University teachers as agents in curriculum innovation : Experiences of decolonising curricula

Papen, Uta and Atanasova, Dimitrinka (2025) University teachers as agents in curriculum innovation : Experiences of decolonising curricula. Innovations in Education and Teaching International. pp. 1-12. ISSN 1470-3297

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Abstract

University teachers are key actors in efforts to decolonise higher education curricula. This paper presents findings from 34 interviews with academics from arts, humanities and social science disciplines at a university in the North West of England. We examine these academics’ efforts to decolonise their curricula looking at their role as agents working towards curriculum change. Our findings reveal the dedication for decolonisation amongst university teachers, but also the challenges they face. While colleagues had agency within established practices for curriculum change, they experienced many challenges to what they were able to achieve. Amongst these were other colleagues’ reluctance to engage and the institution’s ambiguous response to the aim of decolonising curricula, specifically with regard to resources needed. A key finding was the perception that decolonising curricula, as a form of curriculum innovation, rested on the shoulders of individual colleagues’ agency, with wider collective agency missing.