CONSULTATION ON OCR'S NEW GCSE SPECIFICATIONS

JACT members are advised that OCR's suite of new GCSE specifications (in Ancient History, Classical Civilisation, Greek and Latin) for first teaching from September 2009 is now available on line (www.ocr.org.uk ).

As part of the re-established agreement between JACT and OCR, JACT has been asked to make a corporate response to these proposals before the end of May. The Officers and members of the Examinations Committee are anxious to reflect as wide a range of opinion as possible in their final response, and thus would welcome the comments of members on any or all of the specifications and their sample assessment materials.

Early indications are that Latin will demand the most attention, given the widely different learning experiences that its candidates undergo. Inter alia, JACT would welcome comments on:

a) Does the overall level of difficulty seem appropriate?

b) Will the Short Course appeal to those studying on a restricted timetable?

c) Is it worthwhile to try to persuade OCR to offer two separate but parallel specifications, one taking its inspiration from the Cambridge Latin Course?

Please address any comments to exams@jact.org by 15 May 2008.

Many thanks for your cooperation.

Joan Pye Public Lecture: 'Understanding Britain as a Roman Imperial Possession'

House of Lords

24 June 2008

For more information click here.

New GCSEs for first teaching in September 2009.

OCR has now released details of its new specifications and sample assessment materials. Amongst the important details are:

Available at  www.ocr.org.uk

The JACT Examinations Committee (office@jact.org) would be pleased to receive members' reactions to these drafts. 

CONFERENCE & AGM: CITIZENSHIP

LAST CHANCE TO BOOK!

THE BRITISH MUSEUM

Saturday 17th May 2008

Speakers include Catherine Steel, Tom Harrison, Peter Jones and Presidential Address from Boris Johnson, MP.

Cost £20 including buffet lunch. 

For full Programme click here.  For an Application Form click here.

Option Groups are booking up so please apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

This event is open to JACT Members only.  To join click here.

A LEVEL CLASS CIV INSET

Classics Faculty, Oxford – 5/6 July 2008

An A Level Classical Civilisation INSET weekend is being offered for teachers on 5 & 6 July 2008 at the Classics Faculty in Oxford in association with JACT. Both OCR and AQA syllabi for AS/A2 Classical Civilisation will be covered.

Please click here for full Programme and Booking Form.

University of Oxford Classics Centre, 66 St Giles’, Oxford 0X1 3LU

GCSE SUBJECT CRITERIA

QCA has now (November 2007) released its final version of the revised GCSE Subject Criteria for Classical subjects.

QCA has clearly listened to the comments made by JACT members and has made some significant amendments to the provisional version. The most significant changes concern Latin and are:

1) The opportunity for a separate Foundation Tier is re-instated

2) Controlled Assessment has been dropped: all aspects will be assessed by written examinations

3) An explicit reference to Roman culture/background material has been added to Assessment Objective 2

For full details of the GCSE Subject Criteria for Classical Subjects click here.

JACT members may be interested in the following request from OUP:

Important research from Oxford University Press in partnership with OCR

OCR GCSE Classical Subjects Survey

Oxford University Press is conducting research among School Classics Departments to help inform future publishing for GCSE classical subjects. If you have views on what new GCSE resources you'd like, both print and electronic, please click on this link and complete our online survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2bfBC_2bKRTtC3LjKdRE_2fwWKQ_3d_3d
All who complete the survey by Friday 16th November will be eligible to enter a prize draw for £50 M&S vouchers. In addition, the first 50 to respond will go into a draw for £250 worth of free OUP Classics resources of their choice.

AQA’s new GCE Classical Civilisation – Approved

AQA’s new GCE in Classical Civilisation has now been approved by QCA.  The only significant change from the specification previously published on AQA’s website is that the duration of the AS question papers has been extended to 1 hour 30 minutes.  This change has been made in response to comments from teachers. 

The approved specification and specimen question papers can now be downloaded from AQA’s website at http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/classical_civ_new.php  Printed copies of these documents will be available shortly.

Full details of AQA's new GCE Classical Civilisation specification for teaching from September 2008, including specimen assessment materials, are now available at http://www.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/classical_civ.php

If you have any questions about this new specification, please contact the Subject Team on 0161 038 3823, or email classics@aqa.org.uk

Please see further down this page for Additional Introductory Meetings for the New GCE in Classical Civilisation.

JACT Council Election Results

At the JACT Conference/AGM at Clifton High School, Bristol, on Saturday 12 May 2007, the following new Council Members were ratified:

Judith Affleck
Katharine Radice
Jennifer Shearer

To see the full results of the vote click here.

JACT and OCR: The Latest Developments

Recently, Professor Tom Harrison, Chair of Council, and David Taylor, Chair of the JACT Examinations Committee had a productive meeting with senior members of the OCR Awarding Body to discuss the best way of re-establishing a good professional link between the two bodies. This was in large measure an attempt to learn the lessons from the difficult relationship and lack of effective consultation during the time of dispute over the future of Ancient History.

Not least in order to ensure that the breakdown of communication which had occurred could not be repeated, both OCR and JACT saw considerable merit in the proposal to re-inaugurate regular meetings between the two bodies. These would have both a reviewing and forward looking function, and in particular would enable a strong dialogue on such crucial topics as the development of new syllabuses or specifications.

NEW OCR A LEVELS

Details of all OCR A Level specifications (Greek, Latin, Classical Civilisation, Ancient History and the new 'Classics' A level), with Specimen
Assessment materials and INSET dates, are available at: http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/asa_levelgceforfirstteachingin2008/classics/index.html

CSCP Feasibility Study

CSCP (Cambridge Schools Classics Project) is about to carry out a feasibility study as the first stage in the development and publication of materials to support a Classical Civilisation course for students at Key Stages 3 and 4, leading to GCSE.

This new initiative is intended to continue CSCP's commitment to widening access to the study of the ancient world. It is also intended to support new developments at GCSE in the light of the current thinking on 14-19 Learning.

Please click here to read a message from Michael Massey, running the study for CSCP.

Latin GCSE: Relative Difficulty

JACT members looking for evidence to support their instinctive feeling that Latin is one of the harder GCSE specifications can find some supporting theoretical and statistical evidence from the CEM Centre at Durham University.

Website: www.cemcentre.org  (‘Subject Difficulties at GCSE’ dated 31 March 2006)

Journal of Classics Teaching

JCT13 IS OUT NOW

With a focus on Classics in Adult Education:

• Guest Editor, James Robson of the Open University, on the proposed threat to the funding of further education; Alan Beale on Classics, the Durham Summer School and the Centre for Lifelong Learning in Newcastle; Jeremy Taylor (Open University) on Reworking a Classic:  The New Beginner's Greek Course at the Open University;  Linda Knox on Classics and Adult Education within the University of Glasgow;  Christine Spillane on Classical Courses at Madingley Hall, Cambridge; two viewpoints from the U3A (University of the Third Age), and more. 
• The late John Sharwood Smith remembered as the inspiration to generations of classics students and teachers and one of the founders of JACT
• News of the JACT Conference and AGM: Citizenship at the British Museum in May 2008, featuring the presidential address by our President, Boris Johnson MP
• 2008 Competitions, Summer Schools, Ancient History INSET, ARLT Refresher Day and INSET, British Museum study days, Circe courses and other upcoming events
• Offers for JACT Members included in this issue: for 20% off on Greek Cruises to ancient sites with Easycruise and 10% off on the 4 new Reading Greek volumes from Cambridge University Press until March 2008

JCT is only available to JACT Members:  join now by clicking on the link at the top of this page to our New Member form.

JCT14 will be out in the second week of April 2008. Copy deadline for submissions is 21st February 2008. The focus of JCT14 will be Classics and the Gifted and Talented.

OMNIBVS Magazine

Omnibus 55 is now available.

IN THIS ISSUE: The powerlessness and the glory in Iliad 24, Becoming Roman, staying Gaulish ... and taking heads, Tell me, Muse ... Story-telling in the Odyssey, Troy 11: re-fighting and re-writing the Iliad in the Aeneid, Ancient and modern: digital reconstruction of the Classical past Philosophy as a preparation for death in Plato's Phaedo , Why did Socrates have to die? Politics, philosophy, and drinking-parties in Xenophon Words and deeds. The power and weakness of Cicero's oratory Ancient and modern: democracy in Athens and Britain, Polybius on Rome v. Greece, Electra's lament, Mycenaeans on the Bronze-Age world stage and Win a Greek cruise for two with Easycruise!.

JACT Members receive Omnibus as part of membership, but anyone can order it separately.

Omnibus 56 will be available in September 2008. To order OMNIBVS please click here.