Welcome!
This is Quinquennium, a one-stop forum for Classics teachers who want to think hard about their practice.
Why should you read on?
It’s very easy for teachers to operate in a vacuum. We shuttle between lessons, the staff room, the sports field etc. without pausing enough to reflect on what we do and how we can become more effective with our time, our energy and with our learning outcomes.
The expertise is out there- it just needs mining. Enter Quinquennium, a blog designed to stoke meaningful dialogue between early career practitioners.
The vision is for fortnightly blogs, snappy and stimulating, broad in range and enriched by your contributions.
What you want to talk about, we will give space to. And our pledge is to ask no more than three minutes of reading time per blog: a punchier format than your average pedagogy.
If you want to share good practice and maintain your early-career curve of improvement, then welcome. Tune in, chip in, and become a voice within our community.
Why Quinquennium?
A quinquennium is a five-year span. It’s a commonplace that schools get the best out of teachers in their first five years. We’ve also found that precious opportunities to get better- such as observations and curriculum design- can dry up after your first years. Our blog wants to listen to what you learned in your fruitful first years; and we provide a platform for you to learn from others in the Classics community.
We reject the assumption that once you’re up and running as a teacher, you’ll keep improving even passively. It takes hard work and the right environment to maintain the rigorous standards we were held to as trainees. Quinquennium brings the initiative and the support to help you build on the platform of your early years.
For the historical inspiration, ‘the Nero connection’, click here.
Who are we?
Classics teachers- all active and all passionate about what Quinquennium can become.
Between us we have experience of teaching across the ability range, state and private. We have written, vetted and examined GCSE and A-Level, for Latin, Greek, Classical Civilization and Ancient History. Some of us have produced course books and commentaries. Others have delivered professional INSET. And many of us are yet to have any of these adventures. We agree on some things, differ on others, but we all subscribe to the idea of regular dialogue and a healthy spread of perspectives.
Tagged to each post is the author’s bio and if you’d like to get in touch, it’s quinquenniumblog@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you!