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I The story of teaching Classics in the Czech Republic

Classical studies have had a long and deep tradition in the Czech Republic. There was a strong effort to maintain the field continuum even in the ominous years of communism. Indeed, Latin and Greek were perceived as rather undesirable not long ago but the interest in classical education saw tremendous growth after 1989. New universities with departments focusing on ancient history and culture were established and the departments of classical languages, which had been abolished due to the dissolution of humanities in the 1950s, were restored. However, the original enhanced interest dropped after several years and currently classical languages are again fighting to gain ground in the curricula of high schools and secondary schools.

II The modern secondary school system in the Czech Republic

For many decades, classical studies have been perceived in our country as a linguistic domain and the discussions on its wider conception are gaining ground only now. Classical philologists are indeed educated in all related disciplines but in real life they are obliged to focus all their attention mostly only on Latin grammar. The prerequisite of the new concept of teaching and of the introduction of courses on ancient civilisation is first of all a new modern textbook, which at the present time our teachers still lack.

Students of Czech secondary schools begin with learning Latin at the age of 15 to 17. Greek is taught only rarely and at only few classical and Episcopal secondary schools, whose total number does not exceed 10. The individual schools curricula vary and considering that Latin is only an optional and not a compulsory course it is always up to the school headmaster to determine whether Latin should be included. The time allocation is mostly 2 hours per week for 2 years, sometimes less and seldom more.  The only nationwide Latin examination at secondary schools is the school-leaving examination – in case the student opts for it. This principally affects students who plan to study classical philology at the university level.

The contents of the Latin course are affected by the time allowance given by a respective class allocation. Students are familiarised with the basics of Latin grammar, studying texts on ancient geography, politics and history, mythology, literature and art. Some schools with an extensive teaching of classical languages refer to the rich tradition of Latin Medieval and also Humanistic and Baroque literature and in this way draw attention to the basic differences in vocabulary, morphology and syntax. As a result of this context, Medieval Latin pronunciation is often used.

III Classical subjects within secondary system of the Czech Republic

Teaching Latin and Greek is of limited interest across the Czech Republic, thus also outside politicians´ concern. These domains are in a way considered elite and above standard because the present educational trends are based on a pragmatic approach, which does not accord with the abstract study of classical languages. Their practical utilisation cannot be exactly defined. Therefore, we find interested only those students, whose parents learnt Latin, or who plan to utilise it in their further education. The long-term interest of such students makes a significant counterbalance to technical fields and to natural science.        

Grammar instruction plays a primary role in the Latin courses taught at the Czech secondary schools. It consumes 80% of the allocated time. Instruction concentrated on history, literature, geography, politics or art and culture is only a supplement to classwork, due to time restrictions. Experienced teachers include etymological references in their courses, which enables the students to understand better technical terminology and foreign languages.

IV How to become a teacher of Classics in the Czech Republic

The situation at our universities improved markedly since 1989 but the departments have been struggling with a lack of students in the past few years. That is caused by low opportunities to study Latin or Greek at secondary schools and here we start to move in a constantly smaller vicious circle – classical languages are not taught at secondary schools, therefore students choose not to study them at universities. There are departments of classical languages only at the universities in Praha, Brno and Olomouc.

Following the accreditation proceedings and the transformation of philology subjects in 2002, studies at departments of Classics have been changed into a two-stage programme, i.e. three-year studies for the Bachelor’s degree and subsequent two-year studies for the Master’s degree. With these more or less cosmetic changes of the previous study programme we have complied with the requirements of the accreditation committee, the nationwide trend and also the Declaration of Bologna to introduce Bachelor’s studies if possible in all subjects. We do not feel this step is absolutely crucial for our discipline, nevertheless we have found some positive aspects of this study structure. For example it can expand the number of students who study Latin as their third subject in order to broaden their specialisation.

The social status and appreciation of teachers – particularly teachers of Latin and Greek – are very low in our country and this does not correspond at all to the depth of their education and knowledge. It is assumed that a classical philologist is capable of reading and translating Latin and Greek texts, that he/she has background education in ancient history, archaeology, literature, philosophy, art, but also in general linguistics.  Despite this rich and wide knowledge the Czech Latin or Greek teacher enjoys limited prospects for development. Owing to the very low class allocation – if indeed Latin and Greek are even taught at that school – he/she is forced to narrow down readings and concentrate on introducing the students to basic Latin and rarely Greek grammar. A significant percentage of Latin and Greek teachers took their degree not only in classical philology but also in another philological field, for example in a living language or mother tongue or history. Generally these second fields become the focus of their main workload.

V Further information

Unfortunately there have not been any newsletters or magazines dedicated to classical studies in the Czech Republic yet. Also a special website has not yet been made available.