Ian Cushing

i am still in shock but I have won a Philip Leverhulme Prize. starting in autumn 2026 for 3 years, i’ll be looking at linguistic justice in schools, particularly in how children and teachers engage in radical, grassroots activism for structural change. it's such an honour to receive this funding 🌸🩷

Offered without comment. www.eventbrite.com/e/an-evening...

Teachers & sch leaders with an interest in social justice will want to read @iancushing.bsky.social’s & Sabah Choudrey’s anti-ableist, anti-racist oracy framework 🌟 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Full article: An oracy framework for England’s schools: linguistic justice edition www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

A good time to read @iancushing.bsky.social’s & Sabah Choudrey’s linguistic justice oracy framework for schools 🌟 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

'The University of Nottingham has confirmed that it will close its music and languages departments as it presses ahead with more than 500 job cuts despite widespread opposition from staff and students.' A blight on East Midlands and UK higher education.

i am working on some transcript data of a teacher telling a group of children that they must 'speak in full sentences' in which he pauses, coughs, says errm a lot, repeats words, apologises, gets confused, is confusing, and my god how is this idea of 'speak in full sentences' still alive

“Schools become sites of linguistic sanctuary … There would be a moratorium on classroom tools that function as powerful mechanisms of linguistic injustice [eg] AI, standardised testing, punitive discipline policies & commercially produced curricula” Yes please 🙏 #postnormalpossibilities

schools are one of the most efficient and well-oiled spaces for maintaining linguistic injustice, but they can also be radical spaces for imagining otherwise. in this work in Applied Linguistics i offer some design principles for institutional linguistic justice in schools.🌸 doi.org/10.1093/appl...

📣 Call for expressions of interest to register for the London Doctoral Training School on Data Analysis in Ethnography, Language and communication which will take place at the UCL Institute of Education during July 5-9, 2027. 🔗 More information here: www.bloomsburytheatre.com/event/2027/0...

This article by was an illuminating read

according to these school discipline policies, children who use these language patterns are ‘misbehaving’. open access article exploring this in depth: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

We remember Deborah Cameron in this piece by the emag editors and Lia Litosseliti, Jo Angouri & @iancushing.bsky.social

Reform UK Conference 2026 This is all it will be remembered for.

in new work published in Applied Linguistics i propose a set of design principles for the design and creation of linguistic justice in schools at an institutional level, rooted in imagination infrastructure and place-based activism 🌸 open access here: doi.org/10.1093/appl...

Jesus Christ: '...a two-year ethnographic study of scripted math curriculum found decreased teacher innovation and creativity as well a new definition of “good teaching"...this teacher came to believe that the poor and minority children in her classroom “needed” such restrictive teaching.'

We need to show rightwing newspapers that actions have consequences. Add your name: goodlawproject.org/s/abb8a1

when racist academia and racist press converge, this is what happens. RIP.

Or, in fact, not really a news story at all. I don’t believe at all that this was nationally important and certainly not “third on the BBC 6 o’clock news” important as a story. Cofnas started all of this because he’s a racist and the media ran with it.

Hounded to death Very sad www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

We have four open positions at @stanfordeducation.bsky.social : teacher education, early learning mechanisms & interventions, Social Sciences/Humanities of Education in a Rapidly Changing World, & K-12 Ethnic Studies Education! Spread the word! ed.stanford.edu/faculty/jobs

in new work published in Applied Linguistics i propose a set of design principles for the design and creation of linguistic justice in schools at an institutional level, rooted in imagination infrastructure and place-based activism 🌸 open access here: doi.org/10.1093/appl...

What does a linguistically just oracy framework look like? @iancushing.bsky.social & @mschoudrey.bsky.social reimagine oracy in England's schools through the lenses of social justice, anti-racism, anti-ableism, and linguistic diversity. 📚🗣️ doi.org/10.1080/0013... #Oracy #LinguisticJustice

Just 1 reason to love this #anti-ableist oracy framework: “Children have the right … to not answer when prompted. Staying silent can be a powerful form of refusal - especially for children who reject curricula … who feel let down by schooling … or for children who simply do not feel like talking”

Lecturer in Critical Applied Linguistics at MMU (p/t; fixed term). Deadline August 16. The role would suit people with interests and expertise in issues concerning critical language pedagogies, language and social justice, and educational linguistics. manmetjobs.mmu.ac.uk/jobs/vacancy...

Just came across this amazing documentary. Expect some more clips today!

Ouch. The curriculum review oracy focus made no reference to multilingual abilities if pupils. Only deficit in English. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Follow the Word Gap: The Social Life of a Deficit Concept - Cushing - 2025 - Reading Research Quarterly - Wiley Online Library ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

In an article for Reading Research Quarterly, Manchester Metropolitan University Reader in Critical Applied Linguistics Ian Cushing follows the “word gap” across time, policy, and classrooms—exposing how deficit ideologies stigmatize families and constrain teachers: buff.ly/cXdttbR

"In education systems such as England, which are characterized by an increasing level of state power and surveillance, it becomes urgently important to challenge word gap ideologies which exacerbate social inequality under seemingly benevolent guises of empowerment and social justice." --Ian Cushing

"Word gap ideologies operate on the myth that the language practices of white, able-bodied, middle-upper class communities are objectively higher quality than those of racialized, disabled and low-income communities. " --- Ian Cushing www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

our framework offers an alternative to oracy initiatives which reproduce deficit thinking about language, treat oracy as a depoliticised entity, overlook multilingual abilities, reproduce ableist ideologies about communication, and frame oracy as a language-based solution to structural problems.

In the latest episode of the Language-on-the-Move podcast @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social, @brynnquick.bsky.social chats with @nelsonlflores.bsky.social about bilingual education in the US, and why it's not the path to reducing disadvantage it is cracked up to be languageonthemove.com/genealogy-of...

our linguistic justice oracy framework intervenes prior to the publication of the ‘official’ DfE framework. it offers a vision for an anti-racist and anti-ableist oracy which sustains the linguistic dexterity that all children bring to school with them. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Fascinating piece by @iancushing.bsky.social + Sabah Choudrey that challenges the deficit thinking informing lots of current work about oracy www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

There's much to think about & act on here for those designing the oracy framework.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... An oracy framework for England’s schools: linguistic justice edition Open access and out now in Educational Review

Have a read! We include 2 case studies of linguistic justice efforts with teachers and students.

This! Have a read of our most recent Position Paper, ( they provide brief overviews of key issues in English Studies). This time the focus is on #linguisticjustice #injustice With huge thanks to our esteemed members : @iancushing.bsky.social and @clarefeeneyuk.bsky.social 💫

april baker-bell and davena jackson are in Manchester next week and we are delighted to host them at MMU for a seminar 'Resisting anti-Black linguistic racism and building linguistic justice'. in-person or online - details here! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/resisting-...

it was fun to collaborate with @clarefeeneyuk.bsky.social on this position paper on linguistic in/justice for the @englishassociation.bsky.social, where we point to the need to conceptualise linguistic in/justice in structural and intersectional ways 🌸 englishassociation.ac.uk/position-pap...

"These findings demonstrated that LLMs not only differ linguistically from human experts but also appear to compress and simplify the rhetorical space through which scientific uncertainty is conventionally expressed." www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

i am in beautiful Detroit for collaborations and writing with April Baker-Bell and teachers on global linguistic justice and it is 🌸

So happy to say our book is now published! Working with the amazing editorial team has been a privilege, including @abihackett.bsky.social, @davidbenshannon.bsky.social, Vishnu Kkn, Christina MacRae, Rachel Holmes, @khawlabadwan.bsky.social, Rosie Flewitt and @wardasworld.bsky.social. Thanks all! 🌸

Many describe Trump as acting like a child. This assume children are inherently less developed than adults. But children often have a much more developed sense of empathy & justice than adults. Trump is not acting like a child. He is acting like an imperialist. US leaders have always acted this way.

📝 NEW BLOG POST One million suspensions: How English school policy is failing our most vulnerable children By Sade Ajose, Swansea University Read here: https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/one-million-suspensions-how-english-school-policy-is-failing-our-most-vulnerable-children

Gorton and Denton by-election result: GRN: 40.7% (+27.5) REF: 28.7% (+14.7) LAB: 25.4% (-25.3) CON: 1.9% (-6.0) LDEM: 1.8% (-2.1) Green GAIN from Labour.

The Trust’s February Newsletter is out now! Read about the hidden value of bat guano, linguistic justice efforts in secondary schools, professional mobility at the time of the Crusades,1099–1291, and much more: leverhulme.ac.uk/newsletter