Barriers Affecting Curriculum Development Partnerships Between Post-Compulsory Education and Employers: a Case Study

This article presents evidence from a research study of collaborative curriculum development involving partners from further education, higher education and employers. The case study includes data from six partnerships which produced undergraduate programmes with workforce development and widening participation aims. The programmes included three foundation degrees, a Diploma of HE, an HND and a BA/Advanced Certificate. All programmes were developed and taught collaboratively.

Working in partnership is not easy and this article seeks to examine the barriers and pitfalls which were prevalent and significant to the participants in the curriculum development teams. The research identified barriers which could be classified into five groups: institutional culture; quality assurance; skills; resources and the impact of the external environment. The article examines each of these barriers and considers how they impacted on the curriculum development and the partnership processes. The themes are illustrated through examples taken from the interviews with further education, higher education and employer participants. The article concludes by identifying those barriers that should be actively managed by partnerships to ensure successful programme development.