21st International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

There has been a move by UK universities to begin decolonising their degree curricula and to consider ways of making the classroom environment more inclusive. Journal articles and conference papers have emerged on possible methods and approaches, but little has been said about the response of academic staff to implementing these changes. In reality, unless teaching staff on the ground embrace this process, any changes made are at risk of patchy implementation and of only limited effect. At worst, they may be little more than tokenistic. Tina McKee and Rachel Nir designed, were charged with the implementation of a decolonised curriculum for Year 1 of the Law degree at the University of Central Lancashire. But how did staff respond? As part of the review process, interviews were conducted with a number of year 1 staff. How confident were lecturers in making changes to their syllabuses and in implementing measures to improve inclusion in the classroom? The results were both interesting and surprising.