Join us on Bluesky for #LTHEchat on Wednesday 22nd April at 8pm GMT with guests Heather Pennington (@heatherpennington.bsky.social) and Rachel Johns (@johnsrm.bsky.social) to discuss anti-racist curriculum, and what it really requires.

Across higher education, the phrase anti‑racist curriculum is increasingly visible in strategies, conversations, and staff development initiatives. Many of us recognise its importance and urgency; yet, as with any ambitious institutional goal, questions often arise about what this work actually involves, how to begin, and how to sustain meaningful change over time.

Anti‑racist curriculum development is more than an aspiration or a well‑meaning statement. It demands that we look closely at the histories that shape our disciplines, the voices and epistemologies centred- or marginalised- in our reading lists, and the assumptions embedded in our assessment practices. It also requires us to attend carefully to the lived experiences of our students and colleagues. This work involves both structural change and everyday practice, and it can be challenging and sometimes uncomfortable. But it is necessary if we are committed to creating learning environments where all can thrive.

Although there is no single route or universal template, educators across sectors are experimenting with creative, critical, and relational approaches to curriculum transformation. For some, this means re‑examining foundational concepts or questioning disciplinary traditions; for others, it means collaborating with students to understand experiences of inclusion and exclusion; and for many, it involves reframing what counts as knowledge, and how success is recognised.  

Anti‑racist practice is not a checklist, a compliance exercise, or a quick rebranding of existing approaches. Anti‑racist curriculum work invites educators to examine the assumptions, histories, and power structures that shape their disciplines. As Advance HE’s Anti‑Racist Curriculum (ARC) project argues, this involves challenging the myth of neutrality and interrogating the pathways through which particular narratives become privileged while others are marginalised or silenced.  This requires educators to recognise how our own positionality shapes both what we teach and how we teach it, and to reframe curricula with students’ experiences, identities and aspirations firmly at the centre.

Anti‑racist pedagogical scholarship echoes this. Kishimoto (2018) emphasises that anti‑racist teaching is fundamentally about process: creating learning environments grounded in reflexivity, shared power, and explicit acknowledgement with race and racism. This includes questioning traditional authority structures, co‑creating aspects of the curriculum with students, and embracing learning as a mutual—rather than academically hierarchical—endeavour. Similarly, Wagner (2005) suggests that the process of learning, not simply the outcomes, matters most-a principle that has important implications for designing assessment practices that prioritise learning journeys over standardised expectations.

Engaging in anti-racist work can surface discomfort and resistance. It asks us to question established norms, examine our assumptions, and confront aspects of institutional culture that may feel deeply embedded. Yet it also opens up powerful possibilities: learning spaces where diverse voices are valued as central rather than peripheral; modules where global perspectives shape disciplinary boundaries; and learning spaces where students can see themselves reflected, affirmed, and empowered.Developing an anti‑racist curriculum is an ongoing, iterative practice; one that requires openness, humility, and collective commitment. It is shaped through conversations, collaborations, and the willingness to question long-held assumptions. Over time, it is these everyday acts of re-imagining and adjusting our practices that gradually create meaningful and sustainable change.

References

Advance HE (2021) ARC Explained. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2021-10/ARC%20Explained.pdf  (Accessed: 18^th December 2025).

Kishimoto, K. (2018) ‘Anti‑racist pedagogy: from faculty’s self‑reflection to organising within and beyond the classroom’. Available at: https://servicelearning.duke.edu/sites/servicelearning.duke.edu/files/documents/Anti-racist%20pedagogy_%20from%20faculty%E2%80%99s%20self-reflection%20to%20organizing%20within%20and%20beyond%20the%20classroom%5B3%5D.pdf  (Accessed: Accessed: 18^th December 2025).

Wagner, A. (2005) ‘Unsettling the Academy: working through the challenges of anti‑racist pedagogy’. Race, Ethnicity and Education 8(3): pp. 261-275. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248970647_Unsettling_the_Academy_Working_through_the_challenges_of_anti-racist_pedagogy  (Accessed: Accessed: 18^th December 2025)

Speaker Bios

Heather Pennington

Heather Pennington is a senior lecturer and works in the Learning and Teaching Academy at Cardiff University, where she focuses on inclusive education and improving the student learning experience. She works closely with colleagues to develop teaching practices that support belonging, engagement, and meaningful learning. Heather is particularly interested in partnership approaches and inclusive curriculum design, and in helping create learning environments where all students feel valued and able to succeed.

Heather Pennington – People – Cardiff University 

@heatherpennington.bsky.social

Rachel Johns

Rachel Johns is an Education Developer for Inclusion at Cardiff University, working within the Learning and Teaching Academy. Her role focuses on advancing inclusive curriculum design and assessment through partnership approaches with students and staff. She has a particular interest in co‑creation as a means of redistributing power in learning and teaching, and in culturally sustaining pedagogies that recognise, value and build upon students’ diverse multi-faceted  identities. Rachel’s work supports colleagues to embed inclusive, and socially just practices, with the aim of creating learning environments where all students can belong and thrive.

Mrs Rachel Johns – People – Cardiff University

@johnsrm.bsky.social