Understanding Curriculum Development in the Workplace: A Resource for Educators

Framing Workplace Development

Being part of a workplace basic skills program makes you aware of how much it differs from adult upgrading courses in local high schools and colleges.

Effective workplace education differs from other forms of adult upgrading.

•	Workplace programs are highly contextualized; that is, they depend on who wants to learn what) under what conditions, and for what reasons. Our case studies in this chapter illustrate how distinct a program can be when created within and for a specific work environment.
•	Education in a workplace is developed through a planning cycle) with all the interest groups participating at each stage.
•	Workplace programs succeed only when collaboration infuses all the activities.

Although workplace education operates within its own framework, we do share with other adult educators the basic principles of adult education. In this chapter we set curriculum development in the cycle of workplace planning, discuss principles of good practice in workplace education, and review principles of adult education.

The cycle of workplace development

*See the two handbooks in this series Collaborative Needs Assessment and Collaborative Evaluation for thorough guides to other steps.

In this book we concentrate on designing programs and developing teaching and learning materials. The diagram "Figure 1" shows how these activities fit into the planning cycle.*

Although needs assessments take place before education programs begin) participants continue to monitor needs and revise the course design while they learn. Needs assessments include workplace needs assessments, job-related analyses (such as a literacy task analysis), individual needs assessments, prior-learning assessments, and intercultural assessments.

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