Epistemic Justice and the Curriculum: Decolonising Knowledge in Nigerian Secondary School Education Administration

This study investigates the relationship between epistemic justice, curricular decolonisation, and the practice of educational administration in Nigerian secondary schools, with a focus on how administrative actors facilitate or obstruct the integration of indigenous knowledge systems into the formal curriculum. Epistemic justice, a concept drawn from the works of Miranda Fricker and extended by decolonial theorists, addresses the marginalisation of knowledge producers and knowledge forms from formerly colonised societies within dominant academic and institutional frameworks. In Nigerian secondary education, the persistence of colonial curricular legacies, reinforced by administrative practices and examination frameworks, continues to limit the educational relevance and cultural resonance of schooling for many Nigerian students. The study employs a critical qualitative design involving document analysis of federal and state curriculum frameworks, 48 in-depth interviews with curriculum designers, school administrators, and teachers across Imo, Kaduna, Kogi, and Bauchi States, and participatory workshops with 30 secondary school students. Data are analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis situated within a Decolonial Theoretical Framework informed by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Ndlovu-Gatsheni, and Tuhiwai Smith. Findings reveal that educational administrators occupy a contested mediating role between centralised curricular orthodoxy and localised demands for cultural and knowledge relevance, and that individual administrative orientation is the strongest institutional predictor of curriculum decolonisation practices. The study makes theoretical contributions to both decolonial theory and educational administration scholarship. Recommendations address curriculum policy reform and administrator cultural competency development. Keywords: epistemic justice, decolonisation, curriculum, educational administration, Nigeria.