Decolonising Curricula & Pedagogy at a Welsh Higher Education Institution: The Student Perspective
Theresa Ofure Ogbekhiulu's research shows why students view decolonising as a practical pathway to achieving greater inclusion within higher education institutions. This is a chapter in a forthcoming e-book, entitled 'Decolonial Education and Youth Aspirations'.
The discourse of decolonising in Higher Education (HE) is tagged “topical and sometimes controversial”, calling for the dismantling of colonial legacies enshrined in institutional culture, structures, pedagogical practices and the curriculum (Adefila, et al., 2021). With the concept of decolonising taking different meanings and forms, based on a variety of subjective contexts, it is important to understand its multi-dimensional nature, which accounts for the political, social, cultural, and economic spheres of the world. The move to decolonise the curriculum and pedagogy is not isolated from tackling other forms of inequalities and discrimination like; racism, classism, and sexism, that continuously persist in Higher Education Institutions (HEI), and society (Joseph, 2012). This explains the prevalence of student-led campaigns to decolonise higher education, such as ‘Why Is My Curriculum White?’, ‘Liberate My Degree’, and ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ (RMF), at institutions like University College London (UCL) and the University of Oxford, which challenge Eurocentrism, colonialism, and marginalisation across UK (HEIs) (Crilly, et al., 2020; Ahmed, 2019; UCL, 2014). These campaigns were largely inspired by the RMF movement at the University of Cape Town, which called for the decolonisation of education and the removal of colonial symbols. Research indicates that student activism has been central to significant social justice movements in anti-colonialism, dating back to 1982 pan-African solidarity in African HEIs (Hodgkinson & Melchiorre, 2019). This legacy of activism continues to be revisited, appreciated, and adopted to date due to its impact and the role of the student voice as a powerful instrument of change.
The student movement today, continues to challenge the exclusion of non-Western epistemological frameworks, ideas and theories in academia while querying the influence of colonisation and imperialism on indigenous, diverse, and other knowledge systems (Bhambra, et. al, 2018). This goal is represented in the RMF campaign manifesto that reinforces the need to correct the notion of Western thinkers possessing knowledge autonomy, or being sole producers of knowledge (RMF Oxford, 2015). However, the impact of this activism, appears to be limited to HEIs with more diverse cohorts, excluding Welsh HEIs and the perspectives of students studying in Wales (Pimblott, 2020; Winter et al., 2022).
The level of exclusion in academia, continues to influence structures that perpetuate inequalities in HEIs, resulting in low attainment, exclusion, limited social mobility, discrimination, and stereotyping of students from Minority Ethnic backgrounds (Arday, 2021; Pimblott, 2020). One outcome of these concerns is some Welsh HEIs committing to reduce the degree awarding differential and co-developing a curriculum and culture that is inclusive, anti-racist and improves students’ sense of belonging (Cardiff University, 2024; Swansea University, 2024). Through semi-structured interviews, my research explores the student voice within the decolonial movement, drawing on students’ knowledge, experiences, and aspirations for an equitable education in Wales.
Students feel a sense of belonging and connection to their HEIs through various avenues such as the curriculum, but these could also cause disconnection, resulting in issues like the attainment gap (Thomas & Quinlan, 2022). The Universities UK (UUK) (2021) Closing the Gap report suggests that students’ racial identity can deepen feelings of disconnection, which may, in turn, impact degree outcomes. UUK highlights an 18.4% degree awarding gap between Black and White students, a reduction from 23.5% in 2019, potentially due to the adoption of flexible assessment methods during the COVID-19 pandemic (UUK, 2021; UUK, 2019; Lander, et al., 2015). Similarly, Alexander and Shankley (2020, p. 95) note that “education marks a key point of transition, between family, community and broader society, and into the world of work”. Therefore, if the inequalities are not grasped at the roots, they could pose future social mobility problems and growing systems of inequalities.
In Wales, a petition was submitted to the Welsh Government calling for improved teaching of Black and Asian histories and anti-racism within the school curriculum (Senedd, 2020). The petition received strong public support, gathering over 34,000 signatures and prompting a debate in the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) on the 4th of November 2020 (Senedd, 2020). This move resulted in a new curriculum for Wales being scrutinised, accompanied by the anti-racist Wales action plan, and the introduction of the Race Equality Charter for Welsh HEIs (Welsh Government, 2021). This is a crucial step toward a more inclusive and anti-racist education system in Wales.
Beyond the influence of Western epistemologies on the curriculum, the decolonial student movement also demands the removal of physical manifestations of colonialism. During the Black Lives Matter Protest in 2020, this involved the removal of the statues and symbols of slaveowners around cities and campuses in the UK (Doharty, et al., 2020). Examples include Cecil Rhodes’ statue from the University of Oxford, Edward Colston’s from Bristol, and Thomas Picton’s name from the Swansea shopping arcade, amongst others (Vice, 2020; Wales Online, 2020). Campaigners argued that “as long as the statue stays, it remains a celebration not only of the crimes of Rhodes himself, but of the racist imperial legacy on which the University continues to thrive” (RMF Oxford, 2015). Consequently, the need to decolonise curricula, pedagogies and the culture of HEIs is imminent and emanates from the increased levels of student activism and agency on campuses to challenge the leadership for an equitable, and inclusive learning environment. A core element of the decolonial movement is the recognition of not only students’ right to access education, but also to shape their educational experience and the knowledge produced (Adefila, et al, 2021; Hall & Tandon, 2017).
Thematic Analysis
I conducted semi-structured interviews with five individuals studying at a Welsh HEI. The sample included a mix of International and Home UK, Black African, and Caribbean students, across postgraduate taught and undergraduate levels of study. A thematic analysis permits the collection and interpretation of data in line with academic literature, theory, and experience, whilst maintaining a critical distance. In this condensed section, I explore themes on student voice, belonging and possible solutions for further exploring decolonising from the participants’ perspectives. It mirrors Layder’s (1998) adaptive theory, largely concerned with the use of evidence generated from data to support existing theories.
Student Voice
This section explores the way participants construct their thoughts on decolonising, recognising the validity of the student voice in this process. Participant (P1), explains how they have engaged with decolonising, stating thus:
I think it's ‘why is the curriculum White’ I also think the Rhodes must fall. I know there was a protest at a South African University in Cape Town about Cecil Rhodes. I think, on their campus, there was a statue of him, and students were investigating the full story of the statues that we kind of walk past. But, for some of these statues, they were colonialists as they were plantation owners, slave owners, how they kind of came about getting their wealth were not legitimate in ways that did cost suffering to black and other minority people. I know there's a professor at Bristol University has been doing work around decolonising the curriculum. (P1).
In addition, P2 presents the way they conceptualise decolonising as, a change of “mindset”, while describing the power relations that exist within the phenomenon.
So, whenever I think decolonisation is kind of changing that mindset as opposed to thinking that a set of people, or like a certain faction of countries, are better. (P2).
However, there is the recognition of how students can be engaged in decolonising teaching and learning. P3 lends her voice to the impact of meaningful student engagement as future contributors to their respective fields:
Oh, I think students can contribute so much. They are, in fact, the future of any field that you are looking at, and they will be the ones in the future making these decisions. (P3).
The quote above exemplifies P3’s confident display of optimism, emphasising the importance of engaging students as active participants in their learning, recognising the impact they can make in creating an inclusive world. However, P1 on the other hand, maintained his stance against this process. He describes it as “burden”, especially for students who continue to experience marginalisation. The contrast with the previous speakers is notable, as he critiques the thought that marginalised people with the lesser resource should clamour for change. He states thus that:
It is always hard that the burden always falls on the people who want change, and not the persons who are within the system and benefit from the system. (P1).
If a system benefits you, you're not going to dismantle the system. (P5).
P1 and P5 identify that there are groups of people who do not share their experience and instead benefit from said structures, therefore, may not clamour for change as much. P4 agrees with the need for strength in the numbers of students to make institutional initiatives possible.
If you have enough students speaking up about how they would love to learn from a different perspective, it might make a university want to put on more talks for example even hire more lecturers, that have researched their discipline. (P4).
Sense of belonging
Participants report feelings of loneliness and isolation that accompanies being an international student or from a Minority Ethnic background studying in Wales. P3 reports a feeling of “loss” in their learning as reflected in the following quote.
But coming to this place, it was entirely different because I couldn't see myself in the literature that we were studying at the time, and I had a sense of loss in the sense that the way they teach things they expected to use English examples and by English authors. So, I was lost as to where to fix myself in the whole set-up, because I couldn't see myself in everything that was done in the class. (P3)
I observed that feelings of exclusion, though present, were not limited to the curriculum alone but also extended to students' experiences within their learning community. P3 expressed a sense of feeling lost and disconnected to the learning content, affirming the thought that the way a student feels, learns, and grows within their learning community can be linked to how represented and seen they feel. Conversely, when students feel a sense of belonging, they are more likely to make an extra effort to engage with and contribute to their community. For instance, P2 is observed to make a distinction between himself and peers.
Fortunately for me, compared to most of my other colleagues, I've integrated properly into the Welsh lifestyle. But I have had a lot of my colleagues struggle extensively, being that they've struggled to find a community to belong in this sense. (P2).
The use of the phrase above by P2, “fortunately for me”, showed a difference and indicated a distance away from a community, and came across as though he was grateful, he made the effort to integrate, otherwise he would have become alienated from the community like his peers (P2). This narrative exemplifies the experiences of students from Minority Ethnic and International backgrounds living and studying in Wales, who must integrate as though that was the only chance of survival they had. Although these quotes do not directly link to curriculum and pedagogy, they indicate that the culture within which students study and live, has a powerful influence on their learning experiences.
Possible Solutions
Having explored the challenges and experiences, participants expressed that students ought to be involved in decolonising, and are seen to query the value of their cultural capital within a Eurocentrically designed curriculum:
I think increasingly, there needs to be flexibility in the assessments that students get, just so that students can present perspectives, outside of what is already been taught, because if what you've been taught is centred around whiteness, why can't I take that and present my perspective? How students are assessed needs a push back in saying. If I meet the learning outcome, can the perspective that I share coming from my home country be used in assessments also in class discussions. (P1)
From the narratives presented, it is evident that students want to identify with their courses and want to be active participants in their learning. Therefore, the development process of curricula and pedagogy should accommodate students’ own way of constructing knowledge, learning, thoughts, and experiences. P2 shares further practical recommendations, calling on staff in HEIs to acknowledge this level of inequality as a problem, and supporting staff to fix it:
So, you know the University can offer a lot of capacity-building sessions around decolonising the curriculum and telling staff what is important, but staff within themselves also must acknowledge that this is indeed a problem. We attract a lot of International students, and it is very mind-boggling to me that universities spend so much money to attract international students. But still want to maintain a curriculum that doesn't reflect the lived experiences of students outside of the UK outside of Wales. (P2).
P2’s views remain that the bulk of decolonising rests with HEIs, and encourages them to turn the “decolonial gaze” towards themselves, in the words of Leon Moosavi (2022), and in turn empower academics to do the same. From P2’s quote above, he narrates the need for international students to be represented and feel connected to their learning and the environment. Santos (2014) draws a connection between decolonising, and epistemic violence, whereby only Eurocentric knowledge and experiences are presented as legitimate and powerful, consequently relegating other forms of knowledge. Therefore, decolonising cannot be synonymous to diversification or internationalisation, but a call for a “more transformative agenda” that decentres and reflects on representation and injustice in epistemologies (Adefila, et al., 2021). As a result, P1 calls for both individual and collective responsibility in the efforts towards decolonising.
I think we must get the people who benefit from it. To be a part, as allies. So, see like you have LGBT people who get straight people to be allies. I think issues that affect Black people and the minority people, we must get White people to be a part of it to be like okay this is an issue, because we are going to be painted, as an angry Black person, and I think I don't like that. That's my 2 cents. (P1).
P3 emphasises how researching outside of your comfort zone makes a great scholar, reflecting on her experience, and encourages academics to adopt a similar approach, and not be complicit.
There should be collaborations, too, between the lectures. While I was in Nigeria. I hear my lecturers going on sabbaticals to University of Texas, to Cambridge, different universities outside the country, and they come back with renewed vigour, with renewed energy, with a wider view of not just teaching… It is not good to be a local champion… so I paid through my nose to get the knowledge and experience that I’m having here, because when I write, I want to write as an international writer. (P3)
In line with this, she reflects on why she migrated to Wales to progress her academic career, and enable her to compete on a global scale, not only in Nigeria. Therefore, she encourages academics to avoid being comfortable with their knowledge, and to broaden their horizon beyond long-standing traditional curricula (Kulesa & Brantuo, 2021). Heleta (2016, p., 7) postulates that “progressive academics and lecturers must take the lead and not wait until the institutional cultures and environments transform”.
Learning is about movement, about adventure. That is the only way lecturers can broaden up their mind and embrace decolonisation because the world has become global village. (P3).
In conclusion, decolonising is recognised as complex and multi-faceted, but this paper also indicates that students view it as a practical pathway to achieving greater inclusion within HEIs. While student activism in England is not as prominent as in Wales, which has slowed progress in this discourse, encouraging student voice and agency remains crucial. The introduction of the Race Equality Charter and the Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Action Plan also present opportunities for accountability. Fundamentally, for change to occur in the sector there needs to be a commitment to creating a culture of trust and collaboration with students, staff, and external stakeholders to progress decolonising, not only in curricula and pedagogy, but all aspects of the student experience (Maserumule, 2015). HEIs as ‘citadels’ of knowledge ought to be challenging in their approach to decolonising, in a way that encourages students to be critical thinkers, active participants and contributors to the institutional culture, and not monoliths. Santos et al (2008), relate true emancipation of social groups to their ability to produce knowledge. Students are the future of any society, and ought to be empowered with the knowledge and tools to be effective in any space or culture they find themselves. Seeking decolonisation does not simply imply the disregard of Western epistemologies. It calls for a critical approach in thinking, representation of ideologies, co-production of knowledge, and challenging existing power dynamics such that one is not privileged over the other by the virtue of geographical location, race or culture.
Positionality statement
As a young black woman with over ten years of work and study experience in the UK Higher Education sector, my interest in this topic is shaped by an insider and outsider, staff and student perspectives. My proximity to the topic stems from my experience navigating the sector, and the experiences of the students I have engaged with through the University, and Students’ Union. Thus, allowing me to critically engage with academic frameworks, and the data collected from the interviews. Employing reflexivity decentred my subjective experiences, and elevated those of the research participants, whose thoughts are central to the success of this research. However, it felt unnatural not to express emotions during the interviews, especially when shared experiences were being recounted. I join Osler in remarking that “in interviewing Black and Ethnic Minority people, I cannot disregard shared experiences or meanings or adopt a neutral position…personal values are likely to influence research whether or not they are acknowledged” (1997, p.69).
Theresa Ofure Ogbekhiulu is a dedicated racial equity advocate, social researcher, and EDI strategist with expertise in governance and policy development. She previously led race equality work at Swansea University as Senior Project Advisor, where she co-led the institution’s Race Equality Charter submission, and advanced strategic work on inclusive student engagement and outcomes. She is now a fully funded PhD researcher in Sociology, examining decolonising practices within higher education. Theresa Ogbekhiulu FHEA | LinkedIn
