This paper presents four case studies exploring how Latin is taught and positioned within Catholic secondary schools and colleges in Northern England. While Latin education is often debated in terms of class and elitism, this study adds a religious dimension, examining how Catholic identity, ecclesial values, and liturgical politics influence curricular choices. Using qualitative data from interviews with Latin teachers, the research investigates how schools interpret papal calls to preserve Latin. The findings reveal a varied landscape: in selective or fee-paying schools, Latin is linked to prestige; in more inclusive settings, it is framed as cultural enrichment. Yet, across all cases, institutional backing is limited, with Latin instruction often depending on dedicated individuals rather than policy or Church direction. The tension between inclusive education and doctrinal identity further shapes how Latin is taught. Additionally, the decline of Latin in liturgy weakens its status in the curriculum. By focusing on the intersection of faith, market dynamics, and ideology, the study highlights both opportunities and constraints for Latin’s revival in Catholic education. It concludes that Latin’s future in these schools cannot rest on tradition alone but requires nuanced, context-specific engagement.

In England, inclusion remains a central theme in educational discourse. Within music education, and particularly in instrumental learning, adapted instruments are sometimes necessary to ensure that learners with physical disabilities can participate meaningfully in music-making. Previous research has highlighted the benefits of such instruments in promoting inclusivity in music classrooms, yet further national-level work is needed. This article, adopting a conversational format, presents reflections from the General Manager of The OHMI Trust on the ongoing challenges and emerging opportunities for improving access to music education for physically disabled learners.

Within the dynamic realm of historiography and the generation of knowledge, the process of “Becoming Independent” serves as a profound testament to the tenacity and resolve exhibited by a wide array of intellectual communities in their efforts to confront and transform established narratives. This afterword explores the themes in this special issue, which not only offers a critical analysis of historiographical practices from both past and present but also emphasises the imperative for ongoing dedication in the endeavour to cultivate diverse and independent historical narratives. By discussing the different articles of this collection, the afterword explores shared themes, such as the decoloniality of historical scholarship through ethnographic inquiry, prospects of de-emphasising the Eurocentric gaze, fragmentation of history as evidence of varied epistemological sovereignties, and the decolonial agenda through “white expatriates.” By doing so, this Afterword serves as a resounding appeal for the continuous pursuit of intellectual liberation.

As increasing numbers of students disclose mental health conditions, this study is the first to examine mental health status as a critical variable in foreign language anxiety research. Using a mixed-methods approach and drawing on data from 262 languages students at the Open University, it systematically compares foreign language speaking anxiety (FLSA) experiences between students with and without declared mental health conditions. Vocabulary retrieval emerged as the primary anxiety trigger common to all learners, however, significant distinctions emerged: students without mental health conditions expressed more academic-focused anxieties, whereas those with mental health conditions faced confidence and identity-based barriers. Students with mental health challenges are less likely to speak spontaneously and undertake spoken assessments, often opting to avoid online synchronous sessions entirely, requiring different coping strategies. The findings are analysed through a Universal Learning Design lens and reveal the need for tailored support and innovative pedagogical solutions, including AI-powered practice environments and self-compassion interventions specifically designed for online language learning contexts, to address the emotional barriers faced by students with mental health conditions. The study offers broader implications for inclusive (language) course design and learner engagement.

Mental health literacy (MHL) encompasses both cognitive and cultural dimensions. Low MHL sustains stigma by reinforcing misconceptions, social distancing and discrimination, discouraging help-seeking and adherence to treatment. In education, MHL extends beyond knowledge to empathy, emotional intelligence and inclusivity. Integrating MHL into psychiatry training enhances competence and compassion, cultivating openness toward mental illness. Promoting diversity and inclusion is not only a moral imperative but also vital for effective psychiatric education. Embedding MHL across learning environments fosters understanding, reduces stigma and strengthens psychiatry’s connection to the human experience in all its emotional and cultural depth.

International investment law has long relied on treaties that grant enforceable rights to investors and resolve disputes through adjudication. This model has produced systemic constraints on regulatory autonomy, fragmented legal authority across treaty layers and limited responsiveness to development priorities. A new generation of treaties introduces a different organising logic. Investment facilitation agreements construct treaty obligations around procedural conduct rather than investor protection. Despite their growing prevalence, their legal structure, functional orientation and implications for treaty design remain under-theorised. This article argues that facilitation treaties reconstitute the legal function of investment agreements. They do not modify the protection-based model; they establish a procedural architecture in which treaty obligations operate through administrative performance at the domestic level. The argument is developed through comparative analysis of treaty practice at multiple levels, including the World Trade Organization Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement, the African Continental Free Trade Area Protocol on Investment, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and a range of second and third-generation bilateral treaties. Six procedural commitments (transparency, administrative coordination, investor support, dispute prevention, capacity-building and sustainability) are identified and theorised as foundational legal elements. The article contributes a general theory of procedural treaty design. It shows how legal ordering across international and domestic systems can be achieved through coordination rather than adjudication, with broader implications for international economic law and the evolution of international legal instruments.

This essay demonstrates the impact of careful, intentional event design on public humanities programming. In particular, it records the practical and pedagogical methodologies we have developed through a decade of sustained collaboration between a humanities scholar and an arts administrator. We outline the ways that arts administration practices have informed our approach to public humanities, and we suggest that these practices can help us to address skills gaps in graduate training in the humanities. In the essay, we walk through our framework for the intentional design of a public humanities event (the Life Cycle of an Event worksheet) and offer practical advice on further collaboration between humanities practitioners and arts administrators. We have found that when humanities practitioners and arts administrators collaborate, accessibility and inclusivity become central to public humanities program design – an achievable expectation and not just an aspiration. Above all, our collaboration has deepened our commitment to curating relevant public humanities programming that welcomes community members and provides mentorship opportunities for students.

Global governance institutions have increasingly ‘opened up’ to non-state actors, leading to more formally inclusive governance arrangements. This has prompted inquiry into the extent and the drivers of this inclusivity, patterns of participation, and the consequences for the legitimacy and effectiveness of global governance. However, while the measurement of formal openness has expanded, the quality of inclusion remains underexplored. We therefore introduce a framework centred on the notion of ‘meaningful inclusion’, distinguishing between formal (de jure) structures and the perceived quality of actual (de facto) engagement. Drawing on extensive empirical data, we then examine the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation. This case exemplifies strong formal mechanisms for inclusion that are contrasted sharply by significant shortcomings in effective engagement. Our findings suggest that improvements in formal global governance structures alone cannot ensure meaningful inclusion. Instead, we highlight the centrality of power dynamics and vested interests in shaping inclusivity dynamics in practice.

Calls for more family-friendly assemblies, specifically those able to accommodate representatives who are pregnant, postpartum or have young children, have become urgent in the last decade, as a mini-baby boom in the federal parliament and the provinces has called the inclusivity of legislatures into question. Drawing on interviews with legislative clerks, this article asks two questions: 1) Are Canadian legislatures family-friendly? And 2) what approaches to family-friendly legislatures emerge from policies and discussions within these legislatures? It identifies patterns both in the types of changes that are proposed and those which are actioned, finding that changes have leaned heavily on the least consequential improvements. Many calls for change continue to run up against structural challenges that have been, thus far, ignored. Although legislatures are more family-friendly than in previous decades, this article argues that the future of inclusive parliaments hinges on a broad rethinking of the parliamentary role.