The relationship between curriculum, learning and teaching in library and information science with special reference to the University of Transkei

Curriculum development involves considerations about curriculum relevance. Thus it is necessary that the curriculum should identify with the needs of the graduate and with professional practice. This requirement shoNAt-hsa t curriculum relevance is not fixed, a view that is consistent with a dynamic, situational approach to curriculum development. The basic categories which define librarianship curriculum development are library activities, theory, innovation, teaching and learning, employers, students. lecturers. These are influential factors in curriculum relevance. Variables in curriculum content such as theory and practice affect curriculum relevance. Librarianship curriculum development should aim at relevance by integrating academic study and practice. Hence, the goal of study towards librarianship education must be focused on the activities performed in library and information services. The need for innovation in library and information services means that novel viewpoints and solutions must be practical. For example, this requirement indicates that curriculum development must take into consideration leamt attributes which are aerieral and transferable in a changing world. This is in view of the employers' requirement that graduates should have critical intellectual ability and the capability to learn rather than their just immediate attributes, skills and knowledge. With teaching and leaming there is abundant rationale for the development of more effective delivery systems than traditional lecturing. If outcome-based learning is valued, individualised, self-directed learning is a prerequisite. The practices of the task-based curriculum, with its focus on student learning and on the development of transferable skills more closely approximate the ideal approaches to librarianship education. The teaching of transferable skills is more likely to define the conditions under which critical reasoning can develop. It has an advantage over the students' abilities to learn to function in the profession outside the university and for continuous development. In this respect task-based education has much wider implications than that of simply providing students with skills. Professional practice does not always fit with the curriculum that is developed by the experts. The expert-developed curriculum also poses a problem for those who interpret it, learn it and receive the products. Thus, a strong joint partnership in which the library and the library school are both recognised in curriculum development is essential if the profession is to fulfil effectively its unique role in society.