Watch this video to hear Dr Claudia Mvula Pollen, Dr Catherine Bates and Dr Natalie Kopytko discuss why it is important to diversify reading lists.
It’s about decolonising education, not just the curriculum
Professor Nina Wardleworth, Professor of Global French Studies, (2024)
We need to decolonise reading lists because it matters to our students. When students can see themselves represented in their curriculum there is a significant impact on their sense of belonging to the University community (Gopalan and Brady, 2020), and this in turn empowers them to achieve their potential (Suhlmann et al, 2018). When this does not happen there is an increased risk of disengagement, and the retention and attainment gaps widen: “Students from minoritised groups have highlighted sense of alienation partly caused by curriculum content, that either does not speak to their interests and lived experiences or, worse, is discriminatory and biased” (University of Leeds Decolonising Framework).
It is important to consider what decolonisation might mean in practise, and what it does not. This is not a process of removing authors from reading lists. Instead, we need to focus on the voices that are missing or obscured and create space for them, asking ourselves whether new materials should be added to our collections or forgotten sources brought to light. “Decolonising is not about replacing one source with another. It’s about interrogating the current canon and the positionality of the key voices within it, looking at whose words are privileged and whose are missing” (Stone and Ashton, 2021).
Decolonising education is also about working with students, encouraging them to question established sources of knowledge and seek out alternative perspectives and histories, including those that might reflect their own life experiences. We need to acknowledge that sources originating from white, westernised male authors have often been unfairly privileged to the exclusion of knowledge originating from marginalised groups, and be aware of potential biases, gaps, and limitations in what we read, study, and write about. This means being prepared to learn alongside our students, and from them. There are clear benefits for our student community in this approach, but it is also essential if we are to maintain the integrity of our research processes and outputs. Questioning what we teach and how we chose to teach and assess it helps us challenge our own assumptions about knowledge, assumptions that feed into the hidden curriculum and can create barriers to students’ learning and our own development.
Diversity is a fact, but inclusion is a choice
Open Africa Conference (2024)
References
Gopalan, M. and Brady, S.T. 2020. College Students’ Sense of Belonging: A National Perspective. Educational Researcher. [Online]. 49 (2), pp. 134-137. [Accessed 09 April 2025]. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/45295562.
Organisational Development and Professional Learning. Belonging and the hidden curriculum.[Online]. [Accessed 02 April 2025]. Available from https://peopledevelopment.leeds.ac.uk/belonging-at-leeds/belonging-in-practice/belonging-and-the-hidden-curriculum/.
Suhlmann, M., Sassenberg, K., Nagengast, B. and Trautwein, U. 2018. Belonging Mediates Effects of Student-University Fit on Well-being, Motivation, and Dropout intention. Social Psychology. [Online]. 49 (1), pp. 16-18. [Accessed 09 April 2025]. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000325.
Vandana Stone, R. and Ashton, S. 2021. How not to decolonise your curriculum. Wonkhe. [Online]. [Accessed 09 April 2025]. Available from: https://wonkhe.com/blogs/how-not-to-decolonise-your-curriculum/.
Wardleworth, N. A. 2021. Decolonising Framework-Key principles. [Online]. [Accessed 02 April 2025]. Available from: https://studenteddev.leeds.ac.uk/developing-practice/decolonising/.