Programme Specifications and their Role in Creating a More Explicit Environment for Demonstrating and Recording Achievement

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Abstract
This article describes the rationale for a programme specification (Dearing recommendation 21) with reference to an example template produced by the Quality Assurance Agency. It examines the potential connection between programme specifications, which are concerned with helping teaching teams make their learning intentions more explicit, and progress files which provide the institutional and personal records of achievement. It argues that making the intentions of learning more explicit, through the programme specification, has important consequences for the assessment of learning and ultimately for recording and reporting achievement. The notion of personal profiling (a means by which students can monitor, build and reflect upon their personal development Dearing recommendation 20) is embedded in the idea of ‘learning how to learn’ which is contained in the programme specification. These two elements of the policy framework could be linked by using the learning outcomes identified in the programme specification as the basis for a personal record of achievement or development profile for each student. Individual students could then build on and customise the profile according to their specific learning experiences, including those gained outside the formal curriculum.