The Project

Classics in Communities promotes and encourages the teaching of Latin and Ancient Greek at primary and early secondary level in UK state schools. We bring together primary, secondary, and HE level teachers; helping to create and develop sustainable networks of educators committed to sharing their knowledge and expertise.

The project is founded on two key principles: training and research. We provide schools and teachers ('non-specialists' in particular) with information and guidance about teaching approaches and methods, classroom resources, and support to help introduce the teaching of Latin and/or Ancient Greek in their schools. In partnership with universities around the UK, we run training days for primary teachers, during which we cover the basics of Latin and Greek and consider how these ancient languages can be taught successfully as part of the twenty-first century languages curriculum.

Alongside this teacher training, we have been conducting a research study to investigate the impact that learning classical languages has on children's cognitive development. This study began in 2015 and the first phase of data collection will conclude in 2019 after which a period of analysis will follow before preparation for publication in 2022.