Digital Coffee Talk with Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson

Developing democracy and cultivating citizens: using ancient drama in the classroom

🗓️ Thursday 17.10.2024  • 17:00 EEST (16:00 CET) • Zoom

In this talk, Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson (Durham University) will outline the contribution of ancient Greek drama to the teaching of contemporary citizenship education. She will highlight opportunities to teach rights and responsibilities, the treatment of newcomers, power, protest and performance.

Ancient plays (both tragedies and comedies) are full of rich themes which can be explored by teachers and students in innovative and creative ways. At a time when geopolitical events are affecting the daily lives of young people around the world, Professor Holmes-Henderson encourages educators, theatre practitioners and policy officials to use literature from the past as a focus for contemporary democratic education. Young people need to be able to critique information, develop opinions and express themselves confidently. Greek drama, argues Professor Holmes-Henderson, provides an ideal disciplinary domain in which to cultivate these 21st century skills.

About the speaker

Arlene Holmes-Henderson is Professor of Classics Education and Public Policy at Durham University (UK) where she holds a British Academy Innovation Fellowship. After studying Classics at Oxford, Harvard and Cambridge, Arlene qualified as a schoolteacher and taught in high schools for more than a decade before returning to academia.

Arlene has conducted international comparative research in the USA as a Fulbright Scholar, in Australia as a Churchill Fellow and in New Zealand as an Erskine Fellow. She is Vice-Chair of the Universities Policy Engagement Network with national responsibility for Arts and Humanities and is an expert advisor to international governments, parliaments and assessment agencies.

Her current project investigates the relationship between oracy, rhetoric and critical skills. She was awarded an MBE for Services for Education by King Charles III in 2023 and was recently elected a member of the Academia Europaea.

Registration and link

The presentation will take place via ZOOM on Thursday 17 October 2024 at 17:00 EEST(16:00 CET), at the following link:
🔗  DCT  Developing democracy and cultivating citizens: using ancient drama in the classroom

Please register by sending an e-mail with your name, city/country, organisation, contact details at nmourouzi@thoc.org.cy.

Language: English