Ian Cushing
@iancushing.bsky.social
Reader in Critical Applied Linguistics, Manchester Metropolitan University. Documenting and dismantling linguistic injustice in schools. Editor, Critical Studies in Education. Leverhulme Prize 2025.
https://www.mmu.ac.uk/staff/profile/dr-ian-cushing
https://www.mmu.ac.uk/staff/profile/dr-ian-cushing
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Ian Cushing
@iancushing.bsky.social
· Oct 21
The Trust is thrilled to announce the 2025 Philip Leverhulme Prize Winners. Congratulations to this year’s cohort. Thirty extraordinary researchers from across a range of disciplines: leverhulme.ac.uk/news/2025PLP
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 🌸🩷
Reposted by Ian Cushing
A court has ruled that the government's authoritarian ban on Palestine Action was unlawful.
Time to stop criminalising the people protesting a genocide - and start ending the UK's complicity.
Time to stop criminalising the people protesting a genocide - and start ending the UK's complicity.
February 13, 2026 at 10:22 AM
A court has ruled that the government's authoritarian ban on Palestine Action was unlawful.
Time to stop criminalising the people protesting a genocide - and start ending the UK's complicity.
Time to stop criminalising the people protesting a genocide - and start ending the UK's complicity.
in this blog i outline the theory of change for linguistic justice in schools that i am working with and hoping to develop as part of my Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk project, beginning in the autumn 💜
With a Philip Leverhulme Prize, @iancushing.bsky.social is leading a three-year project on linguistic justice in schools. The research aims to drive systemic change, challenge deficit views of language, and build more just educational futures. www.nate.org.uk/2026/02/11/d... #NATE
Developing a theory of change for linguistic justice in schools - National Association for the Teaching of English
Ian Cushing, who has been has been awarded a 2025 Philip Leverhulme Prize to lead a three-year project on linguistic justice in schools, explains how the research will move beyond...
www.nate.org.uk
February 11, 2026 at 3:56 PM
in this blog i outline the theory of change for linguistic justice in schools that i am working with and hoping to develop as part of my Leverhulme Trust @leverhulme.ac.uk project, beginning in the autumn 💜
Reposted by Ian Cushing
Calling all researchers and practitioners in multilingual education. RJME would love to see your work! Check out Rjme.org to see the range of pieces we're interested in (we accept a variety of formats). Feel free to reach out to me or the other co-editors with questions! @rjme-journal.bsky.social
February 2, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Calling all researchers and practitioners in multilingual education. RJME would love to see your work! Check out Rjme.org to see the range of pieces we're interested in (we accept a variety of formats). Feel free to reach out to me or the other co-editors with questions! @rjme-journal.bsky.social
i am pleased to add my voice to this article which calls out the disappointing but not at all surprising lack of diversity in the people who are designing the new national curriculum content.
Sector leaders have criticised the 'limited breadth and diversity' of experts recruited to help write the new national curriculum
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/concerns-over-make-up-of-curriculum-drafters-group/
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/concerns-over-make-up-of-curriculum-drafters-group/
Concerns over make-up of curriculum drafters group
Leaders criticise 'lack of diversity and representation' among experts helping to write new curriculum
schoolsweek.co.uk
January 27, 2026 at 10:23 AM
i am pleased to add my voice to this article which calls out the disappointing but not at all surprising lack of diversity in the people who are designing the new national curriculum content.
Reposted by Ian Cushing
Sector leaders have criticised the 'limited breadth and diversity' of experts recruited to help write the new national curriculum
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/concerns-over-make-up-of-curriculum-drafters-group/
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/concerns-over-make-up-of-curriculum-drafters-group/
Concerns over make-up of curriculum drafters group
Leaders criticise 'lack of diversity and representation' among experts helping to write new curriculum
schoolsweek.co.uk
January 27, 2026 at 9:15 AM
Sector leaders have criticised the 'limited breadth and diversity' of experts recruited to help write the new national curriculum
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/concerns-over-make-up-of-curriculum-drafters-group/
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/concerns-over-make-up-of-curriculum-drafters-group/
Reposted by Ian Cushing
#parentalengagement Stop it with the 'word gap' argument and ideology. Yes, I've used it in the past - I was wrong.
Don't judge parents on the basis of heavily critiqued research. Instead, read this...
ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... Thanks to @iancushing.bsky.social
Don't judge parents on the basis of heavily critiqued research. Instead, read this...
ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... Thanks to @iancushing.bsky.social
ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 22, 2026 at 3:48 PM
#parentalengagement Stop it with the 'word gap' argument and ideology. Yes, I've used it in the past - I was wrong.
Don't judge parents on the basis of heavily critiqued research. Instead, read this...
ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... Thanks to @iancushing.bsky.social
Don't judge parents on the basis of heavily critiqued research. Instead, read this...
ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.... Thanks to @iancushing.bsky.social
Reposted by Ian Cushing
Reposted by Ian Cushing
The Palestinianisation of American civil society is now well underway
Without justice for Palestine and an end to Apartheid there is no hope for an end to the imprisonment without trial of 5 year olds in the US. The apparatus is the same - tested in Gaza and The illegally occupied West Bank
Without justice for Palestine and an end to Apartheid there is no hope for an end to the imprisonment without trial of 5 year olds in the US. The apparatus is the same - tested in Gaza and The illegally occupied West Bank
January 22, 2026 at 6:31 AM
The Palestinianisation of American civil society is now well underway
Without justice for Palestine and an end to Apartheid there is no hope for an end to the imprisonment without trial of 5 year olds in the US. The apparatus is the same - tested in Gaza and The illegally occupied West Bank
Without justice for Palestine and an end to Apartheid there is no hope for an end to the imprisonment without trial of 5 year olds in the US. The apparatus is the same - tested in Gaza and The illegally occupied West Bank
Debbie was an inspiration to me. Just this morning I was reading a new chapter of hers. She was supportive on so many levels. She wrote an endorsement for my book. Her work on verbal hygiene was one of the reasons I decided to study linguistics at university. She will be massively missed ❤️
Desperately sad news about Deborah Cameron today. She was such a brilliant, incisive presence in the world of linguistics and particularly language and gender. Don't know what else to say but I'm sure there will be many tributes paid to her and her work in the days to come.
January 21, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Debbie was an inspiration to me. Just this morning I was reading a new chapter of hers. She was supportive on so many levels. She wrote an endorsement for my book. Her work on verbal hygiene was one of the reasons I decided to study linguistics at university. She will be massively missed ❤️
Reposted by Ian Cushing
New publication alert! Out article 'Big Impact or No Advantage? Raciolinguistic Framings in Australian Media Coverage of Young People's Multilingualism' is now available in early online view in the Journal of Sociolinguistics @jslx.bsky.social 🧵
January 12, 2026 at 12:01 AM
New publication alert! Out article 'Big Impact or No Advantage? Raciolinguistic Framings in Australian Media Coverage of Young People's Multilingualism' is now available in early online view in the Journal of Sociolinguistics @jslx.bsky.social 🧵
Reposted by Ian Cushing
Frey: I have a message for ICE: Get the fuck out of Minneapolis
January 7, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Frey: I have a message for ICE: Get the fuck out of Minneapolis
Reposted by Ian Cushing
Although a white woman was killed, remember that ICE was in Minneapolis because a MAGA agitator stirred up racist myths about Black immigrants committing fraud and Trump latched on to it to appease his base and distract from his failures as president. Structural racism means violence for everyone.
January 8, 2026 at 7:04 AM
Although a white woman was killed, remember that ICE was in Minneapolis because a MAGA agitator stirred up racist myths about Black immigrants committing fraud and Trump latched on to it to appease his base and distract from his failures as president. Structural racism means violence for everyone.
Reposted by Ian Cushing
NEW: ‘These reforms have teeth’: The affective dimensions of teacher education policy enactment - British Educational Research Journal bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 31, 2025 at 6:47 AM
NEW: ‘These reforms have teeth’: The affective dimensions of teacher education policy enactment - British Educational Research Journal bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
new article in British Educational Research Journal: bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/.... we ran focus groups with 42 teacher educators in England, showing how recent teacher education policy reforms are a system of administrative compliance which governs through fear and control.
bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 22, 2025 at 6:55 AM
new article in British Educational Research Journal: bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/.... we ran focus groups with 42 teacher educators in England, showing how recent teacher education policy reforms are a system of administrative compliance which governs through fear and control.
Reposted by Ian Cushing
I've done a blog on some work we've been doing with year 11s in the Black Country about the poem 'Homing' and the dialect of the area.
englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/teachin...
englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/teachin...
Teaching Liz Berry's 'Homing' in the Black Country
Reflections on the impact of letting students hear themselves in literature
englishandmedia.co.uk
December 12, 2025 at 12:42 PM
I've done a blog on some work we've been doing with year 11s in the Black Country about the poem 'Homing' and the dialect of the area.
englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/teachin...
englishandmedia.co.uk/blog/teachin...
lectureship in applied linguistics in my department. lovely city, lovely department, lovely colleagues 🌸 manmetjobs.mmu.ac.uk/jobs/vacancy...
November 28, 2025 at 12:04 PM
lectureship in applied linguistics in my department. lovely city, lovely department, lovely colleagues 🌸 manmetjobs.mmu.ac.uk/jobs/vacancy...
Reposted by Ian Cushing
And many congratulations to all, with a special shout out to @iancushing.bsky.social @callanjd.bsky.social and @noreenmasud.bsky.social #LanguagesandLiteratures 💫🎉👏🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The Trust is thrilled to announce the 2025 Philip Leverhulme Prize Winners. Congratulations to this year’s cohort. Thirty extraordinary researchers from across a range of disciplines: leverhulme.ac.uk/news/2025PLP
October 21, 2025 at 11:01 AM
And many congratulations to all, with a special shout out to @iancushing.bsky.social @callanjd.bsky.social and @noreenmasud.bsky.social #LanguagesandLiteratures 💫🎉👏🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
it is a basic fact that all children have remarkable linguistic heterogeneity, but not all children are granted the space to use this heterogeneity in schools. so the problem is clearly not in how children use language, but in how schools are often set up to deny children those opportunities.
November 20, 2025 at 2:35 PM
it is a basic fact that all children have remarkable linguistic heterogeneity, but not all children are granted the space to use this heterogeneity in schools. so the problem is clearly not in how children use language, but in how schools are often set up to deny children those opportunities.
Reposted by Ian Cushing
Staggering harm is being done to #language learning in Higher Ed. No oversight or strategic thinking, with cold spots now present. Petitions alone this week in response to closures:
Nottingham · Change.org
Leicester · Change.org
#edusky #langsky @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social
Nottingham · Change.org
Leicester · Change.org
#edusky #langsky @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social
Change starts here
Join over 500,000,000 people creating real change in their communities.
Change.org
November 12, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Staggering harm is being done to #language learning in Higher Ed. No oversight or strategic thinking, with cold spots now present. Petitions alone this week in response to closures:
Nottingham · Change.org
Leicester · Change.org
#edusky #langsky @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social
Nottingham · Change.org
Leicester · Change.org
#edusky #langsky @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social
it was such a privilege to be in Leeds tonight for @snelljulia.bsky.social’s inaugural lecture! for over 20 years she has challenged deficit thinking about working class children’s language. im so honoured to know her and collaborate with her and have her as a friend 🌸
November 12, 2025 at 9:50 PM
it was such a privilege to be in Leeds tonight for @snelljulia.bsky.social’s inaugural lecture! for over 20 years she has challenged deficit thinking about working class children’s language. im so honoured to know her and collaborate with her and have her as a friend 🌸
the curriculum and assessment review is 197 pages long and does not make a single reference to multilingualism. in England's schools, ~20% of children (~2 million children) are multilingual. this is just another example of how multilingual identities and knowledges get erased in policy and practice.
Proud of the wide support the Curriculum and Assessment Review has attracted from across the educational spectrum.
Labour wants to set up our children for tomorrow. The work of @beckyfrancis.bsky.social and colleagues is an essential step forward in securing standards and opportunity.
Labour wants to set up our children for tomorrow. The work of @beckyfrancis.bsky.social and colleagues is an essential step forward in securing standards and opportunity.
November 11, 2025 at 6:03 AM
the curriculum and assessment review is 197 pages long and does not make a single reference to multilingualism. in England's schools, ~20% of children (~2 million children) are multilingual. this is just another example of how multilingual identities and knowledges get erased in policy and practice.
the DfE have responded enthusiastically to the curriculum and assessment review, stating that oracy is an 'important vehicle for social justice'. so more reproduction of this flawed theory of change which isolates 'better oracy' as a solution to injustice.
doi.org/10.1080/0305...
doi.org/10.1080/0305...
November 7, 2025 at 10:44 AM
the DfE have responded enthusiastically to the curriculum and assessment review, stating that oracy is an 'important vehicle for social justice'. so more reproduction of this flawed theory of change which isolates 'better oracy' as a solution to injustice.
doi.org/10.1080/0305...
doi.org/10.1080/0305...
solidarity with all colleagues and students at Nottingham who are having their jobs and degrees destroyed by management. the relentless annihilation of language provision in UKHE is something that *every* academic should be calling out and pushing back against.
I am hearing that @uniofnottingham.bsky.social is suspending (i.e shutting down) *all modern language courses* in 2026-27. One of the largest departments in the UK. A shocking short sighted move that damages regional and national prospects @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 2:42 PM
solidarity with all colleagues and students at Nottingham who are having their jobs and degrees destroyed by management. the relentless annihilation of language provision in UKHE is something that *every* academic should be calling out and pushing back against.
Reposted by Ian Cushing
I am hearing that @uniofnottingham.bsky.social is suspending (i.e shutting down) *all modern language courses* in 2026-27. One of the largest departments in the UK. A shocking short sighted move that damages regional and national prospects @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 12:39 PM
I am hearing that @uniofnottingham.bsky.social is suspending (i.e shutting down) *all modern language courses* in 2026-27. One of the largest departments in the UK. A shocking short sighted move that damages regional and national prospects @britishacademy.bsky.social @hetanshah.bsky.social
Reposted by Ian Cushing
"He essentially said, 'I’m not going to hide who I am to make you comfortable.' In doing so Mamdani delivered a raciolinguistic reality check that refuses the idea that politicians of color need to translate themselves into whiteness to be viable."
educationallinguist.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/z...
educationallinguist.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/z...
Zohran Mamdani Just Gave American Politics a Raciolinguistic Reality Check
Zohran Mamdani just won the New York City mayoral race, and it’s a big deal for reasons that will no doubt be dissected for years to come. But what really stands out to me is how this moment shifts…
educationallinguist.wordpress.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:50 PM
"He essentially said, 'I’m not going to hide who I am to make you comfortable.' In doing so Mamdani delivered a raciolinguistic reality check that refuses the idea that politicians of color need to translate themselves into whiteness to be viable."
educationallinguist.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/z...
educationallinguist.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/z...