ÁGNES VÁMOS & ISTVÁN LUKÁCS
Hypothesis 4: In the RBA curriculum the LeO approach is more articulated than the national average
Based on the verifi cation of Hypothesis 3, it can be claimed that in the BA curriculum, the learning outcomes approach is less characteristic than the national average, and in the RBA it is above average. It has been verifi ed that while in the Tempus research in 10% of the course descriptions we found reference to diagnostic and/or formative evaluation, in the BA curriculum the corresponding fi gure was 5%. The remaining cases (95%) presented summative evaluation. In the RBA curriculum, the weight of summative evaluation remained in 90% of the course descriptions, but in addition to this, formative and diagnostic kinds of evaluation also appeared in the text (57%). The prevalence of diagnostic evaluation is 24%; that of formative evaluation is 33%.
4.4. Stakeholders of the development
13In addition to the comparison of the curricula it is important to see how the organization can be characterised, in which the development took place.14 To investigate this, we asked several questions from the survey of the aforementioned higher education research in our own institute as well, in order to compare the results with the nationwide ones. The questionnaire was sent to the respondents in our institute in December 2011. We regarded the total population to consist of the teachers in full or part time employment and the circle of PhD students. From the sample (n=28), we created groups based on position, scientifi c degree, and participation in the 2010 renewal of the bachelor programme in Education. From the data received, we made rankings15 on the basis of which the data could be compared with the sample of the previously mentioned nationwide research. Due to the small sample size the SPSS statistical analysis did not show signifi cant relationships in the questions examined, so the conclusions below may have some limitations.
The investigation we undertook made it possible to get a more refi ned picture of the inside world of an institution compared to the nationwide research results. Similarities and differences in this case could only be grasped along the groups. We found that in the attitudes of the respondents, scientifi c research, doing and disseminating science are articulated.
13 In this part of the research, we were assisted by an Education MA student, Orsolya Csík. She presented the results at the 2012 Tani-Tani conference.
14 ELTE-FEP Education bachelor programme development, 2010–2011.
15 K independent samples; the lower a rank number, the stronger the agreement, whereas the higher the rank, the weaker the agreement with the given statement; rank numbers are indicated by the fi gures in brackets.
This is the primary element of group formation, similarly to the national picture. Differences can be marked along the acceptance or rejection of changes, the infl uence of the world of work and the international context (VÁMOS 2011: 31), which is refused more strongly in our institute than generally in the country. In the following, due to the small sample size, the above statements are to be illustrated by some examples, with the ranks of positions and the connection to the programme renewal (Tables 4 and 5).
• University professors mostly agreed with the statement (7.3316) according to which the importance of the relation with the world of work is overrated, and they accepted the statement that the internationalization of science threatens our national achievements the least (19.50). The opposite of this set of attitudes can be seen among assistant lecturers
16 The lower the number, the stronger the agreement with the statement.
• The rankings of associate professors and assistant professors are the inversions of one another. Associate professors, as the high rank number indicates (21.00), do not at all agree with the statement according to which higher education is mostly about doing science, thus the quality of research work is more important than that of teaching and they agree (7.50) with the statement that students will have to work in international circumstances. On the other hand, assistant professors tend to agree with the former (10.36) and reject the latter (19.70).
• The group of heterogeneous composition (guest lecturers, PhD students, retired lecturers) emphasize the importance of nurturing talent, but the conservative, nostalgic attitude to pre-Bologna higher education is not characteristic.
Table 4: The opinions of the teachers of the organization developing the bachelor programme on the functions and operation of higher education according to position
Position Most accepted statement
(rank number)
Least accepted statement (rank number) University professor The importance of the relation with the world of work is overrated.
(7.33)
The internationalization of science threatens our national achievements. (19.50)
Associate professor Students will have to work in international circumstances. (7.50)
Higher education is mostly about doing science, thus the quality of research work is more important than that of teaching.
(21.00)
Assistant professor
Higher education is mostly about doing science, thus the quality of research work is more important than that of teaching. / The importance of the relation with the world of work is overrated.
(10.36)
Students will have to work in international circumstances. (19.7)
Assistant lecturer The internationalization of science threatens our national achievements. (11.10)
The importance of the relation with the world of work is overrated. (19.10)
Other (PhD, guest lecturer) Higher education is fundamentally about nurturing talent. (13.17) The pre-Bologna system was better. (16.44)
According to participation in the development process, there is marked difference regarding the statement according to which it is diffi cult to follow the pacing change of science and there is no time to deal with teaching.
Those participating in the programme renewal as developers in charge of courses agree with this statement (11.22), while non-participants do not
agree with it at all (17.61), but agree with the statement that the pre-Bologna system was better (12.61). These two groups are the inverse of one another in this case as well. The contributing developers typically fi nd scientifi c research more important than teaching, which they joined to develop, but accept the presence of the concerns of the world of work in higher education.
Table 5: The views of the teachers of the organization renewing the bachelor programme on the functions of higher education according to participation in the development process Participation
in the development process Most accepted statement (rank number) Least accepted statement (rank number) Developer in charge of subjects It is diffi cult to follow the pacing change of science and there is
no time to deal with teaching. (11.22) The pre-Bologna system was better. (17.39) Contributor, member of
the developer team
Higher education is mostly about doing science, thus the quality of research work is more important than that of teaching. (10.80)
The importance of the relation with the world of work is overrated. (16.40)
Did not participate The pre-Bologna system was better. (12.61) It is diffi cult to follow the pacing change of science and there is no time to deal with teaching. (17.61)
Based on the results, similar conclusions and relations can be expressed as in the nationwide survey, namely, those who emphasised the importance of doing science, quality research and talent management, and agree with the statement that the importance of the relation with the world of work is generally overrated, do not, or only to a little extent accept the necessity of innovation. Although it cannot be unambiguously stated that the organization turned towards the LeO approach during the time of development, LeO centeredness during the development is proven on the level of curriculum documentation.
4.5. Discussion and conclusions
The results of the statistical analysis underlined that during curriculum development, the learning outcomes approach must be raised to the level of operationalisation. In the renewed training programme, elements of the learning outcomes approach became signifi cant, but it could not be verifi ed whether it had deep-lying, attitude factors, or it can be attributed to the shift in the ratio of theoretical and practical subject-types. It has been proven that there are differences between lectures and seminars in terms of the LeO approach, which however, cannot be concluded simply from the course objective which focuses on theory, because in addition to skills and attitudes, knowledge is also the constituting element of competency. Since with indirect tools, for example the analysis of the planning of evaluation we can see that there has been a remarkable shift to the direction of supporting learning and advance in the training programme (formative evaluation), from which one can assume changes in attitudes, while there are also signs that the scientifi c and academic positions of the training institution have also been kept.
5. THE PLACE OF THE BACHELOR TRAINING PROGRAMME IN EDUCATION IN THE NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK
At the planning of the bachelor programmes (in 2005), fi rstly the often mentioned organizational task had to be completed, namely that the teaching of science should be done in accordance with the qualifi cation corresponding to the level of training, in view of the concerns of the world of work. At the time when this challenge emerged for higher education, neither the European, nor the later, based on this, created National Qualifi cations Framework had come into existence (DERÉNYI 2010; FALUS 2010). At that time, as points of reference, the previous fi ve-year training and the NQR training were available.
Due to the parallel nature of the processes and the slow shaping of approach, the process of the accreditation of the training programme in Hungary did not bear a system of key elements necessary for dividing the curriculum in accordance with the level of training, or the learning outcomes approach.
In the description of the training programmes the output characteristics belonging to the NQF were only expressed in one point17 (LÁSZLÓ 2010: 213).
The stages of the work on the qualifi cation framework clearly indicate that the management of training programmes in higher education is partly independent of science, and takes place amidst international and Hungarian trends.
The leading motives are ‘transparency’ and ‘recognition’, behind which it is not the logic of science, but that of the world of work that can be marked, interest in the free movement of labour (ZACHÁR 2010).
17 See in the structure of bachelor programmes: 7. The aim of the bachelor programme is to acquire professional competencies. Bachelor degree holders know ... Bachelor degree holders are capable of ... Bachelor degree holders possess defi ned skills (this word does not appear in every training programme) (LÁSZLÓ, 2010: 213)
In 2010 the developers could already take into account the experience of the two-cycle training, the learning outcomes approach, the better known expectations of the world of work, and the curriculum of the master programme. In this process, the disciplinary and prestige questions were implicitly reassessed. This means that when intervening into training programmes, knowledge about certain sciences and views on scientifi c publications can be reinterpreted on the different levels of training. From this it can be concluded that dealing with any level of training for the purpose of development means dealing with the given scientifi c fi eld, and any kind of development work can only progress if the “composition” of the levels of training is taken into account. The programmes (to be) renewed in higher education have to keep traditional disciplinarity and complete modernisation as part of system innovation at the same time. Today it is already known that the establishment of the three basic levels of training (BA, MA, PhD) and tertiary vocational training, the elaboration of the relations between them and the maintenance of the disciplinarity on these levels is not only an opportunity, but an obligation as well.18 When summarizing the results of the BaBe project we think that the previously mentioned TOR (training and output requirements) and competency-grid (as learning outcomes), their appearance in the training programme (as a disciplinary context), and the levels of the NQF (relations between the different trainings in the world of work) can be the threefold centre of gravity in which the specifi city of higher education training programmes can appear.
6. SUMMARY
In higher education, the higher education pedagogical manner of tasks related to training programmes means that when performing these tasks it is not only the hidden theory of learning, but also the theory of science which plays a part, and it is infl uenced by views related to the functions of higher education.
A training programme development cannot fulfi l its potential and create a systematic and coherent integrity in the entire grid of subjects if it gets stuck on the level of course development. It seems convincing that the strong research profi les of the teachers and the critical investigation of their own work can increase their personal achievements as teachers, however, only a ‘critical mass’ consisting of such teachers can make an impact in the entire training.
18 http://www.ppk.elte.hu/nevelestudomanyi-intezet/
According to our case study, the learning outcomes described in the competency-grid could not be discriminated in a coherent way in the training programme by the developers, all in all they could describe the focus of the training. On the level of competencies, what appears more emphatically is the expectations stressing scientifi c criteria and the support of personal development in the socio-cultural context. With regards to competency elements, attitude and skills development are emphatic. Therefore, we see it as our research result that it has to be admitted that the existing competency-grid must be dealt with in a critical way and it must be examined whether the previous version hinders development. We can see that by the identifi cation of training foci, the training programme development sets the foot of a new competency-grid, which means that it is not enough to simply emphasize the one-directional regulative role of learning outcomes, but that learning outcomes (TOR, competency-grid) must be maintained by research works originating in the discipline, the practice of higher education and the world of work. In this sense, training programme development is in a dynamic relationship with learning outcomes and proceeds along its own developmental logic.
In describing learning outcomes fl exibility is important, because in this case the training institution does not only have to interpret the demands from the world of work, but it also has to carry out the adjustment of the discipline it looks after to the different training levels. When undertaking this task the nature, traditions, the science historical role the institute has played and many other things cannot be overlooked. The programme-specifi c description based on the EQF, the NQF and the TOR is only one stage in the differentiation of training levels. A work of systematic and critical-analytical specifi cation is most likely to affect the description of the general training levels; it would be strange if it was not so.
LIST OF REFERENCES
CURRICULUMOFTHEBACHELORTRAININGPROGRAMMEIN EDUCATIONFROMTHE 2011/12
ACADEMICYEAR (Accepted by the Faculty Council at the May 2011 meeting) DERÉNYI, A. (2010): A magyar felsôoktatási képesítési keretrendszer átfogó
elemzése. Iskolakultúra, 5–6. 3–11.
FALUS, I. (2010): Az OKKR kialakításával kapcsolatos hazai munkálatok törté-neti áttekintése. Iskolakultúra, 5–6. 33–63.
LÁSZLÓ, GY. (2010): A KKK rendszere és az OKKR viszonya. Iskolakultúra, 5–6.
204–230.
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TEMESI, J. (2011): Az Országos képesítési keretrendszer kialakítása Magyar-országon. OFI
VÁGÓ, I. (1995): A NAT implementációja. In: HALÁSZ, G. & LANNERT, J. (eds): Je-lentés a magyar közoktatásról. Háttértanulmány, http://www.oki.hu/old-al.php?tipus=cikk&kod=Jelentes97-hatter-Vago-Implementacio#top (Retrieved on: 30 May 2011)
VÁMOS, Á. (2010): Tanulási eredmények alkalmazása a felsôoktatási intézmé-nyekben 2. TKA., Budapest. (Retrieved on: 28 December 2011) http://
www.tpf.hu/pages/books/index.php?page_id=35&books_id=229) ZACHÁR, L. (2010): A felnôttképzés az OKKR kidolgozásának tükrében.
Iskolakultúra, 5–6. 119–141.
In 2006 a research project was launched on the implementation of the bachelor training programme in Education based on the Bologna Protocol in the Institute of Education at the Faculty of Education and Psychology of ELTE (Eötvös Loránd University). As the research activity was targeted at the practices and their amelioration, and at decreasing training risks, and it was conducted by those who were involved in the training, additionally, as it was utilising the set of tools of scientifi c research, from the very beginning the idea emerged that this is action research. In the course of the process that terminated with the reformation of the Bachelor training programme researchers faced the necessity of redefi ning their activity on several occasions. At times it was diffi cult to distinguish the activity that is going on as part of the research from those that are outside of it, or to identify whether something, a result came about due to the action research or is independent of it. Throughout the years other, non-research types of elements were also included in the undertaking that became known as the BaBe research in the beginnings. Today, without challenging the validity of the action research, the research team thinks about its work with more elaboration, as presented in detail in Chapter 2. The activity that was getting more and more complex preserved its target-oriented nature and reached its goal by renewing the bachelor training programme in 2011. In our view the action research had become multi-dimensional which process established the BaBe research as the core of a larger set that we call the BaBe project. The overview of action research from a history of science and a philosophy of science points of view, the examination of the role it has in learning can contribute to the evaluation of the accomplishments of the BaBe research team from the aspect of these scientifi c and methodological paradigms, in addition to assessing its signifi cance.