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Possible programme structures

Classical studies programmes can be structured in a variety of ways, for example, as linked courses over three full years, as one-year courses, or as short (modular or one-semester) courses. A programme should be flexible enough to allow for students to begin studying classical studies at any year level.

Year planner

A year planner will include:

  • when modules of work will start and end
  • when assessments are due (or the final date for gathering evidence)
  • how the work fits around inevitable interruptions to the school year
  • possible dates for field trips, visiting speakers, and so on.

An example of a year planner:

Classical Studies Level 1 Year Planner (PDF, 63 KB)

A concept-based approach to planning a one-year course

The six key concepts – citizenship and society, culture and identity, empire and power, conflict, art and aesthetics, and heritage – are the big ideas that sit above specific contexts but find their way into all aspects of classical studies teaching and learning.

Concepts and conceptual understandings are “the most productive means of accessing and framing knowledge in the curriculum”.

(Gilbert, 2004)

Students need the opportunity to explore these concepts to appreciate their breadth, depth, and subtlety, to learn that different people view them from different perspectives, and to understand that meaning is not static. By approaching and revisiting these concepts in different contexts within a relatively short time, students come to refine and embed understandings.

Creating a one-year programme that focuses on the in-depth exploration of two key concepts using interconnected contexts will allow for conceptual understandings to develop over time.

Possible concept-based approaches

Conflict and art and aesthetics in the context of Athens in the 5th century BCE

Contexts: Perikles as a political figure or the Peloponnesian War as a political event, Greek theatre (tragedy or comedy), the development of Red Figure vase painting or 5th century BCE Athenian art and architecture, Greek religion or the philosophy of Socrates as ideologies

Conflict and culture and identity in the context of Augustan Rome

Contexts: Augustus as a political figure, Virgil’s Aeneid, Augustan art and architecture, Roman religion as an ideology

Citizenship and society and empire and power in the Roman Empire (Tiberius to Hadrian)

Contexts: An emperor as a political figure (for example, Nero, Domitian, Hadrian), Juvenal’s satires, Roman imperial art and architecture, Eastern religions or Greek philosophies as ideologies

Empire and power and culture and identity

Contexts: Alexander the Great as a political figure, Arrian or Plutarch on Alexander, Alexander’s Oriental Policy as an example of an ideology, Hellenistic art and architecture

Unit plans

When planning a unit, consider:

An example of a unit planner:

Level 3 Classical Studies Unit Plan 2010 (PDF, 42 KB)

Last updated August 13, 2010



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