Teacher collaborative curriculum design in technical vocational colleges: a strategy for maintaining curriculum consistency?

Abstract

The Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curriculum requires continuous renewal and constant involvement of stakeholders in the redesign process. Due to a lack of curriculum design expertise, TVET institutions in developing contexts encounter challenges maintaining and advancing the quality and relevance of their programmes to the needs of the labour market. The purpose of this multiple-case study is to describe the potential of teacher collaborative curriculum design (TCCD) in TVET colleges for improving the internal and external consistency of curricula. The study describes how four teams from different TVET college departments redesigned their programmes systematically and relationally to improve their internal and external consistency. The findings indicated that although the teams found the re-design task a challenge, they felt positive about the TCCD experience and its outcomes. The design teams also perceived the consistency of their programmes to have improved. The criticality of the support offered to the teams and the variety of the teams' design work were salient themes captured during the design process. It is concluded that supported TCCD teams, applying a systematic and relational approach, can be an efficient strategy for maintaining the consistency of the TVET curriculum.

Analytics in online and offline language learning environments: the role of learning design to understand student online engagement

“…All modules at the OU (and in most fully online learning providers) are developed collaboratively across a range of stakeholders. One of the main challenges identified with this collaborative design approach is the need to develop a shared vision (Albashiry, Voogt, & Pieters, 2015), which led to the introduction of a taxonomy through which practitioners make informed design decisions with a pedagogical focus using activity representations. The implementation of Learning Design included the introduction of a range of descriptors to categorise learning activities, and the OULDI taxonomy identifies seven types of learning activity as indicated in Table 1: assimilative; finding and handling information; communicative; productive; experiential;…”

Teacher’s Viewson the Relevance of Technical and Vocational Educationand Training (TVET) College Curriculato Labour Market

“…market and technological changes. Research studies have indicated that developing countries TVET college curriculum are not relevant with the needs and requirements of the labour market (Albashiry, Voogt & Pieters, 2015). However, developing countries encounter challenges to review and update their TVET college curricula for relevancy with labour market and technological changes.…”

“…However, developing countries encounter challenges to review and update their TVET college curricula for relevancy with labour market and technological changes. Research studies have indicated that developing countries TVET college curriculum are not relevant with the needs and requirements of the labour market (Albashiry, Voogt & Pieters, 2015).…”

“…For this reason, TVET colleges must ensure that vocational curriculum offered are relevant and respond to labour market requirements (Engelbrecht, Spencer & van der Bijl, 2017). To ensure that TVET curriculum remains relevant with the labour market changes continuous renewal and constant involvement of labour market in the redesign process is required (Albashiry, Voogt & Pieters, 2015). Similarly, curriculum planners need to review TVET curriculum at interval of five years to maintain the relevancy of the curriculum (Ngure, 2013).…”

Teachers as curriculum designers: What knowledge is needed?

“…The external consistency of the curriculum refers to the coherence of the perceptions of the actors involved in the curriculum design process, including managers and curriculum decision‐makers, at different levels of decision and curriculum development (macro, meso and micro), teachers, teachers' trainers, supervisors. External curriculum consistency is achieved through a relational approach during the design process, which comprises involving teachers and stakeholders during the early stages of this process, leading them to reveal their perceptions about the expected outcomes and how this can be achieved (Albashiry et al, 2015). As Kessels & Plomp (1997, p. 95) explain, ‘establishing such a coherence does not only depend on activities of the developer but is also favored by a positive learning climate and an active corporate education policy’.…”