Abstract
D.Ed.
This particular research -focus on the involvement of lecturers at a decentralised multi-campus
university in curriculum development. The research design which were followed is of an explorative,
descriptive and qualitative nature.
In this research several examples of curriculum development which have been unsuccessful, were
mentioned. These examples explain shortcomings or inadequacies such as curricula which are content
centred, needs of students who have not been considered and several didactic practices which are
merely intuitive in nature.
One of the greatest problems which may be created by haphazard and incoherent curriculum
development is the fact that it eventually may lead to the demoralisation of lecturers and their
effective functioning.
There are two broad approaches as far as the involvement of lecturers in decision making and
curriculum development is concerned, namely , the "top-down" and the "bottom-up" approach.
Despite successes, examples of inadequate curriculum development have their roots in one of these two
approaches. Therefore it can be deducted that several models for curriculum development had their
origin in either or both these approaches. Several curriculum researchers like Van Staden (1991), McAleese (1982) and Pratt (1994), warn
however, that curriculum development which works well in one institution might not necessarily
influence success in another. Variables such as context and student characteristics can differ from one
instance to the next. For this very reason the researchers interest concentrated on the involvement of
lecturers in curriculum development in a particular decentralised multi-campus university.
THE AIM OF THE STUDY:
The aim of this research was to explore the extent of the involvement of students and lecturers in
curriculum development, as well as perceptions, feelings and opinions of lecturers with respect to their
involvement.
Two different ways of data-collection were used:
Focus group interviews were conducted with the co-ordinators and individual semi-structured
interviews with lecturers. To ensure reliability of the results certain rules were adhered to.