Key consideration

• Students are involved in curricula development either from the start of design process or during the unit (primarily for course/unit design/development)

Prompts for reflection and practice

• Curriculum is rendered inclusive not simply in terms of content, but also through student engagement, partnership or co-creation in its design. Can you create opportunities for a diversity of student voices to be reflected in curriculum design?
  
  
• Is there flexibility - once teaching is underway - that allows students to co-create elements of their curricula or assessments?

Guidance

See the Curriculum Framework Co-creation Strand

Key consideration

• Curriculum explores the themes of equality, diversity and inclusivity through personal or multiple perspectives, theoretical standpoints and/or contributions from people with different identities and from distinct communities and circumstances.

Prompts for reflection and practice

• In light of what you know about your students, does the curriculum content reflect their distinct identities, communities and backgrounds and other protected characteristics?
  
  
• Can students bring their own experiences to learning on this unit?
  
  
• Is a diversity of people included in visual representations or case study material?
  
  
• Is there a learning outcome related to reflection regarding development of equality and diversity?
  
  

Key consideration

• Reference materials draw from a diversity of perspectives and experiences that represent different identities and backgrounds.

Prompts for reflection and practice

• Do reference materials reflect a diversity of perspectives and experiences from different ethnic, cultural or political contexts?
  
  
• Have you discussed reading lists and the inclusion of diverse authors with students at the outset? Have you invited them to suggest material based on their own interests or backgrounds?
  
  
• Do the resources include case studies which are reflective of the students’ ethnicity and gender (other characteristics may not be self-declared): if available, digital resources can be resourced within 4-5 days.

Guidance

By providing a wide range of learning resources that reflect the diversity of our students, course teams can deliver an inclusive curriculum which safeguards individuals and fosters good relations and understandings between students from different communities and backgrounds. Since all students should learn about the diversity of the social worlds we live and work in, diverse and inclusive curriculum resources enrich learning for everyone.

Inclusive curriculum resources will

• Include a range of formats, media and technologies (e.g. articles, blogs, videos and podcasts) to support access and engagement. Explain the importance of this variety for academic development.
  
  
• Include a range of practitioners that are reflective of the students’ identities (be mindful that you cannot assume what these are and that some characteristics may not be self-declared).
  
  
• Guide students with contextual descriptions about the significance of the materials included in the resource list.
  
  
• Engage students from the outset in discussions about the diversity represented in the resource list. You might want to emphasise what groups or communities are represented, why you selected what you did and why some groups or communities may be absent. This is feasible at all levels.
  
  
• Ask students to identify their interests and ask them for references they may already know or would like to know about.
  
  
• Include images or case studies that reflect a range of student identities and communities.
  
  

Inclusive resource lists

Academics and course teams should liaise with their Academic Liaison Librarian when developing resource lists. Considerations when developing resource lists:

• Be mindful not to overwhelm students with the volume of the individual resources included. It might be more appropriate to include just a chapter rather than an entire book.
  
  
• Resources to which the University does not subscribe can usually be sourced by the Library team and could be added to a unit resource list as the unit progresses.
  
  
• Open access resources are free to access and are usually available on an institutional, funder or subject repository.
  
  
• Copyright law must always be followed. This applies to content uploaded directly to BREO from the library collection using persistent URLs, requesting digital content using the Copyright Licencing Agency (CLA) licence and creating teaching resources. Ensure that you follow Creative Commons licences associated with content on the web and, if appropriate, seek permission from publishers/authors/rights owners.
  
  
• The following databases available through the library include global content and may assist the creation of case studies:
  
  
  • CREDO – provides a wide range of dictionaries and reference sources in different languages to access material from different cultural and geographic contexts.
    
    
  • News Bank/Access World News – includes case studies from different geographical and political contexts.
    
    
  • Scopus – international research database that can be searched to identify global content
    
    
  • Web of Science – international research database that can be searched to identify global content
    
    
  • DISCOVER – University of Bedfordshire Resource Discovery Platform

Find our more

Further reading and resources are available via the Academy Resource List: Inclusive Curriculum Resources

Key consideration

• The curriculum and teaching includes consideration of any cultural and racial biases in the canons of the academic field and its development as a subject

Prompts for reflection and practice

• Have you included material to develop understandings about any biases relating to the history of the subject?
  
  
• Does the course/unit incorporate learning activities that explore any inherent biases of the field as a basis from which to promote constructive debate and action for change?
  
  
• Can you generate discussion with students about any cultural and historical biases regarding how the subject area has developed?

Guidance

Decolonising learning and teaching involves challenging and transforming the dominant perspectives and knowledge systems that have traditionally shaped curriculum and educational practices. It seeks to acknowledge and rectify the historical biases, power imbalances and resultant racial/ethnic inequalities perpetuated through educational institutions, disciplines and practitioners. More specifically, it involves “creating distance in relation to the Eurocentric tradition, [opening] analytical spaces for realities that have been ignored, made invisible [or] deemed non-existent...” (de Sousa Santos, 2014, p.44).

Within higher education, decolonisation is recognised as integral to redressing racism and the awarding gap between White students and those from Black, Asian and minoritised* ethnic backgrounds. This is because it enables students to explore different (racial/ethnic) histories and perspectives and thus to see themselves represented in, and stimulated by, the content of their curricula (El Magd, 2016).

All staff and students benefit from a decolonised curriculum since it creates access to knowledge systems of cultures - from across the world - which colonial processes and structures have obscured (Hall and Tandon, 2017). It results in an expansion of what is generally recognised as knowledge.

The University positions decolonisation within its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusivity. It acknowledges both that relevant practices may be adopted more readily amongst colleagues in some subject areas than in others and that practices can only develop over time. This is because decolonisation is a complex process, requiring sustained effort and engagement.

*“Minoritised ethnic backgrounds”, is used instead of “minority ethnic” in recognition that individuals within certain groups have been minoritised, as in subject to social processes of power and domination, which have rendered them minoritized, rather than as existing as statistical minorities. It also suggests the reality that ethnic groups which may be minorities in the UK are majorities in the global population.

Key principles

• Decolonising the curriculum involves a spectrum of practices including the relatively simple adding-and-mixing of content and learning resources to diversify them. More intense approaches involve critical engagement in understanding and challenging the processes that have resulted in the predominance of ‘Western’ (White) representations and knowledge.
  
  
• Ultimately, decolonisation requires educators to ‘decolonise themselves’ (Felix, 2014). This entails a deeply reflective process on the personal role and responsibility of educators to either perpetuate or redress historic and racial/ethnic inequalities and injustices. Where relevant, this entails developing an understanding of whiteness, white supremacy and anti-racism.
  
  
• Implicit in decolonisation is the recognition that racism is a complex interaction between structural, ideological, institutional and behavioural factors. Consequently, it involves both acceptance of the link between white privilege and educational outcomes and the rejection of deficit models.
  
  
• Student engagement, partnership or co-production in design or delivery comprises another approach to decolonising the curriculum. These activities imply modelling the practice of questioning power and the origin and hierarchies of different knowledge systems.

Tangible measures

• Where possible, diversify representation in your learning materials, visual representations, case studies and references to go beyond the Western canons. This serves to reflect a diversity of perspectives and experiences from different ethnic, cultural or political contexts and marginalised communities. This can be achieved by:
  
  
  • liaising with your Academic Liaison Resources in LLRI for advice on decolonising your subject;
    
    
  • consulting with CREDO which provides a wide range of dictionaries and reference sources in different languages to access material from different cultural and geographic contexts;
    
    
  • inviting students to suggest materials based on their own identity, background or communities;
    
    
  • discussing the representation of authors on your reading lists with students and the logic of your selection at the outset of the unit.
    
    
• Consider empowering voices which have been marginalised in the curriculum and the historic processes that have silenced them in your subject area. This can be achieved by centring their knowledge and experiences. Amplifying their perspectives can counteract the erasure of their contributions.
  
  
• Encourage critical thinking and analysis through the questioning of dominant narratives, power structures and assumptions. This can be achieved by promoting dialogue, challenging ideas and exploring alternative perspectives, which effectively approximates critical pedagogy.
  
  
• Similarly, consider deconstructing Eurocentrism, by:
  
  
  • analysing and critiquing the foundations of disciplines, theories and methodologies of your subject to surface its role in the colonial ‘project’;
    
    
  • encouraging students to explore non-Western, postcolonial and decolonial theories to challenge and diversify the intellectual landscape.
    
    
• If you are able, try creating spaces for discussions on privilege, power and identity to develop a more inclusive and equitable learning environment. This can encourage self-reflection about students’ - and your own - positionalities, biases and assumptions.
  
  
• If you have opportunities for flexibility in curricular design, engage students in co-creation from the start or during the unit. This also ensures diversity of representation of different ethnic/racial experiences.
  
  
• In either face-to-face or online classes, consider creating opportunities for students to work in diverse and mixed groups to share their distinct or community experiences. This will likely require you to assign students into the groups, rather than leave them to work in their usual friendship groups.
  
  
• Where you can set new assessments, consider creating opportunities and flexibility so that students can use their own case studies or examples.
  
  
• Where you can set new assessments, consider those that enable students to examine evidence of historical biases within disciplines/canons or which reward submissions that are critical of prevailing disciplinary canons.
  
  
• Are you able to develop links and collaborations with local communities and organisations as holders of different knowledge systems and a source of valuable experiences? Alternatively, try working with local communities and organisations to generate ideas for community-based projects, fieldwork and experiential learning that can connect academic knowledge with authentic, real-world challenges in local contexts.
  
  
• Is it feasible to incorporate interdisciplinary approaches? Drawing on multiple disciplines in teaching and learning is valuable in challenging the compartmentalisation of knowledge. It also further manifests the multiplicity of ways of seeing and knowing.

Sample practices and links to resources and support

• Academy Resource List - Decolonisation of Curriculum
  
  
• Bhambra, G.K., Gebrial D. & Nişancıoğlu, L. (2018) - Decolonising the University
  
  
• Felix, M. (2014) - To decolonise the curriculum, we have to decolonise ourselves

• SOAS University - Decolonising SOAS: Learning and Teaching Toolkit [PDF]

• University of the Arts - Decolonising Reading Lists [PDF]
  
  
• University of Edinburgh (2021) - Teaching Matters Blog - Decolonising the Curriculum – Sharing Ideas: The Podcast Series
  
  
• Wysong, L. (2020) - What would it mean to decolonize the curriculum?

Resources providing critical perspectives

• Chaudhuri, A (2016) -The real meaning of Rhodes Must Fall
  
  
• de Sousa Santos, B. (2014: 44) Epistemologies of the South: Justice against Epistemicide. London and New York: Routledge
  
  
• El Magd, N, A. (2016) - Why is my curriculum white – decolonising the academy
  
  
• Hall, B.L. and Tandon, R. (2017) Decolonization of knowledge, epistemicide. Research for All 1:6–19.
  
  
• Levy, M (2020) - Diversifying reading lists should not be skin deep
  
  
• Maylor, U. (2018) Leadership for race and social justice in higher education in J. Arday, & H.S. Mirza (eds.) Dismantling Race in Higher Education: Racism, Whiteness and Decolonising the Academy, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.349-364.
  
  
• Moosavi, L. (2020) The decolonial bandwagon and the dangers of intellectual decolonisation, International Review of Sociology, 30:2, 332 54.
  
  
• Sabaratnam, M. (2019) - Interviewed by John Humphreys on BBC Radio 4 about decolonisation
  
  
• Said, E (1993) Culture and Imperialism. Vintage Books, New York; Said, E (1979), Orientalism. Vintage Books, New York.

References

de Sousa Santos, B. (2014) Epistemologies of the South: Justice against Epistemicide. London and New York: Routledge.

Hall, B.L. and Tandon, R. (2017) Decolonization of knowledge, epistemicide. Research for All 1:6–19.

Key consideration

• The approach to teaching and learning and practical or group work takes account of the needs and diverse experiences of students such as those with disabilities and different backgrounds.

Prompts for reflection and practice

• Have opportunities been created for students to share diverse experiences from their own or community perspectives and interpretations of situations and contexts in relation to course content?
  
  
• Have opportunities or strategies been provided for students to ensure that they work in diverse and mixed groups for some of their learning?
  
  
• Is it possible to accommodate reasonable adjustments within the planned approach to delivery so that all students can achieve the learning outcomes.

Guidance

The delivery of inclusive learning and teaching should be underpinned by the recognition that all students are entitled to a learning experience that respects diversity, removes barriers and enables participation. It should also anticipate and consider the range of their learning needs and preferences. It supports learning which is “meaningful, relevant and accessible”, and which enriches the lives of everyone (Hockings 2010, p1).

Approaches for establishing a supportive, safe and collaborative learning environment

• Supportive staff–student interactions generate positive learning experiences and outcomes by facilitating a sense of belonging within a learning community, which is particularly important for students with protected characteristics. Develop staff–student rapport by actively listening to students and respecting their identities (e.g., by correctly pronouncing their names and using their chosen pronouns).
  
  
• Where possible and appropriate, ask students to write a short autobiography that relates to prior experiences of course content or delivery and how this made them feel to better understand their individual learning needs.
  
  
• Share insights of your interests, challenges and personal learning journey to create a connection with students. This strengthens communication and demonstrates a willingness to share relative power.
  
  
• Recognise and openly acknowledge the limits in your own understanding of diverse communities and the barriers different students may experience. This indicates your willingness to learn and can encourages students to share their knowledge, experiences and perspectives, while validating their contributions.
  
  
• Treat students as individuals and respect their right to self-identification or silence. Recognise that there is diversity within social groups and do not expect students to speak on behalf of others who share their identity characteristics. Consider describing your own intersectionality to help model this approach.
  
  
• Enable students who may feel reluctant to openly discuss their needs or concerns to speak with you privately by creating opportunities for them to speak to you outside scheduled teaching sessions.
  
  
• Communicate clearly and consistently that inclusive and non-discriminatory language must be used by staff and students to create a safe and respectful learning environment. This expectation should be set out in writing (i.e., in course and unit handbooks) and reinforced during teaching.
  
  
• Challenge your own and others’ negative assumptions and stereotypes regarding students’ identities, backgrounds, aspirations and abilities to combat discrimination.
  
  
• Avoid deficit narratives about student groups (i.e., 'non-traditional' students are difficult or less able). Instead, respect the skills and cultural capital of diverse student groups.
  
  
• Show confidence in the ability of every student and treat them equitably (in terms of praise, behaviour, relationships and discipline). Build students’ self-esteem by drawing on their experience and/or asking questions that enable them to demonstrate areas of knowledge and successes.
  
  
• Be attentive to verbal and non-verbal communication between students. Respond rapidly and appropriately to disruptive, offensive and/or unacceptable behaviours and attitudes. Equality, anti-harassment and anti-bullying guidelines should be included in the Course Information Forms and should refer to University policy.
  
  
• Convey to students that collaboration within a diverse group of peers is an essential part of inclusive curriculum practices and requires them to be active co-producers of their own learning. So, facilitate student–student rapport by creating regular opportunities for learners to share, build on and apply their perspectives, lived experiences and prior knowledge.
  
  
• Encourage interactions between students from different backgrounds by assigning them to heterogeneous pairs or groups. Explain the rationale for doing this in terms of creating opportunities to broaden worldviews and deepen understandings of diverse perspectives that are relevant for their future work in our local and national multicultural and international contexts.

Facilitating inclusive learning environments

• Being engaged does not always mean that students will speak, so allow for a range of opportunities for participation, such as question-and-answer sessions, group discussions, student presentations, experiments, polling, simulations and project work. Use classroom response systems, such as Padlet, and set action research and experiential learning tasks.
  
  
• Provide lecture notes/slides at least 48 hours in advance. This helps all students, but particularly benefits students with specific learning difficulties.
  
  
• In discussions about diversity, avoid making members of minoritised communities feel marked out as ‘different’ or marginalised by efforts to give them a voice. All students should be encouraged to reflect critically on their own cultural values and biases in respect of subject knowledge and approaches.
  
  
• Use plain English and avoid or contextualise colloquialisms, idioms, jargon, irony or cynicism because these may resonate differently with students with different cultural backgrounds or nationalities. Culturally-specific jokes or anecdotes should similarly be avoided or contextualised. Being inclusive involves using modes of interaction that are sensitive to learners’ potential lack of familiarity with UK higher education pedagogy and/or differing understandings of what it means to be articulate and to engage in rational argument.
  
  
• Include case studies and learning resources which represent students’ backgrounds, identities and characteristics. This helps to make provision more accessible and engaging.
  
  
• Encourage critical conversations around diversity, equality and the barriers to inclusion in higher education, your academic discipline and in the workplace/professions. This could involve exploring which groups or communities are represented, why some have been - and continue to be - marginalised and how to challenge inequality.
  
  
• Invite guest speakers to widen the range of ideas, viewpoints and experiences of people with different backgrounds and characteristics. Learning about their academic development and professional stories and trajectories, and how they surpassed barriers, can inspire all students.
  
  
• Create opportunities for diverse student voices to be reflected in curriculum design and content by asking students for ideas or to co-create elements of their curricula or assessments.

Handling difficult situations

• Anticipate the tendency to perpetuate stereotypes about ethnic background, faith, belief, name, accent or fluency in English in classroom interactions by bringing the stereotypes to the surface and dispelling them.
  
  
• Be mindful that inclusivity is a potentially highly charged topic. For example, it is not uncommon for tension to exist between fundamentalist religious beliefs and rights relating to gender or sexual identity. Being inclusive depends on clarity about what constitutes discrimination, as well as making distinctions between the person, the belief and the behaviour. Strategies include:
  
  
  • Referring to the Equality Act 2010 since this establishes the legal (as opposed to moral or social) obligations in the UK and defines the responsibilities of all, including lecturers and higher education institutions, to protect the rights of individuals with protected characteristics. In this way, the University can be inclusive of all people but not of all behaviours - that is to say, specific forms of behaviour may be judged against inclusivity principles, but not in relation to individual worth.
    
    
  • Inviting all students to describe how the communication made them feel before resuming the discussion of relevant issues at a more conceptual and abstract level.
    
    
  • Asking all students to reflect on the situation, either verbally or in writing, before further discussion.
    
    
• Where language or behaviour which is racist, sexist, homophobic, ageist or disablist does surface, adopt whatever strategy to defuse the situation you feel most comfortable with, but never ignore it. Insofar as offensive or discriminatory behaviour needs to be challenged when it occurs, avoid scapegoating any student or view.
  
  

Find out more

Further reading and resources are available via the Academy Resource List: Inclusive Teaching

Key consideration

• Learning materials and resources are accessible and made available in advance of sessions for students to adapt as appropriate.

Prompts for reflection and practice

• Have materials been presented or made available in a variety of formats?
  
  
• Have you used Microsoft office’s accessibility checkers and followed ALLY guidance to improve accessibility when uploading to BREO?

Guidance

Accessible learning materials have been a legal requirement for universities since the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. According to these regulations, material on the University intranet must meet the accessibility standards of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

When creating and uploading learning materials, consider:

• Font size – use a minimum of 12pt for documents and 28pt for slides used in classrooms/lecture theatres.
  
  
• Font type – use a sans serif font, e.g. Arial, Verdana, Helvetica or Calibri, and avoid capitalising whole words.
  
  
• Bold – use bold for emphasis instead of italics or underlining.
  
  
• Alignment – use left-aligned text.
  
  
• Line spacing – space lines at least 1.5 apart.
  
  
• Headings – add headings using Microsoft Word’s Styles function to allow for easy navigation, especially in longer documents.
  
  
• Alt text – add alt text to images, shapes, SmartArt graphics, charts, tables and text boxes to make them accessible to screen reader users.
  
  
• Colour – avoid using colour as the only way of conveying meaning.
  
  
• Colour contrast – use colours that provide a sharp contrast between text and background. Check that combinations conform to the relevant Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 level AA
  
  
• Hyperlinks – ensure that hyperlinks contain key words about what they link to, rather than ‘click here’.
  
  
• Captions – provide captions within 14 days of making a recording available to students. Auto captions must be checked and edited as only accurate captions are compliant with the regulations. A transcript also needs to be available.
  
  
• Reading order – ensure that the elements of your slides are in the correct reading order
  
  
• Respond to student feedback – actively encourage, and respond to, student feedback on the accessibility of materials.
  
  
• Pre-access - typically, materials should be made available at least 48 hours in advance of sessions so that students can adapt them as required.

Resources to check accessibility:

• Colour contrast checker – use the WebAIM colour contrast checker
  
  
• Microsoft Office’s accessibility checkers – see further details on how to use the checker and apply the recommended actions. It is advisable to make improvements using the Microsoft accessibility checkers before using Blackboard Ally.
  
  
• Blackboard Ally – see further guidance on using Ally file accessibility

Resources for students

• Explain how to use Ally to change the format of resources that have been uploaded to Blackboard
  
  
• Assistive technology in the library – for guidance on the specialist software and equipment available in the Library

Find out more

Further readings and resources available via the Academy Resource List: Accessible Learning Materials

Key considerations

• Students with protected characteristic have an equal opportunity to achieve the intended learning outcomes.
  
  
• Opportunities are created for students to engage critically with equality and diversity themes.
  
  
• Assessment accommodates and rewards responses that reflect or constitute different perspectives on the same basis of evidence and argument.

Prompts for reflection and practice

• Are assessments designed to ensure that they do not prejudice students with specific characteristics?
  
  
• Can the same assessment be set in multiple formats?
  
  
• Is there flexibility for students to decide the topic for assessment?
  
  
• Have assessments been set that involve the examination of authentic, real-life scenarios relating to diversity and inclusion issues and/or local or international communities so that students can build on their own lived experiences?
  
  
• Do assessment prompts, criteria, and marking guidance allow for (or even encourage) diverse perspectives that may diverge from the canonical, when presented with appropriate evidence and argument?

Guidance

See the Curriculum Framework Assessment Strand and the Academy Resource List: Inclusive Assessment