The project “Decolonising STEM and geography education in secondary schools: exploring educators’ agency and curriculum-making across England and Scotland” began in December 2025, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and it is co-hosted by the University of Cambridge (England) and the University of Stirling (Scotland).
This project seeks to explore the views and experiences of STEM and geography secondary/post-16 schoolteachers and ITE educators around subject-specific decolonial and anti-racist work across England and Scotland. As such, it is grounded in acknowledging that these disciplinary areas have particular colonial entanglements and legacies around, for instance: scientific racism, health inequalities and medical mistrust, over-exploitation of natural resources, environmental racism, and other forms of injustice, data colonialism, algorithmic biases and profiling, etc. In particular, we are seeking to:
- Initially interview (online) STEM and geography secondary/post-16 schoolteachers and ITE practitioners who have already been attempting – even if not always successfully or fully – to engage with this area.
- Subsequently, participants will be invited to take part, on a voluntary basis, in a series of knowledge-and-practice exchange workshops (online) where they will have the opportunity to network with other practitioners (including schoolteachers) across England and Scotland who have been similarly engaging with this area as part of their practice.
- In addition, the project might also involve, on a voluntary basis, in-person visits to some participants’ schools or ITE sessions for observations.
Please note: participation in the initial interview phase does not mean you need to take part in the other project phases listed above.
If you are a STEM and/or geography secondary/post-16 schoolteacher or teacher educator working in a state school or the ITE sector in England or Scotland, and you think you might fit the bill of this project, we would love to have you as a participant in this study, if you have the time. If you would like to do so and/or if you would like to ask for further information about the project, please do get in touch with the Project Lead Dr Haira Gandolfi at heg38@cam.ac.uk, and we can share further information.
All our best wishes,
ESRC Project Team – Decolonising STEM and geography education in secondary schools in England and Scotland
