As the title reveals, the present paper aims to examine the evolution of curriculum development theories and the increasing emphasis given in Europe on the learning outcomes approach. It illustrates recent policy developments in different European countries that colour this shift from an input to an outcome based provision and discusses the impact that this may have on pedagogies and teachers’ training. The paper gives special focus to vocational education and training (VET) while also incorporating evidence from the general education sector.
In recent decades, the term curriculum has become increasingly used to refer to the existing contract between society, the state and educational professionals shaping the educational experiences that learners should undergo during a certain phase in their lives. Just like the societies they reflect, curricula are not static, fixed entities but reflect a continuous process of renewal. Large scale curriculum reforms have been introduced since 1950 in most educational systems across the world. The first and most notable among them were the curriculum reforms of the fifties in the USA. Other education systems followed suit later and initiated educational reforms of a similar type.
Today, it is widely recognized that curriculum development and renewal is an important component of any educational reform for quality improvement. Curriculum relevance is a condition sine qua non not only for improving the potential of the human capital of education and training graduates but also for retaining learners in school. The irrelevance of school curriculum is actually one of the fundamental factors that causes a widening gap between school and youth culture; to the extent that school and VET institutions are not sufficiently attractive to youths and do not effectively address their needs. The endemic irrelevance of curriculum may be one of the greatest obstacles to successfully match education and training provision to labour market needs.
Adopting a learning outcomes approach when developing curricula, seems to be an effective way to avoid these potential mismatches.
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