CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

  

Definition of curriculum

Why is it important to know about the curriculum?  The curriculum according to Hass (1980)” The curriculum is all of the experiences that individual learners have in a program of education whose purpose is to achieve broad goals and related specific objectives, which is planned in terms of a framework of theory and research or past and present professional practice". It means that the curriculum is a guide for both the teacher and the student, as it details the objectives and goals to be met by the end of the school year and the student's graduation. According to Hilda Taba (1962) "All curricula, no matter what their particular design, are composed of certain elements.  A curriculum usually contains a statement of aims and of specific objectives; it indicates some selection and organization of content; it either implies or manifests certain patterns of learning and teaching, whether because the objectives demand them or because the content organization requires them.  Furthermore, includes a program of evaluation of the outcomes.". The curriculum is important to know the different approaches to mastering the curriculum and what are the different curriculum models. 

Different curriculum approaches

Academic, Technological Psychologist intellectualist Socio-Dialectic recostructionist.

Psychological Approach:

It focuses on the psychopedagogical analysis of the individual, which can adopt a behavioral, personalistic character according to the conception of the individual that is managed, The student decides, moves his own resources, takes responsibility for what he is going to learn.

Academic and Intellectualist Approach:

This approach focuses on the valuation of the systematized cultural content and the process of transmission of that content, accentuating the instrumental nature of the school as a transmitter of universal culture, organized through isolated subjects.

Technological Approach:

It aims to achieve the greatest rationality in the process of transmission of educational content, so that it is more effective to produce learning according to the desired ends.

Socio-Reconstructionist Approach:

This approach aims to transform education into a process of socialization or culturalization of the person. He turns to theoretical positions such as idealistic liberalism, and some aspects from political economy and social cybernetics.

Dialectical approach: This approach emphasizes the socially productive action character of education. It assumes as essential in the curriculum, praxis as the means of relationship between the subject and reality.

Curriculum models are designed to provide a basis for decisions regarding the  selection , structuring and sequencing of the educational experiences.

Models of curriculum

1.-Ralph Tyler Model :Four Basic Principles

Also Known as Tyler’s Rationale , the curriculum development model emphasizes the planning phase .

1.-What education purposes should schools seek to attain?

2.-What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes?

3.-How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?

4.- How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained or not ?

Ralph Tyler’s Model shows that in curriculum development, the following considerations should be made.

1.-Purpose of the school

2.-Educational experiences related to the purposes.

3.-Organization of the experiences.

4.-Evaluation of the experience.

Step one : determining the objectives of the school or class .In other words , what do the students need to do in order to be successful ? Each subject has natural objectives that are indicators of mastery. All objectives need to be consistent with the philosophy of the school  and this is often neglected in curriculum development. For example , a school that is developing an English curriculum may create an objective that students will write essays . This would be one of many objectives within the curriculum.

Step two : is developing learning experiences that help the students to achieve  step one . For example if students need to meet the objective of writing an essay . The learning experience might be a demonstration by the teacher of writing an essay . The students then might practice writing essays .The experience (essay demonstration and writing ) is consistent with the objective (students will write an essay).

Step three : organizing the experiences . Should the teacher demonstrate first or should the students learn by writing immediately ? Either way could work and preference is determined by the philosophy of the teacher and the needs of the students .The point is that the teacher needs to determine a logical order of experiences for the students.

Step four : is evaluation of the objectives .Now the teacher assesses the students ability to write an essay . There are many ways to do this .For example , the teacher could have the students write an essay without assistance . If they can do this , it is evidence that the students have achieved the objective of the lesson .

2.-Hilda Taba  Model : Grassroots Approach

She improved Ralph Tyler’s model and believed that teachers should  participate in developing a curriculum .Her model begins from the bottom rather than from the top .

To evolve a theory of curriculum development and a method of thinking about it , one needs to ask what demands and requirements of culture and society both are , both for the  present and the future .Curriculum is a way of preparing young people to participate in our culture.

7 Majors steps of Hilda Taba’s Linear Model

1.- Diagnosis of the needs of learners and expectations of the larger society.

Diagnostic test .- What learners know and what learners do not know.

2.-Formulation of learning objectives .

Learning competencies based on the curriculum guide.

3.-Selection of learning contents: In this curriculum model , Hilda Taba believed that the content should match the objectives .

4.- Organization of learning contents: The content is organized based on the students’ achievement levels.

5.- Selection of learning experiences: Instructional methods must keep students engaged . Learning experiences are created so that they develop multiple objectives : Thinking , Attitude , & Knowledge skills.

6.-Organization of learning experiences:  The learning experiences are organized to allow continuity of learning . Each activity is pre-requisite for those that  follow . This provides the students with a challenge without going beyond what the students are capable of.

7.-Determine what to evaluate & the means of doing it : Students’ progress is monitored throughout the year . Evaluations are included at different points to help teachers & students plan & adapt learning activities to meet the adjectives. 

3.-The Saylor and Alexander Model 

Galen Saylor and William Alexander (1974) viewed curriculum development as consisting of four steps. According to them, curriculum is “a plan for providing sets of learning opportunities to achieve broad educational goals and related specific objectives for an identifiable population served by a single school centre”

Goals, Objectives and Domains

: The model indicates that curriculum planners begin by specifying the major educational goals and specific objectives they wish to accomplish. Each major goal represents a curriculum domain and they advocate 4 major goals or domains: personal development, human relations, continued learning skills and specialisation. The goals, objectives and domains are selected after careful consideration of several external variables such as findings from educational research, accreditation standards, views of community groups and others.

Curriculum Designing:

Once the goals, objectives and domains have been established, planners move into the process of designing the curriculum. 

Curriculum Implementation:

After the designs have been created the next step is implementation of the designs by teachers. Based on the design of the curriculum plan teachers would specify instructional objectives and then select relevant teaching methods and strategies to achieve the desired learning outcomes among students in the classroom

Evaluation: Finally, curriculum planner and teachers engage in evaluation. The model proposed that evaluation should be comprehensive using a variety of evaluation techniques. Evaluation should involve the total educational programme of the school and the curriculum plan, the effectiveness of instruction and the achievement of students. Through the evaluation process, curriculum planners and developers can determine whether or not the goals of the school and the objectives of instruction have been met.

Conclusion 

As a consequence of all the aforementioned, the curriculum is a study plan that supports objectives, purposes and goals in the development of the study and that in turn is composed of elements and curricular approaches such as; psychological focused on the behavioral character of an individual, academic where it focuses on the assessment of systematized cultural content, technological whose objectives is to achieve a process of transmission of content to be more effective, socio-reconstructionist whose purpose is to make the person enter in a process of socialization and dialectic where it emphasizes the productive action of education.

On the other hand, a series of curricular models called Tyler's Rationale is included where a series of phases for curricular planning is emphasized. In the same way, Ralph Tyler considers that a curriculum must follow a series of steps for its development, such as; purpose of the school, educational experiences related to the purposes, organization of the experiences, evaluation of the experience. And as a final part, it was also found that the base approach according to Hilda Taba's linear model improved Tyler's model, focusing from the bottom asking questions such as, what are the demands, and requirements of the culture and society for the present and the future.

Bibliography 

Curriculum Definition Collection. (2021). Retrieved November 16, 2021, from Homeofbob.com website: http://www.homeofbob.com/pedagogy/plan/curDev/defList.htm 

I-Types of Curriculum, Approach and Foundations - Teacher Qualification 23. (s / f). Google com. Retrieved on November 16, 2021, from https://sites.google.com/site/habilitaciondocenteasr/i-curriculo-tipos-enficiencia-y-fundamentos

What are the models of the curriculum .Retrieved on November 16,2021 from :https://www.yogiraj.co.in/what-are-the-various-models-of-curriculum

Models of Curriculum Retrieved on November 16, 2021, from :https://es.slideshare.net/j_allsopp/models-of-curriculum-25907020