To what extent is the GCSE history curriculum in England and Wales being revised through processes of decolonising and diversifying?

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This project challenges a partisan mainstream curriculum that scholars have found to beprejudiced in favour of maintaining western-centric beliefs. Investigating whether teachersuse diversifying initiatives such as expanding reading lists interchangeably with decolonialmethods such as creating opportunities to challenge hegemonic power is thus essential.Black activists and anti-oppressive academics warn against the superficial use of'decolonising' that limits it to a metaphor or a slogan (Doharty, 2019; Sriprakash, Tikly,and Walker, 2020). This urgent project operates within a comprehensive system of racialinjustice in the UK as reflected by themes such as Britain's negative relationship withmigration and empire (Mclntosh et al, 2019) and the questioning of the Britishness ofracialized subjects (Mansfield, 2019). More recently, increased visibility of racial inequalityduring COVID-19 (Moncrieffe, 2020) has prompted promises from the education sector toincrease Black student progression and decolonise curricula. Responding to the UKRIBlack Lives Matter statement calling for "the ongoing and longer-term commitment ofpractising justice," this study explores what it means to move past non-performativestatements (Desai and Sanya, 2016) to dismantle inequality in the education system byexploring and distinguishing diversifying and decolonising pedagogical frameworks.Diversifying pedagogy values representation and inclusion (Chetty, 2018) whereasdecolonisation demands a disordering and reconstruction of knowledge and power(Fanon, 1963). Both approaches challenge the omissions of black narratives from thecurriculum; however, the decolonial method explicates how black ways of knowing andbeing are disregarded through a history of exploitation and colonisation (Mignolo, 2011).This project addresses the ECY challenge of shaping youth for a relational practice ofjustice in an interconnected and precarious future.This project's participatory research with Black teachers yields originality through theadaptation of a proven analytical tool for exposing systems of oppression in the globalnorth. A co-productive analysis of history curricular texts aims to distinguish decolonialmethods from diversifying approaches and aims to contribute to the increase of blackstudent progression.