Knowledge, Outcomes, and the Curriculum

Abstract

The subject of this chapter is the role that is claimed for outcomes-based qualifications in curriculum reform, and the explicit and implicit epistemological stance behind outcomes-based qualification frameworks. There is not just one epistemological position inherent to qualifications frameworks. If frameworks are seen as ‘light touch’ reforms which formalize how qualifications relate to each other, something like a traditional diagram which demonstrates the relationships between the main qualifications on offer in a particular country, sector, or part of an education system, no specific epistemological position is implied.