Suellen Shay's research focused extensively on both the challenges of creating socially-just higher education curricula and the knowledge and practices of the field of educational development. Shay's work highlights the important ways in which curricula define what it means to be educated and the importance of socially-just curricula that provide…

Constructive alignment (CA) has developed into one of the most significant concepts in higher education since its establishment in the late 1990s. CA is a powerful instrument for curriculum design that aligns learning outcomes with teaching and learning activities and assessments to enhance the quality of students' learning. In this conceptual…

This paper uses Bernstein's sociology of knowledge and studies of professional knowledge and expertise to identify how knowledge value is constituted in higher education curricula. It is argued that different knowledge structures and forms of disciplinary community influence how curricula are determined, and lead to distinctive types of knowledge…

The paper argues that powerful regional knowledge is necessary and possible and that there are historical precedents supporting these claims. Regional knowledge is being used in a double sense: the first Bernsteinian, the second in relation to knowledge generated outside the academy. Both are important if the debate is not to be confined solely to…

This paper argues that curriculum decision-making in the South African University of Technology (UoT) environment is affected not only by industry and disciplinary demands, but also by socio-structural features and ideologies particular to this educational sector. It supports the view that recontextualisation processes are subject to multiple…

The typical approach to student-centred learning in Economics has focused on innovation within the classroom, with little thought given to how this complements teaching and learning and, crucially, assessment. This paper reflects on the implementation of constructive alignment in a final year managerial economics course. It demonstrates how it is…

Self-belief is argued here to be a key aspect of employability development that has been largely under conceptualisation in terms of what the construct may mean and how it may be developed through higher education (HE) study. This paper proposes three fundamental beliefs that need to be fostered in order to develop student self-belief: (1) that…

This paper draws on the technical, elite and political interpretations of the purpose of management, to identify demands for particular forms of educational knowledge in the management studies curriculum. The varied character of this knowledge is discussed using Bernsteinian concepts of verticality, grammaticality, classification and framing, and…

There is an increasing value being placed on engaging and empowering first-year students and first-year curriculum design is a key driver and opportunity to ensure early enculturation into successful learning at university. This paper summarises the literature on first-year curriculum design linked to student engagement and empowerment. We present…

This paper examines issues relating to the design/redesign of the pedagogy of interdisciplinary undergraduate subjects. Examples include: (a) law subjects for students in Business Management or Building and Surveying; (b) "English Communication for Business" for students in English; and (c) "Information technology in Business" for students in…