̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Frances Foster

Students taking GCSE Ancient History worry they appear ‘elitist’ to friends and family

tdk25 — Fri, 04 Mar 2022 12:30:35 +0000

Their perspectives are documented in a newly-published study, which argues that Ancient History’s position as a minority subject in the curriculum is reinforcing its image as the preserve of a privileged elite. Since 2009, any school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has had the option to offer Ancient History GCSE, but very few do so. Fewer than 1,000 candidates (about 0.1%) sit the exam every year, and only a fraction are from state schools.

̽��ֱ��study, by academics at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, surveyed students at three state-funded comprehensive schools which do teach the subject. All of the students said they felt stigmatised by their peers for taking Ancient History, and that it was generally perceived as 'posh', 'academic', 'boring', 'elitist' and 'snobby'. Some said these views were shared by members of their own family.

̽��ֱ��researchers argue that making Ancient History more widely available in schools would resolve this image problem. There is also some evidence that it might even be a popular move. Despite their concerns, students who took the subject also said they found it interesting and rewarding. Many were particularly interested in the stranger and more distant aspects of the ancient world.

Dr Frances Foster, from the Faculty of Education, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “These were three very different schools, in very different communities and with varying levels of deprivation, but every single student we spoke to had experienced resistance to the idea of studying Ancient History from relatives or friends.”

“ ̽��ֱ��message we got was generally: ‘This is really cool stuff, but it’s not meant for people like us.’ Once they stepped outside the classroom, they were uncomfortable even disclosing that they did Ancient History because they were worried about being seen as different, or about people assuming they went to a posh school. We ought to be emphasising that they have a right to study this subject just as much as anyone.”

̽��ֱ��students were asked to answer a questionnaire about their background and any opportunities they had to learn about Ancient History outside school (for example by visiting museums). They then took part in a series of semi-structured interviews and focus groups, which explored their feelings about the subject.

Their comments disclosed widespread discomfort with being given what they knew was unequal access to a subject associated with social privilege. In many cases, either the students, or their relatives and peers, appeared to view Ancient History as both ‘very academic’ and ‘prestigious’ specifically because so few people study it.

One interviewee told the researchers: “People perceive it as posh because it’s not common… a lot of private schools have the option of taking it but I don’t know any other school in this area that has Latin or Ancient History.” Another said: “It’s perceived as quite an intelligent subject because a lot of schools don’t offer it. When you say, ‘I do Ancient History’, people kind of judge you and think, oh, you must go to a posh school.”

Many students were aware that this was a misconception, but they consistently felt that by taking the subject they had nonetheless been branded 'clever', 'upper-class' or even 'unlucky' by their peers.

Despite this, many also expressed considerable interest in various source materials, the age of the subject matter, and the sophistication of the ancient world. ̽��ֱ��study also explores cases such as that of a girl from a Middle Eastern family who explained how she had been able to feel more connected to her own heritage through learning about the Persian Empire. Two other students spoke enthusiastically about how the ancient world had inspired Winston Churchill during his own political career.

“They were really interested that texts which had survived for two millennia might still be useful to governments in another time and country,” Foster said. “Part of Ancient History’s attraction for students seems to be that the stories and objects they are studying were features of people’s lives 2,000 years ago, but have come down to us. Another part is the very different nature of societies in the ancient world – the fact that so much of it is just plain weird.”

All the students said they would feel more comfortable taking Ancient History if it was more widely available. As the study’s authors note, several organisations – including the Classical Association, Classics for All, and the ̽��ֱ��’s own Cambridge Schools Classics Project – have actively campaigned for some time to increase access to Ancient History partly because of concerns about its marginal status.

Their report also points out that, because the GCSE course does not require knowledge of ancient languages, it can be delivered by History teachers even in schools which do not teach Classics.

“At the moment young people’s access to the ancient world is defined largely by chance – whether or not their school happens to offer it,” Foster said. “As long as that remains the case, students will be told it’s not for them, it’s not going to get them a job, and they would be better off doing something else. Ancient History was put on the GCSE curriculum to make it more accessible. If we value that principle, we should be worried that so many of the students who actually get to study it feel so uncomfortable about the idea.”

̽��ֱ��study is published open access in ̽��ֱ��Curriculum Journal.

̽��ֱ��tiny minority of state-educated students who take Ancient History at GCSE worry that the subject’s exclusive reputation will brand them ‘elitist’ in the eyes of friends and relatives, research suggests.

̽��ֱ��message we got was generally: ‘This is really cool stuff, but it’s not meant for people like us’

Frances Foster

Portrait of Sappho

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Virgil has the edge on Shakespeare in helping students to love literature

tdk25 — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 13:02:25 +0000

̽��ֱ��finding comes from a limited study with three groups of 15 and 16-year-old state school students taking Latin GCSE, and raises the possibility that there may be a case for expanding ancient literature’s use in the wider curriculum.

Almost all students involved in the study claimed they enjoyed aspects of Virgil’s epic – especially the fast-paced action and mythological themes – even though they had mixed feelings about the other poetry they studied at school.

Ironically, students taking Latin GCSE only ever read about 100 lines of the Aeneid’s 12 books, and the study suggests that despite their enthusiasm most will probably emerge with a “distorted” view of it. ̽��ֱ��students surveyed were, for example, only reading extracts from Book Nine, in which Aeneas, the eponymous hero, never actually appears.

̽��ֱ��research is reported in a newly-published collection of essays, ̽��ֱ��Aeneid and the Modern World. It was undertaken by Dr Frances Foster, from the Faculty of Education, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, whose work explores how young people perceive the ancient world and its literature.

“If you’re a 15-year-old studying the Aeneid, what you’re actually studying is a tiny segment of one book,” Foster said. “It’s rather like watching part of an episode in a television series without ever seeing the rest.”

“If we can establish that other students enjoy it as much as this research group did, it might be worth exploring whether literature from the ancient world can be made more widely available, not least to the majority of children who never learn Latin.”

About 12,000 students in England take an ancient language to GCSE, mostly at selective or independent schools. Those taking Latin (the majority) have an option to study extracts from one book of the Aeneid.

By contrast, English Literature is usually mandatory up to age 16, and covers texts which are variously branded ‘heritage’, ‘high-quality’, ‘challenging’ or ‘prestige’ – such as the works of Shakespeare. Other studies show that many students experience fear, embarrassment and low confidence when studying these, and that some leave school unenthusiastic about literature in general as a result.

Foster’s research sought to explore how students relate to the Aeneid, which is similarly seen as a ‘prestige’ text, given that they only study a decontextualised extract from it.

After establishing from a survey of Latin teachers and an exam board that most teachers do choose the Virgil option, she then undertook a close analysis of three GCSE Latin groups at state comprehensive schools. Students completed a questionnaire which asked them which aspects of the Aeneid they enjoyed, if any; what they found challenging; and their views on poetry in general. Foster also interviewed their teachers, and observed lessons.

Surprisingly, all but one student claimed to enjoy at least something about the Aeneid, even though just 39% said they enjoyed studying poetry in English lessons, while most were ambivalent and 16% actively disliked it.

Their favourite aspects included the fast-moving narrative, graphic and often violent plotlines and – for 84% – “learning about mythology”; a slightly odd result given that Book Nine is notably short of mythological features.

“Other research also suggests younger readers can’t get enough of mythology,” Foster explained. “ ̽��ֱ��appeal seems to be the combination of monsters, weird fantasy stuff, and action – basically what you would find in a lot of computer games. What they seemed to like was the idea that the Aeneid is a mythological text. Their teachers had introduced it on these terms, so that was how they perceived it.”

Foster speculates that another, related reason for the Aeneid’s appeal may be that reading Roman literature often involves an immediate ‘payoff’. “Because a lot happens in the story, you get a lot of reward for struggling through it, even though the Latin is difficult,” she said. “Compare that with some English novelists, where you might slave over pages in which very little seems to happen.”

̽��ֱ��study suggests there is a disjuncture between why teachers opt to cover the Aeneid and what students gain from it. While teachers saw it as ‘cultural capital’, Foster argues that students who only read small fragments of the poem are likely, at most, to come away knowing part of the plot, some characters, and that the Aeneid is a famous Roman poem. “What makes it distinctive – even pre-eminent – among ancient texts is potentially being lost on many of the next generation,” she writes.

Teachers also reported successful lessons which connected the Aeneid to other subjects. One, for example, helped his class to understand the use of emotive description in a passage describing the death of a key character by comparing it to the work of First World War poets, as well as the final scenes of Blackadder Goes Forth. He reported that some students were moved to tears during the lesson.

Foster argues that although students only have a limited, bite-sized encounter with Roman literature through Latin GCSE, the evidence indicates that they still show signs of forming “a connection with it”.

“Obviously most children never get the chance to read it at all and there are real constraints on what schools can do to change that,” she said. “There might just be ways, though, in which translations could be introduced into English, Drama, and other subjects. Ultimately, if this is high-level poetry that students actually like, perhaps we ought to be finding ways to give them the chance to do it.”

̽��ֱ��Aeneid and the Modern World is published by Routledge.

Students who study Virgil’s Aeneid at school find it significantly more engaging than other ‘high-prestige’ literature, even though they only learn tiny fragments of the text, research suggests.

Ultimately, if this is high-level poetry that students actually like, perhaps we ought to be finding ways to give them the chance to do it

Frances Foster

Painting by Luca Giordano

Aeneas defeats Turnus in the climactic Book 12 of the Aeneid.

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