Lim, Marissel A.

MAEd – Mathematics
Midterm Exam in Curriculum Planning & Development
July 17, 2020

THE VITAL ROLE OF TEACHERS AND RESOURCES IN EDUCATION

According to the article titled, The Nature and Scope of Curriculum Development
(Philippine context), by professor Ronnie Espergal Pasigui, some authors define curriculum
as the total effort of the school to bring about desired outcomes in school and out-of-school
situations. It is also defined as a sequence of potential experiences set up in school for the
purpose of disciplining children and youth in group ways of thinking and acting.
Based on Finland’s Educational system, psychologically, it helps the child to be able
to develop wholly as an individual. His personal growth is well-developed because he is
given the chance to enjoy his childhood and his mental faculties are ready before he goes to
school. The approach is beneficial to the family because economically, it helps alleviate
financial burden to the family. Since education is free, it lessens the expenses of the family
and the finances can be allotted for the family’s major needs like food, shelter and clothing. If
the family’s needs are addressed the child can focus on his studies because he doesn’t have
any burdens unlike other students from other country who suffer from lack of finances. In
addition, Finnish students spend lesser time on doing homework per week than American
student. For me, this greatly helps the students to explore and develop other skills and talents
as well as spending quality time with their family. Aside from food, shelter and clothing,
education is one of the primary necessities of a child. If a child is educated, he will be
equipped with skills which will prepare him to find a good job in the future, he will become
values-oriented, and ultimately, he will become a productive citizen of his community and his
country. So if education is given free to every child in a certain country, there are many
benefits that he will get and this will solve problems that arise in the society like
unemployment, poverty, and crime-related problems. Free education gives equal
opportunities to the citizens. And if these citizens avail equal opportunities in life, this will
result harmony in the society and they can pursue their dreams and they will have the chance
to get the course in lined with their skills and capabilities.
Finnish educators uses non-technical or non-scientific approaches. They are flexible
and less structured without predetermined objectives to guide the learning-teaching process.
The students in Finland will take just one standardized test at the end of high school,
otherwise, the teachers set their own grading system. In the Philippines, we adopt eclectic
models which are a combination of several approaches, rather than commit themselves to just
one approach. For me it is best to use the combination of humanistic-aesthetic and technical-
scientific approaches. As a teacher, we construct our daily lesson plan for us to prepare the
activities, instructional materials, as well as ourselves, and for us to have a well-organize
flow of the lesson. And adopt child-centered and integrated design in the curriculum. For
instance, science may be integrated with mathematics, in terms of problem solving specially
in physics subject. Mathematics, can be integrated with English, in terms of reading
comprehension in problem solving. The teacher’s role is important in curriculum
implementation because with our knowledge and experiences we can utilize the curriculum in
our teaching-learning process. As a teacher, we have to make an extra effort to fully
understand the curriculum. Resources are also very much important in implementing the
curriculum. It greatly helps the teachers to effectively implement the curriculum. And based
on my experience, there are students who can easily cope up with the lesson because they
have enough resources. While others find difficulty in studying because of lack of resources.
Therefore, free education is necessary and I can say that the teacher’s role and
resources are very vital in implementing the curriculum. And these resources should be
accessible to all to effectively implement the curriculum. And there is no best approach,
design or teaching style in the field of education but a combination in which it suits the
learning style, abilities and skills of each learners.