Outcomes-Based Education Reexamined: From Structural Functionalism to Poststructuralism

Abstract

Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) views itself as a drastic break from current educational practices and a means of providing educational success for all students. Though not stated in overt terms, OBE also positions it self as a means of "emancipating " students and teachers from traditional practices which lead to educational inequity. This article reexamines OBE from a multiparadigm perspective of organizations and educational administration. This examination reveals that although there does indeed seem to befacets of outcome-based practice which are empowering to students and teachers, much of the system continues to be lodged in a framework which aims toward structure and control.