Is it possible to study Scottish pupils� reception of a Latin textbook of the 1970s-1980s?

Abstract

This works concerns the pioneering efforts of the Scottish Classics Group [SCG] to produce a series of textbooks for use in the teaching of Latin in Scottish secondary schools in the 1970s/1980s. The SCG came into being as a result of the deliberations of the Working Party on the Curriculum in Latin and Greek of 1967. The SCG’s efforts resulted in a set of texts, known collectively as Ecce Romani [ER]. ER came to be published at a time when secondary school Latin seemed increasingly to be in jeopardy and attempted, through a combination of novel methods and presentational devices, to encourage pupils to develop an interest in the Latin language and in Roman history and culture more generally. Although superficially similar, in some respects, to the better-known Cambridge Latin Course [CLC] books I contend that ER was not simply a derivative of CLC. Ultimately, ER did not bring about the hoped for revival of Latin’s fortunes in Scotland, but I suggest it was an important attempt to do so and that more study is required to understand pupils’ responses to ER in greater depth.