Swain, Spencer ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2191-0041, Wood, Margaret ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5067-1978, Su, Feng, Meredith, Margaret ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4541-3821, Pennington, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2286-8375 and Jagdev, Manjinder (2026) From Diversification to Decolonisation: Navigating the Challenges and Opportunities for School Teachers to Reimagine the Curriculum. PRACTICE Contemporary Issues in Practitioner Education.

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Abstract

This think piece examines the transformative potential of decolonising the school curriculum through the lens of knowledge justice and epistemic equity. Drawing on our experiences of working with school educators and relevant literature, this article explores how teachers in England could embed decolonial principles into their pedagogical practices to challenge Eurocentric assumptions, broaden epistemological inclusivity, and foster critical citizenship. The article distinguishes between diversifying and decolonising the curriculum, emphasising that the latter requires a fundamental rethinking of knowledge systems, power relations, and pedagogical intent. Examples of classroom strategies across humanities, science, and mathematics illustrate how decolonial approaches can make learning more culturally responsive and socially meaningful. The piece concludes by arguing that systemic support, whether through school leadership or policy reform, is vital to move beyond individual efforts toward sustained, collective transformation. Decolonising the curriculum is thus positioned as both an ethical and epistemic imperative for equitable and sustainable education. In summary, this piece seeks neither to replace Western knowledge with Indigenous or non-Western knowledge nor to merge different traditions into a single, undifferentiated curriculum. Rather, the aim is to create pedagogical spaces where students can examine different knowledge systems in relation to their histories, methods, purposes, contexts, and limits.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
DOI:	10.1080/25783858.2026.2734725
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) L Education > LB Theory and practice of education L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2361 Curriculum
School/Department:	School of Education, Language and Psychology
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/15794

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