The decolonising of curricula is a current issue in education, but the complexities and varying interpretations of what this actually means can present challenges and uncertainty. During a time when these issues have been brought to the forefront of the education agenda, and many history teachers are keen to undertake this work, they appear more urgent than ever. 

The aim of this project, supported by BERA’s Small Grants Fund (SGF), was to incorporate decolonial practices as a key aspect of teacher development. The project had three objectives:

• To facilitate a network for secondary school history teachers beyond their individual school contexts. 
• To develop practices of co-production among the key stakeholders (researchers, practitioners, museum) to generate knowledge, tools and resources to support history teachers’ development of agency in the decolonising of the curriculum. 
• To explore the process of collaboration and co-creation through data collection and analysis, and to share knowledge and understanding generated from the project with the wider education community. 

Report summary

This study aimed to build on existing Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) partnerships with secondary schools to establish a history teachers’ network. The focus of the network was to facilitate collaboration, as well as the co-construction of knowledge and understanding in relation to the decolonising of history curricula in secondary schools. The purpose was also to strengthen teacher networks for the longer term, and to create a space in which different stakeholders can exchange ideas in a bid to support the decolonisation process.