If you believe the mythology, Hannibal, while crossing the Alps with several pachyderms, came to a blockage. Unable to continue, he said, “I shall either find a way, or make one.” In Latin, apparently. In the absence of a clear road, a more creative approach was needed.
It was in this spirit that Dr Henry Stead (of the University of St Andrews) and I (at Monifieth High School, in Angus) initiated a new project - the St Andrews Latin Outreach Scheme (Stalos) - to introduce more state-school pupils to the language of the ancient Romans.
Last year, instructors from St Andrews travelled to Monifieth in Angus once per week, where a lunchtime group of 20 enthusiastic S4-6 pupils were guided through sections of the Cambridge Latin Course over nine weeks. The class then went to the university for an end-of-course certificate presentation event. This opportunity came without the obligation of the full course - they could try an ancient language out to see if it was for them, an opportunity they would otherwise be denied.
The wider impact of the scheme has been remarkable in showing an appetite for Latin in our school. It has provided an opportunity for pupils to visit and experience the University of St Andrews and - crucially - made a case for Latin as an examination subject for us.
Feedback from pupils (and delighted parents) was unanimously positive.
In short, Stalos is much needed. No state schools in Tayside (three entire local authorities) offer Higher Latin. State-school pupils wishing to study ancient languages simply can’t.
Last session, 85 state-school pupils in the entirety of Scotland sat Higher Latin. At National 5, the number rises to a still-meagre 95.
In the private sector, Latin is in better health, and Dr Stead explained that Stalos “has the added benefit of challenging several unhelpful stereotypes about classical studies, and Latin in particular. This is a language that can unlock our shared cultural inheritance, and should not become the possession only of a small segment of British society”.
With a shortage of Latin teachers in the state sector, the number of pupils taking Latin has remained low for years, but this isn’t helped when the usual route to training in Classics to Scotland’s professional graduate diploma in education (PGDE) postgraduate level is closed in Scotland.
Scotland is, as things stand, producing no new Latin or classical studies teachers.
Indeed, Dr Stead explained that Stalos “provided postgraduate tutors with valuable experience in teaching Latin ab initio, which allows them to see if they would like to become schoolteachers when they graduate from their PhDs”.
In 2023-24, Stalos will again run at Monifieth High, but also at a second school (Grove Academy in Dundee). We hope that the following year another Tayside school will take up the offer, and another the year after, and so on.
Obviously, Latin is hugely beneficial for the study of Classics, but also for medicine, law, literature and countless other subjects. Some of our pupils were surprised, however, to discover they enjoyed Latin just for its own sake, not merely for the benefit of their CV.
The programme also gave our senior leadership team the chance to gauge the appetite and practicalities of running a course of Latin as part of the syllabus - a concrete result of the scheme being that Monifieth High will introduce a full National 5 Latin class in exam session 2023-24.
Without a PGDE programme, though, most Scottish state schools will have to make Latin work with the teachers they have, and this will mean - at least in the immediate short term - supporting Latin non-specialists to offer the classes. Stalos, or schemes like it, could be the way to gradually bring Catullus and Ovid back to our classrooms.
The future for Latin may be uncertain, but with schemes like Stalos, we may just be on the right path.
George Connor is a classical studies and English teacher at Monifieth High School in Angus, Scotland. He tweets @MisterConnor1 and @MHS_Classics
