Outcome based education enacted: teachers’ tensions in balancing between student learning and bureaucracy

• Published in: Advances in health sciences education : theory and practice 2014-12, Vol.19 (5), p.629-643
• Main Authors: Barman, Linda, Silén, Charlotte, Bolander Laksov, Klara
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Administrative Organization; Competence; Competency Based Teacher Education; Conflict; Content Analysis; Course Content; Curriculum; Curriculum Design; Education; education policy; Education, Professional - methods; Education, Professional - organization & administration; Educational Change; Educational Measurement - methods; Health Sciences; Humans; Instructional design; Interviews; Learning; Medical Education; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Outcome Based Education; Performance Factors; Praxis; Pretests Posttests; Professional Competence; Program Implementation; Qualitative Research; Teacher Developed Materials; Teacher Surveys; Teaching; Teaching - methods
• ISSN: 1382-4996; 1573-1677; 1573-1677
• DOI: 10.1007/s10459-013-9491-3

This paper reports on how teachers within health sciences education translate outcome-based education (OBE) into practice when they design courses. The study is an empirical contribution to the debate about outcome- and competency-based approaches in health sciences education. A qualitative method was used to study how teachers from 14 different study programmes designed courses before and after OBE was implemented. Using an interpretative approach, analysis of documents and interviews was carried out. The findings show that teachers enacted OBE either to design for more competency-oriented teaching–learning, or to further detail knowledge and thus move towards reductionism. Teachers mainly understood the outcome-based framework as useful to support students’ learning, although the demand for accountability created tension and became a bureaucratic hindrance to design for development of professional competence. The paper shows variations of how teachers enacted the same outcome-based framework for instructional design. These differences can add a richer understanding of how outcome- or competency-based approaches relate to teaching–learning at a course level.