By Marlon Lee Moncrieffe, School of Education, University of Brighton
I am on a scholarly journey with Decolonising Curriculum Knowledge. This has taken me from local explorations, to developing national and international research, teaching, and learning.
I began twenty-five years ago. The tragic murder of the Black British teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993 was the catalyst of my activism in education, research, teaching, and learning. Like me, Stephen was from South London. Like me, Stephen was a young Black British man. His murder could have been mine, or that of my brothers, or my male cousins. His parents’ grief and tears could have been those of my parents.
Recommendation 67 of Macpherson 1999 inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence stated on page 382:
“That consideration be given to amendment of the National Curriculum aimed at valuing cultural diversity and preventing racism, in order better to reflect the needs of a diverse society.”
This in fact was a recommendation for the national curriculum to be decolonised.
I’d started my training as a primary school teacher in 1999. However, during this learning, I was not taught to become a critical curriculum thinker. I had to learn this myself. Teaching and learning for social justice with a focus on race equality through the primary school history curriculum became my area of interest. I wanted to develop teaching and learning to share an inclusive story about the people who have come the British Isles over the ages via their mass migration.
Since 1999, national curriculum policymakers appear to have ignored Recommendation 67 from Macpherson (1999) when considering my teaching and learning interest. The current primary school history national curriculum directives for teaching and learning (DfE, 2013) speak solely to the Anglocentric narrative of mass migration to the British Isles over the ages (Moncrieffe, 2020). No other ethnic groups from outside of Europe are given attention in this policy document. Government discourse since the education policy reforms of 2010 continue with claims of a national curriculum, that is “broad and balanced”. This is untrue. My detailed unpicking of DfE, 2013 exposes the naked truth. This is a “White Lives Matter” only national history curriculum policy document that reinforces a neo conservative hegemonic agenda for teaching and learning.
In my own research through higher education teaching and learning, I share evidence on how I have taught trainee teachers to fuse Black peoples lived experiences into their teaching of the primary national curriculum history. This comes through a broader and more inclusive culturally diverse British critical consciousness on the story of mass migration to the British Isles over the ages, over the narrow Anglocentric aims and contents of DfE, 2013
The Chartered College of Teaching asked me to bring to their membership opportunities to engage with more critical ways of thinking and knowing about British history. They have now produced teaching and learning training materials to support the Decolonising and Diversifying of curriculum knowledge. Hopefully, in the future, these training materials will not be needed so much as they are today. Perhaps a future UK Government will produce a much-needed reformed national curriculum for teaching learning history, that by its inclusive aims and contents, can offer a sense of connection and belonging for all people of the nation.
My interest with Decolonising Curriculum Knowledge sees my focus on the national context advance my journey of learning through a unique range of global perspectives. Over the last four years, I have led research and writing collaborations for a book entitled Decolonising the Curriculum: International Perspectives and Interdisciplinary Approaches (published in November 2022). In this, I present research, teaching and learning insights with co-authors from national contexts including: The UK, Nepal, South Africa, Namibia, Australia, Colombia, Canada, Thailand, Mauritius, Poland, Russia, Norway, and The Netherlands. The theoretical, philosophical, and reflective writing in this book positions with seminal Indigenous and Global South writers including Frantz Fanon, Paulo Freire, N’gugi Wa Thiong’o, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Walter Mignolo [this list is not exhaustive].
In unity with my co-authors, we journeyed and worked together with the following African proverb in mind:
Si quieres ir rápido, ve solo. Si quieres llegar lejos, ve acompañado.
यदि तिमी छिटो जान चाहन्छौ भने एक्लै जाऊ, यदि तिमी टाढा जान चाहन्छौ भने सँगै जाऊ ।
Ukuba ufuna ukuhamba ngokukhawuleza, hamba wedwa. Ukuba nifuna ukuya kude, hambani kunye.
Si to anvi al vit, mars tou sel. Si to anvi al lwoin mars ensam ek lezot.
ไปคนเดียวอาจไปได้ไว แต่ถ้าอยากไปได้ไกลเราต้องไปด้วยกัน
Hvis du vil gå fort, gå alene. Hvis du vil nå langt, gå sammen.
Если хочешь идти быстро, иди один Если хочешь идти далеко, иди вместе.
Jeśli chcesz iść szybko, idź sam; jeśli chcesz zajść daleko, idź z innymi.
Als je snel wilt, dan ga je alleen. Als je ver wilt, dan ga je samen.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
It is a fusion of our international perspectives and theoretical analysis which makes evident how formal (national) curriculum knowledge is used as the power to perpetuate cultural reproduction in the relationship between the state and its people.
All of the chapters in our book share evidence-based research for alternative approaches to knowledge production in teaching and learning that will provide social justice for quality education
This book offers the reader a scholarly journey across the globe, and through this, gives new learning on Decolonising Curriculum Knowledge.
About the author
International award-winning author and interdisciplinary researcher Dr Marlon Lee Moncrieffe FCCTis a Principal Lecturer at the School of Education, University of Brighton. His academic research expertise is decolonising curriculum knowledge.
References
Department for Education (DfE) (2013) ‘History programmes of study: key stages 1 and 2’, National curriculum in England, The national curriculum in Britain Framework Document, July 2013, London: Department for Education.
Macpherson, W., Cook, T., Sentamu, J., & Stone, R. (1999). The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: Report of an Inquiry by Sir William Macpherson of Cluny, CM 4262-I. Stationery Office.
Moncrieffe, M.L (ed.) (2022). Decolonising Curriculum Knowledge: International Perspectives and Interdisciplinary Approaches. Springer Nature.
Moncrieffe, M. L. (2020). Decolonising the History Curriculum: Eurocentrism and primary schooling. Springer Nature.
