astra domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home/studyfoxx/public_html/proactivetraining.com.au/news/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131A think piece by Hugh Guthrie<\/strong><\/p>\n For at least the last 30 years I haven\u2019t seen the word \u2018curriculum\u2019 used much in the VET space. This followed moves to an industry-led approach where we just talked Training Packages, qualifications and units of competency.<\/p>\n The word seems to now be having somewhat of a resurgence, however. In fact, in the recently released review of TAFE SA, entitled Roadmap for the future for TAFE SA<\/a>, it appears 12 times! I\u2019ve seen it mentioned in other documents too!<\/p>\n As TAFE SA\u2019s Roadmap suggests:<\/p>\n \u201cThere is increasing attention across tertiary education to designing curriculum specific to particular industries and occupations and changes being made to the National Training Packages and to university qualifications, and will be required for ongoing accreditation with professional bodies. This is likely to, and hopefully will, become wider practice over the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019ll be interesting to see where the Qualification Reform Group takes things, and how it talks about the translation of competencies\/standards to qualifications and courses of study and then to the associated teaching and learning delivered \u2018on the ground\u2019. Well-designed curriculum, it\u2019s suggested, could aid this translation process and bring\u00a0educators back into the mix.<\/p>\n Curriculum can be broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. However, it can take a number of forms such as:<\/p>\n There are a number of other forms of \u2018curriculum\u2019 mentioned in the literature as well, but for the sake of brevity we won\u2019t go into those here.<\/p>\n In the simplest terms, UNESCO<\/a> describes \u2018curriculum\u2019 as the what, why, how and how well students should learn in systematic and intentional ways.<\/p>\n Extending these curriculum conceptions, Chen and her colleagues published a paper in 2021 in the International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, entitled \u201cInternational curriculum comparison in vocational education and training: a collaborative development of an analysis instrument<\/a>.\u201d It was an international comparative study concerned with VET curriculum issues, and with a competence-based focus. They described curriculum in terms of the \u2018intended\u2019, the \u2018implemented\u2019 and the \u2018attained,\u2019 drawing on work in the late 1970s by John Goodlad.<\/p>\n First, they note that the conception of competence can be tricky as the concept is diffuse, and there is no universally accepted definition of it. Thus, the term can be used in a large variety of the ways ranging from describing tasks and jobs to considering competence more broadly and including interpersonal attributes (e.g. social or organizational skills) and ethical values. (The UNESCO glossary<\/a> talks about the nature of competence, and a paper<\/a> published by NCVER (and entitled \u201cAdding value to competency-based training\u201d) looked at\u00a0 possible re-conceptions of the nature of competence in the Australian context.) So, one of the possible other approaches to thinking about what competence actually is vests conceptions of competence in the individual and describes the range of personal capabilities and attributes that they need both to work in the present and into the future, and be good lifelong learners and community minded human beings.<\/p>\n Getting back to curriculum concepts, Chen et al\u2019s paper describes the \u2018intended curriculum\u2019 as:<\/p>\n \u201cA set of formal documents which specify what the relevant national education authorities and society\u00a0expect that students will learn \u2026 in terms of knowledge, understanding, skills, values, and attitudes\u00a0to be acquired and developed, and how the outcomes of the teaching and learning process will be assessed.\u00a0It is usually embodied in curriculum framework(s) and guides, syllabi, textbooks, teacher\u2019s guides, content\u00a0of tests and examinations, regulations, policies and other official documents \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Broadly conceived, this would include what\u2019s covered in Training Packages and the many resources and processes that hang off them.<\/p>\n However, the \u2018art\u2019 for educators is in conceiving the \u2018implemented curriculum,\u2019 which is seen as:<\/p>\n \u201cThe actual teaching and learning activities taking place in [the provider] through interaction between learners\u00a0and teachers as well as among learners, e.g., how the intended curriculum is translated into practice and actually\u00a0delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n This might also be defined as the \u2018curriculum in action\u2019 or the \u2018taught curriculum\u2019 and working towards the third term Chen suggests above, the \u2018attained curriculum\u2019, which might be regarded as the experiential curriculum referring to the reactions and outcomes of the learners after receiving instruction.<\/p>\n In short, the intended curriculum should align with the implemented curriculum in order to achieve the goals of the curriculum through the attained curriculum.<\/p>\n Thus, the implementation of the intended curriculum has always been an issue in Australia, because:<\/p>\n A group of prominent and experienced VET researchers wants to look into how the intended can be better connected to the implemented and the attained through effective use of curriculum by providers across a selected range of occupational areas.<\/p>\n Hopefully this work will start in earnest sometime next year, but\u00a0an OctoberVET event on 20 October<\/a>, will help to kick the research process off and raise interest in this important topic.<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s a curriculum anyway?<\/h2>\n
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Faithful but effective implementation can be tough<\/h2>\n
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Reintroducing curriculum concepts to Australian VET<\/h2>\n