The teaching of Latin in Australian secondary schools has declined sharply over the past century, to the extent that Latin now faces an uncertain future in Australian education. This paper explores findings from a recent doctoral study into the place and purpose of Latin in Australian schools that illuminate some of the issues that compromise the place of this subject in the Australian education system. We will see through the attitudes and experiences of over 1,800 survey and interview participants that several factors contribute towards a serious ‘image problem’ for the discipline, including past pedagogical practices, the elitism associated with Latin, and a general lack of awareness about what Latin is and what it has to offer in an increasingly neoliberal educational climate that privileges the teaching of vocational skills. However, we will also touch briefly on findings from this research that clearly evidence the myriad and substantial benefits that can be gained from learning Latin, lending firm support to the argument that this ‘foundational’ discipline delivers a unique blend of academic and personal benefits within the one classroom which make it worthy of inclusion in the curricula of contemporary Australian schools. 

Speaker:
Kate Edwards has taught Latin in Australian regional and metropolitan high schools since 2008. In 2024 Kate submitted a PhD thesis on the place, purpose and potential of Latin in Australian schools, supervised by Assoc. Prof. Sarah Lawrence at the University of New England. Kate currently teaches Latin at Canberra Grammar School. She is passionate about promoting inclusivity in the Latin classroom and broadening access to the many and varied benefits that can be derived from the study of Classics.