Edge Hill University
From Intent to Impact: Embedding Anti-Racism and Decolonisation in Teacher Education
This presentation explores the evolving landscape of anti-racist and decolonial practice within initial teacher education (ITE), drawing on our experience of embedding these approaches into our teacher training programmes. While many institutions now express commitments to equity and inclusion, translating intent into impactful pedagogical change remains a challenge. In this session, we reflect critically on our work as teacher educators to reimagine curriculum content, challenge dominant epistemologies, and support trainees in navigating the complex realities of race, power, and privilege in the classroom.
The presentation will be structured around three interconnected strands:
- Curriculum Review and Co-Creation – how we have re-evaluated content, case studies, and assessment through a decolonial lens, and involved trainees and community voices in the process.
- Pedagogical Shifts – the role of dialogic teaching, critical reflection, and trauma-informed practice in fostering anti-racist learning environments.
- Professional Identity and Practice – how we support trainees to become reflective, socially-conscious practitioners capable of disrupting inequitable structures in schools.
We will share examples of practice, feedback from trainees, and initial findings from a small-scale evaluation of our work. The session invites dialogue on the structural and cultural conditions required to make meaningful change and considers how teacher educators can enact sustainable anti-racism and decolonisation beyond performative gestures.
We hope to contribute to wider conversations about how teacher education can act as a transformative space—improving life chances and making hope possible through education.