The mediating role of lecturer biographic factors on curriculum implementation in universities

Abstract

The study presented in this article investigated the influence of lecturer biographic factors on curriculum implementation in universities in Botswana. Over the last two decades, Botswana has been transforming its education system to improve curriculum implementation in universities, particularly in terms of who should be allowed to teach and the qualification level of students they should instruct. A mixed-methods research approach that employed a structured questionnaire and semi-structured interviews was used to collect data from 306 lecturers and 25 academic middle managers (AMMs) respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to validate the questionnaire and expert opinion validated the interview guide. To analyse the resulting quantitative data, multiple regression analysis and descriptive statistics were used, while thematic analysis was employed for the qualitative data. Findings showed that lecturers’ educational level, age and teaching experience have a significant influence on effective implementation of curricula in universities, while gender has no significant influence. These results have implications for both policy and practice with regard to lecturer recruitment and curriculum implementation in universities.