Linguistic justice efforts in England’s schools

Cushing, Ian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1752-1411 (2024) Linguistic justice efforts in England’s schools. In: Secondary English for Generation Alpha: Humane Pedagogy for Local, National and International Contexts. National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) . Routledge. (In Press)

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Abstract

Oppressive ideologies and practices about language are rife in England’s schools, with racialised, working class young people and teachers regularly having their own language practices marked out as deficient and requiring correction. In this chapter I discuss some of the ways that teachers, especially those who position themselves as anti-racist language activists, have resisted this kind of oppression. I discuss how contemporary efforts build on historical efforts, especially those from the 1960s and 70s amid a time of mass political uprisings led by Black communities. The bulk of the chapter concentrates on contemporary acts of resistance, describing work from two funded studies from the UK Literacy Association and the British Association of Applied Linguistics. I draw on data generated from workshops in London where young, marginalised students examined the pervasive, intersectional and systemic nature of language discrimination, drawing attention to oppressive systems shaped by colonialism and white supremacy. I describe various work done by critically-minded teachers from across the UK – and the kinds of institutional barriers they faced in doing this important work.