The Decolonising Geography Educators Group is a group of geography educators who are looking at ways to decolonise the curriculum. We aim to challenge the reproduction of colonial practices of knowledge in our classrooms. The Decolonising Geography website contributes to developing curricula that challenge ‘universal truths’ and ‘objective knowledge’ in Geography by offering: pedagogical techniques to empower students to co-create knowledge and build critical geographies; a space for critical reflection on the content we teach in geography education; and practical teaching resources.
The Decolonising Geography Educators Group was formed in response to COVID-19 and the killing of George Floyd. Geography teachers set up a WhatsApp group following a routine Geographical Association (GA) meeting and it quickly grew to 150 members. It has provided a space for teachers to get together through informal networks and has shown that we teachers can drive our own professional development and support each other collectively. The group has various sub-groups working on particular projects, which include:
- Writing to awarding bodies in England and Wales regarding racial bias in exam questions.
- The development of a primary sub-group which is looking at decolonisation for the early years and primary school age group.
- The voices project looking at the diversity and marginalisation of voices which should be included when teaching about different people and places around the world.
- GA Conference session on Whiteness in secondary geography.
- Sharing materials with academic research articles, resources for primary and secondary geography teachers to use in their classrooms.
Our logo represents the origins of the group which was created during Black Lives Matter protests. It was voted the most popular out of a multitude. Thank you to Kate Rucker who created the logo for Decolonising Geography.
We would like to invite all geography educators to contribute to building this resource. Please get in touch with us if you would like to contribute a written reflection, teaching resource, or any other relevant material.
Logo: Kate Rucker. Website: Matthew Gregory.