Perspectives on Greek History: A Classical Association Teaching Board INSET day on the history of ancient Greece and its teaching

Perspectives on Greek History:

A Classical Association Teaching Board INSET day on the history of ancient Greece and its teaching

University of Leeds, 10am-4pm, Saturday, 21st November 2015.

The teaching of classical Greek history is rewarding – for both teacher and student — at every level of engagement: it gives its practitioners the opportunity to explore, within a single historical era, the workings of exciting subjects like identity, warfare, democracy, and social memory. But it entails also profound challenges: how do we teach the ‘history’ of a period for which the chronology is flimsy and the sources are deeply moralistic, often fragmentary, and sometimes intertwined with political and mythographical perspectives? In this INSET day, lectures and workshops will assess the relationship between Greek literature, historiography, political philosophy and history. We will discuss the image of Greek history in modern media; we will, in association with the Leeds Museum, explore the perspectives that material evidence can introduce to the study of Greek history. There will also be a forum for discussion of the future of ancient history and the prospects for the new OCR specifications.

The event is designed to support those who already teach or would like to teach Greek history topics in the classroom (at any level: Key Stage 2, GCSE, A-Level, Continuing Education), and we anticipate that it will offer something to established, new and prospective teachers of Ancient History and Classical Civilisation.

Registration for the event is free, and includes coffee and lunch. All those who sign up for the event will be required to confirm their attendance at the start of November. Owing to the generosity of Leeds University and the support of the Classical Association Teaching Board, we are able to offer a small number of (limited) travel bursaries.

To register for the even, please do so electronically: https://greek-history-inset.eventbrite.co.uk/

If you wish to apply for a travel bursary, please email Dr. Peter Liddel at Peter.Liddel@manchester.ac.uk, who will supply an application form. The deadline for bursary applications is Thursday October 1st, and preference will be give to applicants who have no access to institutional support (e.g. from their school or other employer).

Plenary sessions:

Dr Emma Stafford (University of Leeds): ‘The curse of 300? Popular culture and teaching the Spartans’

Dr Natalie Burns (Leeds Museum): The Greek antiquities in the Leeds Museum: A Guided Tour

Dr Peter Liddel (University of Manchester): ‘Greek Inscriptions: resources and insights in the classroom and beyond’.

Workshops (when booking, please specify, in order of preference, which you would be interested in attending):

Nina Wallace (Queen Mary’s College, Basingstoke): ‘Making Thucydides accessible for all AS/A-Level students’

Alexander Orgee (OCR): ‘Changes to the Ancient History specifications’

Dr Roger Brock (University of Leeds): ‘Looking afresh at Herodotus’ Persian Wars’

David Hodgkinson (St Helen and St Katharine, Abingdon): ‘Socrates in Context’