S2 Episode Fifteen: Dr. Anne Marie Kavanagh "Decolonising the curriculum: Creating a more inclusive, diverse, and critically-engaged approach to education"

In this episode I chat to Anne Marie Kavanagh (PhD, FHEA). Anne Marie’s episode is called Decolonising the curriculum: Creating a more inclusive, diverse, and critically-engaged approach to education. We discuss the concept of decolonizing the curriculum and its importance in creating a more inclusive and diverse educational approach and Anne Marie explains that decolonizing involves questioning what counts as knowledge and whose knowledge is centralized in the curriculum.

Anne Marie is Assistant Professor in Ethical and Intercultural Education in the School of Human Development, DCU Institute of Education. She teaches and researches in the areas of ethical education, social justice education, intercultural education, climate justice education and human rights education.

She is the DCU-lead on the ‘Literature Review on Intercultural Education’ funded by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, which will inform the development of revised Intercultural Education Guidelines for use across the education continuum.

She is currently collaborating with partners at Newcastle University and the University of Northumbria along with Prof Audrey Bryan on a British Academy funded research project, ‘Classrooms for Climate Justice’. This action research project focuses on how teachers can be supported to incorporate climate justice perspectives into primary and post-primary education. She is an active member of the Faculty Research Committee, the Publication Action Plan sub-committee, and the Faculty Athena Swan Assessment Team. She is a member of the steering committee of the DCU Centre for Human Rights and Citizenship Education (CHRCE) and a member of the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre. In 2021, her first co-edited book (with Prof Fionnuala Waldron & Dr Benjamin Mallon) 'Teaching for Social Justice and Sustainable Development Across the Primary Curriculum' was published by Routledge. This volume supports educators in integrating meaningful education for social justice and sustainability across a wide range of curricular subjects at primary level. Her co-edited book ‘Beyond Single Stories: Changing Narratives for a Changing World’ was published in 2024 by Information Age Publishing and explores the importance of counter narratives to balance dominant social group stories in the curriculum and chapters feature examples of how to disrupt dominant curricular narratives and support teachers in incorporating diverse perspectives.

In this podcast episode, Dr. Kavanagh emphasizes the need for small steps, such as diversifying teaching materials and including authors with diverse identities in reading materials. Anne Marie also discusses an E-Learning Module she developed for ETB school staff, to support students and families from diverse social class, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. The module addresses the value of equality and potential biases towards certain groups and includes stories that shape students' access to opportunities and successful outcomes, and the impact of biases on students and teachers.

Anne Marie holds numerous leadership roles including leading DCU’s work on the Advisory Committee for the Framework for the Recognition of Qualification to Teach Ethical, Multi-Belief and Values Education (Educate Together & ETBI), a framework of recognition of qualification to teach ethical, multi-belief, and values education (EMBVE). The framework aims to support teacher education providers in developing programs to certify teachers qualified outside of Ireland to teach the patrons curriculum in educate together and community national schools. Anne Marie emphasizes the importance of relationships in teaching and the need to balance technological advancements with the human element of education.

Anne Marie raises concerns about the ethical implications of generative AI in education, particularly regarding access and perpetuation of biases.

Tune in to hear more!