Education secretary Gavin Williamson has vowed to tackle Latin’s “reputation as an elitist subject” with a new scheme to boost take-up of the subject among disadvantaged pupils.
He unveiled the £4 million “Latin excellence programme” over the weekend, in a move welcomed by classics professor Mary Beard but panned by others.
Here is what you need to know:
What is the Latin excellence programme?
The programme will see a new “centre of excellence” assembled to create new Latin teacher training resources and lesson materials for 11- to 16-year-olds.
The programme will include activities such as visits to Roman heritage sites, to “give pupils a deeper understanding of classic, and life in the ancient world”.
This will be rolled out at “up to 40” schools in disadvantaged areas where take-up of the subject at GCSE is low from 2022 to 2026. This will then be “evaluated for future years”.
To read the article in full you can do so here, on the Schools Week website.