Several higher education institutions (HEIs), including the University of Glasgow (UoG), have committed to optimising equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and challenging colonial ideals upheld in curricula. However, a scarcity of resources and evidence-driven materials, resistance to change, Eurocentrism, anxiety about positionality, and difficulties defining decolonisation make this a mammoth task for educators.

Since 2021, staff in the UoG’s School of Health and Wellbeing (SHW) have adopted a multipronged approach to enhancing EDI and commencing curricula decolonisation. Student collaborations ensures a range of voices are represented. The Director of the Institute for Educational and Social Equity has recognised our team as ‘motivated allies’. However, we did not start with (nor do we yet have) expertise, and our positions are ones of relative privilege. Despite this, it seemed imperative to begin.

This workshop will demonstrate the cyclical improvement approach taken to auditing and enhancing courses in the SHW. This will be achieved through an interactive session mirroring how we engaged students in the process, drawing on principles of active learning and gamification. Our aim is to: 1) provide workshop attendees who may be interested in decolonisation but are hesitant to start an opportunity to ‘give it a go’, and 2) create a collaborative learning environment. We believe there are several ‘right approaches’. The showcasing of those we have engaged is intended to both offer ideas and foster debate among presenters and attendees on future progression, in our efforts specifically as well as the broader movement to decolonise curricula in HEIs.

Authors:
Laura Sharp, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Ailsa Foley, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Mia Wilson, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Julie Langan Martin, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Samuel Owusu Achiaw, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Laura Sharp a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. Her research projects target online learning, flipped class, employability, student wellbeing, equality, diversity, inclusion, and decolonisation.
Ailsa (she/her) is a lecturer with the Global Mental Health MSc Programme with the University of Glasgow, she is passionate in championing inclusion and equity in education, working on projects of diversity and decolonisation.

Connect on Linkedin
https://linkedin.com/in/laura-sharp-6bb71338

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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