Stenhouse (1975) cites the five steep factors to consider when looking at influences to curriculum design. It is vital to consider these factors to illustrate the benefit of implementing the curriculum or highlighting any potential downfalls.
STEEP Factors
Social
Many of the clients within my organisation identified in customer reviews that they were very pleased with the care they received from staff, but when asked if they would change or improve anything, they mentioned the communication skills of overseas staff and advised that support was given to improve their English.
Technological
There are many different forms of equipment that are used in Britain compared to other countries. Computer systems and medical equipment are just two examples. Therefore, the learners would benefit from some tuition in this area.
Economical
Nursing staffing shortages has led to a rise in the recruitment of overseas workers. Therefore there is a target audience group. Organisations (employers) would also benefit from the course, as it would meet cultural and legislative requirements.
Environmental
The course would meet both National Health Service and private organisation interests due to the progression of the course into National Vocational Qualification level (NVQ). Auxiliaries can currently enter nurse education training following achievement of NVQ level 3. Therefore, this would widen participation into nurse training both by vocational route and would show equal opportunities by widening participation to other ethnic origins.
Political
Both the NHS and private organisations have guidelines to follow. The NHS has to demonstrate quality assured care by following clinical governance, which means training people to criteria. The private sector, namely care homes, have to adhere to the Department of Health’s National Minimum Standards (2003), which stipulate that nurse auxiliaries must be trained to specific learning outcomes when they are employed in the health and social care sector. The standards stipulate that these learning outcomes must meet the minimum requirements set by Skills for Care (2005). The course would be specifically designed to meet and exceed these learning outcomes. It would be targeted to the care home sector, as this is my organisation. Our local NHS trust has an “In house induction programme”. I would propose rolling out the programme to the NHS trusts so that they too would be meeting nationally set learning outcomes.
Having considered all STEEP factors, which highlight a strong influence to run the curriculum, I also considered SWOT factors. Bryson (2000) describes a SWOT analysis as a strategic planning tool used to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in a project or business venture. In this case, the project or venture is the curriculum. The tool was developed by Albert Humphrey in the 1960’s whilst conducting research at Stanford University in America.
If desired, one can also use the work of Lewin (2007) who created a force field analysis of pros and cons to aid decision-making in management. The STEEP and SWOT factors examined show clearly the reasoning to go ahead with the curriculum therefore Lewin can be examined in appendix Two.
Having considered the influencing factors upon the proposed curriculum, a marketing strategy must be developed and adopted. Areas for this have already been illuminated in the SWOT analysis. The strong influencing factor that presents, is the possibility of the course being funded. The local Learning and Skills Council (LSC) (2006) published their annual plan in May. Within this plan, national and regional priorities are stipulated. These priorities are where the LSC intend to inject cash funding. Continually mentioned throughout the report are the priorities for skills for life provision and health and social care qualifications. Migrant workers are mentioned in the report as a stand-alone priority, as a target to cover a/ improvement in achievement of skills for life (literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology) and b/ employability and educating the worker to meet public demands. Therefore, all areas of the proposed curriculum meet the local LSC planned agenda, therefore presenting a strong possibility of the course being funded by them. A fully funded course would appeal as a marketing attraction in it’s own right, and this would be a valuable selling point to employers. Another strong influencing marketing factor consists of the course adhering with legislative requirements and guidelines. All care homes must meet the requirements of the National Minimum Standards; therefore this would be pushed forward in the advertising campaign. Although the curriculum is aimed at workers whose English is not their primary language, it would not be closed to others. The curriculum has to been seen as diverse and inclusive so in my own organisation I could recruit overseas workers, workers whom have a deficit in skills for life and those who are entering health and social care who need to complete the induction standards. The curriculum would not just appeal to my own organisation but to other care homes as well. Currently the curriculum would attract National Health Service workers as the progression of the curriculum would lead to application for entry into nurse training, on completion of NVQ level 3. However, the department of health have recently released a report, which focuses on the changes proposed to the nursing curriculum in England. Snow (2007) discusses a synopsis of the report and the proposals include:
- Introducing more education and practice on community nursing, as the government work more towards bringing hospital to the home.
- Removing the branch system to one of more generalised training with a view to specialising post registration.
- Making nurse training an all-graduate profession, therefore, restricting entry to reflect this.
The later point raises a threat to my proposed curriculum, as it may mean that a vocational route into nurse training is abandoned and more traditional entry qualifications will be required to reflect the degree level of study that will be undertaken. This has not yet been decided, but should this point of entry be considered, this would place a strong restriction on widening the curriculum to the NHS.
The proposed curriculum will be delivered using a product model. Neary (2002) identifies two types of curriculum models; Process and Product. A product curriculum is focused on the content of the curriculum and the meeting of objectives. A process curriculum is focused on the learning experiences of the learner and how they “get there”. Both the nursing curriculum and the proposed curriculum are product models, this is because each requires the meeting of specific objectives and standards, they are competency based. However, I feel there are elements of a process curriculum within the NHS, in the form of reflective practice. Reflective practice in post registration is a classic example of a process curriculum as the practice is drawn to the practitioners experiences and not meeting any specific objectives.
Curriculum’s can also be categorised into ideologies, themes that they follow and characteristics they contain. The proposed curriculum varies from others as a large part of the focus is on culture. I purposely introduced a module on culture following my experiences with overseas adaptation nurses. I found that when they arrived to commence the adaptation programme, they were highly equipped with clinical skills but lacked knowledge on the culture and social trends of Britain. Because of the focus on transferring cultural values, both within nurse training and the proposed curriculum, Quinn (2000) would categorise the curriculum as a conservative or classical humanism ideology. Neary (2002) describes this as the Culture analysis tradition ideology. I feel the proposed curriculum also contains some other ideologies. It could be considered to contain some democratic humanism, which places emphasis on lifelong learning, my proposed curriculum is progressive and focuses on the development of the learner, it greatly meets the definition of a revisionist or instrumentalism ideology as the education of the curriculum is directed at producing a skilled worker to meet the economic and/or social needs of society. Pre-registration nursing also fits into this ideology. I feel it is important to follow an ideology when designing a curriculum as I feel it gives the curriculum a model and a focus. This can be compared to nursing a patient, in nursing a model can used called the “activities of daily living”, this is a model upon which nursing care is assessed, planned and implemented. By following a model, a structure is formed to the design. Bassey (1996) extends the area of ideologies further and developed his own categories of ideologies. He developed six categories:
- Cultural restoration educationalist
- Elite and underclass educationalist
- Industrial training educationalist
- Learner centred educationalist
- Equal opportunities educationalist
- Vote seeking pragmatist
I designed the curriculum around the industrial training educationalist approach. This means that the curriculum focuses on education for future work, takes account of economic growth and the curriculum provides skills and knowledge that will benefit the industry. This is the framework the curriculum is shaped around.
If the definition from the FEU (1989) is explored again, it is important to focus on the particular part of the definition “Curriculum involves all those processes, which facilitate, or if they go wrong, inhibit learning” therefore I feel it is relevant to further explain how the objectives set in the curriculum would be assessed and how the curriculum would be monitored and evaluated to ensure quality to the learner and customer/employer.
The assessment methods in the curriculum are both summative and formative. Formative assessment is used to confirm continuous learning and summative assessment is used to assess and measure the learning and the meeting of objectives at the end of the course. This is important as the curriculum is a product model and competencies are expected at the end. The curriculum is evaluated both internally and externally. Internally, learners will be asked to complete a formal evaluation at the end. This will highlight successes and failures in the delivery of the curriculum from the learner’s point of view. To ensure continuous quality assurance and customer satisfaction, student groups will be set up during the course delivery to collect qualitative data on their experiences and recommendations. Externally, review questionnaires will be sent to those employers who recruit successful learners, this will illustrate changes in behaviour and identify the benefits or shortfalls from the course from the point of view of the public interest and the industry.
Although the course could be sent to an awarding body for accreditation, this is costly and quality assurance comes free by means of external inspection. The commission for social care inspection evaluate and monitor training and compare the effectiveness of training to standards, therefore, within my own organisation quality assurance would take place effectively.
Following the presentation of this curriculum to a validating panel, I feel running the curriculum would be very effective. I have considered external influencing factors and I have completed a SWOT analysis to identify any pitfalls. I have designed the curriculum to a model and ideology and I have ensured that quality assurance, marketing and funding do not contain any influencing factors to withdraw the curriculum, it has been proved that funding is actually a unique selling point of the curriculum. The validation panel saw no weaknesses in the proposals. Therefore, the curriculum will be launched.
This assignment has explored the rationale behind the creation of the curriculum including influencing external factors, such as; social, economical, cultural and technological influences; it has examined STEEP and SWOT factors. An explanation of how the curriculum will be integrated into proposed host organisations has been given along with an illustration of how it will be marketed. The assignment has demonstrated the supportive theory and literature used to underpin the curriculum issues and has concluded with an evaluation upon the practical effectiveness of the curriculum.