Decolonality has become an important theme of research and praxis within global education and learning in recent years, with a growing number of submissions to ANGEL events that focus on this topic. The webinar will feature 3 short presentations that highlight diverse aspects of this important and emerging field of enquiry.
Presentations
Decolonising the educational mindset: Nordic perspectives. (Joffy Conolly, University of Oulu, Finland)
Drawing on research from four Nordic countries, the presentation highlights a shared history of colonial complicity and ongoing coloniality toward Indigenous and minoritised groups. Using decolonial theory, I show that Nordic ideals of equality rest on an imagined sameness that obscures diversity, particularly in education, where reluctance to address race, white supremacy, and inequality sustains a singular historical narrative and marginalises minority perspectives. To challenge this, I will outline some recent teaching initiatives aimed at decolonising Nordic education, offering practices relevant to policymakers and educators confronting similar issues globally.
A Call to Engage Culturally Diverse and Migrant Youth in Transformative GCE Research. (Ana Radović, Queensland University of Technology, Australia)
This presentation discusses the methodology used in a study focused on culturally diverse migrant youth perspectives and experiences of citizenship and GCE in Australia. The study explored methodological possibilities of the transformative paradigm in the GCE research. The presentation is also a call to the research community to actively seek and embed culturally diverse and migrant youth perspectives in GCE. Engaging with their voices can provide meaningful, and important insights into what matters to young people and how they understand and envision citizenship.
Decolonising Education for Sustainable Development (ESD): A Progressive Framework for Global Justice and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Schools. (Subin Nijhawan, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany)
This presentation, based on my recent study, explores how education for sustainable development (ESD) offers a decolonial and transformative framework for addressing global challenges. Grounded in the sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially SDG 4 on quality education, the study critiques Eurocentric paradigms and highlights the urgency of embedding global justice, sustainability, and equity into educational frameworks. Drawing from the future Federal German conceptual framework for ESD (“Orientierungsrahmen”), this paper pleas to transcend rigid subject boundaries and promote participatory, transdisciplinary pedagogies as a full-fledged reform of current school systems. The analysis employs a progressive reading of ESD to demonstrate how schools can navigate within systemic constraints focusing on diametrical comparativist approaches like PISA. The teaching example, “Global Justice: Climate Lawsuits and Border Regimes,” illustrates the ESD’s potential to empower students as global citizens, capable of addressing climate justice and human rights issues in a globalized context. By fostering critical thinking and cultural reflexivity, this approach challenges nation-centric models and equips learners with the tools to engage in genuine decolonial practices. The findings underscore the need for systemic reforms to ensure that ESD realises its revolutionary potential as a catalyst for sustainability, equity, and human rights in education worldwide.
The ANGEL Webinar Series
This event is part of a series of online events run by the Academic Network for Global Education & Learning (ANGEL). The series is aimed at Global Education professionals, as well as anyone with an interest in research in the fields of Development Education, Global Citizenship Education, Human Rights Education, Education for Sustainable Development, Education for Peace, and Intercultural Education. This event, along with the other activities of the ANGEL network, is co-funded by the European Union.