Decolonising English Project - Sarah Wilkes reflection

My context

Since joining the Decolonising English project, my practice as an educator has undergone a significant transformation, in both personal reflection and practical change. This journey began with a deep-seated motivation to challenge the dominant narratives within English teaching and to encourage a more inclusive, representative curriculum for the students, and to engaging students in their learning. I was drawn to the project by a desire to address the gaps I noticed in my own teaching and a curriculum that often prioritises ‘classic’ British texts and perspectives, leaving little room for diverse voices and experiences. In addition, the opportunity to collaborate with like-minded peers and to critically examine the assumptions supporting my practice was incentive enough to become involved.

Rethinking what I teach and how I teach it

My engagement with the project has encouraged me to rethink not only what I teach but how I teach it. Early on, I realised that decolonising English is not simply about adding new texts to the curriculum or adding a ‘bolt on’ to learning schemes already in place. Rather, it is about interrogating the structures, values, and power dynamics that shape our subject and therefore our understanding of the texts that we study. The learning sessions and resources provided by the team at LBU equipped me with frameworks to question the foundations of the curriculum that was already embedded within my school, to consider whose stories are being told and how they are told, and to reflect on how these narratives impact students’ identities and sense of belonging. While we were able to do this with the texts that were already in place, I felt it important to review department reading lists, classroom discussions, and assessment practices. 

Engaging Students, Building Confidence, Improving Critical Thinking

Early impacts of this practice are already visible. The curriculum is evolving to include a broader range of voices, and my approach to teaching has become more dialogic and responsive. Students are more engaged, contributing with enthusiasm to discussions about authorship, context, and meaning. Even in KS3 we saw some mature discussions in Year 9 when looking at Andrea Levy’s Small Island. Students were extremely passionate about the context of the text as a direct result of us adapting the scheme of work to include more in-depth links to the Windrush Generation. I was also able to hold a masterclass, which drew on key ideas for the LBU session on nineteenth-century literature, and applied them to an in-depth analysis of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. As a result, student written work reflects greater critical awareness, which is something that we were keen to enable by extending knowledge, which links with the top end of the mark scheme for literature. My class alone had a 100% pass rate in both Language and Literature, and as a school our grades improved significantly. I wouldn’t be as bold as to say the programme had a direct impact on these attainment levels, but I do feel that looking more critically at the texts through lenses developed on the programme was pivotal. 

We also wanted to build confidence in students so they could draw connections between their own experiences and the texts we study. This is something that we are developing more in Key Stage 3 through texts such as Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, Andrea Levy’s Small Island, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and our poetry selections. We already have a rigorous ‘form time’ reading programme that allows more flexibility in terms of text choices and allows students to discuss challenging ideas in an informal setting. This is something I am keen to develop further with our literacy team. 

Leading a CPD workshop at the Trust-wide Inset day was also extremely valuable. These teacher-led workshops, which focussed and built on the work we had been doing with the LBU team, enabled English teams to share ideas and really lean into discussions about how best we can support each other in making sure we are fully inclusive in our approaches to English across the trust as a whole. 

Looking Ahead: Decolonising as process and practice

Looking ahead, there are several areas where I recognise the need for further development. One ongoing challenge is balancing the demands of the National Curriculum with the desire to expand beyond its boundaries. We have limited budget to spend on new texts, which is an ongoing challenge. However, after the CPD sessions, we can see how we can develop our interpretations of the set texts that we already have in both KS3 and KS4. We are developing lessons in preparation for the next academic year and are working as a team to implement ideas explored in workshops on Shakespeare and Poetry. In Key Stage 3, we have added an end of topic Creative Writing scheme of work, which allows students to empathise with key themes, and deepen their understanding of specific issues that arise in the text. For example, Year 7 students create a diary entry based on the life of an orphan in the harsh Victorian era, or develop empathy with Caliban by putting themselves in his situation, but also linking to issues within the media. 

One challenge is how to sustain student-led initiatives without overwhelming them or myself. Moreover, I am aware that decolonising practice is not a one-off event, but a continuous process, which requires critical self-reflection and openness to feedback.

To address these challenges, I plan to engage more actively with project peers, seeking their insights and sharing strategies. There is much to learn from colleagues who have successfully embedded decolonising principles in their teaching, and I hope to participate in further workshops and collaborative curriculum design sessions. I am also considering ways to involve parents and the wider community in these conversations, recognising that education does not happen in isolation. Questions remain about how to measure impact, how to resist tokenism, and how to ensure that all students benefit from these changes.

In summary, my involvement with LBU’s Decolonising English project has been both challenging and rewarding. It has prompted me to confront uncomfortable truths and to embrace a more inclusive, student-centred approach. The changes I have made, though modest, have already begun to reshape my classroom and my understanding of how changes can be embedded. As I move forward, I am committed to deepening my engagement, addressing the questions and challenges that arise, and advocating for a curriculum that reflects the richness and diversity of our world. This journey is ongoing, but I am confident that the work we are doing will have a lasting positive effect, both for my students and for myself as a teacher.