Research Papers
Document Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
As humanity is faced with unparalleled challenges, from the climate emergency to rising inequality, there is a renewed emphasis on the role of engineering professionals to contribute solutions to global problems. However, there is increasing recognition that the way that engineers are trained through higher education is inadequate to prepare them to address these grand challenges. This paper aims to deepen theoretical perspectives on why the engineering education status quo is falling short. Taking a British perspective, I outline how the epistemology and cultural ideologies, or the “episteme,” of engineering continues to shape our discourses within modern day engineering education, and constrain our ways of knowing, thinking, being, and acting. I will present data from a critical ethnography to reveal how discourses of engineering continue to be steeped in coloniality and perpetuate Western, modernist narratives for the need for growth and technologically-driven development. I aim to demonstrate that approaches to curricular reform will continue to fall short without concerted efforts to decolonise our ways of knowing and doing in engineering. Finally, I provide some suggestions on pathways forward.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21427/B32A-5640
Recommended Citation
Orbaek White, G. (2023). Taking Curriculum Reform To The Next Level: The Need For Decolonising Work In Engineering Education. European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI). DOI: 10.21427/B32A-5640
Creative Commons License
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