latin language education in the country to create quality resources for deploying to schools in disadvantaged areas with less subject coverage at the GCSE.

Secretary of Education Gavin Williamson said:

We know that Latin has a reputation as an elitist subject reserved only for a few privileged people. But this subject can bring so much benefit to young people that I would like to put an end to that gap.

There should be no difference in what students learn in public and private schools. That’s why we are constantly focusing on raising school standards and ensuring that all students learn a broad and ambitious curriculum.

Latin can help students learn modern foreign languages ​​and bring a wide range of benefits to other subjects, including math and English.

This initiative aims to increase the entry of GCSE Latin and is modeled on the success of the Mandarin Excellence Program launched in 2016 in response to the growing importance of Mandarin as a global language. The program currently enrolls 75 schools across the country, learning Mandarin so that more than 6,000 students can speak fluently.

To continue the success of the program and reiterate the importance of learning a new language, the Mandarin Program is run by the University College London Institute for Education and the British Council and will be extended for another three years starting in September of this year. ..

Like the Mandarin Program, the Latin Excellence Program is led by the Center of Excellence and works with up to 40 schools to develop teacher training resources and lesson materials for ages 11-16. Once the program is developed, it will support the school for four years from 2022 to 2026 for future assessment.

The Modern Foreign Language Pedagogy Pilot supports 45 schools and provides teachers with free French, German and Spanish educational resources. Launched in December 2018 and managed by the National Center for Language Teaching, the scheme currently covers key Stage 3 and offers a new GCSE for more than 1,350 teachers nationwide. Expanded to major stage 4 including.

Classicist Professor Mary Beard said:

I am absolutely pleased to help DfE support Latin at school and help more students challenge and enjoy learning about the ancient world.

Latin is a very rich subject. It gives you direct access to some of the most inspiring literature in the western world (from the great epic Aeneid of Virgil to the corruption of the power of the historian Tacitus and the criticism of the poet Ovid’s destructive counter-culture. ).

Learning classics opens history to us-some basics, from early dramas whose 2000 is still part of the theatrical repertoire, to democracy to empire, from powerful rulers to slaves. To philosophy.

But it’s not just the past. Studying the ancient world helps us to see ourselves and our own problems with a new and clearer eye.

Jimmy Mulville, Chairman of Classics for All and Managing Director of Hat Trick Productions, said:

This Latin-focused initiative is a good start to its ultimate goal, as any government move to reestablish the education of classical subjects in public schools is welcome.