In Search of a Competency-Based Curriculum for English Literature Education in Dutch Secondary Schools

Abstract

This thesis explores the possibility of implementing a competency-based method in the English literature curriculum in Dutch secondary schools. The current curriculum suffers from a lack of structure which is not conducive to pupils’ literary competency, reading skills and reading enjoyment. In order to determine whether implementing a competency-based structure based on Dr Theo Witte’s method would have merit a small-scale study has been carried out at two Dutch secondary schools, taking into account pupils’ and teachers’ experiences and opinions. The results of this study are discussed in this paper. Furthermore the practical difficulties of developing a competency-based method for literature education in a foreign language are addressed. Based on the study’s results it can be concluded that there is a need for improvement in the English literature curricula at these schools and that experimenting with a competency-based method is recommendable.