Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson
| Post Nominals | MBE |
|---|---|
| Biography | Arlene Holmes-Henderson is Professor of Classics Education and Public Policy at Durham University where she holds a British Academy Innovation Fellowship (2022-2024). 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. She leads several research projects at Durham including an interdisciplinary project with colleagues in Education, English and Psychology, 'Shy Bairns Get Nowt', which investigates the relationship between oracy, persuasion and employability. You can read more about this here. Arlene works alongside Professor Edith Hall and Dr Peter Swallow on the Leverhulme Trust-funded project Aristotle Beyond the Academy in Britain and Ireland since the Restoration. Her focus is on the reception of Aristotle's rhetoric by members of the clergy, legal educators and auto-didacts. In 2024, she is working with Dr Tom Wright (University of Sussex) on the AHRC-funded project Challenging Oracy and Citizenship Myths. Her work here focuses on co-designing with teachers, new resources on oracy for use in Scottish schools. Arlene was awarded an MBE for Services for Education by King Charles III in the Birthday Honours 2023. For more information, see her website www.profarlenehh.com and follow her on twitter @profarlenehh. |
| Research Interests | Academic-Museum education partnerships Access to classical studies in schools and communities Classics Education Classics and employability Education Policy (Arts and Humanities) Rhetoric, oracy and critical skills |
| Teaching and Learning | Arlene supervises PhD students working on language education policy and leads Durham's PGCE in Latin with Classics. She provides sessions on Classics and employability, and policy engagement upon request. |
| PhD Supervision Availability | Yes |
| PhD Topics | Learning and teaching of Classics Classics and public engagement Policy engagement Rhetoric Oracy Classics and employability Access to Classics in schools Education policy |