NQF: National Qualifications Frameworks: A Critical Analysis of an Important International Approach to Education Reform
Overview
A Postdoctoral Fellowship
funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) |
Summary |
Qualifications frameworks are education policies fast becoming popular around
the world. Advocates claim they will solve a wide range of social,
economic, and educational problems. But there is little research
into how they work, whether they can achieve their objectives, and
what effects they have. Based on research on the National Qualifications
Framework (NQF) in South Africa, as well as a global review of qualifications
frameworks, this research demonstrates the serious problems that
this approach to educational reform can cause in poor countries,
particularly with regard to the curriculum, but also for the development
and functioning of educational institutions. Outcomes-based NQFs
are based on a misunderstanding of educational knowledge and the
work of educational institutions, and could further weaken education
systems in countries with weak education institutions. The research
shows that the failure of the NQF in South Africa was inevitable,
because of inherent flaws in the idea that specifications of learning outcomes in qualifications can increase the quality and quantity of
educational provision. The research suggests that the popularity
of qualifications frameworks lies in the way they appear to offer
regulatory mechanisms to solve educational problems, as well as the
current popularity of relativist notions of knowledge. |
Project dates |
January 2010 - December 2010 |
Researchers
Publications
Publications from this project will be posted on this site
when they become available. |