ÁGNES VÁMOS & ISTVÁN LUKÁCS
2. REORGANIZING THE BACHELOR PROGRAMME 3
2.2. Features of the renewed training programme and their critique
2.2.1. Competencies and training programme Competencies and subjects
During the reorganization of the bachelor training programme in Education it was a task belonging to the 5th point of the above chart that the development
5 http://www.ppk.elte.hu/oktatas/pedagogia-alapkepzesi-szak/ (Retrieved on: 15 December 2011)
teams select the two-three most important competencies related to the given subject. The seven main competencies of the competency-grid and its total 101 elements6 as differentiated according to specializations were matched to the 90 subjects in a total of 487 cases: the highest number (15 competencies) was received by Communication with partners, whereas the lowest number (3 competencies) was given to Planning and evaluation and The teaching of learning. The average number of competences was 5.4 per subject.
The assumption, according to which the form of work in the course defi nes whether within competences, knowledge, skills or attitudes are given emphasis, was not verifi ed. This can be explained by: (1) the shortcomings of development management in the dissemination related to planning work with competencies; (2) the general lack of information on competencies;
(3) the lack of awareness about competence-based higher education; (4) the views of teachers that their work would affect every element of the competency regardless of the nature of the subject.
Competencies and years
The training programme can be divided into core training and specialization.
The assumption, according to which in the training programme emphasis is laid fi rst on the development of attitudes and skills, and with the advance of years the training is shifted to a theoretical, knowledge-based development, was not verifi ed (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Distribution of competency elements planned in the core training by semester in grades starting from the academic year 2011-2012
6 See in this volume the study of Orsolya Kálmán and Nóra Rapos entitled ’The development of a competency-grid and the study of its effects’.
As opposed to expectations, in specialization tiers (semester 5 and 6), although not signifi cantly, but efforts to shape attitudes seem stronger than the skills development. Among the specialization tiers there are no statistically relevant differences in terms of competencies and specialization. In the entire curve of the training there is a signifi cant relationship between the year of studies and competencies: in 11 subjects the same two competencies appear, namely (1) the student is able to contribute to planning, organizing and evaluating projects as a professional assistant or under supervision, and is able to present any result obtained in an understandable way, with special regards to evaluation and measurement systems, and (2) the student is able to participate in professional activity and to plan and organize cooperation-based activities.
The number and weight of competencies
The low number of competencies to be developed within a subject does not necessarily mean that the given course would develop competencies less than another one, or vice versa. The differences can mean that (1) the subject is thematically more homogeneous or integrating; (2) the developers had a more or less clear idea of the competency elements in the focus of training in a given subject.
However, observing it from the aspect of competencies we think that for a given competency or competency element, there exists a so called critical occurrence, which is necessary for it to be substantive. After investigating the occurrence of the seven main competencies of the competency-grid, the following can be observed (Figure 3):
Figure 3: The number of occurrences of the elements of the competency-grid– searching for training focus
• In the focus of the reformed bachelor programme we can fi nd the 3rd (Educational phenomena and problems detection, investigation and scientifi c analysis) and 4th (Pedagogical identifi cation, creation and shaping learning environments) competencies.
• The least selected competencies were the 5th (Pedagogical developments, innovations, project developments) and the 6th (Cooperation activities, organization of communities, different social actors).
• 19% of the competency-grid was not used.
• 16% of the competency elements belonged to the category of high mentions (over 9).
The number and weight of competency elements
Based on the above mentioned outcomes, we selected the most frequent competencies and their elements, the attitudes, skills and knowledge elements for analysis. We assumed that at the development of the bachelor programme, the approach of higher education related to the bachelor programme predominated, namely, preparation for assistant tasks in order to secure immediate employment. According to the professional literature, in the economy employers primarily expect personal characteristics and commitment, and less concrete elements of knowledge. In the world of public education we do not know of such investigation of expectations, therefore we accept the existing investigations as a starting point. According to the analysis, in the training programme taking shape as a result of the bachelor programme revision, this assumption was justifi ed, since from the fi ve most frequent competencies six attitude elements, one skill element and four knowledge elements were selected by curriculum developers. Taking into account the structure of the competency-grid as described in Chapter 4, these are the following:
Attitude elements:
• Accepts that democratic societies are culturally diverse, and is open to understanding different theoretical and practical approaches to education and research (2at17).
• Sensitive to current social-cultural phenomena and changes; approaches the opportunity decreasing, segregating effect mechanisms of educational systems in a critical way, and therefore fi nds it important to take a professional role and responsibility for the adaptive development of students, student groups and social groups (2at2).
7 The fi rst (numeric) indicator is the rank of the competency, the second (letter) indicator shows the kind of competency element (kn=knowledge, at=attitude, sk=skill), whereas the third (numeric) indicator shows the place of the element in the competency-grid.
• Committed to the problem-centred, evidence based scientifi c investiga-tion of of pedagogical phenomena (3at1).
• Finds it important to realize the principle of personalised development, and in this respect, reacts critically to educational-learning environments which oppress individuals or groups (4at2).
• Accepts that every human is an independent and autonomous individual, whose decisions must be respected. Open to the acceptance of others, and willing to learn about and respect opinions and values diverging from his/her own, and in favour of this, open to listening to and understanding other people (7at1).
Skill element:
• Able to approach pedagogical phenomena in a problem sensitive way, and with the help of professional theories, capable of multidimensional analysis, of balancing and contrasting points of view, and of introducing new aspects (3sk1).
Knowledge elements:
• Strives to be up-to-date with literature dealing with pedagogical issues and problems and the relevant concepts in order to establish a set of personal pedagogical principles (1kn1).
• Understands the historical evolution, the objectives, the structure, the institutions and the functioning of the social subsystems of education and research and the fundamental education and social policy effect mechanisms (2kn1).
• Based on historical and social scientifi c experience, aims to understand current social and cultural problems and to explore their historical background, and tries to interpret the fundamental mechanisms and effects of socio-cultural changes (2kn3).
• Knows the main theories dealing with dealing with social and cultural phenomena and understands the connections between fundamental pedagogical phenomena and social-cultural phenomena (3kn1).
By narrowing this list further, most people planned to include the fi rst skill element of the third competency. When examining every element, we can see stronger emphasis on attitudes, since from the aforementioned 11 elements, 45% are attitude, 29% are knowledge and 16% are skill elements.
2.2.2. Competencies and training block
The inter-subject relations of themes were examined in more detail in case of one subject block (educating for social sensitivity and understanding)8. According to the analysis, students encountered the theme within the framework of ten subjects in a way that it was in focus or emphatic.
In a further nine subjects the opportunity is provided by some topics. This aspect is dealt with even more emphatically in optional courses. Therefore, the curriculum presents the social perspective in an appropriate way; the subject curricula adequately place the world of school into the social context.
More in-depth aspects of analysis (such as postmodernity, the changing role of the school) are not as much present, but on the other hand, inequality, diversity and fairness are more articulated. The opportunity for building is created, as in the subject Child, family, society students encounter the topic, and then in the subject Intercultural pedagogy all this appears more emphatically. In both cases, it is processed according to the corresponding level. Based on the analysis, the human rights perspective is explicitly weak in the descriptions.
The subject distances are acceptable. Although in case of the subjects Intercultural pedagogy and Minorities there is some intersection, but the shift of stress is still tangible. In the latter subject emphasis is laid on general aspects (being a minority citizen, different minority groups), whereas in Intercultural pedagogy ethnic differences, and especially, more specifi cally the theme of Roma minority is in the foreground, in addition to methods of intercultural pedagogy. The question of identity is a topic overarching the bachelor training programme in Education. Several questions can be processed through this by combining the social and the personal perspectives.
2.2.3. Subject planning strategies
In order to explore how teachers think when planning a course, the methods of stimulated recall and group interview were applied. According to these, during curriculum development, teachers considered the kind of subject (lecture, seminar, training) as a starting point, and then continued with the aims. Topics were treated as central elements of planning, and the last place was given to defi ning the validation principle. It is general experience
8 In the analysis of the subject block (subjects serving a well-defi ned training objective) György Mészáros, assistant professor also took part by studying the course descriptions of ten compulsory and restricted optional courses: PEDB11-110 Equal opportunities, fair education; PEDB11-127 Socio-cultural differences and the school; PEDB11-112 The network of outside school education;
PEDB11-113 Institution visit and practice outside school; PEDB11-114 Taking roles in civil society, community work; PEDB11-111 Social studies; PEDB11-133 Intercultural pedagogy;
PEDB11-142 Child culture and media (optional); PEDB11-604 Social sensitivity and social cohabitation training; PEDB11-142 Minorities – minority status, school (optional).
that teachers assigned competencies to topics and did not set off from the competency-grid to think about the topics and themes through which the competencies can be enhanced. They were not able to recall how much attention was given to credits and the number of lessons. They think they were not much concerned about the phase of the training programme the subject was in, what subjects it is preceded or followed by. Such kind of consideration, which enhances training coherence, is more characteristic of modularly organized, or interconnected subjects, or to a lecture accom-panied by a seminar.
By applying content analysis we could see that the curricular building of subjects followed two paths. One can be characterised by the sequence of steps, whereas the other by returning and recurring procession.9 Content oriented curriculum planning strategy
This strategy starts from the content and the topics presumed to correspond to the title of the subject; the curriculum template is fi lled in a one-way process. Competency is not, or at least not a primary concern.
“This competency issue has only come up recently. Until now we didn’t have to deal with it.” (Teacher 1) “I cannot help it, but when I see a subject, what immediately comes to my mind is what I could teach in it and not the competencies, Those are too general for me.” (Teacher 2)
“With teaching work of several years it was not easy, now I know where I would like to get by the end. I would be lying if I said this was the same at the beginning as well.” (Teacher 1)
Content oriented, trial-based, multiple approach (probabilistic iterating) strategy
This strategy can be characterised by the coordination of topics, competen-cies, learning management and literature blocks.
“There isn’t a big difference between the lecture and the seminar. During lectures I also have a lot of conversations with the students, we do group work and they work during the semester as well. Perhaps this is against the rules, because attending the lecture is not compulsory, but I usually discuss this with them.” (Teacher 3) “I started out from the course description, and then I selected from the competency-grid the ones I found the best. No, actually I did not take the course description
9 We found these strategies after the transformation of the training programme, therefore, in lack of the necessary sources and time for in-depth analysis, we do not know what kind of consequences it had related to the description of the course curriculum.
as the basis, but the objectives, or I had some vague picture of where to get.” (Teacher 4) “Everyone had some idea, so at times we changed something in the curriculum, at other times in the tasks to be given. Then we somehow made an agreement.” (Teacher 5)
2.2.4. Illustrating subject development through the example of some courses
We get even closer to the picture of subject planners about development if we do the text analysis of the subject goals. This is what was carried out for example in the subject Intercultural pedagogy (PED11-133), which was taught in the fourth semester according to the training programme.
The type of the course is lecture with contact lessons worth two credits.
In the curriculum 3-3 knowledge, skill and attitude elements are combined into subject-based competence development, which serves the following purpose:
“Students should be familiarised with fundamental knowledge of the different theories of inter and multiculturalism, their pedagogical implications and the approaches and methods of intercultural pedagogy.
These knowledge elements should help them to become more open to the variety of cultures and social diversity in general. The course fosters this process by connecting the social and the personal dimension, starting from the question of identity. The aim of the course is to shape pedagogical attitudes, and through the particular knowledge elements, to enrich and refi ne the theoretical and practical pedagogical toolbars of students.” (BACHELORPROGRAMMEIN EDUCATION 2011)
According to this, the subject forms attitudes on the basis of knowledge, and then, as a result of this, the enrichment of theoretical and practical knowledge takes place. In the description, from the competency trio it is attitudes which are emphatic, as much as knowledge elements need to contribute to their shaping and this is explicitly defi ned as well.
Development through seminars showed a reverse logic, as much as, through the shaping of attitudes and the development of skills, it plans to transfer the student to the position of understanding the necessity of professional knowledge and later on, to possessing that knowledge. For example, the objective of the subject entitled Current issues of pedagogical work in school is that “students become critical and motivated readers, viewers and listeners of publications, news and articles related to school work and pedagogical activity, and learn the methods that should be used to analyse the current problems and questions of education.” The thematic nodes of the subject are formed by the actualities that are in the centre of
interest. The subject shows what role professional background knowledge plays at the assessment of actualities, and through some examples the students explore the professional content behind the selected topics, events and processes.
2.2.5. The realization of the validation principle
At the reorganization of the training programme, one of the development areas called for decision about how previous studies of students can be taken into account. At the elaboration, the developers could choose from four options: (a) exemption cannot be given from the subject, (b) exemption can be given from certain tasks, (c) some tasks can be replaced with other, supplementary work, and (d) full exemption can be given. From the data it can be seen that in 38.8% of the subjects (N=67), version (b) was selected.
From lectures (a) constitutes 33.3%, (b) accounts for 14.3%, (c) for 19%, and (d) for 28.8%. The difference between them is not signifi cant (p=0.09).
With the advance of training, (a) decreases continuously.
Assessing the data:
1. There is openness to credit transfer, but it cannot be brought into connection wuth competency development.
2. Attitudes to the recognition of knowledge from elsewhere seem to be more rejecting at academic subjects, such as lectures than at practical subjects.