Exploring AI in the Classics Classroom: A Day with PGCE Trainees at Senate House, University of London

On Monday 16 February, PGCE Classics students from Cambridge, Liverpool Hope and King’s College London gathered at London’s Senate House for a full day dedicated to one of the most pressing questions in education today: how should we use artificial intelligence in the Classics classroom? As always, the day was expertly hosted by Grainne Cassidy, Education officer at the Classical Association Teaching Board, who has been instrumental in shaping these cross‑institution training events.

PGCE Classics students from the University of Cambridge, Liverpool Hope University and King's College London gathered on the steps of Senate House

Teaching Classics in Wales: Eleanor Jenkins' Perspective

The main sessions were delivered by Eleanor Jenkins of Howell’s School, Cardiff, who has spent a decade teaching Latin and Classical Civilisation. I had a quick chat with Ellie before the start of the conference. She told me that her route into Classics teaching was anything but linear: she began as a part‑time physics teacher, covering lessons for an absent colleague, before gradually becoming the school’s full‑time Classics specialist. Her story is a reminder of how often Classics thrives because of an individual teachers’ passion and adaptability.

Ellie also offered a candid look at the challenges of teaching Classics in Wales. The Welsh Government’s two‑language policy can make it difficult for state schools to introduce Latin. While independent schools like Ellie’s do not have to abide by the same rules, it can still be a challenge to offer Latin (as Danny Pucknell has noted in his recent chapter on Wales in Teaching Classics Worldwide (Hunt & Bulwer, 2025)) because of the demands of an over-filled curriculum. Ellie’s school is one of the few in Wales which offers Latin at all. Despite these structural barriers, Ellie has built a vibrant programme, and she shared several examples of thoughtful and creative practice.

After an overview of the ethical issues surrounding the use of AI more generally, Ellie focused on AI apps in the classroom and the thorny issue of child protection. Some of the AI apps are fine for use in the classroom – others less so. Schools have to make some difficult decisions which AI apps are allowable and under what circumstances. There is still some difference of approaches here and in an ever-developing field, it is easy to get lost in the details.

Eleanor Jenkins presenting on AI

She also showed us the potential for AI to hallucinate and to get the grammar wrong. Some of this is down to under-developed prompting (‘vibe prompting’); some is due to AI being insufficiently trained on materials for ancient languages. The take away from this session was that teachers needed to be fully aware of the potential but also the inadequacy of AI with ancient languages.

Learning in the Galleries: AI and the British Museum

Sorting out the pros and cons of a school trip

Midway through the day, we walked to the British Museum for a practical session on planning and leading school trips. We were guided by Susan Kent, Learning Manager: Schools and Family Programmes, and Katharine Hoare, Schools and Young Audiences Learning Manager, who took us through the kinds of considerations that often go unspoken: risk assessment, purposeful object selection, and the social dynamics of looking at artefacts together.

Ellie also set the PGCE students an activity in the galleries, exploring how AI‑generated labels might make objects more accessible to students. This dovetails intriguingly with current work on how Classics, museums and AI are beginning to intersect in genuinely productive ways.

From ‘Vibe Prompting’ to Structured Scaffolds

Back at Senate House, we shifted to hands‑on work with AI tools. A key theme was the move from ‘vibe prompting’ - vague or open‑ended requests - towards more structured and scaffolded prompts that channel AI into producing useful, accurate and pedagogically sound responses.

One of the ongoing tensions in teacher training is the distinction between asking AI to do the work (‘cognitive offloading’) and asking AI to support the work (‘assistive technology’). If we fail to articulate this difference, we risk falling into unhelpful thinking AI as a threat or as a miracle. Instead, we need to frame AI as assistive - something that can enhance learning when used deliberately, critically and, most importantly, transparently.

We also hope to continue this conversation at a future Classics and AI conference in Cambridge in October 2026, once dates and venues are confirmed. Watch this space!

AI in Antiquity: Virtual Reality and the Oracle

Chris Bevan demonstrates the AI in Antiquity app

The final session of the day came from Professor Esther Eidinow and Chris Bevan, who presented the University of Bristol’s Virtual Reality Oracle (VRO) and the accompanying AI in Antiquity project. The VRO includes a virtual‑reality reconstruction of an ancient oracle. Trainees can explore it on a phone, tablet or computer screen - VR goggles are optional but offer the most immersive experience. This kind of digital environment opens up new possibilities for experiential learning, especially for students who may never have the chance to visit archaeological sites in person. The AI in Antiquity project is in its infancy. It is particularly exciting for teachers: it blends large language models with interactive ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ branching narratives to create an AI chatbot that answers students’ questions about the ancient world. The chatbot is one of the characters from the VRO who is seeking an answer from the oracle at Dodona about something very important to him. His story is based on Lysias and is thus grounded in an historically accurate situation.

Looking Ahead

The day at Senate House was a reminder of how quickly AI is reshaping the educational landscape and how Classics teachers are already finding thoughtful, critical and creative ways to respond. Whether through museum‑based activities, scaffolded prompting or immersive VR experiences, AI is becoming part of the toolkit for making the ancient world accessible to today’s learners.