Towards inclusive school curricula and classroom practices: A comparative analysis of representations of non-Western histories in Canadian and Norwegian curricula

• In Event: Redefining educational citizenship: pathways to inclusion, democratic practice, and global perspectives in schooling

Proposal

1. Objectives:
Re-imagining education—and helping make representations in curricula and classroom practices more inclusive and balanced—can contribute to more respect for diversity and promoting peaceful co-existence in our highly polarized and divided world. Towards this goal, this co-authored paper presentation will offer insights into current representations of the often misrepresented or omitted ancient and modern African histories in Canadian and Norwegian school curricula.

Given the growing population of sub-Saharan Africans in those two countries, such a comparative analysis is essential towards identifying means that can render curricula and classroom practices more representative of the growing diversity in these two countries’ K-12 classrooms. Better curricular representation promises to promote a stronger sense of belonging and citizenship among students of African descent, as well as better appreciation of those students and their cultures among other students. Further, inclusive curricula could help challenge racism, discrimination, and marginalization which continue to be alarming phenomena—especially faced by Black students and students of African descent—in many contexts around the world. Additionally, lack of acknowledgement and appreciation of historical contributions and struggles of various groups could lead to exclusionary attitudes, including racism and religious-based bullying as could be witnessed in various Western contexts (e.g., Chan, 2018; Chan & Stapleton, 2021).

Thus, the key objective of this comparative study is to contribute to the generally understudied question of how non-Western histories are represented in Canadian and Norwegian curricula. More specifically, we ask:
1) How do Canadian and Norwegian curricular guidelines and textbooks represent ancient and modern African histories?
2) How can they offer more balanced and inclusive representations of those histories?

Despite the capacity of representations of ancient histories to construct hierarchies and reinforce a sense of ‘us-versus-them’ (Dozono; 2023; Joyce & Abdou, 2023), they still receive very little critical scholarly attention (Zervas & Abdou, 2022; Abdou & Zervas, 2024a, 2024b). The impact of such representations is notable as curricular frameworks, such as those in California, have been found to construct hierarchies that subtly promote supremacist and racist ideologies, such as eugenics (Dozono, 2023). While curricular representations of ancient histories are generally understudied, the gap is even clearer when it comes to analyses of representations of ancient African histories.

The few studies engaging with these questions have found that those histories—when present in the curricula—are generally unbalanced. For instance, in Canada, they receive a disproportionately small space compared to the Western Greco-Roman civilization (e.g., Abdou, 2017; Joyce & Abdou, 2023). Within those disproportionately smaller spaces, representations largely focus on material contributions, with very little emphasis on other types of contributions. Further, while the continuity and significance of the Greco-Roman civilization is emphasized, the continuity and significance of ancient African contributions is rarely acknowledged (e.g., Abdou, 2017; Joyce & Abdou, 2023). Thus, by analyzing representations of both ancient and modern histories, this paper seeks to contribute to these highly understudied questions.

2. Theoretical Framework:
Our textual analyses mainly draw on ‘social representations’ theories (e.g., Moscovici, 1988, 2001, 2005; Wagner & Hayes, 2005). Moscovici clarifies that social representation can be defined as “a certain recurrent and comprehensive model of images, beliefs and symbolic behaviours … a series of propositions which enable things or persons to be classified” (2001, p. 152). In contrast to other approaches that focus, for instance, on “individually learned abstractions or stereotypes,” social representation theory is more interested in the socio-cultural dimensions of both the production, as well as that meaning making process of those representations (Wagner & Hayes, 2005, p. 196). It thus prompts us to critically analyze how these representations explicitly and implicitly “contain both judgmental and action-directing elements,” which potentially “reinforces the marginalisation of others, and justifies discrimination” (p. 123).

3. Data Sources and Modes of Inquiry:
Drawing on elements of critical discourse analyses (e.g., Fairclough, 2003) and adopting a systematic and holistic approach, the analysis focuses on the curricular guidelines of social studies, civics, and citizenship education.

In the context of Canada, we analyze all curricular guidelines available and accessible on the Ministries of Educations’ websites in six key Canadian provinces (namely: Ontario, Québec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta). The focus will be on Grade 4 curricular guidelines, which is the grade level that offers the only mandatory content related to ancient histories (i.e., “early societies until 1500 CE”), as well as other grades which include content on modern African histories.

In the context of Norway, we analyze textbooks for social studies primary school (grades 1 -7), secondary (grades 8-10), and upper secondary (grades 11-13). This includes the guidelines and content prescribed by the core curriculum (Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, 2019), and selected textbooks from the major publishers in Norway.

The textual analysis is guided by three key questions:
1) how are ancient and modern African histories represented in these two contexts’ social studies and citizenship education’s curricular guidelines and textbooks?
2) what are the curricular guidelines’ key stated objectives from teaching these histories, especially for non-Western histories?
3) how are these ancient civilizations’ contributions, and their interactions and exchanges with other Western and non-Western civilizations, represented?

The ongoing textual analyses will continue until end of 2025; and the final analyses and results will be ready to share in CIES 2026.

4. Significance:
First, given the growing African populations in Canada and Norway, and the urgent need to create curricula and classroom practices that are more representative and inclusive of these various peoples’ histories, contributions, and struggles, this is a timely contribution to this highly understudied question.

Second, balanced and inclusive curricular representations promise to promote a better sense of belonging and more meaningful civic engagement among all students, including students of African descent. Further, more inclusive curricula have the potential to recognize a diversity of perspectives and identities, helping students better appreciate contributions of non-Western civilizations and peoples to humanity.

Finally, we believe that addressing our growing polarization and promoting more peaceful co-existence requires appreciating various peoples’ histories, contributions, as well as their historical and contemporary struggles. More balanced curricular representations have the potential to contribute to this important vision of a less divided and more peaceful world.

Authors

• Ehaab D Abdou, Wilfrid Laurier University

• Merethe Skaras, Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society