Towards a renewed student
internship in Ghana’s polytechnics:
Through collaborative curriculum
design in design teams
OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
Background to the study
Context of the study
Focus of the study
Aim of the study
Intervention: CCD in design teams
Main guidelines for design of student internship
curriculum
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Recommendation
Background to the study
 The role of teachers in curriculum development cannot be
overemphasised.
 Failure of educational reforms because teachers were not involved
at the commencement.
 Teachers are better positioned to understand when and how
subject matter should be taught.
 In this time and age the quality of tertiary graduates has become a
subject of public discussion, it is imperative to involve other
stakeholders in the curriculum development in order to forestall the
product(s) being perceived as imposition by other stakeholders e.g.
industry personnel, and thereby lacks credibility during
implementation.
 Thus stakeholders collaborative planning where needs and
interests of stakeholders are elicited become paramount.
Context of the study
Internship in the hospitality management sector in
Ghana’s polytechnics revealed that polytechnicindustry collaboration needs to be strengthened.
Students fail to meet the required internship period
of six months.
Some students fail to embark on internship at all due
to limited number of placements.
Interns need to have experience in all sections of the
hospitality industry.
The need was expressed by the various stakeholders
to design curriculum materials to guide student
internships.
Focus of the study
The study sought to determine the effect of
CCD in design teams on improved curriculum
materials for the renewed student internship.
 The main research question was Does
collaborative curriculum design in design
teams contribute to an improved curriculum
for student internship?
The following sub-questions were formulated for the
study:
1. How did teachers perceive working in design teams
to improve the student internship curriculum?
2. How satisfied were the stakeholders; polytechnic,
teachers, students, and industry, with the
realisation of the renewed student internship?
3. Has the use of the curriculum materials, designed
according to the guidelines, improved students’
internship practices and competencies?
Aim of the Study
The study aimed at exploring the effect of
teachers’ collaborative design of curriculum
materials on student internship which was
implemented during 2009 student internship
in hospitals and hotels in Ghana.
Intervention: CCD in design teams
 Workshops were organised for stakeholders on the
challenges identified in the context and needs study
and possible solutions to the challenges from
stakeholders with the view of improving student
internship.
 Two teams of teachers were formed to collaboratively
design curriculum materials for student internship.
Each team consisted of four teachers.
 One team developed material for food production and
food and beverage and the other material for
accommodation and front office operation. The design
of the curriculum materials took about eight weeks.
The curriculum materials had the following
components:
objectives of student internship,
content description of the four core areas of the
hospitality industry,
 practical activities the students had to conduct
during internship,
 job rotation during internship,
 assessment and student supervision from
teachers and industry.
Main Guidelines for Design of Student
Internship Curriculum
The length of time for internship,
need for job rotation,
support in achieving the expected objectives
set by interns,
installing industry supervision,
and effective cooperation of supervisors with
interns.
Methods
 The study is a single-case design in the context of the
polytechnic and the case is Department of HCIM with
teachers, students and industry as units of analysis.
 Participants: 8 teachers participated in two design teams,
66 students, Industrial liaison officer, 15 industry
representatives comprising 11 hotels and 4 hospitals
 Research instruments: Two sets of questionnaires were
administered to students. The first was administered
immediately after the workshops
 The second questionnaire, similar to the first, was
administered immediately after internship five months
later.
 Question items predominantly on a five-point Likert scale using
responses graded: 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree to
determine the level of agreement to statements.
 Statements centred on stakeholders’ participation in internship,
students’ assessment of industry contribution during internship,
assessment of student competencies after internship and
duration.
 Two sets of questionnaires were administered to teachers. The
first was immediately after the workshops. The rationale was to
elicit background information on teacher experience in
curriculum activities.
 The second after internship 5 months later.
 Teacher instruments focused on assessment of internship,
support for design teams, satisfaction involvement of
stakeholders, teachers’ internship role, problems encountered,
assessment criteria, type of training students experienced,
competencies acquired during design teams sessions, and
change of teacher perceptions about design teams.
 The industrial liaison officer was interviewed after
the 2009 internship concerning his role, contribution
to the internship, role expectations of other
polytechnic groupings regarding organisation of
internship, challenges facing the unit and suggestions
for improvement.
 Questionnaire to industry personnel (hotel industry
and hospitals) centred on formalisation of links
between polytechnic and industry, active involvement
of teachers in student internship, teacher and industry
supervision, students’ assessment, students’
performance, description of training given to
students, departments served by student(s) and the
impact of curriculum materials on student internship.
Checklist was used to collect data during
students’ visits by the researcher in organisations.
The purpose was to know at first-hand the state
of interns and to interact with personnel of
organisations concerning interns’ general
behaviour.
Student assigned role, industry training, working
environment, industry supervision, teacher
supervision, competencies expected and
competencies achieved were the indices being
investigated.
 Data were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively.
Data from questionnaires were analysed using SPSS.
 Non-parametric tests were used to determine
differences in teacher perceptions (Wilcoxon) before
and after intervention
 differences between competencies of students trained
and untrained (Mann-Whitney U).
 The Kruskal-Wallis test and descriptives were used
to determine differences expressed in views by
stakeholders regarding their level of participation in
student internship.
 ILO’s responses in the interview were audio taped,
transcribed and major themes identified.
 Data from checklist was analysed qualitatively by use
of percentages to identify the major themes
Results
 Generally, teachers admitted that professional
commitment, healthy interpersonal relationship, mutual
respect and participative decision making were virtues
that were promoted in design teams’ activities.
 Teachers’ perceptions about CCD were very positive,
and did not change significantly over the period of the
study.
 With the support from industry and students, design
teams’ activities led to the design of the curriculum
materials which were used in the 2009 student
internship.
 The involvement of polytechnic, teachers and
industry regarding student internship needed to be
invigorated.
 The link between the polytechnic and industry was
not formalised and link could be described as
episodic. However, industry’s contribution to interns’
training and students’ conduct were commendable.
 The curriculum materials were a source of guide to
both students and industry. Teachers’ inactive
involvement in the internship was due to the
polytechnic’s inability to provide for the required
resources to complement the effort of industry.
 Students and industry personnel were satisfied with
the job performance of students but teachers were
not.
The internship was perceived by the interns to be
beneficial and the acquisition of competencies in
the four main domains of the hospitality industry
by interns was significant.
The first year students improved remarkably in
their competencies in food and beverage and
accommodation operation whereas the second year
students in front office operation.
Unlike other departments in the hospitality
industry, the most restrictive department to interns,
particularly the first year students, was the front
office.
Conclusion
 The teachers having collaborated over a period of 8 weeks were positive about the
CCD in design teams which resulted in marginal improvement in their collaborative
skills as expressed in professional commitment, interdependence, mutual respect,
health interpersonal relationship and participative decision making.
 The study also unearthed that involvement of polytechnic, teachers and industry
regarding student internship needed to be rejuvenated.
 The link between the polytechnic and industry was not formalised and link could be
described as weak.
 Industry’s contribution to interns’ training and interns’ conduct during the 2009
internship were commendable.
 The curriculum materials were a source of guide to both students and industry.
 Teachers’ inactive involvement in the internship was due to the polytechnic’s
inability to provide for the required resources to complement the effort of industry.
 There were also some considerable improvements in internship practices.
 The students improved considerably in their competencies in the 4 core domains of
the hospitality industry
Recommendation
For student internship to achieve its intended
purpose of equipping interns with the requisite
skills for industry, the key stakeholders
(students, teachers and industry personnel)
should work collaboratively at the various
stages of the internship.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION