Dr Fevronia Christodoulidi

This case study illustrates my approach towards decolonising the curriculum and sensitising students towards social justice on the BSc (Hons) Counselling programme at the University of East London. I share my experiences of adopting an anti-racist teaching style inspired by the ‘pedagogy of vulnerability’ model (Lin et al, 2013) where educators take tentative but courageous risks of purposeful self-disclosure with the intention to facilitate dialogue amongst culturally diverse cohorts in approaching highly emotive or controversial topics.

 

Driven by a willingness to step away from intellectualising to diving into reflexivity instead, this pedagogy has enabled students to examine dynamics related to microaggressions, the impact of white privilege and various inequalities in ‘brave spaces’ in the classroom where, feelings of rage, shame and guilt could be processed, and serve as motivators towards fuelling activist action and developing as ethical practitioners. This pedagogy creates a shift from sterile, fragmented or disconnected learning to an environment where the student voice is amplified and their stories contribute to the emergence of the ‘lived curriculum’ (Maxwell & Roofe, 2020).

 

The student feedback collated from students in the last two years suggests a strong link between this approach and student satisfaction, progression and retention rates and a significant reduction of the award gap on this programme. The case study presents implications for decolonising pedagogies both in HE delivery and in staff development alike.