3 November 2009
Lagos — The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) recently organised a training workshop on 'Developing a Curriculum', in Kaduna, for some senior officers drawn from the Board and polytechnics, Bukola Olatunji covered the event
Sometime in 2001, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) realised that the curricula that were in use in the polytechnic system were out-dated. Executive Secretary of the Board, Dr. Nuru Yakubu said, "some had been in operation for some 15 years. Which meant Nigeria was producing graduates for the 20th century in the 2st century. We saw it as a priority to upgrade and review the curriculum.
Fortunately, NBTE was able to get the support of UNESCO because former President Olusegun Obasanjo invited the then UNESCO Director General, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura to Nigeria and through this, got the organisation's support to review and develop new curricula for the polytechnic sector.
Yakubu said, "In the process, we found serious deficiencies and gaps in terms of our own internal (in country) capacity to review the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curricula." But with the support of more than 100 consultants, engaged by UNESCO, the job was completed.
"As a responsible agency", he said, "We obviously have reached a level where we should be able to develop internal capacity within the Board and also at the polytechnic level." The board therefore sought the support of the Ohio State University, in the United States of America (USA).
The Executive Secretary said the university is one of the foremost in curriculum development in the world. A team of experts, led by Dr. Robert Norton came to Kaduna and for two weeks, took the participants through a programme the university simply calls 'Developing a Curriculum (DACUM).
Yakubu explained that the workshop also aimed to build capacity to support the new effort in the development of a National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVCF), because the development of curriculum in that area is not the usual, conventional way of inviting experts to design what to teach. Rather, the curriculum designer determines the occupational standards that are needed, and goes backwards to determine what should be in the curriculum, which is the modern way of developing curricula.
Norton, whose, two major areas of specialisations are Job Analysis and Curriculum Development, explained that DACUM process is used for job analyses, while a programme called Systematic Curriculum and Instructional Development (SCID) is used for curriculum development. Participants spent a week on each of the two.
Asked why DACUM is important, he said, "it is very important to identify what should be taught to students because if the teachers are teaching the wrong topics, the students are not learning what they should learn. It is therefore important to ask the question: What should be taught? And the DACUM process helps us do that by involving experts from businesses and industries. We bring them together for two days to get a very clear definition of the duties and tasks they must perform to be successful."
According to him, DACUM has been in use since 1976. "We have conducted workshops in 27 countries counting Nigeria. We have had people from over 45 countries that have come to Colombus, Ohio for this kind of training."
On his expectations at the end of the training, Dr. Norton said, "I hope it will help, particularly DACUM will help the polytechnics establish more up-to-date programmes that are based on the real needs of businesses and industries. I am told the curriculums have been established for quite some time ago and they may not be as up to date as they ought to be. There is also the need to develop new programmes to serve the changing needs of industries.
"So DACUM could help to define what should be taught in those new programmes. And hopefully, by updating the programmes and then developing new ones that are needed to meet the needs of the students as well as that of the industries, then the economy can prosper and the industries will be more successful, workers have better paying jobs and hopefully, the whole country will benefit", he said.
With focus on Science, Technology and Engineering, participants from the polytechnics were senior lecturers, while those from the NBTE, were between Chief Programme Officers and Deputy Directors.
Principal Lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri Engr. Michael Arimanwa told THISDAY the experience was wonderful. "I have been exposed to job analysis, curriculum analysis, which I hadn't experienced before. From what we have learnt so far, I would be able to come up with steps in the performance of tasks.
"I can also develop a new curriculum, add to an existing one and analyze as well. On the face value, I would say there is a gap between what is needed in the labour market and the curriculum we use in teaching. Our graduates are not fitting into the labour market."
According to him, the submission that Nigerian graduates are unemployable is due to the gap between what the institutions are doing and what they ought to do. "We will need to go back to our various institutions and apply what we have learnt here to access our programmes and also get input from the industries and some other stakeholders. Then we can see where we can make additions or subtractions. I must commend the caliber of resource persons here, because they are experts in this field and I would recommend that they be invited to some of our institutions to train more people."
A Deputy Director at the NBTE, Grace Makeri Yahaya, also said the workshop "was quite revealing because I learnt a lot. I have come to understand that the cumbersome way in which we were dealing with the curriculum was really tasking on all of us. The new method we have learnt now is that we can develop a curriculum within two days. The second part (of training) was about how to put them in steps, which makes it easier."
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