Education
Who Decides What We Learn? Decolonising Education Systems
Education systems in the West have long been shaped by colonial histories. From philosophy to politics, sociology to gender studies, dominant curricula continue to privilege white, Western, male thinkers, presenting their ideas as neutral, universal and objective. This is not accidental. Universities were historically central to colonial projects, producing and validating knowledge that justified empire, racial hierarchies and exclusion. These legacies still shape what we learn today.
Decolonising education challenges this imbalance. It asks us to interrogate how knowledge is produced, whose perspectives are centred, and how systems of power influence learning. Crucially, it is not simply about ‘adding diversity’ to reading lists. While including scholars from the Global Majority, women and racialised communities matter, decolonisation invites us to dig deeper. It requires examining how societal structures such as colonialism, racism and patriarchy have shaped entire disciplines, and how they continue to influence what is taught.
A research project I conducted on decolonising the curriculum in a Political Theory course at the University of Edinburgh, where I interviewed professors, shows both its potential and its limits. Changes to the curriculum, such as introducing non-white thinkers into traditionally Eurocentric subjects, can disrupt the idea that Western knowledge is the default. In political theory, for example, engaging with anti-colonial thinkers like Frantz Fanon or Mahatma Gandhi exposes the close relationship between liberalism, empire and violence, which are connections often glossed over in standard syllabi.
However, focusing only on representation risks superficial change. Academics involved in curriculum reform frequently emphasised that decolonisation must also address themes, frameworks and assumptions. Teaching non-Western thinkers without critically examining why they were historically excluded can reproduce the same hierarchies under a more inclusive banner. Power operates not only through who speaks, but through the rules that decide what knowledge is legitimate in the first place. Decolonising curricula must therefore be intersectional, recognising how race, gender, class and colonial histories overlap. Without this, efforts risk recentring whiteness and masculinity, even within supposedly progressive reforms.
There are also institutional barriers. Universities can embrace the language of decolonisation while resisting structural change. Curriculum reform alone cannot address wider inequalities in admissions, funding, assessment practices or staff diversity. My research highlighted how elite institutions often portray themselves as neutral and meritocratic, masking the ways in which whiteness and privilege are embedded in their cultures. In this context, decolonising the curriculum becomes necessary but insufficient.
A first step towards decolonising education is recognising the context in which we are learning. This means asking critical questions about the knowledge we are taught: who wrote this, when, and under what social and political conditions? Whose voices are absent, and why? Comparing and contrasting dominant scholars with those writing from different geographical, racial or gendered positions allows us to see that knowledge is shaped by power, not produced in a vacuum, and that no single tradition holds a monopoly on truth.
Developing this critical awareness encourages us to look beyond prescribed syllabi, to seek out alternative perspectives and to question the assumption that what is taught is automatically neutral or complete. Decolonising education is as much about cultivating curiosity and reflexivity as it is about reforming institutions. When we are equipped to interrogate what we learn, education becomes a tool not just for understanding the world as it is, but for imagining how it might be otherwise.
Who decides what counts as proper knowledge? And whose voices are left out when education systems define what is worth learning? Across schools and universities, these questions sit at the heart of debates about decolonising education.
Sabrina Engelmaier is a recent graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she studied Law and Social Sciences. She has experience producing content across academic, advocacy, and professional settings, with a strong focus on clear, accessible, and ethically grounded communication. Her work has included research on gender-focused campaigns, coordinating resources on gender-based violence, and producing communication materials for international projects.
