Scoping recent investment in evaluation education in Australian universities
| Author | Carol Quadrelli,Jessica Staheli,Clarissa Cook-Watkins,Lyn Alderman |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X221120292 |
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Academic Articles |
Academic Article
Evaluation Journal of Australasia
2022, Vol. 22(4) 254–281
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/1035719X221120292
journals.sagepub.com/home/evj
Scoping recent investment in
evaluation education in
Australian universities
Carol Quadrelli, Jessica Staheli, Clarissa Cook-Watkins
and Lyn Alderman
University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia
Abstract
This article explores the current evaluation education program opportunities in the
Australian higher education market and identifies potential research areas to inform
pathways for future investment. Findings from our initial scoping phase are provided as
a prelude to future work required in this space. The overarching research question
investigates whether there is an opportunity to deliver further evaluation education
programs in Australian higher education. Emerging from this question are three
objectives: (a) to determine the current landscape of Australian university evaluation
education program offerings; (b) to gain an understanding of the evaluation education
discourse articulated within six selected evaluation journals and (c) to consider
whether evaluation is a viable and meaningful discipline within higher education
programs. An action research approach was adopted commencing with a bench-
marking activity of Australian university offerings, followed by a bibliometric analysis of
six evaluation journals, and concluding with a rapid scan of the literature. The selected
methodologies reveal a potential gap in the higher education market, with the literature
identifying inconsistent and mismatched programs while emphasising the need to invest
in evaluation education. This article seeks to stimulate debate about formal higher
education qualifications in evaluation and highlights the importance of potential future
curriculum structure that can offer evaluators value, utility and growth.
Corresponding author:
Carol Quadrelli, Academic Transformation Portfolio, University of Southern Queensland, A507, A Block,
Springfield campus, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia.
Email: carol.quadrelli@usq.edu.au
Keywords
evaluator education, pedagogy, investment, evaluation teaching, evaluation practice,
evaluation knowledge, evaluation theory, evaluator training needs
Introduction
A career in evaluation involves working with stakeholders across multi-disciplinary
backgrounds and contexts, and it attracts a diverse range of people with unique skill
sets. As a result of this varied workforce, there has been a global focus on developing
evaluator competencies and determining skillsets since the late 1980s (Diaz et al., 2020;
Poth et al., 2020). Despite this, there has been limited research focussing on formal
evaluation education (King & Ayoo, 2020); therefore, this article aims to explore the
presence of formal evaluation programs in the current Australian higher education
landscape. To achieve this aim, evaluation education offerings in the Australian higher
education sector are mapped and considered within a global context through a review of
the literature. This contributes to the discourse on future pathways, stimulates debate
about formal higher education qualifications in evaluation and highlights the impor-
tance of a curriculum structure that can offer evaluators value, utility and growth.
Similar to other universities, every Australian university is under increasing pressure
to diversify their income streams and rationalise their product suite (Durrant &
Eastmond, 1994;Harris & Alderman, 2022, this issue; LaVelle & Johnson, 2022;
Phan, 2019). Therefore, consideration of how and when to enter a new discipline is a
strategic executive decision that requires an evidence-based approach to ensure the
endeavour is worthy of the investment (Alderman, 2022, this issue). Also, in keeping
with the themes of the special issue, as Forbes et al. (2022, this issue) demonstrate, there
is significant scope for qualified evaluators to work as internal evaluators within the
Australian higher education sector. This article will be the start of a research journey to
explore whether evaluation is a viable and meaningful discipline within higher edu-
cation programs and contributes to earlier work undertaken by May et al. (1986),
Durrant and Eastmond (1994), and more recently, LaVelle (2019) and LaVelle and
Johnson (2022). We apply the investment element of Alderman’s(2014)Continuous
Learning Framework and adopt a ‘continuous improvement leading to continuous
learning’(Deming, 1986) perspective. The investment element of the framework
underpins the methodology of this article, as it seeks to confirm that taking an
evaluative lens can provide university executives with an evidence-based approach to
the investment in new discipline education programs.
Definitions
There is slippage in terminology across universities when describing what education
options are available, the structure of the courses and the content. The literature flags
the complexity of how evaluation perspectives, definitions and values are reflected in
Quadrelli et al. 255
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