Association for the Reform of Latin Teaching

It arose from Summer Schools which Rouse organised in order to train Latin teachers in the Direct Method of language teaching, which entailed using the language in everyday situations rather than merely learning grammar and syntax by rote.{{Cn|date=December 2024}} Summer Schools remain the chief activity of this organisation.{{Cn|date=December 2024}} A journal entitled Latin Teaching reported on the Summer Schools and included articles on practical teaching of Latin. Contributors included Dorothy L. Sayers.{{Cn|date=December 2024}}

After the Second World War three developments deeply affected the ARLT:

• The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge ceased to require proficiency in Latin as a qualification for entry. This meant a sharp reduction in the numbers of school pupils learning Latin.{{Cn|date=December 2024}}
• The Cambridge Latin Course brought many of the principles espoused by Rouse and the ARLT into the mainstream of Latin teaching. This led ARLT to adopt a more supportive, rather than campaigning, approach, offering general encouragement for all Classics teachers.{{Cn|date=December 2024}}
• Three Classical organisations, The Classical Association, the Orbilian Society (now defunct) and the Association for the Reform of Latin Teaching, joined in founding an umbrella organisation: the Joint Association of Classical Teachers (JACT).{{Cn|date=December 2024}}

ARLT and JACT endured a period of uneasy relations, with some questioning of ARLT's reason for continuing existence, but in time all concerned recognised the need to work together for the common cause against those who willed the demise of Classics teaching.{{Cn|date=December 2024}} Now the two organisations publish a joint magazine, The Journal of Classics Teaching.{{Cn|date=December 2024}} ARLT has a website{{cite web |url=http://www.arlt.co.uk |title = ARLT – The Association for Latin Teaching}} and a blog.{{cite web |url=https://arltblog.wordpress.com |title = ARLT Weblog {{!}} Anything UK Classics teahers are likely to find useful or interesting}}

During the parliamentary recess in 2021, the Department of Education, fronted by Gavin Williamson announced a £4m scheme to introduce Latin into 40 state schools.{{Cn|date=December 2024}} Latin is already taught in 3% of stateschools and is permitted under the National Curriculum.{{cite news |title=Latin to be introduced at 40 state secondaries in England |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jul/31/latin-introduced-40-state-secondaries-england |access-date=31 July 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=31 July 2021 |language=en}}

• American Classical League
• Minimus

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.arlt.co.uk/ Association for the Reform of Latin Teaching]

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Category:Latin-language education

Category:Educational organisations based in the United Kingdom