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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.

 

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