Three Foundational Supports (Navigation)
The Navigation element of the BEACON model refers to the foundational supports and processes that ensure decolonisation and diversification work is effective, non-tokenistic, and sustained. It includes three core pillars.
Institutional Support
DDtC cannot rest solely on individual goodwill. Wider support is vital to resourcing, legitimising, and embedding this work; otherwise institutions are at risk of ‘decolonial washing’—the appearance of change without meaningful structural support.
As part of the BEACON initiative at King's Business School, we are seeking ongoing institutional investment in paid Student Inclusivity Champions (SICs), who work with staff to review modules, gather student perspectives, and suggest and evaluate changes.
Student Co-Creation
Student partnership has been a cornerstone of the BEACON initiative, with each stage shaped by student input and led by student involvement. Students themselves have been clear about why their voices matter: they are the ones experiencing modules directly, and their perspectives highlight both what is working well and what needs to change. Therefore, centring students as partners in DDtC helps make inclusive curriculum design more relevant, credible, and engaging; ensuring that any changes are meaningful rather than tokenistic. At the same time, student co-creation aligns with broader decolonial aims, by disrupting the traditional dynamic in academia, where students are treated as passive recipients of knowledge rather than active contributors to it.
We will continue to draw on students' lived experiences, by engaging students in dialogue and co-creation around their learning, and empowering SICs to lead module reviews and propose changes.
Educator Reflection
We recognise that colleagues bring a wide range of experiences, perspectives, and disciplinary traditions that inform their educational practice. Reflecting on this ‘positionality’ provides an opportunity to consider how these identities shape aspects of our teaching—what we emphasise, whose voices we centre, and how we frame knowledge. It also helps us to notice perspectives that may fall outside our own lived experience, so that we can engage more intentionally with diverse ways of knowing. In this way, our positionality becomes a resource: allowing us to connect more authentically with students, and design learning environments that are more inclusive and critically engaged.