English Department

Our commitments

Recruitment. We will change our recruitment processes by calling for experience in decolonising the curriculum and creating inclusive learning environments in person specs and by including a person of colour or EDI Lead on all interview panels
Student voice. We will continue to work with students to identify challenges and areas of good practice in relation to decolonising the curriculum and creating inclusive learning environments
Staff training. Budget will be allocated for additional training to ensure that staff are regularly updating their practice and engaging with research around decolonising and antiracist allyship
Decolonisation. Every student will have the opportunity to work with students internationally as part of Collaborative Online International Learning projects that centre voices and knowledge production from the Global South

So far there have been no new appointments this year, so it is not possible to comment.

To work more closely with students of colour (in addition to other groups at greater risk of alienation – LGBT, commuting, disabled, and mature/caring students) we have set up student-led fora for each of the groups named above and fund events for these groups.
The initial aim is that students of colour will feel supported through community building and have an easy means of reporting any issues via the students who are paid facilitators for events. As EDI lead, I have then been able to follow up on complaints made anonymously. At the end of the year, we will run a focus group with students of colour again, hosted by the students who have facilitated events through the year.

This January we had a full strategy day devoted to closing the BAME awarding gap and decolonising the curriculum. As a result of this, all unit leaders have been tasked with writing evaluations of their units in relation to decolonisation, identifying areas of good practice and making commitments for change or development.

In addition to the above our international lead, Helen Nicholson, has continued to work on COIL projects that will eventually be distributed throughout the curriculum. The training for this is taking longer than anticipated (it started in July 2022 and is ongoing) but this is a long-term goal that we are still working on as a department.