Classical Studies - the Cinderella of Classics Education

After another delve into the ART archives, I found this article in Latin teaching XXXVI No. 3 (1983) by Ken Dowden, then of University College, Cardiff. He is now Emeritus Professor of Classics at the University of Birmingham. Teachers may know his book Religion and the Romans, published by Bristol Classical Press in 1992.

My PGCE Latin with Classics students at the Cast Gallery, Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge (October 2025).

In 1983 Ken makes a number of important points – some of which have yet to be resolved today. My comments, as always, below.

But Who Will Teach the Teachers?

The Future for Classics Teacher Training in England and Wales.

What is the difference between Classics and Sanskrit? Classics, though considered since the 1920’s to be ‘in decline’ (has any decline being so long?), is taught in schools and at least in the form of Latin and Classical Studies is a familiar part of the curriculum. Sanskrit, though doubtless a worthy subject, is a specialism hard to find even in the university system. Yet it is possible that a few more years’ ‘decline’ might finally produce the ‘fall’, that Classics might sink irretrievably into the condition of Sanskrit? However much one may perceive the value of the study of the roots of European civilisation (as instanced in the irregular perfects of the 3rd conjugation), it is difficult in the age in which we live to put our hands on our hearts and pronounce such a fall to be out of the question.

At one time our greatest ally was inertia and conservatism (which is enormous) in the educational system. It still has its place: perhaps this is most clearly visible when schools are seen to gain prestige from having Latin on the syllabus, but not so much from offering Classical Studies. But resting on such dubious levels is clearly unsatisfactory: there are too many battles to be fought. Most difficult is the battle against the Spirit of the Times. Economic recession, technological revolution and a desperate need to revitalise British industry have led to review of education that values liberal studies less highly.  Recent cuts in university funding administered by the University Grants Committee have been weighted against arts and notably hit sociology and drama, pet subjects of the liberal ‘60s. Lack of schoolteachers is noticed in Physics and Mathematics, but is a necessary economy in many other, more liberal, subjects. Nevertheless, unless a government succeeds in a revolutionary review of the School Curriculum in accordance with current prejudices, the Spirit of the Times may remain a containable disease. Until such a time the battle is a local one, to be fought in individual schools.

Readers will need no reminding of the importance of headmasters, notably in the large compensative schools, in determining whether any Latin or Classical Studies will be taught, nor of the importance of winning the hearts and minds of pupils, either through new courses (the Cambridge Latin Course has been such a help here) or - more important - through the character and ability of the teacher. The teacher is perhaps more important in Classics than in other subjects because so often he/she is a one man band. This comes to the surface when it is found that there are not enough hours in the week to teach Classical Studies also. But at no time is it more evident than when the teacher moves or retires: every time there is a change of staff the subject is at risk itself. One way readers will readily appreciate: if the outgoing teacher has, for whatever reason, failed to deliver adequately numerous, engaged or successful pupils, a headmaster seeking economies in his/her establishment knows where to wield the axe. Another way in which the subject can be at risk as one teacher departs is rather less obvious, but even more devastating. What if the post is indeed advertised, but there are no applicants? 

This you may think of unlikely event, but in fact it seems to have happened in a number of cases in recent years, although precise details are hard to establish. (Can it be, for instance, that most of these advertised posts were in some way deeply unattractive, for instance geographically?) But there is another way lying between these anecdotal cases. Given that a Postgraduate Certificate in Education is necessary to teach in state schools and advisable for those who wish to teach in the private sector, we can rephrase the problem: are enough people being trained to supply the number of posts that are normally advertised? There are, naturally, all sorts of difficulties in deciding precisely how many of the posts advertised would go to those entering the profession for the first time, but a study of the situation by Pat Story, the Classics specialist at the Cambridge University Department of Education, shows that we seem to need something over 70 new entrants to the profession each year. Even so, this may seriously underestimate the numbers is required, as so many jobs in this age of economies and redeployment are advertised only locally. In any case, whatever the precise number, it is certainly a very considerable one and we may well wonder whether so many new teachers can be supplied. A look at the suppliers does not encourage confidence that it can.

In 1972 there were 21 University Departments of Education (UDE’s) where a Classics specialist was training graduates for teaching. At present (1982/83) there are 11 such UDE’s. By about 1985, if not sooner, there will only be 7, not all of which unnecessarily secure long-term prospects: they are Cambridge, Cardiff, Durham, London (King’s College), London (St. Mary’s College, Twickenham), London (Institute of Education), Nottingham. This rapid declined in numbers has not been a result of any policy, but rather of accident: UDE specialists, like many teachers of Classics in the Schools, are one man bands; many of them have lately reached retirement; the numbers of Classics trainees are then thought in individual institutions not to merit replacement. The reader will by now have reached for the pocket calculator and established that each of 7 surviving UDE’s must take around 10 trainees. If only it were that simple! First of all, we cannot be sure that all 7 UDE specialists will continue: if only 5 survive, we are talking about 14 trainees for each specialist. Secondly, at least at present, as there is a government cut back in the number of those entering the teaching profession, each UDE has a ‘language’ quota which it may not exceed, which however is not broken down into various individual subjects by central authority: there is therefore a very real danger that the sum of locally determined Classics quotas may not add up nationally to the number of teachers required and in fact at present only the Cambridge quota is in double figures. Thirdly, there is the question of geographical distribution. It is not just that it is unsatisfactory for Classics teacher training to be unavailable in areas of the country. Nor is it just that the UDE specialist has an enormous potential for advice, help and co-operation with teachers in schools in the area. Rather, there is a quite straightforward practical question: each trainee needs a school in which to do his/her teaching practice and a given area can only supply so many school teaching Classics, which limits in effect the number of trainees which each specialist at the UDE can take.

University Teacher Training providers for the Classics PGCE in 1985.

What, then, is being done? It is a question of who should approach whom. The UDE specialists are clearly at the heart of this affair. The Council of University Classics Departments (CUCD) which represents all British university lecturers in Classics, and for which I myself conducted a survey which underlies the previous paragraph, has maintained the closest links with the specialists and agreed with them at its conference in January 1983 the need for urgent action. J.A.C.T. too, and the Classical Association have been keen to join in this action. A target for this four-pronged attack was identified, the body that has most influence over the resources and quotas of UDE’s, the University Grants Committee (UGC) - in particular, its Education sub-committee. Hopefully, it may then be become possible to stabilise the number of UDE’s with Classics specialists at 7 and to safeguard the quotas for these 7 in such way that they reach an adequate national total.

It is not easy to know how positively the cautious UCG will feel itself able to act. But even if you can go some way to solving this problem for us, many other problems will remain. One, for instance, which troubles me and others I know, is the position of teacher training in Classical Studies. Although this approach to our subject has been something of a growth area in the schools, graduates in Classical Studies (CS) seem almost to be excluded from teaching it. The UDE specialists are reluctant to admit CS students to their courses, because, they claim, the jobs that are advertised are rarely specifically for CS. Even students who have completed joint courses in CS and, say, English are met by the claim that no such combinations of specialisms are required by the schools in their advertisements; though in fact in any case the introduction of quotas seems seriously to have increased an existing privileged possession of single-subject students for entry to teacher training courses. Who, then, is teaching CS in the school? The Latin teacher, maybe on the basis of a certain element in his/her training course, suddenly takes on the whole ancient world - or, much worse, the History teacher or the French teacher does. Vix satis.

Ken Dowden, University College, Cardiff.

My thoughts:

Most difficult is the battle against the Spirit of the Times. Economic recession, technological revolution and a desperate need to revitalise British industry have led to review of education that values liberal studies less highly.  Recent cuts in university funding administered by the University Grants Committee have been weighted against arts and notably hit sociology and drama, pet subjects of the liberal ‘60s. The early years of the Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher were not easy for the British economy – unemployment reached a million and the monetarist policies adopted meant the devastation of many traditional manufacturing industries in the UK. In 1983, I was taking my A levels (Latin, Greek and Ancient History) and awaiting permission to take up my place at King’s College London. In my travels around the UK (for we had to go for interviews at all the universities to which we had applied), the state of the country, I noted, was at a distinctly low ebb. My father, or example, had been made redundant from British Aerospace. There were few jobs for a mature man to go for in Coventry, whose motor industry had collapsed. The universities too had had their grants cut and the impact of that on courses and staff was being keenly felt. This might seem horribly resonant today, with the closure or threat of closure of courses in many universities today. Revitalisation of the economy in the 1980s was a priority, much like today, and subjects like Classics were felt to be unaffordable luxuries. How to survive the cuts...

Nevertheless, unless a government succeeds in a revolutionary review of the School Curriculum in accordance with current prejudices, the Spirit of the Times may remain a containable disease. Until such a time the battle is a local one, to be fought in individual schools. Writing in 1983, Dowden could not have foreseen the development and implementation of the National Curriculum in 1988, which cast Classics into the wilderness. Not quite destroying it, but making it very difficult to deliver in all but the most well-endowed schools and those where it was well-established. Provision was further damaged because of changes to the funding mechanism for state schools, where money followed the pupil: it was said (by the political Right) that good schools would attract more pupils, and poor schools would lose them – a kind of marketisation of education that they admired and which was the system the private schools ran under. But the theory ran up against the reality in most of the country where there were only one or two schools per district: that pupils need to be educated in schools where they live and not all schools have space to expand. Nevertheless the funding policy meant that every penny was counted, and few pennies were to be allocated to non-National Curriculum subjects.  Dowden’s assertion that the impact of the Spirit of the Times was containable sadly turned out to be something of a national rather than a local characteristic as far as Classics Education was concerned.

The teacher is perhaps more important in Classics than in other subjects because so often he/she is a one man band. […] But at no time is it more evident than when the teacher moves or retires: every time there is a change of staff the subject is at risk itself. The problem of supporting Classics Education is well-described here, where the staffing is on the lowest side possible. How easy to lose something which has barely a toehold? A number of schools I know have been and are in this position. It takes a real effort on the part of the Senior Management to keep the subject going – and through maternity cover too, when that arises. Sadly, several schools I know of have lost their Classics in these ways, sometimes temporarily, mostly for ever.

In 1972 there were 21 University Departments of Education (UDE’s) where a Classics specialist was training graduates for teaching. At present (1982/83) there are 11 such UDE’s. By about 1985, if not sooner, there will only be 7, not all of which unnecessarily secure long-term prospects: they are Cambridge, Cardiff, Durham, London (King’s College), London (St. Mary’s College, Twickenham), London (Institute of Education), Nottingham. This rapid declined in numbers has not been a result of any policy, but rather of accident: UDE specialists, like many teachers of Classics in the Schools, are one man bands; many of them have lately reached retirement; the numbers of Classics trainees are then thought in individual institutions not to merit replacement. In 2025 we have 3 full PGCE courses operating at HEI level: Cambridge (which I direct), King’s College London and Liverpool Hope University. Other routes into teaching have been devised over the years (anyone remember Troops to Teachers?), such as School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITTs) and assessment-only routes (some online). Regular SCITTs for Classics have been King Edward’s Consortium (based in Birmingham) and Future Academies (based in London). Between us all, we can muster around 70 teachers a year – better than Dowden was fearing, but still prone to the vagaries of the system. The majority come from London and the South East – there is a distinct lack of provision in the North (well done to Liverpool!).

University Teacher Training providers for the Classics PGCE in 2025

Nor is it just that the UDE specialist has an enormous potential for advice, help and co-operation with teachers in schools in the area. Rather, there is a quite straightforward practical question: each trainee needs a school in which to do his/her teaching practice and a given area can only supply so many school teaching Classics, which limits in effect the number of trainees which each specialist at the UDE can take. This is still the case: the PGCE providers can only work if they have sufficient school placements (two these days, compared with the one only needed in 1983). This is why the successful Classics PGCE in Sussex closed last year, and why the Durham PGCE, I think, has closed temporarily: finding places is really hard, even for established providers like Cambridge and Kings’ College.

One [problem], for instance, which troubles me and others I know, is the position of teacher training in Classical Studies. Although this approach to our subject has been something of a growth area in the schools, graduates in Classical Studies (CS) seem almost to be excluded from teaching it. The UDE specialists are reluctant to admit CS students to their courses, because, they claim, the jobs that are advertised are rarely specifically for CS. This is still the case today, and it's a sad reflection on the part of ministers of education for the last umpteen years to ignore it. Apart from the reluctance of the PGCEs to take students without Latin (for, as Dowden says, most of the schools where Classics is taught expects the teacher to have Latin), there is policy bias too: no bursaries are offered for the PGCE in Classics (which the Department for Education seems to think of as non-linguistic Classical Studies), but at present it does offer financial support for those taking Latin (or Ancient Greek) PGCEs. That’s why we all in the HEI sector have rebranded our courses as ‘Latin with Classics’ in order to convey the fact that our focus is on the language.

We know that there are far more pupils taking A levels in Classical Civilisation and Ancient History – almost four times as many as take Latin and Classical Greek combined. But they would get nothing. In Dowden’s day, there were no fees for initial teacher training; now the fee matches the undergraduate fee of around £9,500, for domestic students. The international fee is higher still. The current (2025-6) PGCE in Latin with Classics attracts a tax-free bursary of £26,000, reducing to £20,000 in 2026-7. There is also access to means-tested maintenance grants. But to the point: Classical Studies would get nothing – even though the universities produce more BAs in Classical Studies and its relatives than ever before and the subjects are on the rise at A level and very healthy too at GCSE. It’s simple: the Government doesn’t want them. Why? Maybe that’s for another blog.