CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND
November 2016
Classical Association of Ireland-Teachers AGM and Conference 2016
The CAI-T annual conference and AGM was held on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 October in the Glenroyal Hotel, Maynooth. Knowing that the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment would begin work on new Leaving Certificate syllabi for Latin, Greek and Classical Studies in November, the committee decided to dedicate the conference to discussion of ideas for the new syllabi. Unsurprisingly, this news resulted in a record attendance at the conference, as teachers wanted to have input in to the process of designing the new syllabi. The Friday evening was dedicated solely to the AGM and dinner. In his Chairperson’s report, Ian Maguire noted the exciting developments in relation to new syllabi and thanked the committee for all their work in lobbying the NCCA and Department of Education and Skills in order to secure a syllabus review for the classical subjects. A new committee was then elected, with Aryn Penn (Gonzaga College) as the new Chairperson. Aryn has served on the committee for a number of years and was a very popular choice for the position of Chairperson. On Saturday morning David Hodgkinson spoke about recent developments in syllabus design for the classical subjects in England at both GCSE and A Level. David has taught Latin, Greek and Classical Studies/Civilisation in both Ireland and England so understands both jurisdictions well. His talk was very informative and provided the room with some excellent ideas for the new syllabi being designed here. After David Hodgkinson’s talk, teachers split into small groups, with Teachers of Latin and Greek in one room and teachers of Classical Studies in another. In their small groups teachers then discussed some of the ideas for new syllabi contained in a discussion document that had been prepared by the CAI-T committee. At the end of the day each group reported its conclusions publicly. This feedback session revealed many interesting ideas. 6
There was broad agreement amongst teachers on many aspects of the Classical Studies discussion document and teachers of Latin and Greek expressed satisfaction with the outcome of their discussions. Dr Martine Cuypers (Trinity College Dublin) and Ben Murray, an Education Officer with the NCCA, both attended the CAI-T conference on Saturday. Ben Murray is overseeing the work of the Classical Subjects Syllabus Development Group and Martine Cuypers has been appointed as the Chairperson. Their presence at the conference meant that they could hear first-hand what it is that teachers want, and don’t want, in the new syllabi. The other members of the Syllabus Development Group are: Megan Tomkins (Education and Training Boards Ireland) Ellen O’Reilly (Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools) Colm Dooley (Joint Managerial Body) Ian Maguire (CAI-T) Kevin McCarthy (Department of Education and Skills) Edward Herring (Irish Universities Association) Jim O’Dea (ASTI) Mary Boissel (ASTI) Thomas Ahern (TUI) Irene McGovern (TUI) The NCCA has dictated that Leaving Certificate Classical Studies will be reviewed first, followed by Latin and Greek. This means that, at the first meeting in November, the group only discussed Leaving Certificate Classical Studies. While the meeting was very positive, it was only a preliminary session so not much work has been done yet on the content and structure of the new syllabus. The second meeting is scheduled for December 19. Ian Maguire