Darío Luis Banegas is Senior Lecturer in Language Education at Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh. He is also Director of Postgraduate Research and Course Organiser of Second Language Teaching Curriculum, a core module in their MSc TESOL programme. Dario worked as a teacher of English in primary and secondary schools as well as curriculum developer and teacher educator in Chubut, Argentina, for 19 years before moving to Scotland. He is an active member of teacher associations, and with FAAPI (Federación Argentina de Asociaciones de Profesores de Inglés) he founded the Argentinian Journal of Applied Linguistics. He is also the co-lead of the Language Curriculum SIG with the British Association of Applied Linguistics. He is a member of the British Council English Language Advisory Group. His main interests are language curriculum, teacher education, CLIL, action research, and social justice.

Darío Luis Banegas

Roots and Routes in Social Justice in English Language Teaching: Who’s on Board?

What are the roots of social justice in ELT? What routes have educators, researchers, and students forged and walked on? To answer these questions, I will start by offering some insights into pedagogical frameworks which can help us make the practice of ELT inclusive and socially responsible. I will particularly draw on examples from projects carried out with secondary school students and their teachers in Argentina and the Basque Country. I will discuss teachers’ and students’ views as well as what their teaching and learning practices. I will pay attention to the tensions that the teachers navigated and how they addressed them. Finally, I will share a few ideas to help us extend the roots and routes of social justice in our teaching.

Rose Aylett

Transformative teaching: seven principles for a critical language pedagogy

If education is linked to social and moral responsibility, then as language teachers we should be critical of how social inequalities are perpetuated through the dominant power structures inherent within teacher-student interactions, curricula content, teaching materials, and language itself. This interactive talk will unpack seven guiding principles to embed a critical language pedagogy in our work in ELT.

Rose Aylett is a freelance training consultant and CELTA tutor, based in Liverpool, UK. She has been working in ELT for 20 years, predominantly in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and has a long-standing professional interest in critical pedagogy, global citizenship and social justice education. Her MA thesis explored critical literacy within teacher education, and informed NILE’s ‘Global Citizenship in Language Education’ course, for which she is the course leader. Rose speaks regularly at national and international conferences about how to teach controversial issues, promoting critical dialogue in the classroom, and the integration of critical perspectives into ELT.

Mina Patel is Head of Research for British Council’s Future of English programme. Her background is in English language teaching and training. She has worked in the UK, Greece, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Malaysia as a teacher, trainer, materials developer and ELT projects manager and has extensive experience working with ministries of education in East Asia. Mina has presented at numerous national and international conferences on ELT-related matters. Her academic interests lie of language assessment literacy, teacher education and development and policy literacy. Mina recently co-authored, Future of English: Global Perspectives and is completing a PhD with the Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment (CRELLA) at the University of Bedfordshire, UK.

Mina Patel

The future of English: what’s in it for the Gens?

As the world rapidly evolves, so too does the role of English in education, employment, and global communication. But what does this mean for the next generations—Gen Z and Gen Alpha? Born into an era of digital acceleration, AI-driven learning, and shifting workplace demands, these young learners and professionals will navigate an English landscape vastly different from that of their predecessors.

Based on the findings of British Council’s Future of English: Global Perspectives (2023), this plenary will explore how English is adapting to the needs, expectations, and identities of these generations. It will consider how technology, multilingualism, and changing global priorities are reshaping English learning and use. Are traditional models of English teaching and assessment still relevant? How can educators and policymakers ensure that English remains a tool for opportunity rather than a barrier?

By examining emerging trends in education, employability, and digital communication, this session will offer insights into what the future of English holds for Gen Z and Gen Alpha — and how we can prepare them to thrive in it.