This article has a four-fold purpose: (I) to point out the interface and overlap of Classics and Philosophy; (ii) to encourage the take-up of A level Philosophy as a fitting companion for Classics courses, linguistic and non-linguistic; (iii) to reinforce the correction of certain crucial misunderstandings about Sophocles’ play, Oedipus Rex, especially concerning the agency of Oedipus both in the play and the back story of the play; (iv) to present a ‘thought experiment’ in order to show how modern philosophy might be applied to an ancient Greek play in order to resolve issues of truth and necessity.

Classroom dialogue provides significant opportunity for students to build on their understanding of a subject. It is also a vector through which the educator can assess progress in their lessons (Alexander, 2008). The purpose of this study was to explore what effect a specific form of classroom dialogue (the Socratic seminar) has on student engagement, and consequently, their learning.

The study presents the results of an Action-Research project carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic with Italian teachers of primary, lower and upper secondary schools, interested in monitoring the activity of students in that difficult situation. The purposes of this study were: (a) to demonstrate that the involvement of teachers in the creation of metacognitive tools promotes the use of formative assessment at school; (b) to verify to what extent the use of a metacognitive form makes students more aware of the mistakes made during the test. The results were: (a) teachers showed great enthusiasm in adapting the metacognitive form to their school subject; (b) students pointed out high percentages of appreciation of the form; what is more, a group of students improved in identifying the typology of errors and understood more clearly what they should study in a better way to correct their mistakes; another group noted that their awareness of their strengths in study method had grown; finally, one group highlighted that the skills used during the completion of the form were also useful in other areas of their daily life, not only at school. Both teachers and students appreciated the online version of the tool: the pie charts created automatically by the system, by displaying percentages over typologies of errors made, provided immediate feedback, motivating students more and more. The study shows how much reflection on mistakes can be a source of growth.

At the end of January 2022 the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) published the new Diploma syllabus for Classical Languages (for first assessment in 2024). The new IB Diploma syllabus has at its heart a desire to move away from the teaching of language and literature as two distinct skills, while embracing a broader range of teaching and assessment methods which do greater justice to the richness, diversity and range of skills students can, and do, develop through the learning of classical languages. In what follows, I will discuss the new IB Classical Languages syllabus and whether it lives up to these worthy aims.

This is a review of the activities and successes of the 42nd residential JACT Latin Summer School, run in July 2022. Specifically, it covers our typical teaching arrangement, lectures, trips and events and acknowledges the generosity of our sponsors.

This is a review of the 2nd East London Classics Summer School, run in August 2022. We include details of our daily schedule including language sessions, lectures by guest speakers, a visit to King's College London, and we give thanks to those who are supporting our initiative.