Decoding disciplines of a national business qualification in support of learning

Abstract

This paper focuses on the decoding of the disciplines of a National Diploma in Office Management to address the challenges encountered in the higher education system in the 21st century, and to align it with the South African Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework. The Semantic Code of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) was drawn on to investigate whether the knowledge bases of this National Diploma curriculum contributed to improving students' learning. Both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained by using Delphi surveys, workshops, student surveys and interviews, as well as through an international benchmarking exercise. The findings show that the National Diploma emphasises the technical and highly contextual components of the curriculum, with less emphasis placed on the significant role of the linguistic knowledge base. The evidence provided the opportunity to address the question of the appropriateness of logic underlying the curriculum and to assist with the recurriculation process to develop strategies in support of learning.