Fostering Privileged Students’ Critical Consciousness and Empowering Women through Representative Curriculum Design

Description

The sport industry’s longstanding patriarchal cultural legacy creates persistent challenges for women. Drawing on Jester’s reconceptualisation of curricula representation, this study explored the potential of representative curriculum design to foster critical consciousness and allyship among students with privileged identities, while engaging minoritised students (including women). Following reflexive thematic analysis of thirty-four interviews with sport management students, the findings evidenced curriculum design aligned with social justice education and transformational learning. Privileged (white, male) students reported that the curriculum developed allyship and critical consciousness through cognitive dissonance, disorientating dilemmas, and exposure to identity-matched role models. These insights are significant given previous reports of avoidance and defensiveness when privileged identities are implicated in curricula. Minoritised (and female) students explained how representative case studies and visible role models contributed to a sense of belonging, career aspirations, and preparedness to navigate industry challenges. As socialisation agents, faculty members are called upon to critically evaluate, redesign, and implement curricula that centralise representative content. Such curriculum design not only enhances the learning experience for women but also cultivates a generation of change-makers capable of creating more equitable sport industry environments.

Period	14 Jul 2026 → 15 Jul 2026
Event title	Women in Sport and Exercise Academic Network : Strike with Purpose
Event type	Conference
Location	Loughborough, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National