Developing an evidence-Informed decolonising curriculum wheel – A reflective piece

Abstract

Decolonising the curriculum is not a fad (Moosavi, 2020) nor a metaphor (Tuck and Yang, 2012). It is the deep interrogation of curriculum with Black and minoritised students, to expose how the colonialist patriarchal epistemological worldview has shaped the curriculum, the results of which are seen in the different educational outcomes for these groups compared to their white peers. Thus, this approach to curriculum transformation decentres the hegemony disadvantaging and harming Black and minoritised students. Decolonising the curriculum reinserts knowledges and authors that are pushed to the margins/devalued, so that Black and minoritised students can be represented in the curriculum, representation leads to belonging, a contributor for student success (Pedler et al., 2022). This paper reflects on the development of an evidence informed ‘decolonising the curriculum wheel – a reflection framework’, as a method to support and guide engagement and continuous evaluation of decolonising curricula activity/ies across a higher education institution, to potentially improve belonging for Black and minoritised students. The article shares how through a scoping literature review and thematic analysis of reports from student focus groups, components for a decolonising method were identified. The article also lays bare the challenges that occurred in this journey towards developing the wheel.