Integrating Bite-Sized Activities to Promote Decolonial Learning: Insights from Student Feedback on Engagement and Delivery

Decolonising Psychology curriculum has gained considerable attention in recent years, prompting action from educational institutions. Despite efforts for meaningful integration, students have criticised these initiatives as tokenistic and lacking coherence with the broader curriculum. Time constraints and multiple academic commitments pose additional barriers, leading to hasty implementation and poor engagement. To address these challenges and integrate decolonial learning in the existing curriculum, we developed three activities for undergraduate psychology students. After implementation of these, students provided feedback through mixed-methods surveys (N1=125, N2=57, N3=31). Generally, students enjoyed these activities and perceived their importance as high. A critical realist informed analysis revealed that students’ willingness to engage with decolonisation was shaped by their perceived educational roles since they felt powerless to influence meaningful curriculum change despite being positively motivated. White students viewed decolonisation as more relevant to non-white peers, limiting their engagement and leaving non-White students feeling spotlighted. While students advocated for greater faculty diversity but agreed that instructors’ passion for decolonisation mattered more than their ethnicity. Students emphasised that engaged delivery was key to their participation, but coherence in curriculum was equally important. These findings offer insights into what may or may not work for decolonial curriculum initiatives, warranting further research.