The shift to outcomes based frameworks: key problems from a critical perspective
Date
2011
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Federal Institute for Adult Education (bifeb)
Abstract
This paper takes a step back from the discussions and debates about qualifications frameworks per se, to think more broadly about the role of „qualifications“ in educational reform. The aims of the paper are to locate the reform of qualifications in its broader social and institutional context, to propose a way of conceptualizing the change from qualification systems as they have emerged historically to qualifications frameworks andoutcomes-based qualifications and to explore the tensions involved in the different goals that the introduction of a (National) Qualifications Framework – (N)QF will achieve. We argue that what is at stake in current reforms is the role of educational institutions in the education and training of the next generation, the balance between institution-based education and informal (in some cases work-based) learning, and the ways in which trust in qualifications is established and maintained. Our two-model analysis explores the balance between an emphasis on institutions and outcomes. This paper was written to provoke debate, and help all involved in researching qualifications frameworks to think more clearly about the issues.
Description
Keywords
Qualifications framework, Institutions-based qualifications, Outcomes-based qualifications, Outcomes-based frameworks
Citation
Young, Michael/Allais, Stephanie (2011): The shift to outcomes based frameworks: Key problems from a critical perspective. In: Austrian Open Access Journal of Adult Education. Issue 14, 2011. Vienna. Online: http://www.erwachsenenbildung.at/magazin/11-14/meb11-14.pdf.