Decolonising the psychology curriculum: challenges and success stories

Purpose: This review paper focuses on decolonisation of the psychology curricula efforts identifying the challenges and success stories. The overall aim is to produce a lessons learnt list and practical advice that could inform the design of decolonised psychology curricula in higher education.
Background: Psychology has been criticised for developing theories focusing on research involving participants who are Western, educated, and from industrialised, rich and democratic countries (WEIRD). In the contemporary higher education settings, the psychology curriculum needs to challenge those norms and reflect the interests and values of students from a variety of ethnic, racial and socio-economic backgrounds.
Methods: Relevant papers were identified through inputting relevant search terms (e.g., “decolon” AND “Psych” ) in psychology- and education-focused search databases (e.g., Scopus, ERIC) and through snowball search.
Conclusions: Challenges associated with decolonising the psychology curricula include student resistance, context, systematic/structural barriers (policies, lack of leadership support), lack of access to resources (knowledge, funding, and staff), and the recognition that there is no pure local or Indigenous knowledge. Although there is not straightforward answer on how each psychology faculty will start their decolonisation journey, concrete practical steps suggested by multiple authors that can pave the way for faculty-wide reflections and decolonisation action plans are discussed.