Reading constructive alignment against the grain at the University of the South Pacific
Journal Publication ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
Constructive alignment, as a way of framing curriculum, and by extension teaching and learning, has widespread appeal. At the University of the South Pacific (USP) generally, and within the School of Education (SOED) more specifically, it has been presented as an unquestioned means toward greater quality in the education programs the university offers. Although necessary at a certain level, its unquestioned embrace, however, raises the need for some critical reflection. In the spirit of opening up further discussion among colleagues and others, this article offers a critique of constructive alignment from a number of perspectives including: its seeming resistance to complex educational realities; its technical rationality in the face of non-linear and organic aspects of teaching and learning in the Pacific; its discursive potential to disempower learners; and the tensions it produces with beliefs about autonomous, agential learners in democratic relationships with teachers. This article suggests an alternative set of alignments that must at least preface the constructive alignment work being undertaken at USP. In so doing, the article raises deeper theoretical issues concerning the purpose of teaching and learning at USP and SOED in particular.
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Directions: a Journal of Education Studies
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33
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1011-5B46
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1
Pages Count
8
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School of Education, The University of the South Pacific
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