A Needs Assessment of the Transformation of the Baccalaureate Nursing Programme Curriculum in Namibia: Stakeholder Consultations and Perspectives

Introduction

Curriculum transformation remains a necessity in higher education worldwide, particularly in the era of Education 5.0. To navigate the current broad and dynamic healthcare settings, nurses need consistently updated practical skills in addition to a strong professional identity (Epp, Reekie, Denison, de Bosch Kemper, Willson and Marck, 2021). Therefore, Shay (2015) defines curriculum transformation as the renewal of the curriculum such as alterations to teaching and learning content. On the other hand, Hancock, Dyk and Jones (2012) define curriculum transformation as changes to its design, goals and content. Therefore, curriculum transformation happens when an institution undertakes a critical review of the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum, adopts various alternatives and integrates students’ views of the learning process.

Mondal and Das (2021) highlight three approaches to effective curriculum transformation: an administrative approach where the institution head initiates the transformation through other administrative members once the need for transforming is observed; a grassroots approach that includes the entire institutional community – teachers, students, parents and others; and a demonstration approach where minor changes are made to a regular programme, causing minimal potential disturbances in the faculty and community (Mondal and Das, 2021). Furthermore, Gray, Scott and Mehisto (2018) state that changes in the form of personnel, new policies, events in nature, external interventions, new arrays of resources and new arrangements of roles and functions within the educational system may be catalysts for successful curriculum transformation.

The importance of curriculum transformation as a measure to mitigate the challenges presented by the theory–practice gap in nursing education cannot be overemphasised. Shoghi, Sajadi, Oskuie, Dehnad and Borimnejad (2019) revealed that curriculum transformation facilitates the bridging of the theory–practice gap as well as the achievement of clinical learning outcomes. Leong, He, Premarani and Lim (2021) also point out the need for policymakers to revise practical core competency guidelines and promote future training by supporting societal healthcare needs. Furthermore, curriculum transformation may help new nursing graduates adapt to their new working environment (Brown, 2019). However, when attempting to transform any curriculum so as to address the gap between theory and practice, the active participation of stakeholders and other beneficiaries is necessary (Shoghi et al., 2019).

Transforming the educational curriculum may improve desired access and student achievement (Vorster, 2016). Equally important, students may gain vital and up-to-date expertise that may prepare them for a competitive job market. Unfortunately, curriculum transformation may have consequences at classroom, school and system level that might signal a need for an effective adaptation process for students (Nieveen, Sluijsmans and Van den Akker, 2014). In addition, some lecturers may lose track of the content of a transformed curriculum, which may negatively affect student performance (Pastory, 2016). Thus, it is important to set clearly defined goals that can be easily grasped by the targeted group before curriculum change is undertaken (Nyamida, 2020). In addition, insufficient resources, skills, knowledge and planning prior to curriculum transformation may have adverse effects on teaching and learning (Lizer, 2013).