Curriculum Design Practices of a Vocational Community College in a Developing Context: Challenges and Needs

• In Event: Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: Effects of Curriculum Design in an International Context

Abstract

Little is known about how vocational institutions in developing countries align their curricula with the industry needs. From a curriculum design (CD) perspective, this case study investigated the CD practices, challenges, and needs of a community college in Yemen. Participants were 199 students, 46 alumni, 45 teachers, and 13 administrators. Data were collected via interviews, questionnaires, and curriculum documents. The CD practices were found to be mostly content-driven, intuitive, highly individual, and centered around course modifications, and that the college formal curriculum was either missing or lacking detail. Lack of resources, teachers’ characteristics, and management support were found to be major CD challenges. It’s concluded the current CD practices are not conducive to vocational programs with internal and external consistency.

Authors

• Nabeel Mohsin Albashiry, University of Twente

• Joke M. Voogt, University of Amsterdam

• Jules M. Pieters, Universiteit Twente