Abstract
D.Ed.
In South Africa the water and sanitation sector faces many problems in the delivery of
services to ensure that all South Africans have access to safe and sufficient water
resources and adequate sanitation to meet their needs. Local government, mandated to
supply these services, has a lack of resources including trained human resources.
Distance education learning programmes could be one way of addressing the lack of
trained human resources. Distance education can reach a much wider spectrum of
people, the costs to the employers can be greatly reduced, less work hours are lost,
people, especially women, have the opportunity to study whilst still taking the caring role
at home, and learners are also able to learn at their own pace and time. To address the
problem it was identified that a framework for the development of outcomes-based
distance education learning programmes for adult learners would be beneficial to the
programme planners and educators who plan and design distance education learning
programmes. The framework was developed based on the research literature explored.
A literature study of three issues namely: outcomes-based education, facilitation of adult
learning and distance education was undertaken. Theoretical underpinnings were
extrapolated from the literature study which were used as the building blocks for the
framework. To establish the theoretical underpinnings for the framework the evolution of
competency-based education to outcomes-based education was investigated. It was
concluded that competency-based education included core elements such as learning
that is not time bound, learning that is stated as outcomes, various means can be used
to achieve the outcomes, and assessment is based on the stated outcomes. These
concepts have become the focus areas in all developments in competency-based as
well as outcomes-based education. In the 1990s the education and training sector in
South Africa was transformed, and an outcomes-based education system was adopted.
A National Qualifications Framework has been introduced which offers a set of principles
and guidelines for the education and training sector. These principles and guidelines
were examined. Another issue that was scrutinised was the design of outcomes-based
training material for the South African situation. Theoretical underpinnings for the framework were extrapolated from the findings of the literature study on the facilitation of adult learning and planning of adult learning programmes. The characteristics of the adult learner and the importance of these characteristics when planning a learning programme for the adult learner were examined. Two learning theories namely constructivism and transformative learning provided valuable insights into how adults learn in the learning situation. How to plan a learning programme for adult learners using the Critical Events Model, was explained. For the extrapolation of the theoretical underpinnings for the framework from distance education the evolution of distance education, from an informal style of correspondence education to a more formal style of single media correspondence education and eventually to a formal distance education system using multi-media methods was also explored. All these theoretical underpinnings were consolidated into the final product of this study namely a framework for the development of outcomes-based distance education learning programmes for the adult learners in the water and sanitation sector. The framework is designed as an independent document to be used by the programme planners and educators of distance education learning programmes. Within the framework the theoretical underpinnings are applied, guidance and advice on how to plan and design events in the distance learning programmes is given, and an example of how to design outcomes-based training material is included. Checklists are included at the end of every event in the framework. Programme planners and educators can use the checklist to determine if all the activities in the event have been completed. This makes the framework a guide that can be used by the most inexperienced programme planners and educators. It is hoped that this framework will guide many programme planners and educators as they are faced with the immense task of assisting in meeting the challenges of education and training in the water and sanitation sector in South Africa.