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The idea that the curriculum can contain Eurocentric biases that can adversely affect our diverse student population is being debated by students and staff across the higher education sector. Although the task of ‘decolonising the curriculum’ may still be a hard one to define, this has not stopped university students and staff from taking forward innovative projects and initiatives, such as UCL’s “Decolonising the Curriculum” week in November.
Respecting and celebrating “diversity and equal opportunity through an inclusive culture” is a key feature of how the University of Portsmouth works. The idea of ‘decolonising the curriculum’ is also concerned with diversity, but in addition it challenges us to apply a critical approach to shared assumptions and examine alternative perspectives.
The Open University’s 2019 Innovating Pedagogy report describes ‘decolonised learning’ as including a curriculum which, “… As education has become increasingly global, communities have challenged the widespread assumption that the most valuable knowledge and the most valuable ways of teaching and learning come from a single European tradition. Decolonising learning prompts us to consider everything we study from new perspectives. It draws attention to how often the only world view presented to learners is male, white, and European.”
The National Union of Students have coordinated student-led work in this area over recent years, including the Liberate My Degree and Why Is My Curriculum White? campaigns, and academics are also providing resources to help explore these themes...
Resources:
Resources:
www.nusconnect.org.uk/campaigns/liberatemydegree
www.nus.org.uk/en/news/why-is-my-curriculum-white/
https://globalsocialtheory.org/decolonising-the-university/
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