Wichert, Sophie Marie (2025) Transforming Pedagogy: Tensions, Barriers and Opportunities for Decolonizing the Model of Higher Education in Western Universities. Bachelor thesis, Global Responsibility & Leadership (GRL).
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Abstract
Western higher education pedagogy is fundamentally shaped by colonial legacies, with the dominant “banking model”, conceptualized by Freire, reinforcing hierarchical, decontextualized and exclusionary forms of knowledge transmission. In response, a growing body of literature explores decolonial pedagogies aimed at challenging these frameworks. However, their implementation faces significant challenges that limit their transformative potential. This thesis employs a narrative literature review guided by an explorative scoping approach, to investigate the suggested pedagogical strategies, and the corresponding tensions and barriers. The review identifies four categories of decolonial pedagogies, namely 1) relational pedagogies and student agency, 2) place-based and community-centered learning, 3) reflexivity and critical consciousness, and 4) creative and arts-based pedagogies. These provide a useful toolkit for educators seeking decolonial reform. However, five key barriers persist: 1) the coloniality of academic institutions, 2) the coloniality of knowledge, 3) the emotional burden of decolonial work, 4) the lack of diversity in faculty and student bodies and 5) neoliberal pressures that shape educational priorities. These findings reveal a central contradiction: Decolonial pedagogies offer transformative potential, but are often restricted by the very structures they seek to dismantle. This risks superficial reform and disproportionately burdens marginalized individuals. While institutionalization may expand reach, it often lacks the ethical grounding needed for genuine transformation. Future efforts should embrace the complexity of decolonial work, and prioritize relational, bottom-up initiatives. Such gradual transformation from within may currently represent the most viable path forward. Keywords: Decolonial pedagogy, higher education, structural barriers, institutional resistance, critical consciousness, decolonial ethics, narrative literature review
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Name supervisor: | Zande, I.S.E. van der |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Jun 2025 10:30 |
| Last Modified: | 10 Jun 2025 10:30 |
| URI: | https://campus-fryslan.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/655 |
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