Decolonising the curriculum in the faculties

Contacts

Jane Eme-Power 

• Email: U.J.EmePower@ljmu.ac.uk

Dr Olatunde Durowoju 

• Email: O.A.Durowoju@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 3371

Examples of activities

Dr Giuseppe Scotto

• In the International Business Cultures module, students are introduced to business cultures and approaches from the African and Asian continents, which take into consideration the specific characteristics of these societies
• Students have the opportunity to learn about different cultures and societies from other international LBS staff; for example, in the last academic year, we had presentations about Nigeria and China, which students found very stimulating and informative

Contacts

Dr Javier Pereda 

• Email: J.Pereda@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 904 1972

Dr Ruth Doughty

• Email: R.J.Doughty@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 4769

Sarah Maclennan

• Email: S.A.Maclennan@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 4721

Examples of activities

Andrew Ibi

Co-founded FACE (fashion academics creating diversity) to implement Diversity and Inclusivity through measurability and accountability scales across the fashion HEI sector. The group has engaged with the Office for Students in relation to the National Student Survey to make culture, diversity and equality part of the student survey remit for best practice. 

Caroline Wilkinson

Face Lab hosting a one-day International Association of Craniofacial Identification (IACI) online symposium 23 July 2021 on the theme ‘Race and Face: bias in forensic and archaeological investigation’. 

Emma Roberts

Jamaican Art Exhibition and Residency Oct 2021-June 2022 relating to social and political issues in Jamaica.  Hosted at Victoria Gallery and Museum in Liverpool. Young female Jamaican artist-in-residence at LSAD for a month - making work in response to Liverpool and visiting schools, colleges and Afro-Caribbean associations in order to talk about her life and work in Jamaica and about Jamaican culture in general. Exhibition catalogue for the exhibition includes an essay by Dr Emma Roberts at LJMU, Prime Minister of Jamaica, Jamaican-born Theresa Roberts and British-Jamaican art historian Edward Lucie-Smith.  At the exhibition opening, Lord Woolley of Woodford (one of the few black Lords from the Houses of Parliament) and the Jamaican High Commissioner will be present. 

Annual History of Art and Museum Studies (HAMS) Black History Month schools outreach activity with Tate Liverpool and LJMU Outreach. For example in March 2021, a final-year student, Melanie Lamb, organised a conference at Tate Liverpool about artists of colour.

Javier Pereda

Afrobits project 2020 - explored new narratives of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade through an interactive installation. The research aimed to decolonise narratives surrounding popular culture regarding the tangible and intangible African heritage related to the slave trade. The research was a collaboration between the Digital Humanities Hub at Lancaster University, The Slave Voyages Project, The Digging into Colonial Mexico Research Project, and the School of Art and Design at LJMU. This research received a special commendation for best artistic project, came in second place for the People’s Choice Awards and was shortlisted for best research project by the British Library Labs Awards in 2021.

ESRC CASE PhD studentships 2021-2024 - to work with Liverpool Uni, Lancaster University, and the World Museum from National Museums Liverpool - Museums, Big Data, and the violence of empire.

AHRC/NEH funded 2021-2023 - Unlocking the Colonial Archive: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Indigenous and Spanish American Historical Collections – in collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin, Lancaster University, National Institute of History and Archaeology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, the University of Seville and other European institutions in Portugal, Spain and Sweden

Lee Wright

Created module schedules which created more space and resources for a dialogue of inclusivity.

Widened the global scope and highlighted the challenges but also the benefits of multiple perspectives through discussion, guest speakers, specific lectures, and assignment briefs. 

David Jackson

We ask students to think about ways that science fiction, fantasy, and horror fiction can be good modes for thought-experiments, which may challenge the status quo and open up discussions around difference and social change. We look at ways in which writers can make innovative use of genre fiction to explore subject-matter such as racism, homophobia, migration, colonialism, ecology, and social history. 

We ensure a strong presence of non-white voices on the module, both in-class content and on reading lists. Writers include Octavia Butler, N. K. Jemison, Samuel R. Delany, Hao Jinfang, Selma Dabbagh, and Tasnim Abutabikh. We discuss writers as varied as Ursula K. Le Guin, Angela Carter, Margret Attwood, Doris Lessing, William S. Burroughs, and Kelly Link, who use the genre to tell stories through the lenses of feminist, queer, and non-binary identities.

Helen Tookey

Includes a poetry module that ensures a strong presence of non-white and queer poetic voices on the modules, both in-class content and reading lists. 

Explores the way poets make innovative use of poetic form and voice in order to explore subject matter which includes racism, homophobia, migration, colonialism, and social history 

Bring in guest poets from different demographics to counter the (usually) entirely white, female, and middle-class teaching team. 

Michael Brown

Cultural imperialism examines the development of societies in economically resource-limited countries around the world not as the result of indigenous evolutionary developments, but under the premeditated control and influence, and for the benefit of, richer capitalist countries. 

Media Imperialism examines the strategic use of mass media to drive cultural imperialism by imposing western popular culture and values, western languages, western-oriented news, western religions, western journalism . . . and the like. 

By exposing and investigating cultural and media imperialism, I am facilitating Media Production and Film Studies students to critically reflect on the historical context of their discipline so they can be more aware of their own contemporary and future practice. 

Polly Sharpe and Fran Yeoman

In Journalism, we have been working with three interns on developing a practical 'reporting guide' to support our students in embedding an awareness of inclusivity and diversity issues in their own journalism. This guide outlines how to use inclusive terminology and encourages an awareness of ethical issues and use of language when it comes to reporting issues such as race, sexuality, poverty, mental health, and disability.  

We are also building a bank of practical teaching resources that represent a wider and more diverse range of journalistic authors, from both within and external to the mainstream, with the aim of modeling the possibility of an inclusive industry in which students of all backgrounds can see themselves reflected and represented. This is designed for use in the practical modules of our courses. 

Our ambition is also to decolonise reading lists on our more academic modules, bringing a wider range of perspectives to support the teaching of the theoretical and sociological aspects of journalism. We are working to build a bank of reading materials that will support this work. 

Contact

Dr Judith Enriquez

• Email: J.G.Enriquez@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 5292

Examples of activities

Naomi McLeod

6206ECS involves international provocations that unsettle students and prompt them to become aware of and question their own personal unconscious biases, attitudes and beliefs, to develop an understanding of power imbalances. An open, collaborative space and approach is key for disrupting student’s thinking and feeling uncomfortable in order to develop new appreciations of the interconnected nature of EfS and an eco rather than an ego perspective. At the heart of this, looking at decolonisation is central and understanding the interconnected nature of socio-cultural, historical, political, and economic influences associated with colonialism and white privilege. 

4204ECS essentially looks at the nature of childhood across a range of times and places, and the different socio-cultural and political influences. This includes students reflecting on their own personal view of children and childhood and how this has changed as a result of engaging in the module. 

6203ECS aims to a critical perspective of the influences on international principles and practice within early childhood work and critically examine and compare systems in a range of countries with reference to global contexts. Issues such as ethnocentric bias in research and practice, reliability and validity of cross-national data, are examined. Throughout the module, students are encouraged to unpick personal values and develop a reflexive approach. In particular, this module looks at ECEC in Ghana and Nigeria and issues associated with ethnocentric bias and implications for daily personal practice.

Contact

Ross Dawson 

• Email: R.A.Dawson@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 5111

Examples of activities

Dr Andrea Livesey

A module on Gender, Race and Slavery in the United States embeds discussion of legacies throughout the course.  An example of this is the class on medical exploitation of enslaved people where we also discuss how ideas of race are still present in professionalised medicine. That module also explores the formation of ideas of race within the Atlantic World and looks at how the structures of racialised thinking are reflected in concepts of ‘ethnicity’ and ‘culture’. This is extended at postgraduate level module which has students researching LJMU’s links to slavery and explores reparative justice.  Findings from that research will be openly and democratically available on our website Liverpoolslavery.com for non-university-based parties to access.    

Dr Bella Adams

Designed and delivered an American environmental literature module, which reinforced the focus on colonialism, racism, and environmental racism. White privilege was also relevant to discussions of dominant white men who sought ‘wilderness’ experiences. My research is in Critical Race Studies and, more recently, Environmental Studies, so this module was underpinned by an antiracist politics attuned to how colonialism and racism harm human and non-human health. 

The assessments for the module gave students opportunities to write about colonialism racism, speciesism, and environmental racism 

Dr Christopher Vaughan

History of Africa module where students learn about the transatlantic slave trade, colonial violence, racism and exploitation, and the process of decolonisation itself and its legacies in Africa (including neo-colonialism and the history of post-colonial warfare) 

The teaching of African history emphasises the agency of Africans in shaping their collective histories. 

David Clampin

The LJMU History Programme has a strong strand running through it dealing with the rise and fall of the British Empire. This begins at Level-4 with 4103HIST. Lion Rampant, Lion Tamed which intrinsically deals within equalities (for example health, economic, social exclusion), social justice, cultural awareness, unconscious bias, white privilege whilst providing opportunities to engage with the concepts of racism, racial harassment and ethnic diversity, and reflect an internationalist approach.

These issues are also explored in much more depth in 6120HIST. When the Sun Set in the East: End of Empire in Southeast Asia module but also encompassing consideration of the inequalities and tensions between different ethnic groups in Southeast Asia which often resulted in violent intra-Southeast Asian conflicts both during and after decolonisation, and which are often perceived to have been the consequences of the inequalities and imbalances of colonialism. Issues of race and exclusion are also explored in 5111HIST. From Shogun to Showdown: Japan, 1853-1941, both in terms of how Korean, Ainu and other ethnic minorities were treated in Japan itself but also in Japan's development of a colonial empire. 

Katherine Harbord

A module focused on the Palestinian and Israeli narratives of 1948, which included core reading from ‘indigenous’ historians and less focus on western narratives. The module also included visiting lecturers from both Palestinian and Israeli perspectives, with a virtual tour of the villages destroyed. 

A module focused on the history of the modern Middle East, which included material and sources from ‘indigenous’ and subaltern perspectives wherever possible, with regular conversations about differing perspectives within the history.  

A module on the history of contemporary global antisemitism, which included regular use of recorded lectures by various experts from a wide variety of racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.  

Professor Kay Standing

Body Politics module takes an intersectional feminist approach centering on Black and Queer theorists, using these as key texts for the assessment (a book/film review). 

The module includes a session on race, racism, and allyship, delivered this year by the Goddess Projects,  which outlines the impact of white supremacy in society, and provides a primer on Critical Race Theory.

Dr Michael Perfect

An undergraduate module ‘Literacy and Cultural Theory’ introduces students to postcolonial theory. Within lectures, ongoing debates over decolonising institutions and curricula are addresses, with students being asked to reflect critically on their own experiences; on things such as what they were taught and not taught at school about colonialism and its legacies. Students are also asked to consider the extent to which the degree program they are enrolled in constitutes a decolonised curriculum. 

An undergraduate module ‘ Migrants to the Screen’ focuses on recent works of transnational fiction that have been adapted for the screen. Students study a number of literary and filmic representations of migration and think critically about the ways in which stories themselves (and their politics) ‘migrate’ across different media. Students not only encounter narratives whose politics are explicitly inclusive and anti-racist but also explore the ways in which those politics have themselves been resisted and/or negated.

Contacts

Dominique Walker

• Email: D.V.Walker@ljmu.ac.uk

Dr Ben Stanford

• Email: B.J.Stanford@ljmu.ac.uk

Dr Chijioke Chika Chijioke-Oforji 

• Email: C.C.ChijiokeOforji@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 904 1490

Examples of activities

Law in Society

• In this mandatory Level 4 module students study the movement of philosophical and ethical knowledge from the Islamic world and its contribution to the Renaissance and Western thought, rather than studying classical ethics in a cultural vacuum without historical context
• The reading list includes BAME authors and alternative viewpoints – for example Dovey Johnson Roundtree’s memoirs of the civil rights movement and associated legal actions, a Japanese academic’s perspective on the morality of the WW2 atomic bombings and so on
• There are lectures specifically teaching theories of legal capability and empowerment, which highlight the structural inequalities that law can cause and/or perpetuate. Students then assess the level of legal empowerment exhibited, or not, by simulated and live clients during advice appointments

Clinical Legal Education (I)

• In this optional module students address unconscious bias training as well as simulated examples of biased interviewing/assumptions about clients based on ethnicity, gender, class etc

The following resources might be useful:

• Decolonising law schools
• Law - Decolonising your reading list - LibGuides at University of Exeter

Contact

Dr Stacey Habergham-Mawson 

• Email: S.M.Habergham@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 2954

The Astrophysics Research Institute is at the beginning of our journey to making our curriculum more inclusive. We are committed to making changes and have begun the process looking at our Level 4 introductory module.

We have spent time over the summer working with two of our undergraduate students to identify issues with the module and what needs to be done to make this module more inclusive. This includes addressing diversity in recommended reading lists, providing opportunities for students to voice opinions on controversial issues in the field, and reviewing scientists acknowledged in the course. This is a small first step and has taken advantage of useful module ‘health check’ materials published in the field of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion, specifically around Decolonisation.

Following the review of this first module, we will hold a seminar for the department (autumn 2021) on Decolonising the Curriculum and what it means to us specifically in the field of astrophysics, which can often seem distant from the issues.

We will then review other modules on both our undergraduate programmes and taught masters’ programmes to ensure that our curriculum is as inclusive as possible

Examples of activities

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Webpage

The following resources might be useful: 

• Crease, R. P., Martin, J. D., & Staley, R. (2019). Decolonizing Physics: Learning from the Periphery
• A blog by Dr Chandra Prescod Weinstein (Assistant Professor of Physics at University of Hampshire)
• Chanda Prescod-Weinstein: Decolonising Science Reading List
• Taking steps in the right direction: Decolonising the Sciences’ in the HPS department
• University of Liverpool Centre for Innovation in Education: Decolonising the curriculum

Contact

Adam Papworth

• Email: A.Papworth@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 2828

The following resources might be useful:

• Thinking Outside ‘The Box’: Decolonization and Containerization
• Decolonising our practices - National Maritime

Contact

Dr Nicola Koyama

• Email: N.F.Koyama@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 2627

Examples of activities

Nicola Koyama

In January 2021, the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences began taking steps to increase staff and student awareness of decolonial thought and to apply this perspective to our curricula and pedagogy. This is a long-term initiative that will be developed over four years.

Initial steps have included (you can read more and view the seminars on our School page):

• Introductory talk from the School EDI Coordinator to raise awareness and stimulate discourse 
• A School Repository with examples of subject-specific resources for all programmes 
• A Seminar Series - Decolonising the science curriculum: Ideas for biological sciences 
• A School-wide audit and action plan to be delivered in 2021-22 detailing how all taught undergraduate and Masters programmes have embedded or will begin to embed decolonial thought within modules at all Levels. This involved creating a template based on UCL’s Inclusive Curriculum Content that asked programmes to include multiple learning opportunities for five key criteria to: 

1. Discuss different perspectives related to ethnic diversity 
2. Develop student’s critical thinking and awareness of different perspectives relating to diversity in ethnicity, culture and nationality 
3. Consider ethnic diversity in the field within an historical context 
4. Gain an understanding of how different factors, for example social, economic, ethnicity influence outcomes in the real world 
5. Contain a diverse range of authors including those from different ethnicities and countries 

• The plan incorporated the good practice of using active learning opportunities in delivering the above and signalling the importance of these topics to students by including them in assessment where appropriate.

Contact

Dr Denise Lee 

• Email: D.Y.Lee@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 2843

Within the School we have created a EDI committee, currently with five members of the academic team. We have been meeting fortnightly over the lockdown period and are now moving towards one month meetings. The group was successful in winning two curriculum enhancement projects, one was a Decolonising the Curriculum Audit and the other one was related to Neurodiversity and Assessment Methods.

The Decolonising the curriculum Audit carried out an audit of the undergraduate taught programmes in Civil Engineering and Quantity Surveying, there will be a dissemination event to all School staff to provide them with a checklist to go through when putting their modules together things to consider making the taught  module more inclusive.

The following resources might be useful:

• ‘Race’ and Space: What is ‘race’ doing in a nice field like the built environment? 
• Decolonizing the Boundaries between the ‘Planner’ and the ‘Planned’: Implications of Indigenous Property Development 
• Ethics, Discourse, or Rights? A Discussion about a Decolonizing Project in Planning - Magdalena Ugarte, 2014

Contact

Dr Atif Waraich

• Email: A.I.Waraich@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 2104

Examples of activities

Decolonising Computing

• Decolonising computing? - OpenLearn - Open University
• A Brief Introduction to Decolonial Computing
• Oxford and Colonialism - Department of Computer Science

Decolonising Mathematics

• Yes, mathematics can be decolonised. Here's how to begin
• Decolonising the Curriculum through the History of Mathematics - OpenLearn - Open University
• 10 Questions To Begin Decolonizing Mathematics In Your Classroom

Contact

Adam Papworth

• Email: A.Papworth@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 2828

The School of Engineering is committed to the process of decolonising its curriculum (DTC). DTC is not just about understanding how colonisation has affected our past and continues to affect our future. It’s more about our culture. How we think, behave, react and respond to situations as engineers. Decolonisation of the engineering curriculum is all about modernising and changing our approach to training and educating future engineering professionals. By doing so, we aim to attract a more diverse range of students into our programmes and create an inclusive and positive environment that will support and encourage everyone, so that all from the School of Engineering thrive.

It was the United Nations that first established a guide to the decolonisation effort with the principle of “equal rights and self-determination of peoples” as stipulated in their Charter back in 1945. This still continues to guide the decolonisation agenda. A key part of our commitment is our aim to develop socially and ethically responsive engineering graduates by aligning our curriculum to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The School is committed to setting up a cross-school DTC working group, developing its mission statement alongside a five-year action plan for sustainable change. As part of the plan it will roll out a staff education and training plan; establish, measure and publish recognised DTC metrics and develop a range of inclusive learning and teaching resources.

Examples of learning and teaching resources developed to date include:

“How the West was Won” Critical Thinking Activity: This is based around the “How the West Was Won: A Deconstruction of Politicised Colonial Engineering” article by Stephen J. Eichhorn (2019). Engaging students to think critically with a decolonial lens on some historic and current engineering projects that failed to consider the development of other populations in the world, and their needs.

“Diversity in Design” Challenge: This first year, group design project is linked to the Diversity in Design collaborative (DID). It is recognised that diversity is our greatest creative and innovative advantage. The aim of this design challenge is to encourage collaborative groups of students to reinterpret and design a product that represent themes of diversity and inclusion and one that will highlight the lack of BAME creatives in design and engineering profession.

Ethical Research and Sustainable Design Poster Presentation: This final year assessment is inspired by the success of non-written and peer-reviewed outcomes from various contemporary technical and scientific conferences and publications. Visual thinking is a vital skill for all engineers. It helps them to analyse, organise, communicate, reflect, negotiate, persuade, explain, discuss and present concepts, products, experiences, and services. As such, students are required to produce two info-graphic posters. One that defines their ethical approach to research associated with their final year design project. The other explores and explains the issues of sustainability in relation to their proposed solution.

Contact

Andrea Newman

• Email: A.Newman@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 4468

Examples of activities

Andrea Newman

Co-taught some sessions on the social work programme on anti-oppressive practice and social work.

The case scenarios that are used within learning reflect issues of diversity.

There is planned teaching for a new module on service user participation and co-production will include sessions on understanding the lived experience of service users, inequality and oppression, and participation in practice: working with Black families.

Aim: We the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences (PBS) aim to develop, implement and champion a science curriculum that is inclusive and reflective of the wealth of diversity in our student and staff cohorts.

Rationale: As reflected in our successful Athena SWAN Bronze application (2021) and Decolonising The Curriculum (DTC) reports from Programme Leaders, our School is highly diverse with 41% female and 18% BAME academics. Similarly, our student community consisted of 30% Foundation, 35% UG, 29% PGT and 27% PGR BAME members as of 2019/20. Our programmes, such as MSc Industrial Biotechnology, attract high numbers of international students, as well as EU/UK scholars from a wide range of communities.

Our Process: We undertook a School-wide introspection on an inclusive curriculum in June - July 2021. Programme Leaders carried out a detailed scoping exercise on modules and programmes to identify existing good practices, areas that needed improvement and recommended actions. The collated comprehensive report was considered by the PBS Senior Management Team (SMT). This was subsequently discussed at a September 2021 meeting with the Programme leaders, Director of School (Professor Satya Sarker), Faculty EDI Champion (Dr Phil Denton), Heads of Subject, and School EDI and Interim DTC Coordinator (Dr Komang Ralebitso Senior).

Action Plan: A timed Action Plan is under development by Programme Leaders in full consultation with Module Leaders. Phase 1 is planned for completion by 29/10/2021. Reports from Programme Leaders will coincide with the University’s CME reporting, starting in November 2021. Phase 2 of our inclusive curriculum agenda will consist of: formalisation of the PBS DTC Action Plan; development of a DTC strategy including scheduled meetings per academic calendar year; all Programme Leaders, Foundation Year Lead and Subject Heads will be invited to meetings. Future activities will include internal and external funding application to drive our inclusive curriculum, EDI and AthenaSWAN agendas, for example Diversity in Science Grants.

The School acknowledges that issues of an inclusive curriculum do not apply to all modules and programmes, nor with equal implications. We have, therefore, decided to address the imbalance of the often non-representative examples in the history of our sciences innovatively and as relevant to a given context and discipline. Examples will include, but are not limited to, the use of EDIpedia, timely publications (see Resources) and vetted public statements such as that on Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cell line, within lecture/tutorial materials.

Resources

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2011).

Mind The Gap: A Handbook of Clinical Signs in Black and Brown Skin by Malone Mukwende, Peter Tamony, Margot Turner (2020).

School Contacts

LJMU DTC Working Group Members

Dr Kehinde Ross; Reader; O.K.Ross@ljmu.ac.uk; James Parsons Building (BS/909); 0151 231 2567

Dr Shaqil Chaudary; Head of Subject; S.Chaudary@ljmu.ac.uk; James Parsons Building (BS/908); 0151 231 2292

EDI Coordinator

Dr T. Komang Ralebitso-Senior; t.k.ralebitsosenior@ljmu.ac.uk; James Parsons Building (BS/903); 0151 231 2097

Contact

Dr Anna Law

• Email: A.Law@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 904 6227

Examples of activities

Rose Khatri

Within ‘the whiteness in the curriculum study’ completed within the PHI, interns completed some focus groups and paired interviews with a small number of students and reported back on their findings.

There are modules included to help develop study and group working skills as well as employability skills.

There is also a lengthened induction for MSc Public Health, additional tutorial sessions to enhance intercultural learning as well as develop stronger teaching and learning methods to create more opportunities in formal class time.

Contact

Dr Anna Law

• Email: A.Law@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 904 6227

Examples of activities

Lisa Newson

On MSc Health Psychology within semester 1: The students’ very first assignment, is for research analysis.  Students are introduced to the assignment on day one of the module, and the research data which they have to analyse is specifically chosen to explore equality in healthcare for patients from ethnic minority backgrounds.  As part of the process of qualitative analysis, this topic sparks further discussion around the healthcare needs of patients and considers a non-white perspective on research activity and healthcare practice. This takes the student discussion beyond just qualitative research methods but also encourages them to engage in consideration of a patient individual needs (which includes cultural and ethnicity). 

In addition, in our long-term conditions module, the week 2 seminar is focused around the role of culture and social support within long-term condition management. Specifically, students are asked to reflect on the role of cultural, religious, and social influences in the management of cardiovascular disease. 

The following resource might be useful: 

• Keith, K. 2018. Culture Across the Curriculum: A Psychology Teacher’s Handbook. Cambridge University Press. >doi.org/10.1017/9781316996706. 

Contact

Cath Walker

• Email: C.M.Walker@ljmu.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0151 231 5242

School statement

We, the School of Sport and Exercise Science, recognise that there are numerous challenges for us to provide a truly culturally diverse curriculum. In order to do this, we acknowledge that it is vital to challenge xenophobia, inequality, prejudice, and hegemony. We aim to contribute to social change in our institution through what Mthethwa-Sommers (2014) calls ‘Social justice education’; a way to aspire to a ‘culturally democratic curriculum’ Aldridge (2000).

Aims

Our long-term aim is to develop a diverse and inclusive curriculum, accompanied by associated pedagogical practices, to provide opportunities for all but especially underrepresented and/or marginalised groups. Further, we aspire to empower the University-wide community reflecting on our own teaching practices, engaging in honest, open dialogue, and identifying those changes that we need to make. As such, our curricula will complement LJMU’s Access and Participation Plan and demonstrate the School’s commitment to addressing barriers to students’ success, particularly for Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic students.

Activity

Our commitment to these ideals is demonstrated by successfully acquiring funding for a curriculum audit project. This activity will seek to highlight areas of good practice and areas for improvement within our school. Following a rigorous, thorough self-assessment and the opportunity for individual and programme level reflection, we will develop an action plan and guidelines that will guide our aspiration to decolonise the curriculum Importantly, this project is student-led by three student interns (all of whom identify as coming from a minority group in the School) with guidance from six academic staff who provide representation across these programmes. Their work this year (2020-21) focuses on three undergraduate programmes, but we have objectives to refine our practices and extend this in the future.

Impact

Five of our undergraduate programmes within the School are due to be revalidated for September 2022 (paperwork submission for December 2021) and we envisage that the report and resultant recommendations generated from our curriculum audit will act as a key foundation for enhancing diversity and embedding EDI into the curricula of these new programmes.

Summary

As a school, we acknowledge that we are only just embarking on this important work. However, as a group, we are committed and enthusiastic about the opportunity for learning, developing new opportunities, and addressing barriers to students’ success, particularly for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students.