‘Latin can be saved’ if private schools agree to share teachers with state schools

LATIN and other subjects dwindling in popularity can be saved if private schools share teachers with the state sector, the chairman of the Independent Schools Council has claimed.

In order to offset steep declines in subjects such as foreign languages and acute teacher shortages in specialist areas, Barnaby Lenon said that schools should pool their resources in order to improve standards and attract better quality teachers.

Mr Lenon, the former head master of Harrow School, said that independent schools and state secondaries could pool students in subjects where class numbers are small, in order to improve attainment.

“It’s already the case that some independent schools are already in groups,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “For example, at United Learning, a multi-academy trust, the state and independent schools work together.

“Another is the King Edward’s Foundation in Birmingham, which has grammar schools, comprehensive and independent schools.

“I think there’s a lot of room to replicate this across the country. If they’re clever, they can benefit by sharing teachers and resources.

“A really good mathematician, or a Latin teacher, could rove across these schools. I think roving specialists could visit a number of schools, and thereby benefit those pupils who might otherwise not have access to people with real subject knowledge.

“If you as a school advertise for, say, the head of history across a group of schools, you’re going to attract a far higher calibre of teacher than one stationed in one school.”

Mr Lenon added that group-teaching Oxbridge candidates from a number of schools would help free resources while also providing a more level playing field for pupils. They would have access to the best teachers, and would learn from one another.

Mr Lenon’s comments come amid a year-on-year decline in the number of students taking subjects such as modern foreign languages, with the number of entries for GCSE French and German falling by more than 10 per cent last year.

School leaders, meanwhile, are growing increasingly concerned by the lack of trainee teachers entering into subjects including music, geography and mathematics.

The Sutton Trust, the social mobility charity, has warned that a “consistent failure” to attract science graduates into teaching is disproportionately affecting disadvantaged children, who are less likely to be taught by teachers with relevant degrees.