Curriculum Development

CURRICULUM

·         Curriculum is a word which originated from the ancient Romans. It means a race course i.e. a track followed by racing horses.

·         Different scholars have defined curriculum in different ways.

·         Franklin Bobbitt (1918) defined it as “those series of things which children and youth must do  to have an experience by way of developing ability to do things well that make up the affairs of adult life.” Curriculum is therefore viewed as a set of experiences

·         Beauchamp viewed curriculum as subjects and subject matter.

·         Kansas (1958) defined curriculum as what happens to children in a school as a result of what teachers do.

·         Oluoch G. P. has defined it as all that is planned to enable the student to acquire and develop desired knowledge skills and attitudes.

·         Ondiek P. E. defined it as all the experiences planned or guided by the school for children while they are under the direct and legal jurisdiction of school authorities.

·         Kern (1968) defined it as all the learning which is planned or guided by the school whether it is carried on in groups or individual inside or outside the school.

·         Farrant J. S. defined curriculum as all that is taught in a school including the time-tabled subjects and all those aspects of its life that exercise an influence in the life of children.

·         Other scholars have defined It is everything that is organized and planned to enable students to acquire and develop desired knowledge skills and attitudes.

·         School curriculum is a means by which a school enables the learners to change their behavior in desired directions through skills and attitudes.

·         A curriculum can be distinguished into;

i.                    Types – i.e. primary school curriculum, secondary, pre-school

ii.                  Subjects e.g. mathematics curriculum

iii.                Grades e.g. standard one curriculum

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

·         Is defined as the Process of creating curriculum materials for use by teachers and students.

·         It is the Process which determines how curriculum construction will proceed.

·         It constitutes Planning of learning opportunities intended to bring about certain changes in the learners.

·         It involves the writing, trial and testing of instruction / plans and education materials.

Ondiek (1986) has defined it as the “planning of learning opportunities intended to bring about changes in pupils” behaviours and the assessment of the extent to which these changes have taken place.

·         This definition does not specify whether in the process of planning learning opportunities for students, changes are made to the existing curriculum or a new one is developed.

Print (1993) defines curriculum development as “the process of planning learning opportunities intended to bring about certain desired changes in pupils and the assessment of the extent to which these changes have taken place.

Marsh & Willis (1999) define curriculum development as “a collective and intentional process or activity directed at beneficial curriculum change.”

This definition emphasizes some change to an existing curriculum with an aim of improving it.

o   Curriculum development varies in purpose, scope and time; e.g. the purpose could either be revision or alteration of an existing curriculum and this can be achieved by re-arranging the content of the syllabus of a subject i.e. shifting some content from one grade level to another or dropping it altogether; while the other could be when an entirely different curriculum is produced on a large scale or nationwide basis or on small scale affecting some subjects or courses.

Key features of curriculum development

a)      It is a continuing function which requires appropriate national permanent mechanism.

b)      It is a continuous process i.e. dynamic as opposed to static.

c)      Involves the planning of learning opportunities intended to bring about changes in pupils behavior

d)     The assessment of the extent to which these changes have taken place.

Note

·         Curriculum development is a process which involves the planning, implementation and evaluation of the program.

·          In curriculum development, several questions are asked;

a.       Who will be involved in curriculum construction?

b.      What procedure and strategies will be used in curriculum construction? e.g. formation of administration committees, training panels, consultancy etc.

c.       How will the committees / panels be organized?

d.      How will the curriculum be evaluated?

Components of curriculum development

1.      Curriculum design – way in which the component parts or element of the curriculum have been arranged in order to facilitate instruction.

2.      Curriculum implementation – making real of what has been planned

3.      Curriculum evaluation – involves use of various tools and methods to measure those alternatives either directly or indirectly, analyzing and interpreting measurement data assigning values and finally making a decision which could be either to accept, improve or reject the curriculum or any of the alternatives.

Characteristics of curriculum

·         Comprises the experiences of children for which the school is responsible.

·         It has content

·         It is planned

·         It is a series of courses to be taken by students.

Curriculum considers the learners and their interaction with each other, the teacher and the materials.

Elements of a School Curriculum

Elements – refers to the parts / components of a school curriculum. These are curriculum objectives, learning activities / experiences and student assessment / evaluation.

Elements of curriculum

1.      Curriculum Goals and  Objectives

·         Education was earlier defined as the acquisition of desired knowledge, skills and attitudes. The word ‘desired’ in the definition implies that there exist objectives at which the learners are to aim. Hence need to state these objectives first.

·         Objectives refer to the end results towards which the curriculum is oriented. The aims should clearly be spelt out.

·         These;        Outline the goals and aims of the program.

o   Are based on the social aspirations of society - Curriculum reflects the relevance of whatever the society deems to be important.

Categories of goals and objectives include the following;

Cognitive – intellectual tasks

Psychomotor – muscular tasks

Affective – feelings and emotions

·         The general aims of education are translated into more specific objectives or into behavior changes that we expect to occur in the learners.

·         The decisions on what objectives to include a political one i.e. objectives are given by the political machinery that exists in a country. The curriculum workers then take the given objectives and work on them.

Note

Curriculum developers and teachers should state clear objectives for the various aspects of curriculum which should be consistent with the general aims of education e.g. the primary school curriculum objectives should be in line with the aims of primary education and those of education as a whole in Kenya. These objectives should appear in the syllabus, schemes of work and lesson plans.

2.      Content or subject matter

·         Divided into bodies of knowledge e.g. English, mathematics, science etc.

·         Outlines the desired attitudes and values.

·         Includes cherished skills

·         Is determined by prevailing theories of knowledge.

·         Caters for ideological, vocational and technical considerations.

Curriculum content must provide solutions to the problems affecting the society which uses it.

3.      Methods / learning experiences

·         The acquisition and development of desired knowledge skills and attitudes occurs as a result of the pupils / students carrying out learning activities.

·         This element therefore involves the statement of the planned learning activities / experiences through which desirable learning will be expected to take place.

·         Learning experience is the interaction between the learner and the external conditions in the environment e.g. people, facilities that provide opportunities for useful interaction e.g. content, subject matter, teachers, resource persons, fellow learners, teaching method.

·         Deal with teaching and learning experiences

·         Involve organizational strategies

4.      Evaluation / student assessment

Refers to the process of determining the extent to which the objectives of the curriculum have been achieved.

Evaluation is used to;

·         Find out whether objectives have been achieved or not.

·         Making decision for changing building or improving the curriculum.  This comes from the data on evaluation.

·         Select appropriate content based on the aims and objectives of the curriculum.

·         Select appropriate methods to address the content and purpose.

·         Check the effectiveness of methods and learning experiences used.

·         Check on the suitability and the appropriateness of the curriculum in answering social needs.

·         Give feedback to the planners, learners, teachers industry and society.

·         Provide a rationale for making changes.

Note

In conducting evaluations judgments must be made regarding.

·         Inputs

·         Means

·         Content

·         Outputs

·         Outcomes of the whole learning process

Interaction of the Elements

QUIZ: Identify the benefits of curriculum evaluation to planners, employers, learners, and teachers.

It is the interaction of these elements in the social, political, economic, technological and environmental context that constitutes a curriculum.

Dimensions of a School Curriculum

1.      Formal Dimension

Selected written programs or courses students go through.

Features;

·         Refers to those activities that are normally undertaken by learners as formal class work. These activities can take place in class, outside the class or even outside the school.

·         The activities are normally encompassed in what are known as courses of studying a school. These courses show the objectives to be achieved and ways of assessing the students.

·         Comprises the formal courses of study or that which is officially prescribed in the school syllabus in the form of subjects.  The syllabus shows; the objectives, content to be covered, methodology, evaluation procedures and learning resources.

2.      Non-formal Dimension

Comprises activities which have traditionally been undertaken by the school

·         The activities do not appear in the written syllabus.

·         The activities occupy a substantial amount of student time and contribute significantly to the achievement of educational aims.

·         Activities are normally referred to as co-curricula meaning that they do not form a major and without them formal education is inadequate.

·         Occur outside the school daily program.

·         They are not examined formally.

·         Occur outside the grading system. Students mix freely across the grades and perform these activities.

·         Atmosphere in which these activities take place is free and relaxed.

Examples

Games, sports, athletics, clubs and societies and field excursions

3.      Informal Dimension / Hidden Curriculum

·         Unplanned and spontaneous experiences at school that influence the learners’ behavior.

·         They could be the by-products of the formal and non-formal program or of the entire school environment.

·         Informal interaction goes on all the time and it is unconsciously acquired from the environment.

·         Can be done or effected through formulation of school rules and regulations, encouragement of desirable lifestyle among members of staff of an institution.

·         Can also take place through imitation, language, standards of behavior deeds and ability to think.

·         The learner requires models who could be peers, teachers or other persons within the school environment.

4. Emerging Dimension

·         Emerging means coming up

·         These dimension involves activities which are planned for by the school and members of the public are called upon to attend such activities e.g. open days, parents days, exhibitions graduations etc.

Relationship between elements and dimensions of the curriculum

1.      There is a clear cut difference between the formal and non-formal dimensions, however, the informal dimension cuts across the two.

2.      The informal influence may occur in the process of effecting the formal and non-formal activities.

3.      The three dimensions can be identified within the learning experiences i.e. one can easily identify the experiences that belong to three dimensions.

4.      Evaluation can be broken down into formal, informal and non-formal techniques of evaluation.

Curriculum as a Discipline

·         Curriculum as a field of study or as a discipline means that curriculum is a part of knowledge which has over the years developed into a disciplined area of study.

·         A discipline or area of study is one which has a substantial knowledge content which can be passed on through instruction and which is capable of growing through research and other modes of inquiry.

According to Kliebard’s analysis (1975) curriculum theory should address the following;

1.      What kind of knowledge should be taught in school or any other institution?  Any knowledge that goes into the curriculum should be justified.

2.      Who should be taught what? i.e. age, background, interests, present or future role in society.

3.      What effect will a particular domain of knowledge have on the learner? This is important in deciding how and when to teach the subject e.g. curriculum planners and teachers should know the effect of teaching mathematics at what time of the day, week, month or year. It should be taught and who should teach it so as to have positive effects.

Nature/characteristics of Curriculum as a discipline

a)      It is a well defined area of study, just like other distinct disciplines like economics, etc.

b)      Has a substantive knowledge content which can be passed on through instruction.

c)      Has ability to grow through research and other modes of inquiry i.e. can be subjected to research scrutiny.

d)     It has distinct theories, concepts, principles and generalizations.

            Theory – reasonable or scientifically acceptable explanation for a fact or event      which has not been proved to be true

            Concept – thought, idea or principle

            Principle – truth or belief that is accepted as a base for reasoning or action

e)      Has a method of inquiry.

Categories of curriculum content / knowledge

1.      Curriculum context physical and social setting in which the curriculum is designed, developed and implemented.

2.      Curriculum design – structure, pattern or organization of the curriculum.

3.      Curriculum development – process of planning, implementation and evaluation of the program