Really struggling with the idea that multiple people at Darlington Memorial have been wasting time over manufactured shit about changing rooms. Anyone who has experience of that hospital knows there are many many issues relating to patient care that deserve this kind of energy

I’ve been to two of these conferences and they’re very lovely! They’re also super welcoming to children’s literature so if you don’t think of yourself as a historian don’t automatically count yourself out!

I realise this is too niche to be cost effective, but I wish academic books were available as audiobooks. Increasingly find that this is a good way for me to really take in information

There isn't a single problem "solved" by edtech that couldn't be fixed with smaller classes led by well-paid teachers given real academic freedom

On #HumanRightsDay we reiterate that human rights cannot be applied selectively. #OurEverydayRights are also the rights of Palestine Refugees. What is at stake are the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international law. Human Rights must be upheld without exception.

This is a very very good show and if you haven't watched it you should

Feeling quite emotional as I read through the many submissions for our special issue of Children's Literature in Education on Aidan Chambers. What a testament to his enduring legacy all over the world. It's going to be incredibly hard to choose from these!

This. I’m so sickened by the whole narrative that ‘oops we just have to go with the SC ruling’. The courts don’t make the law: Parliament does.

Thanks to the 'gender critical' lot trans girls will now be excluded from being Girl Guides, despite their desire to be inclusive and the fact that's been working brilliantly for them www.girlguiding.org.uk/information-...

Last chance to submit your proposals for our special issue of Children's Literature in Education on the late, great Aidan Chambers! link.springer.com/collections/... Deadline 1 December!

Australia recorded ZERO cases of cervical cancer in women under 25 for the first time since they started tracking the cancer in the 80s. This is the power of vaccines. The HPV vaccine is extremely effective at preventing cancer. Viruses can be oncogenic. Get your vaccines and protect yourself!

Cannot imagine what these families must be going through. This road is so dangerous but it doesn’t seem to matter how many times parents complain of this, cars come first. Hope some people in Newcastle City Council are taking a long hard look at their priorities and working out how to change this.

I submit that even if it’s true that refugees are more attracted to Britain, if they’re attracted by things that recognise their basic human dignity that’s not actually a bad thing

A permanent Lecturer position in Children's Literature and Creative Education is available at Goldsmiths, University of London. Please consider applying and/or sharing with others. As the Head of the MA Children's Literature, I'll be working closely with the successful applicant! Deadline: 4 Dec.

Did you take part in a mock election at your UK school or college between 1983 and 2001? Share your memories for a research project on young people and democracy in modern Britain! Write to us about your experiences here: forms.office.com/e/FNAwjfFR7f

The fundamental problem with the shift to team teaching is that universities see it as a way to save money. Team teaching can be amazing but in my experience it's at its best when it represents additional resource compared to solo teaching.

Is it just me, or have spellchecks gotten worse? I've repeatedly had the experience of getting a word slightly wrong and then having spellcheck offer me either entirely the wrong word, or the root of the word I was searching for. I feel like Word etc used to be better at this sort of thing?

Just fund school libraries. Just fund school libraries. Just fund school libraries.

A mess. One thing that would be super helpful is abandoning the dog eat dog marketisation of HE which results in massive uncertainty over student numbers year to year, and returning to capped recruitment which would allow for more planning. Of course this would require funding HE properly...

Oh, this is terrible news. They have published such great stuff and been a brilliant force in children's publishing. It's so tough out there for independents.

Oh this is such sad news. Knights Of have been such a force for good in this industry - we need more companies like them, not fewer. www.thebookseller.com/news/indepen...

Solidarity to BL workers. I know from experience that going on strike is pretty horrible and (despite the fact it looks like a 'holiday') exhausting. Wishing them success in the fight.

It is totally insane to me that such a thing as a 'government shutdown' is even possible.

I propose that for the safety of all we just stop letting adults out on the roads on Halloween. Clearly they’re not responsible enough.

Great to see the Booker value children’s books, and to see a new participatory award appear on the scene (very interested to see how precisely they approach the use of child judges which seems to be tbc).

This makes me feel better about my funding failures yet also... bleak stuff.

Just filled in my child’s school survey on ‘PE outside school’ with a strong reminder that play is the key form of exercise for children!

Please do sign up for - and share - this webinar, on Dec 3rd, to hear about some of the amazing work going on nationally and locally to restore children's ability to play out on their doorsteps. @rezinachowdhury.bsky.social @edwardlamb.bsky.social @playingout.bsky.social @aliceferguson.bsky.social

Excited to see submissions for this special issue of Children's Literature in Education, which I am editing with Hazel Sheeky-Bird! Our work on the Aidan and Nancy Chambers archive (held at Seven Stories in the UK) highlighted how important they both were to children's lit #kidlit #aidanchambers

For reasons, it would be v. helpful to have information from a broad range of academic and non-academic (incl. GLAM) users of the BBC Written Archives OTHER THAN historians, briefly on: 1) What you've used it for and 2) How the proposed changes would impact on your research. Reposts welcomed.

The description of the attempts to land here are almost exactly what happened on my Ryanair flight in Storm Éowyn. Ryanair were the only airline who ran flights from Dublin at that time. I wonder how much fuel was left when my Newcastle flight landed in Stansted? www.theguardian.com/business/202...

We're opening our 2025-26 Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing x Outside in World webinar series Explorations in Translation for Children on Thurs Oct 23rd, @ 5pm GMT Discussing the project: Building a Global Youth Literature Collection 101 Register here: www.tickettailor.com/events/centr...

Good.

Thinking a lot today about how the digital works to increase stress and alienation in HE. So often we receive emails from e.g. a student we've never met and it just feels like another item on the to do list. If you actually see someone in person the same query takes on a social quality

Look around parks - who is missing? Teenage girls are systemically designed out of parks and public spaces. We campaign to design them in. It’s just 5 days to go until the Big Give campaign starts. Donate to Make Space for Girls between 8-15 October and every donation is doubled.

#CFP: Aidan Chambers Memorial Issue Children's Literature in Education Guest editors: Dr Lucy Pearson (Newcastle University, UK) and Dr Hazel Sheeky-Bird (Independent Scholar) Deadline for abstracts: 1 December 2025 Email: [email protected] Website: link.springer.com/collections/...

Saw One Battle After Another the other night and I think one of the things I enjoyed is that the combination of stoner comedy and big concept movie is actually quite intentional. The white men in this movie are literally in a different genre to everyone else.

The settlement website in the Bartz v Anthropic class action is now live: www.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com. It includes comprehensive information about the case and settlement, including a searchable tool to see if your books are included in the settlement and a claim form.

Just to be clear this means that people who flee from incredibly dangerous situations, taking the riskiest routes out of desperatoon, will now face permanent separation from their families. Revolting. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Have you got interesting things to say about Aidan Chambers? Submit a proposal for our special issue of CLE! This one is a labour of love for me as one of the many people in the field who benefited from his mentorship

A child, two women, and a man tragically died trying to reach the UK over the weekend. Their lives were not lost to chance, but to choices: choices to shut down safe routes and leave people with no option but to take dangerous journeys. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

CFP: Special issue of Children's Literature in Education in memory of Aidan Chambers: link.springer.com/collections/... Deadline for abstracts 3rd December 2025. Proposals welcome on any aspect of Aidan's career, including his writing, editorial work, contributions to education, and reader response

If you want to know what a new UK digital ID for immigration would mean, read "States of Ignorance" a book that came out of an ESRC project comparing the development of UK control with two countries with ID. From this research, I think it's a dangerous idea 1/ www.cambridge.org/core/books/s...

“There is no comparable requirement for boys to confirm their gender,” said another parent. “Once again, the onus is placed on girls to be monitored and regulated, reinforcing the idea that female athletes are the ones who need to be verified.” Trans misogyny is just misogyny.

The last REF found that 98% of UK research was either "internationally recognised", "internationally excellent", or "world-leading". If you think low-quality research is the noteworthy challenge in UK higher ed right now, you are wilfully looking in the wrong direction

beware of people who want to "protect" the children but are vehemently opposed to empowering children, giving them information so they can have agency, teaching them about consent, and actually listening to them

in analysing 563 behaviour policies from the 34 largest multi-academy trusts in England, i show how 'misbehaviour' is associated with a constellation of linguistic features - these are of course not empirically connected, but ideologically connected.

what does ‘misbehaviour’ sound like? in new open access work i ask this question in the context of school discipline policies, looking at how ideologies of ‘im/proper language’ and ‘im/proper behaviour’ coalesce and get co-constructed with one another. doi.org/10.1080/0962...

People from all over are showing up for DC. This is not a moment. It’s a movement. We are united in our demands. We are all DC! #FreeDC

As a parent of a child who will probably attend this school I’m furious that they’ve opted to traumatise children instead of doing literally anything to prevent this kind of thing