“The Four-Year Degree”
Curriculum renewal in higher education
in South Africa: Drivers and possibilities
Ian Scott & Nan Yeld
issues@ched
April 2009
1
Drivers of curriculum reform
internationally
• ‘Modernisation’: adjusting to changing world and
regional conditions
• international moves for ‘transformation’
• Equity
• international moves to widen participation, for
economic and social reasons
• Standardisation, mobility and management
• e.g. Bologna, credit recognition systems
• in SA, the ‘Hons’ problem
2
The importance of increasing ‘good’
graduate output in South Africa
• Essential for ‘economic growth … and social
cohesion’ (Pandor 2005)
3
Inter-related agendas for improving graduate
output in South Africa
• Towards equity of access and outcomes
• in the interests of national developmental needs
• Improving the effectiveness of curricula for
contemporary conditions
• breadth of subject matter
• multilingualism
• the literacies: academic, quantitative, career,
information/ICT
• the ‘employability’ agenda
• education for responsible citizenship
• experiential and service learning
4
The development and equity agendas
• Development and equity agendas now interdependent nationally
• Successfully linking these agendas depends on
• the effectiveness of our ‘teaching’
• the effectiveness of the curriculum as enabling
framework
• Focus here on curriculum reform
• historically neglected in SA higher education
• but now a CHE priority: the “4-Y degree” project
5
Some common responses
to the notion of the
4-Y Undergraduate Curriculum
6
In favour ….
• It would sort out the issue of the Honours year
• It would allow more content to be packed into
the undergraduate curriculum (3 years not
sufficient to cover ground adequately to prepare
for postgraduate study or work)
• It would obviate the need for ‘academic
development work’ (such as curriculum
differentiation and flexibility)
7
• Given the level of preparedness (& factors such
as language of instruction), we are simply not
able to deliver an undergraduate degree of
quality in 3 years to all students. 4 years gives
time and space for such matters as:• curriculum differentiation to cope with diversity
in preparation
• building in of skills, graduate competencies
etc.
8
Against
….
• It would cost too much
• It would lower standards
• Why should higher education pay for the problems
in schooling? If higher education gives in like this,
it’ll take the pressure off the schools to improve
• It should not apply to all institutions: some should
be designated to cater for students who need a
longer time while others continue as now
9
Main Purpose of 4-Y Undergraduate
Curriculum
to improve graduate output (numbers, quality,
relevance and mix)
Key means to achieving this end
curriculum renewal
10
Two key parameters
QUALITY &
RELEVANCE
EFFICIENCY &
EQUITY
fitness
‘of’ and ‘for’
purpose
interlinked in
contemporary SA
conditions
11
Quality & relevance
There are both positive & negative quality
indicators, seen for example in:
• HEQC institutional audits (rec’s and com’s)
• High graduate employment rates in certain fields
and/or from certain institutions, but worryingly low in
others (& overall problem of graduate unemployment)
• Pervasive complaints about graduate competencies
especially in relation to communicative skills,
information literacy, and numeracy
12
In what ways are quality & relevance
curriculum issues?
• Most obviously, in relation to content
• Less obviously, in terms of curriculum structure and
delivery: the curriculum must build on top of
secondary schooling (for the majority of
undergraduates) – higher education in any country
must begin where schooling leaves off, not where it
‘should’ leave off.
• Where schooling is poor or uneven in quality, the
implications for curriculum are considerable.
13
Some schooling issues – implications for
higher education
• Generally low levels of performance, especially
in key subjects
• Low levels of performance even at elite schools
• Constituting the class: context and the impact on
quality
14
TIMSS 2003:
Scores by Former Racially Based Departments
Maths score
Science score
Former DET schools
227
200
Former Model C schools
456
468
National Average
264
244
International Average
467
474
Reddy, V. 2003. TIMSS 2003 results. Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).
http://www.hsrc.ac.za/research/programmes/ESSD/timss2003/index.html.
15
Context & quality
“… the haves in our society are divided from the
have-nots by virtue of the SAT scores of their
college companions …” as much as by virtue of
their own SAT* scores. (Adelman, C. 1999).
*the SAT1: Reasoning Test
16
100%
Proficient
Performance in domain areas suggests that academic
performance will not be adversely affected.
If admitted, students should be placed on regular programmes
of study.
Challenges in domain areas identified such that it is predicted
Intermediate that academic progress will be affected.
If admitted, students’ educational needs should be met in a way
deemed appropriate by the institution (eg extended or
augmented programmes, special skills provision).
Basic
0%
Serious learning challenges identified: it is predicted that
students will not cope with degree level study without
extensive & long-term support, perhaps best provided through
bridging programmes or FET. Institutions registering students
performing at this level would need to provide such support.
17
Entering performance levels
(example from highly selective institution)
Preliminary data from the National Benchmark Tests Project
ACADEMIC LITERACY
Institution X - Benchmark Levels February 2008
Candidates
800
700
600
500
Commerce
400
300
Science
200
100
0
Basic ≤ 30
Intermediate: 31 - 47
Proficient ≥ 48
Bechmark Levels [score cut-points]
18
Entering performance levels
(example from medium selective institution)
Preliminary data from the National Benchmark Tests Project
Candidates
ACADEMIC LITERACY
Institution Y Benchmark Levels February 2008
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Engineering
E
Basic ≤ 30
Intermediate: 31 - 47
Science
Proficient ≥ 48
Benchmark Levels [score cut-points]
19
(1) THE EQUITY AND EFFICIENCY ARGUMENT
• Considerable achievements since transition
•
•
•
•
extensive policy development
a single system
substantial growth: over 50% since 1991
diversity in the student intake
• But focus on input data (e.g. enrolment) can be
misleading
20
Quantitative measures of HE’s contribution
• Performance analysis derived from DoE’s cohort
studies of the 2000 and 2001 intakes of first-time
entering students (Scott, Yeld and Hendry 2007)
• Acknowledgements:
• Council on Higher Education: ‘Improving Teaching
and Learning for Success’
• Department of Education
• Jane Hendry (UCT)
21
Student performance after 5 years: Overall
Graduated
30%
Still registered
14%
Left without graduating
56%
Estimated completion rate
44%
22
Student performance after 5 years:
Contact university programmes
Graduated
50%
Still registered
12%
Left original institution
38%
Students ‘lost’
≈15,000
23
Graduation within 5 years:
General academic first B-degrees, excl Unisa
CESM
Grad
Still in
04: Business/Management
50%
7%
15: Life and Phys Sciences
47%
13%
22: Social Sciences
53%
6%
12: Languages
47%
7%
24
Graduation within 5 years:
Professional first B-degrees, excl UNISA
CESM
Grad
Still in
04: Business/Management
60%
7%
08: Engineering
54%
19%
12: Languages
42%
13%
13: Law
31%
15%
25
Student performance after 5 years:
Contact technikon programmes
Graduated
32%
Still registered
10%
Left original institution
58%
Students ‘lost’
≈25,000
26
Graduation within 5 years:
National Diplomas, excl distance ed (TSA)
CESM
Grad
Still in
04: Business/Management
33%
8%
06: Computer Science
34%
11%
08: Engineering
17%
14%
12: Soc Services/Pub Admin
29%
6%
27
Outcome
• Students ‘lost’ from 2000 intake: 65,000
Is this ‘normal’, or unavoidable in our context?
28
Participation rates*
and their significance
• Overall:
16%
• White:
• Indian:
61%
50%
• Black:
• Coloured:
12%
12%
* Approximate gross enrolment rates derived from HEMIS 2004:
all participants as % of 20-24 age-group
29
Implications of the participation rates
• The view that a large proportion of current
students ‘do not belong’ in higher education is
not tenable
• Essential backdrop for assessing equity and
growth prospects
30
Whose responsibility?
• Factors beyond the higher education sector’s
control
• ‘money and poor schooling’ (M&G 2006)
• Factors within the higher education sector’s
control
• Institutional culture
• The educational process in higher education is itself
a major variable affecting who succeeds and fails
31
Equity of outcomes: the central challenge
• Under 5% of the black age-group are
succeeding in any form of higher education
• cf higher education GER of 5% in sub-Saharan
Africa (UNESCO 2007)
32
Equity of outcomes
Graduation within 5 years in
general academic first B-degrees, excl UNISA
CESM
Black
White
04: Business/Management
33%
72%
15: Life and Phys Sciences
31%
63%
22: Social Sciences
34%
68%
12: Languages
32%
68%
33
Observations
• Among the CESMs and qualification types
analysed in the contact university programmes:
• in all cases the black completion rate is less than
half the white completion rate, and
• in all cases the number of black graduates is less
than the number of white graduates
• so lack of equity of outcomes is neutralising the
gains made in access
34
Equity of outcomes
Graduation within 5 years
in National Diplomas, excl distance ed (TSA)
CESM
Black
White
04: Business/Management
31%
44%
06: Computer Science
33%
43%
08: Engineering
16%
28%
12: Soc Services/Pub Admin
29%
23%
35
Observations
• Among the CESMs and qualification types
analysed in the contact technikon programmes:
• black and white completion rates are much closer
• the great majority of participants are black
• loss is high across the board
36
Implications of the patterns
• Output not matching national needs in respect of
‘economic growth … and social cohesion’
(Pandor 2005)
• Current system not meeting the needs of the
majority
• Pressing need to widen successful participation
• high stakes of improving graduate output
37
Improving graduate output
• The performance patterns are persistent
• Limitations on increasing output by increasing
the intake
• If the educational process does not change,
increasing the intake will perpetuate or worsen
existing performance patterns
38
Improving graduate output
• The groups from which growth in output must
primarily come are those that are least well served
by the current system
• Improving output depends primarily on improvement
in the performance of (disadvantaged) black students
• The equity and development agendas have
converged
• Substantially improving the performance of the
disadvantaged majority requires systemic change
39
The ‘articulation gap’ as an example of the
need for systemic change
• Indicators of the ‘articulation gap’ as a key cause
of attrition (White Paper 3: 1997)
• Shortage of qualified and/or prepared candidates
in key areas
• 1st year attrition (22% of contact students)
• Small minority (< ⅓ of contact students)
graduating in minimum time
40
Graduated in regulation time:
General academic first B-degrees, excl Unisa
04: Business/Management
24%
15: Life and Physical Sciences
21%
22: Social Sciences
29%
12: Languages
28%
41
Graduated in regulation time:
National Diplomas, excl distance ed (TSA)
04: Business/Management
18%
06: Computer Science
14%
08: Engineering
12: Soc Services/Pub Admin
5%
13%
42
Graduated in regulation time:
General academic first B-degrees, excl dist ed
CESM
Black
White
04: Business/Management
11%
43%
15: Life and Phys Sciences
11%
35%
22: Social Sciences
14%
43%
12: Languages
13%
52%
43
Dealing with diversity in educational
background
• A small minority of students complete curricula
as planned
• Curriculum structure and assumptions not aligned
with the changing realities of the intake
• Existing curricular frameworks an obstacle to equity
and development
• Who benefits from the status quo?
44
Dealing with diversity in educational
background
• AD experience with extended programmes
• Most successful AD interventions made possible by
extending the duration of the curriculum
• Key contributions to black graduate output, especially
in SET programmes
• But effectiveness constrained by being on the
margins
• Unitary programme structures not effective in
dealing productively with diversity of ‘educational
capital’
45
(2) MEETING CONTEMPORARY NEEDS
• Contestation over value of non-core-disciplinary
learning esp. in ‘formative’ programmes
• dangers of superficial, decontextualised ‘generic
skills’ approach
• and of conflating the whole ‘modernisation’ agenda
with this
• But focusing on graduate attributes is non-trivial
• not least in professional programmes - cf. current
issues in Health, Law and Engineering
• includes the key question of the meaning of UCT’s
‘research-led’ identity irt undergraduate education
46
What would it take to achieve wider
graduate attributes?
• History of resistance or non-achievement in this
area at UCT (with notable exceptions)
• e.g. ‘cross-field outcomes’ (NQF), Academic Planning
Framework (‘programmes’ and resistance to
‘coherence’), Strategic Planning Framework (1997),
the ‘Action Guides’
• cf. MBChB, and ECSA-sponsored broadening of
Engineering curricula (process incomplete)
47
So why is it such a problem?
• Resistance arising from, inter alia:
• epistemological or ideological considerations
• vested interests, including ownership of curriculum
space and related resource benefits
• Chronic shortage of curriculum space
• cf. experiences with initiatives in multilingualism,
writing, numeracy, experiential and service learning
• What would give way, without reducing necessary
standards?
48
Conclusion from research and experience
• In SA context, not possible to responsibly
address equity or contemporary needs without
extending the standard ‘formal time’ of first
degrees
• Hence new CHE investigation, at behest of the
Minister, into the need for and feasibility of
(undergraduate) curriculum reform
49
(3) THE ‘HONOURS PROBLEM’
• View that Hons should be added on to current 3year degrees to make a single 4-year degree the
standard ‘formative’ qualification
• Effect of this on ‘equity’ and ‘modernisation’?
•
•
•
•
no allowance for diversity
likely deterioration in equity of outcomes
likely reduction in existing Hons standards
no space for non-core development
50
Conditions for improving graduate outcomes
Extending duration of
mainstream programmes
[designing the educational
process in accordance with
the realities of the student
intake needs]
Implementing strategies
for dealing with diversity
in mainstream provision
Professional development to build capacity to design
and implement effective strategies
• raising the status of educational expertise
51
Caveats in considering the 4YD
Focusing only on quality + relevance will improve outcomes
for the successful minority but will not address equity +
efficiency. So a 4YD structure:
•
should not just incorporate Hons
• but ensure exposure to scholarly enquiry
•
should not result in another inflexible ‘unitary’
framework
• but provide structurally for diversity, with mainstream provision
geared to the majority of the (required) intake
• should allow for breadth in knowledge and
contemporary ‘skills’ as well as depth
• without falling into the overload trap
52
Considerations for further enquiry & research
• Affordability and wider economic considerations
• Balancing breadth and depth
• Ways to achieve flexibility
– acceleration on to fast-track
– initiatives that provide space for students to catch-up / repeat / change
direction, outside of the usual two semester structure
• The issue of drop-outs in ‘good academic standing’
• ‘Level of pass’ of different groups, and overall, in existing
programmes (not just pass/fail, implications for progression to
postgraduate study of low performance levels)
• Development of effective placement information and systems
• Research into the kinds of educational knowledge and expertise
needed to design and implement new curriculum forms
– Where are the real learning problems?
– Need for more than just ‘good teaching’
• Next steps?
53
References
• Adelman, C. (1999). Why Can’t We Stop Talking About the SAT?
The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 5, 1999, B4-5.
• Scott, I., Yeld, N. and Hendry, J. 2007. A case for improving teaching
and learning in South African higher education. Higher Education
Monitor No. 6. Pretoria: Council on Higher Education.
http://www.che.ac.za/documents/d000155/index.php
• UNESCO 2007. Education For All Report 2008. Paris: UNESCO
54