ABSTRACT
Single subject, linear courses where each learning activity and every aspect of the content are compulsory for all learners are becoming a thing of the past. Profound changes to the way the vocational curriculum is designed and organized have accompanied the shifts in assessment charted in this book. Assessment is increasingly based on descriptions of the learning outcomes that can be gained and performance criteria to assess them. Programmes are increasingly designed around smaller ‘units’ or ‘modules’, and have produced a growth in systems for credit accumulation and transfer. These enable learners to accumulate credits for units, putting together different combinations according to the requirements of a particular qualification, and to negotiate more individualized programmes of study. Modular, credit-based programmes can potentially be much more flexible than traditional courses where learners start a programme at the beginning of an academic year and finish at the end of the following one. Many programmes have option modules as well as requirements for core or mandatory modules. In some cases, learners can combine parts of general or academic programmes with specific vocational or core units, for example GCE A-level units with GNVQ units. In some programmes, it does not matter which order modules are taken in, in others there might be restrictions about modules that must be taken first.
