We analyse an institutional curriculum change initiative from the perspective of academics in a physics department to identify the barriers faced when curriculum change is used as a process to increase equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). We explore what curriculum means in physics, how power relationships within the university affect the…

This paper focuses on the potential, challenges, and limits of participatory, narrative and multimodal research methods as contributions to decolonising research on understanding student experiences of teaching and learning in higher education. Drawing on Fraser's social justice concepts of participatory parity, redistribution, recognition, and…

This research project aims to illustrate the journey of school partnerships between primary schools in Cumbria, UK and Moshi, Tanzania. Using a qualitative approach, the study shares the processes involved from making first contact with an oversees link school to expanding a successful model of partnership working to a cluster of schools in both…

In this paper, I focus on the UK government's COVID-19 pandemic response to schooling in England with regards to the impact on race inequality, an area which has received comparatively little attention. I review the existing research, drawing on work by academics, think tanks, lobbying organisations and media reports, conducted between spring 2020…

Critical discourses in intercultural communication (IC) scholarship continue to foreground the postcolonial malaise of Southern spaces. Intercultural communication education (ICE) may encounter some pedagogical challenges in its endeavour to reflect the complexity and depth of the discipline and its recent critical turn. This paper seeks to…

The purpose of this article is to examine academia and the abuse of power based on auto-ethnographic research. I draw on my experiences across 12 universities in different locations in Spain, the UK and the USA that expose the way power is embedded in institutions of higher education and how it is maintained. This article analyses the exploration…

In recent years, there has been increased interest in, and work towards, decolonising the curriculum in higher education institutions in the UK. There are various initiatives to review university syllabuses and identify alternative literature. However, there is an increasing risk of turning 'decolonisation' into a buzz term tied to a trend. We…

Critical policy analysis (CPA) is a means by which to critique policy and promote agency, equity, and justice. However, most CPA scholars examine political discourse from a distance rather than actively participate in political processes. Meanwhile, there is a growing interest in community-engaged research whereby academics partner with community…

This timely book features rich examples of students and teachers, defined as learning partners, disrupting hierarchy in education by collaborating on social change projects. At the book's core is Paulo Freire's theorization of students and teachers working together toward co-liberation. Co-written by learning partners, each chapter in this…

The articles in this themed issue explore global educational experiences that embrace various cultures, traditions, religions and identities. Collectively this work offers valuable insights into unexplored areas of research, illuminating issues that intersect across race, ethnicity and gender. The significance of these studies lies in the…

In the context of renewed debates and interest in this area, this paper reframes the theoretical agenda around laddish masculinities in UK higher education, and similar masculinities overseas. These can be contextualised within consumerist neoliberal rationalities, the neoconservative backlash against feminism and other social justice movements,…

This paper represents a critical reflection on youth and community work students' response to a module on race equality and diversity. An awareness of issues in relation to power and oppression are amongst the core elements of youth and community work training. Throughout their study, youth and community work students are engaged in conversations…

Racial inequalities in higher education are widely recognised, from the scarcity of black and minority ethnic (BME) professors and vice chancellors, to student attainment gaps and campaigns to decolonise the curriculum. This collection of essays brings together experts' ideas for reducing racial inequality across the sector. It includes…

"Setting" is a widespread practice in the UK, despite little evidence of its efficacy and substantial evidence of its detrimental impact on those allocated to the lowest sets. Taking a Bourdieusian approach, we propose that setting can be understood as a practice through which the social and cultural reproduction of dominant power…

This article concerns a study that examines the attitudes of parents, who have had babies in neonatal care, to sharing their babies' routinely collected health data for research purposes. A participatory methodology was applied to the design of the study; a group of eleven parents who had all previously had babies in neonatal care were involved in…