Curriculum resources: decolonising the curriculum

The NEU is committed to tackling racism and decolonising the curriculum. We have written to the Government with 5 actions to tackle racism. These are the action points which relate the curriculum:

Review the curriculum to ensure it embraces the fact that Britain is rooted in Black and global history, achievement and culture and includes the achievements of Black Britons; as recommended by the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.
Learn from the Windrush Review and develop a plan to teach about the history of the UK and its relationship to the rest of the world – including Britain’s colonial history and the history of migration.

This page is dedicated to resources aimed at decolonising the curriculum. We have a separate page for resources which challenge racism. There may be some overlap.

We will use this page to host links to resources for educators to use in schools. These are resources that have been recommended to us by our members or produced by them. Please use your professional judgement to adapt any resources to suit your classes and the context in which you teach.

Refugees & Migrants

Welcoming refugee children to your school

Refugee voices videos – A series of inspiring short film clips in which refugee children and young people talk about their experiences of coming to a school in the UK, with staff training notes for use with the clips
Welcoming refugee children to your school guide

Should Paddington be allowed to stay in the UK?

Our Migration Story

Palestine

Guidance on discussing conflicts the Middle East is based on previous NUT guidance and will soon be updated by the NEU.

A Little Piece of Ground by Elizabeth Laird (KS2 & KS3)

A Little Piece of Ground scheme of work
A Little Piece of Ground (photos resource)

Beyond the Wall films made by NUT

My name is Saleh (Hebron)
Our Land (Nabi Saleh)
‘Moving Freely’ (Nablus)
Just like us (Nazareth)

For more information and guidance on Palestine click here.

English

The lies we tell (to be uploaded)

History

A Level Coursework Enquiry: Was there more continuity than change in British-Jamaican relations between 1760 and 1870

Our Migration Story Opens a new window

Maths

Advanced Mathematics Support Programme resources including:

Our Migration Story – The Making of Britain (This is primarily a history resource, but could easily be adapted for a cross-curricular project as several of the activities require basic statistical analysis.)
World Migration Desmos Activity from the NY Times
Guidance on Teaching Migration from the Migration Museum
Hidden Figures (2016) is an excellent film to watch. Katherine Johnson: A Lifetime of STEM on Black History Month 2020 provides additional background.
Landing back on Earth with Katherine Johnson Desmos activity by Nicole Cozens
Mathematics of Black Panther is one of the activities included in the Chalk Dust Magazine Archive of Black Mathematician Month.
There are many articles concerning the potential of Black Panther (2018) to raise aspirations towards STEM study, particularly for girls of colour – see, for example, “How ‘Black Panther’ Influences Stem Diversity Beyond Wakanda”.
UK Ethnicity facts and figures provides government data on the UK’s different ethnic groups.
UCAS 2020 Cycle Applications Data provides useful online tools to analyse universities entries data by many variables, including ethnicity.
Chalk Dust Magazine Archive of Black Mathematician Month – This includes the useful data science article, “Why do Afro-Caribbean pupils underachieve in education?”.