Threat to Ancient History in UK schools

[Kate Gilliver]

Apologies if anyone's already brought this to the forum's attention.

The only exam board in the UK that offers 'A' level Ancient History is proposing to ditch the individual qualification in the subject and subsume it within Classical Civilisation which concentrates on literature rather than history. I used to be a senior examiner for Ancient History 'A' level, and it is a rigorous course that introduces school students to a range of key periods of Greek and Roman history and the sources needed to study them. It is increasingly popular in schools and also in adult education colleges, and is much more interesting than studying Nazi Germany, which is what most people do for 'A' level History (though I would say that, obviously!!). It's a threat to our subject as well as being a threat to diversity of education and learning that we should be striving to maintain.

BBC news report here

If you're a UK citizen or resident and would like to register a protest against this, one way is to 'sign' the e-petition.

Thanks
Kate

[Tarbicus]

Already signed it Kate.

Interestingly, the number of signatories has risen by almost a hundred since I signed about twenty minutes ago.

[Arthes]

I just signed, still waiting for the email link to add my signature to the Petition... :?

[Geoffrey]

That is just wrong! Is there any thing that the rest of us can do to help?

[L C Cinna]

too bad you have to be UK citizen. I'd sign immediately. Kind of the same things going on over here. This makes me really sad indeed.

[Kate Gilliver]

Geoffrey, I doubt there's a huge amount non-UK residents or citizens can do, unless overseas academics want to register a protest, in which case probably the best thing is to contact The Joint Association of Classical Teachers.

Thanks all for your support.

[Et tu brute]

I've signed it. As a thirteen year old, i've been fascinated by history for many years, especially the ancient period, and it will be a real shame if this goes ahead.

[Tarbicus]

Bump.

[Kate Gilliver]

Update: the protests have gathered considerable support and on monday there was a protest in London featuring a rather bizarrely dressed Boris Johnson, Conservative spokesman on higher education and current president of the Classical Association.

Ancient Historians are hopeful that our protests will have an effect, so thanks to all for their support.

[Tarbicus]

Ancient Historians are hopeful that our protests will have an effect, so thanks to all for their support.

It certainly did.
http://blog.arlt.co.uk/blog/_archives/2 ... 53878.html

[Kate Gilliver]

Made it onto the BBC as well:
[url:y58md3yj]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6663437.stm[/url]

The struggle's not over yet, but this is a great step forwards.

[Caballo]

Signed- and was very heartened by this on the petition
"Because there are so many signatories, only the most recent 500 are shown on this page. Signatures: 4,321"