Name: The Political Curriculum: Toward A Working-Class Feminism
Start: 2026-01-28T13:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-01-28T14:30:00+00:00
Location: Stenhouse Building, Room SW106 (Ground Floor)

The Political Curriculum: Toward A Working-Class Feminism

This Strath_Fem seminar sees Michaela Hall offering a counter-narrative to neoliberal perspectives in Higher Education.
About this Event

Abstract

The Higher Education curriculum is inherently political, reflecting societal values that currently prioritise market logic, individual responsibility, and narrow definitions of “useful” knowledge. Within this neoliberal climate, patriarchal, middle‑class, Eurocentric, and heteronormative worldviews are privileged, marginalising a wide range of alternative ways of knowing. Courses which use critical perspectives on dominant discourse are dismissed as “Mickey Mouse”, “woke”, or simply a waste of money. Such labels serve elite interests by delegitimising disciplines that challenge the current prevalent narratives or expose structural injustices.

I aim to show how learning as preparation for employability - rather than a space for critical consciousness or social transformation - is problematic, particularly for working-class women. Such framing positions working-class communities as problems to be managed in addition to erasing their lived experiences from the curriculum.

In response, a Working‑Class Feminist Manifesto offers a counter‑narrative centred on equity, accessibility, relevance, and resistance. It outlines actionable principles for creating curricula that value diverse ways of knowing and treat educational empowerment as a matter of justice.

Michaela Hall is a PhD student in Education, whose research explores the intersectionality of gender and class within higher education, with a particular focus on curriculum theory and socially just pedagogical approaches. Her work investigates non-derivative curriculum models that challenge traditional neoliberal western structures and promote equity.

Michaela currently works in higher education and brings over 20 years of experience in the education sector, across a range of roles. She serves as the co-organiser of Strathclyde Business School’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Reading Group, treasurer of the Strath UN Women UK Society, and a student member representative for the Gender and Education Association. She additionally developed and co-leads the Gender and Education Association’s Writing Group, set up to foster community and sustained academic writing. Beyond academia, Michaela is co‑developing a feminist community initiative in her local city.