Educational design research: designing a professional master's curriculum for sensory integration training within the South African context

[摘要] English: Sensory integration, as a field of specialisation, originated in the profession ofoccupational therapy. Successfully and purposefully engaging in the activities of everydaylife depends partially on sensory integration.Postgraduate training in sensory integration is highly sought after, both nationally andinternationally. However, training aimed at achieving advanced competencies in sensoryintegration and advancing it as a specialist field in occupational therapy is currently notpart of a higher education qualification in South Africa. The few available internationaltraining programmes, rooted in the work of Jean Ayres, the originator of sensoryintegration, are focused on foundational competencies of theory, assessment andintervention. At present, there are no advanced or contextualized training programmesrelevant for developing countries such as South Africa.The purpose of this study was to design a curriculum, relevant to the South African contextbut also internationally acknowledged, for a professional occupational therapy master'sdegree in sensory integration (M OT (SI)), designed to train occupational therapists withadvanced competencies, able to meet the needs of all those individuals and their familieswho struggle with sensory integration difficulties and dysfunctions, whilst also adding tothe extant body of knowledge in the field.In the design of the curriculum, the candidate took an axiological stance, setting out todiscover and/or confirm practical, real-world knowledge, offering advanced opportunitiesto attain the competencies needed to solve real-world problems in the field of sensoryintegration. Pragmatic knowledge needed to be created, and an epistemology ofpragmatism was therefore followed using educational design research as a methodology.Using the flexible and iterative features of this methodology, drawing mainly on qualitativemethods but also on one strand of quantitative research, the candidate arrived at a finalcurriculum, ready for submission to the relevant institutional and statutory processes ofapproval and accreditation. The research process included an analysis and explorationphase, comprising one micro-cycle, leading to a first skeleton prototype of the curriculum.Five objectives were set, including a data-generating activity involving internationalexperts in the field of Ayres Sensory Integration (ASI®). The second and mostcomprehensive phase of the research process was the design and construction phase.This comprised three micro-cycles, each with its own aim and phase objectives. The dataon the views and opinions of various stakeholders ensured contextual relevancy.Combining these with the data generated on the challenges and enablers of masterstudents in occupational therapy, the candidate designed and constructed a further twoevolving prototypes of the curriculum, culminating in prototype 3. Submitting thisprototype once again to the views and opinions both of international experts in ASI® andof curriculum experts, allowed for conclusive refinement of the design, arriving at the finalcurriculum set as the aim of the study. Taking into account the 'unending' processes ofinstitutional and statutory curriculum approval and accreditation, the candidate set adelimitation to the study, which was concluded with the final intended curriculum.Throughout the design process, knowledge was created for future use. This was fed backinto the ontological stance of the candidate as she searched for realistic knowledge thatwas context-appropriate. In writing up of the design process, she created anddocumented theoretical understandings in the form of the emerging design requirementsand design propositions.It is the candidate's hope that the curriculum, once delivered, will open up an additional,specialist career pathway for occupational therapists, advancing service delivery andexpanding the knowledge base in the field. A further hope is that this study will raiseawareness and cultivate the use of educational design research in the development ofcurriculums, especially in the profession of occupational therapy.

[发布机构] University of the Free State