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.

Keywords:

• collaborative curriculum design
• TVET
• internal consistency
• external consistency
• curriculum renewal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nabeel M. Albashiry

Nabeel M. Albashiry is a lecturer at Sana'a Community College and currently a PhD candidate at the University of Twente. His research interests concern curriculum development and teacher professional development in tertiary contexts.

Joke M. Voogt

Joke Voogt is a professor of curriculum, information, and communication technologies at the University of Amsterdam and Windesheim University. Her research interests concern teacher involvement and teacher learning through collaborative design to foster sustainable implementation of curriculum innovations in national and international settings, often related to the integration of information and communication technologies.

Jules M. Pieters

Jules Pieters is a professor-emeritus of applied psychology at the University of Twente. He was involved in research projects on inquiry and collaboration in professional knowledge development of teachers, on co-designing of curriculum materials and learning environments by teachers in teacher development teams, on psychological design, and on knowledge dissemination.