SOAS Research Online

Abstract

It has not gone unnoticed that in recent years in the UK, HEIs have been working on de-colonising the curriculum. A background understanding is that global histories of Western domination have dictated; what counts as valuable knowledge, whose knowledge is validated, university curriculum and how it is taught. Therefore, the need to decolonise the curriculum is paramount to allow more inclusive teaching and learning in HEIs. However, despite an emphasis on the need to increase the number of teaching materials by academics from GlobalSouth, decolonising our pedagogical approach seems to have fallen below the radar.Simply including examples/sources from the “Global Southern countries” in our reading list or in our learning materials would be tokenistic, without a true commitment to decolonise our delivery approach as well. In this, reflecting the importance of diversity and inclusivity means a need to implement teaching that consciously positions at the forefront, how we teach what we teach. Thus, decolonising our pedagogical approach is a commitment to self-critique and self-evaluation – from ethnocentric attitudes that maintain white privilege and disadvantage minority ethnic groups (Eboka, 2019). Such a shift in our approach is bound to transform our programmes and improve the students’ learning experience.