Festival News: Decolonisation of the Curriculum

On 30th November, Pran Patel delivered a session entitled ‘Decolonisation of the Curriculum’. This was the fifth session of the Anti-Racist Educator Programme, which was part of the ‘Developing a Culture of Equality’ strand of the Learn Sheffield Autumn Online Festival.

The session began with a discussion of what the curriculum is and how the broad and specific aspects of the curriculum impact on what is delivered to children as a product during their education.

There was discussion around the power of omission and how it can affect our perceptions of things, both in terms of stories that are shared and in terms of how things are presented. There was also conversation around representation and how this can have an effect on people’s perceptions, for example black figures who come up in discussions are often from the world of music or they are people who have brought about social change but there are relatively few well-known black scientists or artists. This was followed by a discussion on the power of narratives in a more general sens.

The session ended with a focus on how useful critical learning communities can be important when it comes to having conversations around race.

There are two more sessions to go in this series, places can be booked through our website. Recordings of sessions that have already taken place are also available to be viewed.

This session was recorded, we look forward to sharing that with you soon. To see and access more online events as part of the Learn Sheffield Autumn Online Festival, head to our website.