By Maheera Choudhury

As a student, I’ve often fallen victim to the prisoner regime that emanates from the education system. Like a prisoner, I was expected to follow the rules and regulations set in place by those in power and was disciplined if I didn’t follow them. It was echoed to me that I was there to learn in a passive process with no real reciprocal exchange. The power dynamics were clear, as the teachers knew everything and lost nothing if the students didn’t listen. Because they already had their education and would get paid regardless. It felt as though this system wasn’t made for rehabilitation or growth but instead for punishment. It was nothing but a tool of fear in supposedly preparing you for life after “release”.

This is closely tied to Paulo Freire’s concept of the banking model, where students are treated as passive recipients rather than active participants. The idea is that, within the education system, students resemble empty banks that teachers are able to use to deposit information into their minds. This illustrates the power dynamics in place, with teachers having the power to impact their learning while students are merely submissive shells. Freire argues students are dehumanised and forced to be silent and passive in their learning as they are integrated into society. In order to tackle this issue, he suggests students and teachers together should form partnerships and break down traditional power dynamics. Through student partnership, both students and staff should be active participants, and learning should be a reciprocal exchange. Six key principles that Freire suggests are essential to creating effective partnerships include:

• A shared hope and belief in transformative potential.
• A shared dream of transformation.
• Respectful dialogue.
• Co-investigation, reflection and curiosity.
• Co-construction of solutions. –            Ongoing transformation.

This partnership model suggests a dialogical approach to learning where students and staff can transform the educational environment into an open and safe space through communication. In engaging in respectful dialogue with one another and encouraging conversations of curiosity, students and staff can link their learning to action and use education as a tool for social change. Through believing in their shared hopes and dreams, students and staff are able to look to the impact they can have in the future in the ongoing transformation of society.

Building on Freire’s ideas, Fraser and Usman describe their experiences as a driving force in constructing student partnerships to decolonise education at the University of Westminster. They express the importance of student partnership in the fight for decolonisation and antiracism at universities and explain four key lessons they learnt through their partnership journeys. These include:

• Lesson 1: Social justice is everything. 
• Lesson 2: Representation is important, but our work must go beyond it. 
• Lesson 3: We must co-create decolonial and anti-racist atmospheres through building new kinds of relationships with one another and to knowledge. 
• Lesson 4: Anti-racist and decolonial work requires sustained effort and commitment.

Fraser and Usman emphasise the importance of building authentic relationships and decolonial and anti-racist spaces through careful design and co-creation, stating that they ‘do not just happen’. They highlight the vital need for thoughtfulness, care and listening deeply to different perspectives without judgment. As well as this, they remind readers of the need to decolonise allyship and ensure to avoid re-centring whiteness in conversation. Another key lesson they express is the idea that representation is important, but for true change to occur, the deep-seated structures that keep inequality in place must be dismantled. It is not just about knowledge but understanding whose knowledge is being valued at the expense of others.

These ideas are further explored in a podcast episode featuring Moonisah Usman, where she reflects on integrating decolonising and anti-racist values into her life sciences discipline. She recalled her thoughts after the death of George Floyd and COVID-19 in 2020, which made her reflect on her personal need to make a change. For example, Usman discussed how issues such as racial disparities in the cases and deaths from COVID-19, sickle cell disease being more common in African individuals and diabetes being more likely to affect Asian people are all examples of systemic racism being at work. Usman states that despite race being a social construct, the government fails to recognise and uncover the many reasons that could be behind the issues. Through taking on an approach of Student Partnership, she expresses how the need for knowledge about her discipline cannot be separated from learning about cultures and identity. Additionally, she explains the need to be open to learning and un-learning in conversations of decolonisation and anti-racism. Fraser and Usman underline how, without the input of students in decolonising work, they would be taking a colonising approach. Therefore, student partnership is essential.

Breaking down power dynamics and creating an atmosphere based on equity is vital for student partnerships to work. However, many believe that this idea is harmful to the education system due to the sense that it may be undermining the authority of staff. In order to prevent this, a balance is required between empowering students and academic rigour. In exploring these ideas and reflecting on my experiences, a key lesson that I personally learnt involves the power I have as a student. Although at times I often felt like a prisoner to the system, I realised I failed to recognise the agency I already had to make a change. Through being more proactive, asking questions and building trust with staff, I had the power to take charge in breaking away from passive learning and could engage in meaningful partnerships. This insight is deeply encouraging and fuels the start of my journey in building a more collaborative and transformative future in education.

Fraser, J., & Usman, M. (2021). Dreaming to learn together: Lessons in decolonial and anti-racist partnership practices. The Journal of Educational Innovation, Partnership and Change, 7(1).