Conceptualizing learning outcomes
1. Vision and national frameworks: What is our country’s vision about the kind of society desired today and in the future ? Does our vision address issue of equity and inclusion? Are the aims and purposes of education identified relevant to our vision of future society and citizen?
2. Competencies/desired learning outcomes: What is our understanding on key competencies with which citizens have to be equipped to realize desired societies? How are desired learning outcomes (both short-term and long-term) currently understood and conceptualized in our country’s context (i.e. as standards, competencies, learning objectives) and shared by stakeholders? To what extent are the aims of current national development and educational policies and programs reflected in the desired learning outcomes?
3. identifying desired competencies/learning outcomes: What has been done to consider desired key competencies in our country and how the stakeholders contributed to their development? What is the mechanism for engaging and promoting participation of stakeholders from inside and outside the education system in the identification and prioritization desired learning outcomes?
Ensuring the achievement of intended learning outcomes: reorienting policies and interventions as well as adjusting elements of education systems
1. Policies: Are current national education policies relevant to achieve desired learning outcomes? If there are controversies/different opinions with regard to the understanding of competencies and competency development, how are they taken into account in our current educational policies? Have any particular policy measures been taken to address equity in learning outcomes?
2. Curricula: To what extent is the current curriculum relevant in leading learners to achieve the desired competencies? What approaches were used to effectively develop a curriculum which ensures equitable acquisition of desired competencies? Can competency-based approaches be a main syllabi organizer and the sequence of learning and teaching? How are learning areas and cross-cutting issues and related contents organized in the curriculum?
3. Teachers as well as teaching and learning: What is teachers’ understanding of desired competencies that learners should acquire? What measures have we taken to improve teachers’ competencies? How well do current teacher policies, management and teaching strategies accommodate learners´ diverse needs? How are competencies taught and learnt at school and classroom levels?
4. Assessment: How well do existing assessments cover key competencies that should be measured? What are the current strengths and weaknesses of learning outcomes (e.g. type of competencies, level of acquisition, and equity in learning outcomes)? What have been the key challenges in measuring competencies acquired (e.g. technical capacity, curricula reform, teacher training, governance, financial issue)? How do we assess the effectiveness of policies and interventions introduced to ensure learners’ acquisition of key competencies? How were the results of assessment used to improve the relevance of expected learning outcomes?
5. Learning environment: To what extent have we provided the necessary learning and teaching environment conducive for attaining the desired learning outcomes? What is the role of learning environment to facilitate the understanding of real-life situations?
