Post added by Anastasia Pouliou
Being a teacher in the past and always having an open mind towards the learning process and various teaching theories and methods, I was attracted by the concept of learning outcomes: they state what a learner is expected to know, be able to do and understand at the end of a learning process or sequence (module, programme or qualification). Why was I attracted? The way learning outcomes are defined and written matters! It matters to individual learners, teachers, the labour market and the society in general. They are actually perceived as adding value for several purposes, for teaching, assessment, descriptions of qualifications and standards.
For the teachers, learning outcomes orient teaching and learning and influence the quality of education. The teachers are able to select methods, reflect systematically on assessment criteria and see how these can interact with the learning process. For the learners, they support the initial choice of education pathways and clarify what to expect in during assessment. For the society, they provide - what we frequently mention in our meetings - a “common language” allowing different stakeholders to interact and understand each other better, especially when clarifying skills needs or demands from the labour market.
The connection of learning outcomes with teaching, training processes and assessment came out as a key topic, in a Peer Learning Activity (PLA) that was organised in Bratislava on the 19-20th of April. I was very pleased to participate in the discussions and present Cedefop’s work so far in the area of learning outcomes and elaborate on the practical examples that are included in the European Handbook on learning outcomes.
It would be fair to say that not everybody agrees in the added value of learning outcomes. Many researchers have criticised the conceptual basis of the approach and this is also captured in the European handbook. Many participants during the PLA also mentioned that teachers need more guidance and feedback/quality in the process as there has been insufficient, limited support so far. Outcome based curricula when effectively implemented should bring in diversity of learning activities, and freedom of teachers to develop their own individual approaches. However, participants suggested that learning outcomes oriented teaching had sometimes resulted in teaching towards assessment, reduced freedom to teachers and less open learning methods. It seems there is a gap between design and implementation, so more contact with the real world and collection of feedback/information not only from practitioners, employers but also from the actual end users, the learners is needed.
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