A landmark new publication authored by Professors Arlene Holmes-Henderson and Edith Hall offers the first comprehensive study of two transformative subjects in the English curriculum.
The new book Classical Civilisation and Ancient History in British Secondary Education explores the development, content, and impact of Classical Civilisation and Ancient History GCSEs and A-Levels.
Classical Civilisation and Ancient History offer dynamic routes into the cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and their neighbours.
These interdisciplinary subjects draw on literature, philosophy, law, art, and archaeology to give students a rich, rounded understanding of the ancient world. Academically rigorous and wide-ranging, they are growing fast in English schools.
This new book traces their development since the mid-20th century and reveals a key milestone: the introduction of Classical Civilisation as an examined subject in England in 1965.
To celebrate its 60th anniversary and the book’s launch, a parliamentary reception - hosted by Dr Peter Swallow MP and the UK Classical Association - was held on 8 September, marking the first such event for classicists this century.
Since 2017, Arlene and Edith have led a national campaign to expand access to classical subjects in state schools.
Their efforts have helped secure over £500,000 in funding and have contributed to a dramatic rise in student uptake. In fact, Classical Civilisation was the fastest-growing subject offered by the OCR exam board in 2024.
The book challenges misconceptions that these subjects are intellectually lightweight, using interviews, surveys, and student voices to highlight their value and transformative impact.
It also revisits the 2007 crisis in Ancient History, when the subject faced removal from the curriculum, and reflects on the successful campaign that saved it. Today, it thrives.
The authors offer policy recommendations to strengthen humanities education and ask a pressing question: with public interest in antiquity booming - from bestselling novels and TV programmes to an upcoming Odyssey film - why aren’t these subjects taught in every school?
As a former high school teacher, I am delighted to share this book with teachers, students and parents. We confront and dismantle harmful misconceptions about Classical Civilisation and Ancient History in the curriculum. More pupils in English state-maintained schools are studying these subjects than at any time in the last 20 years. This is surely worth celebrating?
The publication provides a practical guide for school leaders, teachers, parents, and pupils.
It explains why classical subjects are a good choice and how to introduce them with support from charities, museums and universities.
It also shares powerful feedback from students and teachers whose lives have been transformed by studying the ancient world.
The book is published by Liverpool University Press and is available Open Access thanks to funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
In addition to celebrating the 60th birthday of Classical Civilisation as an examined subject in English schools, we are celebrating the transformative impact of Professors Holmes-Henderson and Hall’s research. They are trailblazers; the classics community is very lucky to have them as powerful advocates.
The intellectual rigour of classical civilisation qualifications has been denigrated for decades. Far from ‘Classics lite’, it helps young people cultivate a wide range of cross-curricular skills such as critical literacy and articulate self-expression. Our new book dismantles weak arguments against the study of the ancient world in contemporary classrooms, and presents new data on the spectacular growth of these subjects in schools and communities over the last eight years. We are celebrating not only a birthday, but also a revival.
Image captions
Top header image: (left to right) Professor Edith Hall (Durham University), Dr Emma Bridges (Open University), patron of the ACE project and Durham alumna, and Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson (Durham University) pictured at the Parliamentary Reception in London.
Cover image: Credit Liverpool University Press.
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