Following a Race Equality Review at the University of Reading, the Dean for Diversity & Inclusion, Al Laville, lead on a decolonising project that engaged staff, students and the student union in listening exercises on how decolonising the curricula should work in practice. The outcome of these exercises were a collection of resources on decolonising teaching content, teaching methods, and assessment, applicable to many disciplines.
Resources required:
- Institutional support.
- Cross institution networks and partnerships.
- Time to engage with working parties and activities.
Available evidence of impact:
- Student engagement.
- Shift of attitudes.
- Staff engagement and commitment across the institution.
Links to available resources:
- Race Equality Review and the curriculum at the University of Reading | Advance HE (advance-he.ac.uk)
- Racial Justice Resource Bank | University of Reading
- Race Equality Review 2021
- Racial Equality on Campus exhibition
- Times Higher – Tips for decolonising
Implementation and potential challenges:
- Getting academics involved, engaged and onboard.
- Clear expectations and guidance documents to help staff.
- Resourcing/partners in race equality.
- Culture change.
- Engagement/commitment.
How to Use:
- Refer to Reading’s resources.
- Look at case studies for inspiration.
- Set up working groups of cross-institutional stakeholders.
- Listening exercises institution wide – to gain perspectives across a range of lived experiences and attitudes to decolonising the curriculum.
- Define working definition of decolonisation at institution/programme/module.
- Use question bank to resolve uncertainties.
- Conduct review input from cross institutional stakeholders.
- Apply practice in terms of how content is taught.
