Transforming the master of public administration education for a changing world of work: A personal account of a South African case

Abstract

Public administration managers are confronted with new and highly complex challenges emerging at a rapid rate. This situation requires a reimagining of public administration education to prepare public administration managers to capably deal with these challenges. While the Master of Public Administration (MPA) is globally used as vehicle for preparing public administration managers for performing their functions, the question posed is: How can MPA programmes be transformed to prepare students for dealing with emerging complex challenges in the changing world of work? This article provides a personal exploratory account of the transformation of teaching and learning of a South African MPA case. The research design was not selected for generalising findings to the universe of MPA offerings, but for obtaining case-specific information and insights. The study draws from insider’s memory work supported by a variety of textual data such as notes, reports, official documents, curriculum documentation and the content of the 2020 online module sites. The article proposes a transformed curriculum to provide for the learning of public administration capabilities appropriate for dealing with emerging challenges. It subsequently reports on the curriculum transformation project of the selected case by reflecting on some philosophical assumptions and assumptions on how people learn and explaining the use of the inquiry-driven learning strategy to facilitate the learning of appropriate capabilities for dealing with public administration challenges. This article contributes to the existing literature on the role of the MPA in the mid-career education of public administration managers by suggesting the learning of public administration capabilities through an inquiry-driven learning strategy.