The Reading Ancient Schoolroom (www.readingancientschoolroom.com) is a fully immersive re-enactment of a Roman school. Combining the latest archaeological discoveries with research (much of it conducted at Reading) into the activities ancient children did at school and what kind of behaviour was expected of them in school settings, it has created the world's only comprehensive reconstruction of an ancient school. Participants not only learn how to use wax tablets, ostraca and other replica ancient writing materials while dressed like Romans in a room imitating the schools of fourth-century Roman Egypt, but they do the same kinds of exercises that ancient children did and learn how to behave like Roman pupils. Contrary to popular belief, children were rarely beaten in Roman schools, and ancient education was much more individualised and in some key ways kinder than its modern equivalent. Moreover some of the ancient school exercises seem to be significantly easier to grasp, more enjoyable and in some cases more helpful for certain children than many modern school exercises. Therefore most participants in the ancient schoolroom have a wonderful time as well as learning a great deal. The ancient schoolroom was started in 2014 by the Classics department at the University of Reading as a creative way to bring research on ancient education to the wider public. Since then it has been an annual event staffed by enthusiastic volunteers from the department and further afield (some have even come from abroad for the purpose), catering to local children and their teachers/parents. Both volunteers and participants love the schoolroom, which clearly ought to expand but cannot do so in its current form owing to competing demands on its Reading home. This project will therefore enable the ancient schoolroom to transition from an occasional activity of the university to an independent, financially self-sustaining enterprise that can travel to schools and give them the experience of antiquity on their own sites. Feedback has made it clear that schools want this and are willing to pay enough for it to make financial self-sufficiency a realistic goal: for local schools it offers a more convenient option than travelling to campus, and for ones further afield it offers their only option for experiencing the ancient schoolroom. Historical sites are also interested, with Butser Ancient Farm having already asked us to come teach for a week in their Roman villa. So if we can redevelop the enterprise successfully, prospects are bright. Additionally, we aim to develop the ancient exercises' great potential to assist children with special educational needs. A schoolteacher with experience of such children will guide the schoolroom's adaptation to (among other things) maximise the benefit to children with special needs, and we will make a particular effort to visit schools with substantial numbers of such children. Since the ancient schoolroom is also a good Widening Participation activity, we will also make efforts to visit schools in that category (without payment).

Informed by the original 'Ancient Identities in Modern Britain' (AI) grant (AH/N006151/1), this Follow-on project will support the development of tolerance in British society, in partnership with eight Iron Age and Roman Heritage (IARH) museums and sites located in both rural and urban areas of England, Scotland and Wales. Tolerance is defined as a three-dimensional concept entailing 'acceptance of, respect for and appreciation of difference' (Hjerm 2019). AI research exposed binary uses of Iron Age and Roman Heritages (IARHs) aimed at rejecting difference and forging hostile ideas of others framed on the basis of ethnicity, culture and race. It also showed how formal and informal education is frequently identified by people as the reference point for such exclusive uses of IARHs. It is therefore of particular concern that formal and free-choice learning environments across Britain frequently continue to present the Iron Age and Roman past through dichotomies and caricatures, for example by contrasting militarised and violent, but civilising, mobile and multicultural Romans to spiritual, peaceful, environmentally sustainable and indigenous, but barbaric and rebellious Iron Age people. When we shared these findings from the AI project, a number of heritage and education professionals and members of the public reported that the project results had prompted them to begin rethinking their everyday lives and work practices. Consequently, two clear needs for intervention emerged: (1) increasing public understanding of the repertoire of symbols that are leveraged to power divisive social narratives and proposing alternatives that can provoke attitudinal shifts; and (2) aiding heritage curators and educators to create learning experiences for current and future generations of children that contribute to building a tolerant society. The Follow-on project will address these needs and co-produce tolerant futures through ancient identities by pursuing two newly emerged pathways to impact, targeted at two new audiences. The first pathway consists of creating, displaying and widely disseminating a digital artwork to raise public awareness of the divisive ways in which IARHs have been mobilised in the public sphere over the past ten years, in order to challenge them and recognise opportunities for inclusivity and tolerance. During the lifetime of the project, this pathway will have impact on the new audience of at least 15,000 adults (18+) in Britain including those who do not visit IARH museums and sites as well as those who do, and at least 30,000 more in the two years following the end of the grant. The second pathway is aimed at generating impact on the new audience of 7-11 year old children in England, Scotland and Wales, both in the immediate and longer-term future. It consists of co-producing and widely disseminating digital storytelling resources that can help heritage and history educators to enable non-binary and nuanced early engagements with IARHs which encourage children to open up to and reflect on the themes of otherness and tolerance. The project's legacy will be ensured through the creation a cross-sector network of heritage and education professionals with capacity to support the future development of critical interpretations of IAHRs across England, Scotland and Wales. This will ensure that the two pathways live beyond the end of the Follow-on grant.

Informed by the original 'Ancient Identities in Modern Britain' (AI) grant (AH/N006151/1), this Follow-on project will support the development of tolerance in British society, in partnership with eight Iron Age and Roman Heritage (IARH) museums and sites located in both rural and urban areas of England, Scotland and Wales. Tolerance is defined as a three-dimensional concept entailing 'acceptance of, respect for and appreciation of difference' (Hjerm 2019). AI research exposed binary uses of Iron Age and Roman Heritages (IARHs) aimed at rejecting difference and forging hostile ideas of others framed on the basis of ethnicity, culture and race. It also showed how formal and informal education is frequently identified by people as the reference point for such exclusive uses of IARHs. It is therefore of particular concern that formal and free-choice learning environments across Britain frequently continue to present the Iron Age and Roman past through dichotomies and caricatures, for example by contrasting militarised and violent, but civilising, mobile and multicultural Romans to spiritual, peaceful, environmentally sustainable and indigenous, but barbaric and rebellious Iron Age people. When we shared these findings from the AI project, a number of heritage and education professionals and members of the public reported that the project results had prompted them to begin rethinking their everyday lives and work practices. Consequently, two clear needs for intervention emerged: (1) increasing public understanding of the repertoire of symbols that are leveraged to power divisive social narratives and proposing alternatives that can provoke attitudinal shifts; and (2) aiding heritage curators and educators to create learning experiences for current and future generations of children that contribute to building a tolerant society. The Follow-on project will address these needs and co-produce tolerant futures through ancient identities by pursuing two newly emerged pathways to impact, targeted at two new audiences. The first pathway consists of creating, displaying and widely disseminating a digital artwork to raise public awareness of the divisive ways in which IARHs have been mobilised in the public sphere over the past ten years, in order to challenge them and recognise opportunities for inclusivity and tolerance. During the lifetime of the project, this pathway will have impact on the new audience of at least 15,000 adults (18+) in Britain including those who do not visit IARH museums and sites as well as those who do, and at least 30,000 more in the two years following the end of the grant. The second pathway is aimed at generating impact on the new audience of 7-11 year old children in England, Scotland and Wales, both in the immediate and longer-term future. It consists of co-producing and widely disseminating digital storytelling resources that can help heritage and history educators to enable non-binary and nuanced early engagements with IARHs which encourage children to open up to and reflect on the themes of otherness and tolerance. The project's legacy will be ensured through the creation a cross-sector network of heritage and education professionals with capacity to support the future development of critical interpretations of IAHRs across England, Scotland and Wales. This will ensure that the two pathways live beyond the end of the Follow-on grant.