Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2012

Classical to contemporary: New lessons in Latin

Planning for a new Year 7 curriculum at Brisbane Girls Grammar is an exciting prospect. With the School’s history sited firmly in a grammar model extending back centuries, it was timely to reflect on the value to our current thinking of the School’s foundational touchstones. One of these was a firm commitment to the classics—and in particular a continuous history of teaching Latin. Today, Brisbane Girls Grammar is one of a very few secondary-only girls’ schools in Queensland, and is the only girls’ school with courses in Latin available from Year 8 to Year 12. In Neville Morley’s preface to Antiquity and Modernity (2009), he observes that aspects of classical antiquity can be interpreted as modern because of their resemblance to contemporary experience. This is illustrated many times over through literature, art and philosophy where reference to classical ideals forms a foundation for interpreting the human condition. The classical philosophers believed the intellectual enquiry and struggle needed to solve the big questions of the physical world and man’s existence in it was intrinsic to being a scholar. In an era where the dynamics of mobile information and immediacy replaces a static model of access, the idea of scholarly enquiry, trans-disciplinary learning and the value of debating big ideas becomes paramount in contemporary education and considerations for curriculum design. In a current education landscape of government focus on literacy improvement, an Australian Curriculum promoting history as a compulsory subject and a renewed pedagogical interest in the interrelationships between subjects for enhanced knowledge and understanding, an appropriation of relevant classical tenets for a modern context is overdue. For our School, this means a fresh look at our subject suite and, in particular, our strongly held traditions and aspirations in a contemporary context. In August 2011 the School’s Dean of Studies, Samantha Bolton, was asked to lead a project committee to investigate the rationale and research to support the introduction of Latin as a compulsory foundational language in Year 7 at Girls Grammar, as well as exploring

the possibilities of Latin as a trans-disciplinary core subject for the Humanities. The committee’s findings confirmed the School’s view that Latin and the classics remain pivotal to a scholarly, liberal and yet contemporary education. Edited highlights from the committee’s final report explain much of why we believe this is an important initiative in our preparations for Year 7 in 2015, and further, demonstrating our School’s courageous leadership in educational theory and practice. Latin provides an excellent foundation for the development of literacy and language learning. Also widely acknowledged is the notion that Latin provides students with a window into contemporary society through its links with areas such as law, medicine, science and theology. As one of the classics emerging from the world of the ancient Romans, Latin provides opportunities for developing cultural literacy and acts as a focus for the Humanities. Such a focus is particularly important when one considers the responsibility of schools to educate students for life in a broad and complete sense. Historically Latin has been the language of scholars so it is appropriate to use it to lay the foundation for scholarship that is built upon in later years at the School. The beneficial effects of learning Latin for students’ general levels of literacy are the utilitarian rationale for most Latin courses. In The Latin-Centred Curriculum (Campbell, 2006) it is asserted that classical language study significantly improves English vocabulary and facilitates an understanding of English grammar.

3 Grammar Gazette Autumn 2012