The rationale for decolonising the curriculum
Posted 29th January 2024
At Dixons, we are working towards decolonising the curriculum. To understand the rationale behind this, it is important to consider the context within which the education system sits.
Across our trust, we have an incredibly diverse workforce and student population, with over 2/3 of students and 1/3 of staff coming from black and Asian ethnic minority backgrounds.
Through the efforts of our anti-racism cross cutting team, we are starting to close the representation gap in relation to race at middle and senior leadership level. Despite this progress, there is still a significant disparity. We want students and families to be able to recognise themselves in our trust and feel like they belong.
This table shows the percentage of schoolteachers in England by ethnicity. We can see that White British teachers make up the significant majority of teaching roles within England, at 84.4%.
There is further disproportionality when considering the percentage and headcount of teachers by ethnicity and gender. The most recent data on the percentage and headcount of headteachers by ethnicity again reveals that most headteachers within England are White British, at 92.5%.
This means that there is limited input from racialised minority groups within leadership decisions and curriculum delivery: it is this that becomes problematic.
Research shows that having teachers from a range of diverse background leads to better student outcomes.
A third of all children being educated currently in England come from underrepresented minority groups.
There is an immediate contrast with the previous data when considering that 35.7% of school pupils in England are from a minority ethnic background. This means that over one third of students are unable to see themselves represented in the education system, through which they must progress to be successful. This is where the curriculum becomes incredibly important.
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