About
Research
Email: lisa.panford@stmarys.ac.uk
Biography
Lisa Panford (SFHEA) is Associate Professor, Course Lead (Secondary PGCE Languages) and member of the Race Equality Implementation Team (formerly Self-Assessment Team) and of the Centre for Research into the Education of Marginalised Children and Young Adults (CREMCYA) at St Mary’s University (SMU). Lisa is also a student of the Doctoral College at SMU.
Lisa was appointed Associate Fellow of the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies (ILCS), School of Advanced Studies, University of London in 2025.
Additionally, she is a member of the editorial team of the Languages Gateway, the Advisory Committee for Languages at the British Academy, the Advisory Council of ILCS, and a council member of the Association for Language Learning (ALL). Lisa is also a member of the National Association of Language Advisers (NALA) and of the Chartered Institute of Teaching. Lisa founded the ALL Decolonising Secondary MFL Curriculum Special Interest Group in 2021.
A former lead practitioner, with over 14 years’ experience teaching languages in secondary schools in London, Lisa has also worked as a senior examiner for a national awarding body and as a resource reviewer for Oxford University Press.
Lisa is acting as the practice-based co-supervisor to a collaborative doctoral award project entitled: ‘Empowering Critical Thinking and Language Acquisition through Artivism and Media Arts’ and her research interests relate to the intersections of race and languages within secondary and secondary teacher education; anti-racism; race equity and decoloniality.
Research
Research profile
Publications
- Forthcoming (2025): Conference papers from Working Towards a Decolonised Secondary Languages Education symposium. Association for Language Learning
- Forthcoming (2025): ‘Supporting a trainee who is struggling to meet the standards’ Broom, K., Claro, J., Lamb, A., Panford, L., Roberts, S., Waret, M. in Gordon, A. & Molway, L. (eds.) Mentoring Matters, Routledge.
- Forthcoming (2025) ‘The EdDoc and holding up my end of the bargain’ in Davey, J (ed). ‘You’re not taking my EdD’: reflections on why the EdD matters to doctoral students'. BERA Blog Special Issue
- Panford, L (2024): On ‘finding pockets of possibility for anti-racism' in the secondary language teacher education curriculum. Curriculum in a Changing World. BERA
- Glowach, T, Mitchell, R, Bennett, T, Donaldson, L, Jefferson, J, Panford, L, Saleh, A, Smee, K, Wells- Dion, B, Hemmings, E (2022) Making spaces for collaborative action and learning: Reflections on teacher-led decolonising initiatives from a professional learning network in England. The Curriculum Journal BERA https://doi.org/10.1002/curj.186
- Panford, L (2022) A Year in the Life of the ALL Decolonise Secondary MFL Curriculum Special Interest Group. Languages Today. Issue 41. Association for Language Learning.
- Panford, L (2021) Race and Racism in Secondary Modern Foreign Languages ReflectED: St Mary’s Journal of Education ISSN 2046-6986 Volume 8, Number 1, May 2021, p. 1-12.
- Panford, L (2021) Tackling Racial Bias in Secondary MFL. Languages Today. Issue 37. Association for Language Learning
Teaching resource series
Selected conference papers and media
- Panford, L (2024) Introduction to the Evolving Work of the Decolonising Secondary MFL Curriculum Special Interest Group. National Consortium for Languages Education, University College London
- Panford, L (2024) Working Towards a Decolonised Secondary Languages Education | Institute of Languages, Cultures & Societies (sas.ac.uk), University of London.
- Panford, L (2023) What actions for teacher retention can proceed from the perspectives of languages trainees? Languages Gateway Launch in England. British Academy
- Panford, L (2022) Innovation and creative practices in Languages Education in England. Developing language learning across the four nations: sharing innovative and creative approaches. BERA Developing language learning across the four nations: sharing innovative and creative approaches | BERA
- Panford, L (2022) EDI & Epistemic Insight. Ed. Campbell, R. Crossing Silos: Promoting Critical Thinking with Epistemic Insight. St Mary’s University. Episode 3. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5auWTyxiqrlP2ox32XpbrT?si=jlM4szXXSJedoN0HGxp3fw
- Panford, L (2022) ‘Diversifying’ the MFL Curriculum. DiverseEd Virtual IX October 2022. Diverse Educators Our Events Archive | Diverse Educators
- Panford, L (2022) Wrestling, Embracing and Unpacking the Language of Race. Festival of Teaching & Learning, St Mary’s University.
- Panford, L (2022) Working Collaboratively to Decolonise Secondary MFL. AMLUK Symposium, Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London. Modern Languages and Inclusivity: Sharing Ideas and Practices | The Institute of Modern Languages Research (sas.ac.uk)
- Panford, L & Wright, R (2022) Exploring Race and Racism in Secondary MFL, Teach West London Subject Leaders’ Conference.
- Panford, L (2021) How do we create belonging for Early Career Teachers? NASBTT Annual Conference 2021 – From Emergency to Emergence
- Panford, L & Irvine, M (2021) What does a decolonised, anti-racist MFL curriculum look like? ALL Languages World Conference 2021 & Transnationalising the Word Symposium AMLUK 2021, Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London.