Curriculum Design and Evaluation

The Evaluation Process

It is an unavoidable fact that all teaching and learning curricula are ever-changing and always open to evaluation and scrutiny, and in a society where, as John Field points out, “lifelong learning…is the new educational reality,” a successful and well thought-out curriculum is essential (Field, 2006, p.9). Rather, this evaluation is internal, as the teacher finds that his/her curriculum does not seem to be meeting the goals of the course, or it is externally evaluated as not meeting national or the school’s own standards and criteria; evaluating curriculum is necessary in curriculum development and design. In Mary Neary’s text, Curriculum Studies in Post-Compulsory and Adult Education, she contends that curriculum must always be open to scrutiny as “there is a danger that, being so involved and committed to it, we [educators] may fail to see the flaws in our work” (Neary, 2002, p. 166). Essentially, Neary believes that because educators and school leaders spend so much time developing and designing their curricula, they tend to disregard the process of evaluation altogether, and that this is a risky situation, as external scrutiny is essential in leading to the course approval. The term “curriculum” is a term that can be explained in many ways, however, in the broadest terms, it refers to the conceptual planning of the instruction of educational goals and the development of morals and values through a course of study. The development and design of a curriculum requires the incorporation of not only the “core skills” as laid out by the Scottish government, but also the instruction of other National guidelines and requirements laid out for learners of all subjects at all qualifying levels. The core skills, as discussed in Roy Canning’s essay “A History of Core Skills Policy Development in Scotland,” include the skills of “Communication, Numeracy, Using Information Technology, Working with Others, and Problem Solving,” as laid out by the Scottish Qualifications Authority’s website (www.sqa.org.uk). These skills are viewed as transferable skills that are not only core skills for life, but also essential in the workplace and working environment. These core skills are offered in stand-alone course units, but are mostly embedded within the overall curriculum in all Scottish post-compulsory educational institutions. However, as stated in Canning’s essay, “core skills as a concept is socially constructed” (Canning, 2003, p. 139). This is due to the fact that over the years the meaning of generic or “core” skills has been ever-changing with the social, economic, and political climate- what skills are important to employers and society dependent upon other factors of that time.
Throughout history educational curriculum has developed from the traditional apprenticeships of the early to mid 1900’s to the 1970’s when school leaving age was raised and more programs and opportunities were available to students looking for further education, to the introduction of National Certificates (1983), HNC/Ds (1985), and SVQs (1989), to the present options for all students at all ages to receive further education in a variety of subjects, open to the entire community. Through implemented programs and educational movements such as Higher Still, the New Deal, and Determined to Succeed/Curriculum for Excellence, the Scottish government and educational leaders are continuously developing and redesigning curriculum. In the Scottish system there are three different curriculum tracks, dependent upon the type of course the learner decides to take. There is the “academic” track, which includes degree-level qualifications, National Qualifications, and Professional Qualifications; and courses taken through the academic track usually involve majority of the work to be completed through seminar, lecture, and at-home study. Another track is the “work related” track, which includes HNC HND National Certificates as well as some Professional Qualifications, and these courses tend to split between class/lecture time and working experience. The third curriculum track is the “work based” track, and includes SVQs and Modern Apprenticeships. The work-based curriculum track takes place out of the classroom, and instead in an apprenticeship situation, where the learner is educated directly (and indirectly) via their instructor, or another professional in the field. Another option that is included in the work-based track is that of acquiring higher levels of SVQs whilst working, and allowing ones manager/employer to schedule for SVQ assessors to come in and increase their level by meeting set standards, with the actual examination taking place in the candidate’s workplace, or possibly an FE college or private training centre. The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), launched in 2001, is a framework that “promotes lifelong learning in Scotland” by aiding in access to education and training for people of all ages and by helping employers and the general public to understand the full range of Scottish qualifications (www.scqf.org.uk). Within this framework is Post-16 education, or post-compulsory learning, which offers a wide spectrum of qualifications through the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), Accreditation and Awarding Body, and an Enterprise Network to support and enable learners attempting to gain these qualifications and further education.
When it comes to post-compulsory or post-16 education in Scotland, there is undoubtedly diversity of access to further education, or a “diversity of provision.” For example, there are many different colleges, different courses, and differing levels of qualifications. One of the most important factors of any school, from primary age to college and graduate level, is that of curriculum development. Curriculum development refers to the planning and scheduling of what should and needs to be taught as well as learned in a school, and these goals are then transferred into different courses of study and supplemental programs. The process most suitable for developing school curricula is that of “incrementalism,” or a gradually building up of a curriculum by making small additions and amendments as the curriculum is created rather than massive reconstructions. Furthermore, the curriculum is “modularized” by dividing up a larger general course idea into sub-categories, and the teaching/learned of certain information lumped into learning “modules.” Another option of curriculum development is the outcome-based model, which is a performance-based model of education that focuses on the ability of the students to prove that they have learned/gained the skills that were to be achieved though the curriculum. With this model, the overall goal of the instructor’s methods is to prepare the students for an overall examination or general assessment at the end of the course’s term. Whichever model is used is dependent upon the teaching and directing leaders of the school, however, there is usually a detailed curriculum with distinct requirements at a national level. This is termed as “centralisation,” and the Scottish “core skills” requirement is the best example of this.
In theory, the curriculum should work to meet not only the individual school’s set out requirements and goals, but it should also embed the Scottish core skills; but putting the curriculum to use through the practice of the instructor requires a thoughtful decision concerning the instructing approach. Among the most widely used and discussed approaches are Behaviourism, Cognitivism, Humanism, and Constructivism. The Behaviourist approach to teaching a curriculum is dependent upon the dominance of the instructor, as they are the leader in a form of “unintended learning,” which is received by the student/learner through the examination of their instructor’s actions. This type of approach would be most useful in a work-based modern apprenticeship, or even FE college classes such as hairdressing, customer service, and administration, where skills are easily learned through mimicking and repeating behaviours and tasks. The Cognitivist approach differs in that it is interested in how learners understand and/or perceive information, taking into account learning styles and the learner’s capacity to learn. This approach is most difficult to transfer into a classroom environment simply due to the fact that the students would most likely all have their own diverse competencies and learning styles. Therefore, this approach requires much more work on the instructor’s part, as they must work into their curriculum all learning styles as well as accounting for differing aptitudes of their students. The Humanist approach and the Constructivist approaches, on the other hand, are more focused on the learner, and require the instructor to be more of a facilitator to learning rather than the driving force. The Humanist model of teaching emphasises the natural human desire to learn, and the learners have a large amount of control over the learning process, as it relies on their own willingness to learn. In Constructivist teaching, the instructor facilitates the learner as they generate knowledge and meaning from their experiences (http://www.learning-theories.com). This very hands-on and explorative approach to learning is most applicable in Science courses, as well as skills-based courses, and as with Behaviourism, modern apprenticeships.
Besides the obvious decisions one must make when developing and evaluating course/school curriculum, such as the learning goals, centralised guidelines, and the choice of teaching approach, it is essential for curriculum developers and evaluators to take into account the various learning that occurs/ will occur throughout their course’s term. There is the overt formal learning that is purely instructor-based and takes place in lectures, seminars, and involves a full program of study. However, the student is also acquiring informal learning outside of the instructor-led environment through their own studying and reading out of school hours, as well as acquiring what is known as “hidden curriculum,” or things that are learned due to the way their study/work is organised and are not part of the planned curriculum. An example of this “hidden” knowledge is the learning of social roles or professionalism, which is a form of tacit knowledge, or knowledge that is not easily transferable to others, and is learner is sometimes unaware of. In essence, due to the fact that there are so many decisions and factors involved in the development and practice of school curriculum, it is all the more essential that all teaching and learning curricula are ever-changing and must always be open to evaluation and scrutiny, and most importantly, by the learners themselves, who should have a say in rather or not the curriculum is achieving all of the goals of learning it sets out to achieve.

Rationale

For the teaching/learning curriculum for a class on Beauty Therapy and Contemporary Aesthetic treatments, I have deemed that the best approach for the course curriculum would be that of an entirely work-based programme. As best stated in James and Biesta’s book Improving Learning Cultures in Further Education, “some courses have a clear vocational identity,” and Beauty Therapy is one of them (2007, p. 85). The goals determined for this type of course have been determined by the Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ) guidelines, and are dependent upon which level of SVQ the employee (or student) is trying to gain. For example, at Level 1, a candidate should be able to demonstrate “competent performance in a range of activities which are largely routine and predictable,” such as articulate and appropriate communication with clients, high standard of personal appearance, basic knowledge of beauty therapy treatments, the ability to prepare the materials needed for treatments, among other general tasks (SQA, p.2). At Level 2, the candidate must not only demonstrate competence in the general tasks, but must also be able to handle a “broader range of work activities which are less routine and predictable” and the candidate should be able to work more independently and without as much supervision (p. 2). As the Level SVQ increases in Beauty Therapy, so does the amount of opportunity for the employee/candidate, who has the skill and ability to take on management and decision-making roles. The main reason why I have decided upon a work-based curriculum is due to the fact that the skills that must be achieved to gain an SVQ in Beauty Therapy are skills that are best learned through a mainly Constructivist approach, with much of learning being hands-on, as in the case of nail design and facials. A Constructivist approach to teaching these skills, as mentioned in the evaluation process section of this paper, would mean that the learner would build knowledge through experience, and in the case of beauty therapy, through practice, and to build upon the learner’s own previous experiences to learn new skills and knowledge. On the other hand, the remainder of the skills assessed for an SVQ in Beauty Therapy are those which are tacit knowledge and are mostly learned in the hidden curriculum, through a type of Behaviourism. For example, part of the assessment in achieving a Level 1 SVQ in Beauty Therapy, the candidate must demonstrate “skills and knowledge in how to communicate in an articulate and appropriate way with clients and colleagues; and the importance of a high standard of personal presentation and hygiene” (p. 5). Certainly, these skills could be acquired through formal learning models, however, they are more of a tacit knowledge, that occurs naturally rather than directly taught lessons- they are life skills, and as such are built into the “hidden curriculum,” and as such are learned through the Behaviourist methods including positive and negative reinforcements to the candidates actions, as well as other unconscious forms of learning through the examination of the other workers and higher level managers (www.learning-theories.com). As stated in James and Biesta (2007), “learning cultures can be more or less shaped and defined by the expectations of the vocational field, and naturally this affects what students do and how they are changed in a learning process” (p. 91). In other words, students are not only receiving the information in the curriculum through vocational practices/ vocational culture, they are also developing and putting this information into practice through their own disposition and the affect of the learning depends completely upon “how their dispositions play out in the learning culture” (James & Biesta, 2007, p. 92).
In addition to the requirements for the SVQ assessment are the centralised Scottish “core skills” requirements, which must also be built into the curriculum for the Beauty Therapy course. Huddleston and Unwin state that,

Instead of being a teacher who is solely concerned with his or her own subject specialism, FE teachers now have to understand how their specialism ‘connects’ with the rest of college’s curricular provision and how generic (or core) learning can be facilitated through that specialism (2007, p. 116).

Translating this into practice becomes increasingly difficult for instructors, as they must concentrate then on learning as a whole rather than simply transmitting skills and knowledge in their specific subject. In order to incorporate the Scottish core skills of communications, literacy, IT, working with others, and problem solving, I must be creative in my course curriculum. Communications as well as working with others, are essential in passing the SVQ, therefore, they will be practiced through supervised interactions with clients, or role play situations. As for literacy, some extra reading assignments on the topic of Beauty Therapy as well as some essay writing on the subject would have to be included, so as to improve upon both reading and writing skills. IT and technological skills have become not only a work, but also a life skill in the 21st century, and therefore, incorporating work with a computer and other technologies is essential in the Beauty Therapy curriculum. Majority of salons would have computer programs to schedule appointments, keep accounts and books, as well as for general work purposes, and therefore IT learning and instruction would be incorporated into the daily vocational curriculum. Lastly, the core skill of problem solving is easily incorporated into work-based vocational learning, as it is guaranteed that problems and issues that require swift decision making will come up in a working environment. Under supervision and instruction, it would be understood that the student/employee would learn how to cope with these decisions on their own or with little to no supervision.