3.9 Vocational education and training and the curriculum
3.9.1 The concept of curriculum
The term ‘curriculum’ can be used in various settings. In this write-up it is used in relation to education (Kelly, 2009). The concept of curriculum has been widely researched in the field of education over many years. However, scholars have not agreed on the meaning of the concept (Hussain, Conner, & Mayo, 2014; Kelly, 2009; Oliver, 2010). In order to make a contextual understanding of the concept curriculum there is need to clarify the concept of knowledge.
Curriculum focuses on what is taught and leant in schools. School knowledge, therefore, is the curriculum. It is different from everyday knowledge or what can be considered commonsense knowledge. According to Bernstein (1975) formal education knowledge can be considered to be realised through three message systems: curriculum, pedagogy, and evaluation. Curriculum defines what counts as valid knowledge, pedagogy defines what counts as valid transmission of knowledge, and evaluation defines what counts as valid realisation of this knowledge. The production, reproduction and transmission of knowledge is done by the dominant social classes in society (Bernstein, 1975) .
Broadly, most definitions of curriculum have elements such as content, experiences and behavioural objectives (Lunenburg, 2011).Hussain et al. (2014) identify six partial and coupled facets of the curriculum which occur simultaneously. These facets are: curriculum as structure, curriculum as process, curriculum as content, curriculum as teaching, curriculum as learning, and curriculum as activity. The analysis of the concept curriculum presented above is significant in that it exposes the complexity of the term. In noting that curriculum is a process, Hussain et.al bring out an important aspect of the curriculum; that curriculum is emergent. This means that the curriculum is dynamic and can change in response to new demands. This aspect is of relevance in the study of curriculum responsiveness.
Ideally, a curriculum should respond to the needs of society and individual learners. Any analysis of curriculum as used in education circles needs to clarify that education does not occur in a vacuum. Rather, educational systems are influenced by societal expectations and several social imperatives and aspirations. Kashora (2015, p. 4) states that:
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The curriculum constitutes a legal framework for the development of teaching and learning activities. It should respond to the needs of the society and the needs of the individuals. The curriculum development process, therefore, involves close coordination between a variety of stakeholders and institutions. Decisions about curriculum issues are made in close consultation with the learners, parents, teachers, heads of schools, education officers in the regions, the examination council, subject specialists, commerce and industry, teachers’ colleges and universities.
Kashora argues that in order to develop a responsive curriculum there is need for key stakeholders to participate in the process of curriculum development rather than having a top- down approach. There is danger in the top-down approach in that curriculum development becomes an exclusive role of politicians.
In this study on vocational curriculum responsiveness to the learning needs of A1 farmers in Zimbabwe it is important to get an understanding of the following conceptions of the curriculum:
the official/intended curriculum, the enacted curriculum and the experienced curriculum, focusing on curriculum responsiveness.
3.9.1.1 Intended curriculum
The intended curriculum refers to that which is laid down in the syllabi and official documents of educational institutions (Kelly, 2009).Eisner (1990) notes that the intended curriculum is written, has aims and objectives and that it usually prescribes or suggests a sequence of activities, and is often subject to external evaluation. It shows what the institution intends its students to learn, hence it is also referred to as the official curriculum. In some situations the intended curriculum is determined at national levels by the relevant Ministry of Education in the form of a curriculum framework, lists of subject content taught at particular levels in a prescriptive form. However, when this curriculum is communicated to educational institutions it is interpreted differently by different teachers. Differences in curriculum interpretation results in the same curriculum being taught differently in different contexts. This interpretation becomes the operational or enacted curriculum.
90 3.9.1.2 Operational curriculum
According to Eisner (1990) the operational curriculum is a result of how teachers mediate the intended curriculum. Teachers interpret the intended curriculum and their interpretation of it is important in what the students will receive as education. Teacher interpretation of the intended curriculum depends on several constraining factors, which differs from one teacher to the other.
Variables such as culture, teacher education, gender and differences in contexts of students, among others, have implications on curriculum interpretation (Eisner, 1990).
3.9.1.3 Experienced curriculum
It is idealistic to believe that what is intended in the curriculum is enacted and the same experienced by learners. The practice is that learners experience the curriculum differently from that which the teachers teach. The experienced curriculum is an important aspect, focusing on what experiences generate knowledge, their ordering and learners’ readiness to engage in these experiences. In this study the experiences of students on curriculum responsiveness will assist in addressing this aspect of the curriculum.
3.9.1.4 Hidden curriculum
Sociologists of education in the Marxist or Conflict tradition have significant interest in the subject of the hidden curriculum. According to Alsubaie (2015) any educational curriculum, apart from the official/intended curriculum, has, at the same time, unspoken or implicit values, behaviours and norms that exist in education settings. These constitute the hidden curriculum.
The hidden curriculum is not only found in primary and secondary education but is also present in higher education settings (Margolis, 2001). This means that even in vocational education settings, apart from the formalised curriculum a hidden curriculum is also taught to the learners.
The hidden curriculum is closely linked to the culture and ideology of the institution offering the training.
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In the South African context Kraak (1991) shows that vocational training programmes had an ideological character during the crisis years of Apartheid and even beyond. The transition to a post-Apartheid South Africa meant that more semi-skilled and skilled blacks would be required in the labour market. As a result, vocational training shifted to include more of these semi-skilled and skilled Africans in an attempt to stabilise capitalist social relations (Kraak, 1991). The interest of these programmes was not in making the environment better for black workers but rather to make black workers identify with company interests. The hidden curriculum is greatly influenced by the culture, ideology and attitudes of the funders, owners, managers, teachers and learners in educational institutions (Zvobgo, 2007). In this study on vocational education curriculum responsiveness to the learning needs of A1 farmers, the hidden curriculum is an important element to explore because the training centres under study belong to two historically and ideologically different institutions, the government and a non-governmental organisation.