ED470541 2002-00-00 Curriculum

Reform in the Professions: Preparing

Students for a Changing World. ERIC

Digest.

ERIC Development Team

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Curriculum Reform in the Professions: Preparing Students for a

Changing World. ERIC Digest............................................. 1

ACCOUNTING PROGRAM REFORM...................................... 2

NURSING PROGRAM REFORM............................................ 3

CONCLUSION.................................................................. 4

REFERENCES.................................................................. 5

ERIC Identifier: ED470541

Publication Date: 2002-00-00

Author: Jones, Elizabeth A.

Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education Washington DC.

Curriculum Reform in the Professions:

Preparing Students for a Changing World. ERIC

Digest.

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INTRODUCTION

Ideally, an undergraduate education should provide students with the necessary skills,

attitudes, and values that are critical to navigate the dynamic complexities of the

business world. Employers are searching for graduates with strong abilities in problem

solving, teamwork, communications, and leadership (Carnevale, 2000; Rao and

Sylvester, 2000; Oblinger and Verville, 1998; Miles, 1994). Although most employees

enter new positions with adequate technical skills, it is the process skills--especially

communications and problem solving--that count toward successful job performance

over time, and it is these skills that are most often absent (College Placement Council,

1994).

Concerns about the educational quality of professional preparation programs have

generated fairly specific sets of recommendations about the interventions or reforms

necessary to strengthen undergraduate education. While some reports are very critical,

others suggest that the gap exists between the ideal outcomes and actual performance

because there has been considerable "upskilling" across sectors of different

professional fields (Business Higher Education Forum, 1997; Carnevale, Gainer, and

Meltzer, 1990).

There has been very little recent synthesis and analysis of the progress that has been

made within the United States in response to these criticisms. The ASHE-ERIC Report

upon which this Digest is based focuses on the major changes that college and

university faculty have designed in their undergraduate professional education

programs in three areas: accounting, nursing, and teacher education. Each of these

areas represents a different emphasis. Accounting is characterized as an enterprising

field, nursing as a helping profession, and education as an informing profession (Stark,

Lowther, and Hagerty, 1986). Examples of curriculum reforms in each of these

professional preparation areas are highlighted.

ACCOUNTING PROGRAM REFORM

Accounting curricula have been criticized as being too narrow. Students have been

exposed to a rule-based model in which they were expected to memorize content in

order to prepare for tests and the certifying public accountancy exam. Textbooks did not

help students to develop the ability-to-learn skills, nor did students have sufficient

contact with businesses, which left them unprepared for the ambiguities that exist in

businesses (Albrecht and Sack, 2000, p. 45; Needles and Powers, 1990).

Several reports calling for reform in accounting programs (for example, Albrecht and

Sack, 2000; Big Eight Accounting Firms, 1989; Bedford, 1986) stressed the importance

of preparing accountants for broadened functions that include the identification and

development of knowledge for a wide variety of decisions. In addition, there has been a

uniform call to emphasize communication, intellectual, and interpersonal skills. The

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Page 2 of 7 ED470541 2002-00-00 Curriculum Reform in the Professions: Preparing Students for a

Changing World. ERIC Digest.
Accounting Education Change Commission and the Fund for the Improvement of

Postsecondary Education have often been key supporters of these curriculum

innovations.

NURSING PROGRAM REFORM

Nurses in health care settings need to be effective critical thinkers as they strive to

address multiple demands in changing environments. Rapid advances in science and

technology, the expanding body of knowledge, and the dynamic health care delivery

system require practitioners to think critically (Jacobs, Ott, Sullivan, Ulrich, and Short,

1997). A crucial criterion set forth by the National League for Nursing as one standard

for measuring the quality of an educational program is the strength of the critical

thinking skills of its graduates (Poirrier, 1997).

The Pew Health Professions Commission, in its final report in 1998, recommended that

curricula be redesigned to ensure that students acquire broad general education

competences, including "critical thinking and clinical judgment skills, effective

organizational and team work skills, service orientation, cost awareness, accountability

of clinical outcomes and quality of care, and a commitment to continual learning and

development'' (Bellack and O'Neil, 2000, p.16).

Some nursing programs have developed in-depth competency statements that are

intended to define the knowledge, skills, and abilities of nursing students. For example,

the Mississippi Council of Deans and Directors of Schools of Nursing developed a

model that articulated their vision of nursing for students in their own state (Eichelberger

and Hewlett, 1999).

Other nursing faculty, for example, at the University of Memphis, moved from a

traditional program to a competency-based curriculum (Luttrell, Lenburg, Scherubel,

Jacob, and Koch, 1999). Statements of performance-based abilities necessary for

contemporary practice were used to guide the design of all learning experiences and as

the basis for assessing student learning (Luttrell, et al, 1999, p. 135-136).

Problem-based learning (PBL) has also been implemented in selected undergraduate

programs within the United States (Duch, Groh, and Allen, 2001, p.6). The PBL

approach was developed as a way to help students gain a stronger understanding of

concepts through the use of practical applications. Each decision problem required

students to learn new concepts in order to solve the problem.

TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM REFORM

A common criticism of teacher education programs has been that they lackrigorous

course work and intellectual challenge (Romanowski and Oldenski,1998). There are

recurring issues associated with relevance of course workand its redundancy as well as

lack of critical thinking abilities, and weakrole models in both college faculty members

ERIC Resource Center www.eric.ed.gov

ED470541 2002-00-00 Curriculum Reform in the Professions: Preparing Students for a

Changing World. ERIC Digest.

Page 3 of 7
and classroom teachers(Applegate and Shaklee, 1992). Some employers believe new

graduates whoenter the teaching profession are not prepared with the practical

knowledgeand skills that are needed to perform effectively in their new roles.Critics

have argued that theory is separated from practice and thus deeplearning about

complex issues or problems in the real world are neglected.Others have argued that

courses in teacher education programs have becomefragmented and often have very

little relationship with one another (Tom,1997).

Recently, there has been major reform in teacher education programs. In particular,

many schools of education have created programs that extend beyond the traditional

four-year degree program and include strong relationships with local schools

(Darling-Hammond, 1999). These revised programs require students to receive a strong

disciplinary background and extensive study of teaching and learning that is integrated

with intensive clinical training in schools.

Some colleges offer one-or two-year graduate programs while others offer a five-year

model that allows for an extended preparation program for prospective students who

are undergraduates pursuing the teacher education major. The fifth year of these

teacher education programs helps undergraduates focus their last year solely on

preparing to teach and gaining experience in school-based internships connected to

coursework on teaching and learning (Darling-Hammond, 1999). Many of these

programs are collaborating with local school districts to create professional development

schools that plan the students' clinical preparation. Similar to teaching hospitals in

medicine, these schools provide sites for "state-of-the-art practice that also train new

professionals, extend the professional development of veteran teachers and sponsor

collaborative research and inquiry" (Darling-Hammond, 1999, p. 31).

The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future assessed several

innovative teacher education programs and found that they have many features in

common, including: explicit and specific standards constituting what teachers should

know and be able to do in order to teach their subject matter to diverse groups of

students (Darling-Hammond, 1999, p.32); a systematic program of study grounded in

substantive knowledge and taught in the context of practice; extensive use of

problem-based learning methods including case studies, research on teaching issues,

performance assessments, and portfolio evaluation (Darling-Hammond, 1999);

intensively supervised, extended clinical experiences (typically at least 30 weeks) that

were designed to support what students learned in their courses; and partnerships with

local schools that "support both the development of common knowledge and shared

beliefs among school- and university-based faculty" (Darling-Hammond, 1999, p.32).

CONCLUSION

These changes offer lessons for faculty in many different disciplines, especially faculty

who work with students in various professional fields. From a review of these curriculum

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Changing World. ERIC Digest.
reforms, several common thematic elements can be identified: Many reforms require

students to be actively engaged in their studies, students often work on real world

issues or problems, problems are usually open-ended with no single correct answer,

and assessments of student learning are used to gauge whether students are mastering

the intended learning outcomes.

REFERENCES

Albrecht, W.S., and Sack, R.J. (2000). Accounting education: Charting the course

through a perilous future. Sarasota, FL: American Accounting Association.

Applegate, J., & Shaklee, B. (1992). Stimulating reflection while learning to teach: The

ATTEP at Kent State University. In L. Valli (Ed.), Reflective teacher education: Cases

and critiques (pp. 65-81). Albany: State University of New York.

Bellack, J.P., & O'Neil, E.H. (2000) Recreating nursing practice for a new century:

Recommendations and implications of The Pew Health Professions Commission's final

report. Nursing and Health Care Perspectives, 21(1), 14-21.

Business-Higher Education Forum. (1995). Higher Education and Work Readiness: The

View from the Corporation. Washington, D.C.: Business-Higher Education Forum.

Carnevale, A.P. (2000). Community Colleges and Career Qualifications. Washington,

D.C.: American Association of Community Colleges.

Carnevale, A. P., Gainer, L. J., & Meltzer, A. S. (1990). Workplace Basics: The

Essential Skills Employers Want. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

College Placement Council. (1994). Developing the Global Workforce: Institute for

Colleges and Corporations. Bethlehem, PA: College Placement Council.

Darling-Hammond , L. (1999). Educating the academy's greatest failure or its most

important future? Academe, 85(1), 26-33.

Duch, B.J., Groh, S.E., & Allen, D.E. (2001). The power of problem-based learning.

Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Eichelberger, L.W., & Hewlett, P.O. (1999). Competency model 101: The process of

developing core competencies. Nursing Health Care Perspectives, 20(1), 204-208.

Jacobs, P., & Associates. (1997). An approach to defining and operationalizing critical

thinking. Journal of Nursing Education, 36(1), 19-22.

Jones, E.A. (1996). National and State-Level Policies Affecting Learning Expectations.

New Directions for Higher Education: Preparing Competent College Graduates: New

and Higher Expectations for Student Learning 24 (4), 7-18.

ERIC Resource Center www.eric.ed.gov

ED470541 2002-00-00 Curriculum Reform in the Professions: Preparing Students for a

Changing World. ERIC Digest.

Page 5 of 7
Lutrell, M.F. & Associates. (1999). Competency outcomes for learning and performance

assessment. Nursing and Health Care Perspectives, 20(3), 134-141.

Miles, C. (1994). The Mindful Worker: Learning and Working in the 21st Century.

Clearwater, FL: H&H Publishing Company.

Needles, B.E. Jr., & Powers, M. (1990). A comparative study of models for accounting

education. Issues in Accounting Education, 5(2), 250-267.

Oblinger, D.G., & Verville, A.L. (1998). What Business Wants from Higher Education.

Phoenix, AZ: The Oryx Press.

Poirrier, G.P. (1997). Writing-to-learn: Curricular strategies for nursing and other

disciplines. New York: National League of Nursing Press.

Rao, M., & Sylvester, S. (2000). Business and Education in Transition: Why New

Partnerships are Essential to Student Success in the New Economy. AAHE Bulletin, 52

(8), 11-13.

Romanowski, M.H., & Oldenski, T.E. (1998). Challenging the status quo of teacher

education programs. The Clearing House, 72(2), 111-114.

Stark, J.S., Lowther, M.A., & Hagerty, B.M.K. (1986). Responsive Professional

Education: Balancing Outcomes and Opportunities. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education

Report No. 3. Washington, D.C.: Association for the Study of Higher Education, 1986.

Tom, A.R. (1997). Re-designing teacher education. Albany: SUNY Press.

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This publication was partially prepared with funding from the Office of Educational

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RR-93-00-0036. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the positions or

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ERIC-HE Digest.

Title: Curriculum Reform in the Professions: Preparing Students for a Changing World.

ERIC Digest.

Note: Based on the ASHE-ERIC report of the same title, published by Jossey-Bass

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Changing World. ERIC Digest.
Publishers, A John-Wiley Company (see HE 035 434). Contains small print.

Document Type: Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs)

(071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073);

Available From: ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education, One Dupont Circle, Suite

630, Washington, DC 20036-1183. Tel: 800-956-7739 (Toll Free).

Descriptors: Accounting, Curriculum Development, Educational Change, Higher

Education, Learning, Nursing Education, Professional Education, Student Evaluation,

Teacher Education

Identifiers: ERIC Digests

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