Linguistic justice: a summer school for teachers
A body of scholarship has repeatedly demonstrated that schools are places where linguistic injustice is pervasive. Linguistic injustice is not simply about individual attitudes or prejudices about language, but is a structural phenomenon and a long-standing characteristic of schools. It materialises in different ways, such as in curricula and assessments which prioritise dominant language varieties, or when non-dominant language varieties are perceived and framed as inferior.
But these perceptions are never just about language – they are used to make claims that some speakers lack intelligence, standards, and other kinds of negative characteristics, and thus require linguistic remediation if they are to succeed in school. These perceptions affect the most marginalised members of our society, particularly those that are racially marginalised and from working-class backgrounds. Such deficit perspectives locate alleged faults in how marginalised communities speak, and deflect attention away from structural inequalities. Put another way, people experience linguistic stigmatisation and privilege not just because of how they use language but because of how they are positioned and perceived in society. So, struggles for linguistic justice are always about more than just language.
Linguistic justice is concerned with building critical knowledge about language in order to challenge deficit thinking in schools, make connections between linguistic stigmatisation and broader patterns of discrimination, and contribute to broader social justice efforts by pushing for the transformative change of unjust systems.
But to do this, teachers need time away from the classroom to immerse themselves in research, reflect on their own practice, and consider how they might make their own classrooms linguistically just spaces.
This project seeks to do just that. It will bring together teachers for an intensive, two-day summer school on linguistic justice, where teachers will read, discuss, and apply cutting-edge research in relation to language discrimination, deficit thinking, and critical pedagogies for linguistic justice.
The summer school will be led by Dr Ian Cushing, Senior Lecturer in Critical Applied Linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University. Dr Cushing, an ex-school teacher, is a world-leading scholar in issues of language and social justice, whose work focuses on the production and maintenance of linguistic inequalities in schools. The summer school is fully funded by MMU AHEAD’s scheme, with all travel, expenses, and refreshments paid for. All participants will receive a complementary copy of Dr Cushing’s 2023 book Standards, Stigma, Surveillance: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and England’s Schools (winner of the 2023 British Association of Applied Linguistics Book Prize).
- Day 1 (12 June 2025) will focus on core theory and concepts related to linguistic in/justice. This will introduce participants to key research in order to develop critical awareness about language, social justice, and educational disadvantage. We will also consider theories of change for linguistic justice, moving towards a vision where the focus is on dismantling oppressive structures as opposed to modifying individual linguistic behaviours. Working collaboratively, we will begin to co-produce a future vision for linguistic justice, representing a set of principles and demands for creating linguistically equitable schools.
- Day 2 (4 July 2025) will focus on practical applications, where participants will reflect on how theory might inform their practice and move towards developing pedagogies rooted in linguistic justice. They will be invited to use the manifesto we developed during Day 1 to critically reflect on their own pedagogical approaches as applied to a curriculum unit of their choice.
Both days will run from 10 – 4. They will be held in the Grosvenor East building at Manchester Metropolitan University. The building is easily accessible by public transport – just a 10 minute walk from Oxford Road station or 15 minutes from Piccadilly.
Places are limited, and priority will be given to school teachers working in the Greater Manchester area. Teachers from all key stages are welcome to attend.
To express an interest in attending, please email Ian Cushing, link below, with a brief (100-200 words) description of why you want to attend and how you see the aims of the summer school aligning with your own individual and institutional values.
MMU can provide letters of support to teachers who wish to participate and need to make the case to management to do so.
Dr Cushing was the recipient of the 2022 UK Literacy Association Brenda Eastwood prize for work on language and discrimination in schools. A 2021 article in Literacy on raciolinguistic surveillance in schools won the 2023 UKLA/Wiley Research in Literacy award. The 2022 monograph, Standards, Stigma, Surveillance: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and England’s Schools won the British Association of Applied Linguistics 2023 Academic Book Prize and was shortlisted for the UK Literacy Association 2024 Academic Book Prize.
Dr Cushing was the proud recipient of the 2023 National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) Award for Outstanding Contribution to Research and 2023 work in the British Journal of Sociology of Education, on how racialised pre-service teachers experience language oppression, won the 2023 BJSE best early career article.
