Launch of Decolonising the Curriculum resources
05 September 2022
Since January 2022, the Decolonising the Curriculum (DtC) Working Group, chaired by Dr Al Laville, Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, has been creating an institutional vision for DtC and a resource booklet to support colleagues in this process.
An enthusiastic ambassador for the positive benefits of DtC, he wants to encourage academic colleagues from across the University to make use of the booklet and get involved, saying:
“Decolonising the curriculum starts by reviewing your teaching and learning practices to make sure a diverse range of students are represented. It is far more than adding ethnic minority authors to your reading lists, it is embedding diverse viewpoints, experiences, beliefs, and frameworks throughout your teaching content and teaching methods. It is also making sure that assessment methods reflect the changes in teaching content.”
The resulting resource has been brought together following extensive consultation with students and colleagues. Our panel of Inclusion Consultants have also played a big role in supporting and feeding into this work.
We asked Inclusion Consultants why decolonising the curriculum was important.
Here’s what Jingheng, Inclusion Consultant, had to say:
“It might seem like a ‘trendy’ thing to do but there are important benefits like better student engagement, enhancing staff-student relationships, dispelling prejudices, broadening the worldview of students and fostering a greater sense of belonging (which is linked to academic success and motivation).
The resource booklet is available now, and focuses on decolonising teaching content, teaching methods and assessment methods.
If you have any feedback about the resource booklet, you can contact Dr Al Laville at allan.laville@reading.ac.uk.
You can also find out more about how we created the DtC resources and the Working Group’s next steps at the T&L Festival 2022 by signing up to ‘Reflecting on the Inclusion Consultants pilot: enhancing inclusivity at the University of Reading (Webinar)’, 7 September, 2.30-3.30pm.