Students from Kent Law School’s Decolonising the Curriculum Project (DtCP) have presented their Manifesto to the Speaker of the House of Commons, The Rt Hon John Bercow MP.
The DtCP is a student-led research project to empower Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students at Kent to ‘decolonise’ their curriculum. It is supported by Dr Suhraiya Jivraj, Senior Lecturer at Kent Law School, Dave Thomas, Student Success Project Manager from Kent’s School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, and Sheree Palmer, the Law School’s Student Success Project Officer.
DtCP students led focus groups to critically explore perceptions of the BAME attainment gap, to identify barriers to learning and to explore the broader student experience both in and beyond the classroom. Their research findings informed a Manifesto that identified steps to enhance inclusivity, identity and academic performance at Kent. It was launched in March to an audience that included senior University leaders. The Project is generating increasing levels of interest and has triggered a chain reaction of events across the University and the UK. After receiving an invitation to attend a summer party celebrating the Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation at the House of Commons on Wednesday evening, members of the DtCP team took the opportunity to present a copy of their Manifesto to the party’s host, John Bercow. (Law students Lisa Shoko, Malek Thomas, Jasmyn Sergeant, Joy Olugboyega and Dave Thomas are pictured presenting the Manifesto to John Bercow).
Some of the initiatives that have sprung (and continue to spring) from the Project so far include: a dedicated DtCP website set up by students; a podcast series, created by students, called Stripping the White Walls; a BARC workshop held at Kent in May; a presentation of the Manifesto to Baroness Valerie Amos, Director of SOAS, at a joint SOAS/UUK event in June on ‘The BAME Attainment Gap’; the establishment of a Kaleidoscope Network at Kent for staff and students who support the principles of race equality; the establishment of a BAME Network for Staff of Colour at Kent; and the implementation of new training in cultural competency as part of Kent’s PGCHE. Further events are planned, including a conference at Kent in Spring 2020 that will focus on “whiteness and empowering colleagues promoting BAME inclusion”.