Abstract:

The renewal and continuous improvement of curriculum is fundamental to effective teaching and learning in higher education. While issues such as curriculum design, assessment and learning have been the subject of many publications, there is a paucity of published research on effective methods and approaches for revising curriculum. This is more pronounced in Occupational health and safety (OH&S), which is a multidisciplinary of research and practice. This is a significant gap in the literature which this article seeks to address. The article proceeds as follows. First, it outlines three common paradigms used in informing research and practice in higher education and makes the case for pragmatism as a way forward. Second, it surveys the published literature on curriculum revisions. Third, it proposes a pragmatic, five-stage framework (incorporating planning, needs analysis, curriculum, learning outcomes and graduate attributes) as a practical way of managing and deploying revisions effectively. The article concludes by demonstrating how the proposed framework can be applied to an undergraduate and postgraduate studies in an Australian context.

Keywords:

Curriculum Revision, Pragmatism, Health and Safety, Planning, Needs Analysis, Learning Outcomes, Graduate Attributes.