Inspecting the Foundations - Umalusi

Appendix CUmalusi’s guidelines for the evaluation of curriculumstatementsPREAMBLEJudgements about the quality of curriculum statements must be made by groups of appropriatelyselected experts in the respective subject area. Judgements should be made holistically, based onthe experts’ knowledge of the subject area. A balance between breadth and depth is necessaryin any curriculum and is important, because a curriculum can attempt to cover too much ground,and as such, fail to deal with any topic in any depth, or can cover too few topics in a lot ofdepth, and fail to build a broad base of skills and knowledge. A good intended curriculum shouldbe focused on what is agreed to be essential (rather than trying to cover everything), specifi c,and manageable for both teachers and students in the time available, focused on conceptualdevelopment (rather than on long lists of content), sequenced on the basis of evidence (ratherthan tradition), and supported by shared teacher understanding of what performance ‘at theexpected outcome or standard’ looks like (Kerr 2000).The guidelines below are not a rigid list of items to be checked by evaluators, but a set ofcategories to assist evaluators in reaching a considered judgement. Evaluators should bear in mindthat the primary audience for curriculum documents consists of teachers, textbook writers andexaminers, and should accordingly judge how useful the documents are likely to be for these threegroups of people. Curriculum statements should be ‘clear, succinct, unambiguous, measurable,and based on essential learning as represented by the subject disciplines’ (Donnelly 2005, p. 8).The team of evaluators should consist of no more than fi ve people and should include subjectexperts, subject education experts, practitioners (preferably a high-performing, experiencedteacher and a more ordinary one), and, where needed in vocational subjects, an expert drawnfrom a professional body or a person with expertise in the specifi c business sector and with anawareness of learning needs. Evaluators should attempt to reach agreement wherever possible;knowing that there is contestation within most disciplines and areas of study about what is essentialand appropriate at different levels of study.Evaluators should consider whether the curriculum statement in question would initiate teachingand learning that would prepare learners for further learning at a higher level, in the specifi csubject under study if applicable, but also whether the curriculum statement, in general, builds thetypes of skills and abilities needed for further study.Evaluators may consider examples of internationally well-regarded syllabuses or textbooks thatare regarded as exemplary for their particular discipline or subject area as a guiding framework,but should allow for appropriate differences depending on the aims and context of a particularcurriculum statement.Where a new curriculum statement has been developed and is being evaluated by Umalusi,evaluators should be given an exemplar of what the external examination for the subject is likely tolook like. Where Umalusi is evaluating already existing curricula, examinations should be consideredas a way of judging the likely coverage of the intended curriculum as well as the level of cognitivechallenge that is expected from learners. Evaluators should use the categories below as headingsfor their report where possible and appropriate, preceded by an overall judgement about thecurriculum statement. Reports should be succinct and clear.80