WHAT IS CURRICULUM

CURRICULUM AS A SYLLABUS
CURRICULUM AS A PROCESS
CURRICULUM AS A PRODUCT

WHAT IS CURRICULUM
 Curriculum is a body of knowledge-content and/or subjects.
 Limits the planning to a consideration of the content or the body of knowledge that
they wish to transmit.
 (Kelly 1985) claims, some have regarded issues of curriculum as of no concern to
them, since they have not regarded their task as being transmit bodies of knowledge
in this manner.
 (Blenkin et.al 1992:23) Education in this sense, is the process by which these are
transmitted or ‘delivered’ to students by the most effective methods that can be
devised.

Curriculum as a syllabus
 Syllabus originates from the Greek meaning a concise statement or table of the heads
of a discourse, the contents of a treatise, the subjects of a series of lectures.
 It is connected with courses leading to examinations, example: Cambridge Board
French GSCE examination.
 Does not generally indicate the importance of its topics or the order in which they
are to be studied.
 Curzon (1985) points out those who compile a syllabus tend to follow the traditional
textbook approach of an ‘order of contents’, or a pattern prescribed by a ‘logical’
approach to a subject, or consciously or unconsciously the shape of a universe
course in which they may have participated.
 An approach to curriculum theory and practice which focuses on syllabus is only
really concerned with content

Curriculum as a product
 1970 - It is a way of thinking about education that has grown in influence in the
United Kingdom with the rise of vocationalism and the concern with competencies.
 Late 1980’s – 1990’s - Many of the debates about the National Curriculum for
schools did not so much concern how the curriculum was thought about as to what
its objectives and content might be.
 American writers Franklin Bobbitt (1918; 1928) and Ralph W. Tyler (1949 - The
Curriculum Bobbitt
-The central theory [of curriculum]- human life, it consists in the performance of
specific activities.
-Education that prepares for life is one that prepares definitely and adequately for
these specific activities.
-Objectives of the curriculum

A. That one go out into the world of affairs and discover the particulars of which their
affairs consist.
B. Show the abilities, attitudes, habits, appreciations and forms of knowledge that men
need.
-The curriculum will then be that series of experiences which children and youth
must have by way of obtaining those objectives. (1918: 42)
 F. W. Taylor. – Advocate of ‘scientific management’
-He proposed the greater division of labour with jobs being simplified.
-An extension of managerial control over all elements of the workplace.
-cost accounting based on systematic time-and-motion study.

 In the late 1920s and 1930s - the growing influence of ‘progressive’, child-centred
approaches shifted the ground to more romantic notions of education.
 Ralph W. Tyler (late 1940’s) - The Progressive movement lost much of its
momentum.
-Made a lasting impression on curriculum theory and practice.

Four fundamental questions:

1. What educational purposes should the school 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? (Tyler 1949: 1)

Procedure similar to the technical or productive thinking

Step 1: Diagnosis of need

Step 2: Formulation of objectives
Step 3: Selection of content
Step 4: Organization of content
Step 5: Selection of learning experiences
Step 6: Organization of learning experiences
Step 7: Determination of what to evaluate and of the ways and means of doing it. (Taba
1962)

Issues with the approach to curriculum theory and practice.

1. The plan or programme assumes great importance.
 For example, we might look at a more recent definition of curriculum as: ‘A
programme of activities (by teachers and pupils) designed so that pupils will attain
so far as possible certain educational and other schooling ends or objectives (Grundy
1987: 11).
 -Such programmes inevitably exist prior to and outside the learning experiences.
-The success or failure of both the programme and the individual learners is judged
on the basis of whether pre-specified changes occur in the behaviour and person of the
learner (the meeting of behavioural objectives).

Can deskill educators in another way.

 For example, a number of curriculum programmes, particularly in the USA, have
attempted to make the student experience ‘teacher proof’.
-The logic of this approach is for the curriculum to be designed outside of the
classroom or school, as is the case with the National Curriculum in the UK.
-Educators then apply programmes and are judged by the products of their actions.

2. There are questions around the nature of objectives.

 For example, most informal educators who have been around a few years will have
had the experience of an ex-participant telling them in great detail about how some
forgotten event (forgotten to the worker that is) brought about some fundamental
change.
-It is often very difficult to judge what the impact of particular experiences has been.
 In order to measure, things have to be broken down into smaller and smaller units.

3. There is a real problem when we come to examine what educators actually do in

the classroom.
 For example, much of the research concerning teacher thinking and classroom
interaction, and curriculum innovation has pointed to the lack of impact on actual
pedagogic practice of objectives (see Stenhouse 1974; and Cornbleth 1990, for
example)
-It is a model of curriculum theory and practice largely imported from
technological and industrial settings.

4. There is the problem of unanticipated results.

-The focus on pre-specified goals may lead both educators and learners to overlook
learning that is occurring as a result of their interactions, but which is not listed as an
objective.
 The demand for objectives is a demand for justification rather than a description of
ends… It is not about curriculum design, but rather an expression of irritation in the
problems of accountability in education. (Stenhouse 1974: 77)
Curriculum as a process

 In this sense curriculum is not a physical thing, but rather the interaction of teachers,
students and knowledge.
 It is an active process and links with the practical form of reasoning set out by
Aristotle.
 Lawrence Stenhouse (1975) - Produced one of the best-known explorations of a
process model of curriculum theory and practice.
 -He defined curriculum as an attempt to communicate the essential principles and
features of an educational proposal in such a form that it is open to critical scrutiny and
capable of effective translation into practice.
 Newman & Ingram 1989 - ‘Youth Work Curriculum’
-Those processes which enhance or, if they go wrong, inhibit a person’s learning’ -
‘an organic process by which learning is offered, accepted and internalized’.
Robin Barrow (1984) - Points out, that what this does is to widen the meaning of the
term to such an extent that it just about becomes interchangeable with ‘education’ itself.
 Stenhouse - a curriculum should provide a basis for planning a course, studying it
empirically and considering the grounds of its justification.
It should offer:
A. In planning:
1. Principle for the selection of content – what is to be learned and taught
2. Principles for the development of a teaching strategy – how it is to be learned and
taught.
3. Principles for the making of decisions about sequence.
4. Principles on which to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of individual students
and differentiate the general principles 1, 2 and 3 above, to meet individual cases.
B. In empirical study:
1. Principles on which to study and evaluate the progress of students.
2. Principles on which to study and evaluate the progress of teachers.
3. Guidance as to the feasibility of implementing the curriculum in varying school
contexts, pupil contexts, environments and peer-group situations.
4. Information about the variability of effects in differing contexts and on different pupils
and an understanding of the causes of the variation.
C. In relation to justification:
-A formulation of the intention or aim of the curriculum which is accessible to critical
scrutiny.

Contrasts in this model of curriculum theory and practice as compared with the
product model:

1. Where the product model appeals to the workshop for a model, this process model
looks to the world of experimentation.
2. Given the uniqueness of each classroom setting, it means that any proposal, even at
school level, needs to be tested, and verified by each teacher in his/her classroom (ibid:
143).
3. Outcomes are no longer the central and defining feature.
4. The learners in this model are not objects to be acted upon. They have a clear voice in
the way that the sessions evolve.

Possible problems using these approach curriculums in practice:

1. The first is a problem for those who want some greater degree of uniformity in what is
taught.
2. It can never be directed towards an examination as an objective without loss of
quality, since the standards of the examination then override the standards immanent in
the subject.
3. There is the ‘problem’ of teachers.
4. We need to look back at our process model of curriculum theory and practice and what
we have subsequently discussed, and return to Aristotle and to Freire.

PURPOSE AND IMPORTANCE OF CURRICULUM

IMPORTANCE OF CURRICULUM MANAGEMENT

 By keeping the curriculum managed, the administration can learn from the previous
data on how to plan their future curriculum. Managing the curriculum can be hard
when there is a whole lot of record handling.
 Through electronic management of the records, it will be easier to find older records
and creating statistics to calculate where the system needs improvement.
 If the teacher is not being more detailed about the topic being taught, students will
not be able to understand. So, it would mean that the administration needs to remind
the teacher that they need to be more aware of their teaching methods.

IMPORTANCE OF CURRICULUM MATERIALS

 The most basic part of curriculum material is the books through which the teacher
will plan the lesson and teach it to the children in the class.
 Proper classroom environment, chairs, and tables for the students to sit and put their
stationery and books on, whiteboard for the teacher to write on.
 The importance of curriculum material is as much important as its management.
 Provided to us costs resources. So we should keep them safe, so we can use future
resources for other important issues.

IMPORTANCE OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

 Necessary for any institute

 As the world has been progressing everything needs to be made compatible with the
given scenarios.
 If we make a better management of the older curriculum and their statistics it will
help us make a better design for the upcoming generations.

Through the management of the curriculum, making use of the given resources in
the best possible way. By developing policies to bring improvements in the whole system
one can move towards a more promising future. The curriculum sets the basis of any
academic institution, without it, the institution would be a lost cause.
IMPORTANCE OF CURRICULUM TO TEACHING

1.Developing curriculum
 Studying and writing curriculum is an ongoing part of curriculum development that
may adjust during the process with teacher and district input.
 For the curriculum development process to be successful, site and district leadership
need to be available and open to working with teachers and curriculum developers as
well

2.Impact on administrators
 Administrators follow a detailed curriculum to help students achieve state and
national standards of academic performance
 The curriculum ensures that each school is teaching students relevant material and
monitoring the progress of students from all types of backgrounds.

3.Impact on teachers
 Helps teachers align the learning objectives of their own curriculum with the
school’s curriculum.
 School’s curriculum informs teachers what skills must be taught at each grade level

4.Impact on students
 A curriculum reassures students that they’re on the right track to reaching their
goals and honing desired skills

5.Others considerations
 The curriculum is also intended to teach students the importance of responsibility,
hard work and responsible citizenship.
 Teachers in partnership with parents and community members collaborate on the
development of a curriculum that will instill character in students and reinforce
positive behavior.

PURPOSE OF CURRICULUM

 To enable each child or young person to be a successful learner,

 A confident individual
 A responsible citizen
 An effective contributor

The curriculum aims to ensure that all children and young people develop the
knowledge, skills and attributes they will need if they are to flourish in life, learning and
work, now and in the future, and to appreciate their place in the world

TYPES OF THE CURRICULUM

1. Overt, explicit, or written curriculum - Is simply that which is written as part of

formal instruction of schooling experiences. It may refer to a curriculum document, texts,
films, and supportive teaching materials that are overtly chosen to support the intentional
instructional agenda of a school.

2. Societal curriculum (or social curricula) - This type of curricula can now be
expanded to include the powerful effects of social media (YouTube; Facebook; Twitter;
Pinterest, etc) and how it actively helps create new perspectives, and can help shape both
individual and public opinion.
4 sub groups:
1. Immediate Curriculum
2. Institutional Curriculum
3. Surendipitous Curriculum
4. Media Curriculum

3.The hidden or covert curriculum - That which is implied by the very structure and
nature of schools, much of what revolves around daily or established routines.

4. The null curriculum - That which we do not teach, thus giving students the message
that these elements are not important in their educational experiences or in our society. 

5. Phantom curriculum - The messages prevalent in and through exposure to any type
of media. These components and messages play a major part in the enculturation of
students into the predominant meta-culture, or in acculturating students into narrower or
generational subcultures.

6. Concomitant curriculum - What is taught, or emphasized at home, or those

experiences that are part of a family’s experiences, or related experiences sanctioned by
the family. 

7. Rhetorical curriculum - Elements from the rhetorical curriculum are comprised from
ideas offered by policymakers, school officials, administrators, or politicians.

8. Curriculum-in-use - The formal curriculum (written or overt) comprises those things

in textbooks, and content and concepts in the district curriculum guides. However, those
“formal” elements are frequently not taught

9. Received curriculum - Those things that students actually take out of classrooms;
those concepts and content that are truly learned and remembered.

10. The internal curriculum - Processes, content, knowledge combined with the
experiences and realities of the learner to create new knowledge.

11. The electronic curriculum - The implications of the electronic curriculum for
educational practices are that part of the overt curriculum needs to include lessons
on how to be wise consumers of information, how to critically appraise the accuracy and
correctness of e-information, as well as how to determine the reliability of electronic
sources. Also, students need to learn how to be artfully discerning about the usefulness
and appropriateness of certain types of information.

Components of Curriculum and

Curricular Approaches

Component I: Aims, Goals, and Objectives

Philippine Educational System:

Three levels:
1)Primary
2)Secondary
3)Tertiary

Philippine Constitution of 1987

Aims:
1.Inculcate patriotism and nationalism
2.Foster love and humanity
3.Promote respect for human rights
4.Appreciate the role of national heroes in the historical development of the country.
5.Teach the rights and duties of citizenship
6.Strengthen ethical and Spiritual Values
7.Develop moral character and personal discipline
8.Encourage critical and creative thinking
9.Broaden scientific and technological knowledge and vocational efficiency

Elementary Education
Aims (Education Act of I982)

 Provide knowledge and develop skills, attitude, values essential to personal

development and necessary for living in and contributing to a developing and
changing society.
 Provide learning experiences which increase the child’s awareness of and the
responsiveness to the changes in the society.
 Promote and intensify knowledge, identification with and love for the nation and the
people to which he belongs.
 Promote work experiences which develop orientation to the world of work and
prepare the learner to engage in honest and gainful work.

Secondary Education
Aims
 Continue to promote the objectives of the elementary education.
 Discover and enhance the different aptitudes and interests of students in order to
equip them with skills for productive endeavor and or to prepare them for tertiary
schooling.
Tertiary Education
Aims
 Provide general education programs which will promote national identity, cultural
consciousness, moral identity, and spiritual vigor.
 Train the nation’s manpower in the skills required for the national development.
 Develop the professions that will provide leadership for the nation.
 Advance knowledge through research and apply new knowledge for improving the
quality of guman life and respond effectively to changing society.

Vision, Mission, and Goals

Vision

 Clear concept of what the institution would like to become in the future.
 Provide the focal point or unifying element according to which the school staff,
faculty perform individually and collectively.
 Guiding post which educational efforts and curricula should be directed.

Example:
GREEN CHMSC EXCELS

To be a leading GREEN instituion of higher learning in the global community by 2030

GREEN stands for Good governance, Research-oriented, Extension-driven, Education
for Sustainable Development and Nation building.

Mission
 Spells out how it intends to carry out its vision.
 Target: to produce a kind of persons the students will become after having been
educated over a certain period of time.

Example:
We are a GREEN institution committed to emposwer the youth and life-long
learners who will contribute to nation building and global transformation through quality
instruction, inclusive and creative teaching-learning pedagogies, relevant research, social
innovation. dynamic partnership, and active civic engagement, in a conducive and
fulfilling environment for students, faculty, staff, and partners.

Goals
 Educational objectives
 Sources: learners, society and fund of knowledge.
Example:
Build a strong foundation of skills and concepts.

Educational Objectives
 Benjamin Bloom and Robert Mager
 -Explicit formulation of the ways in students are expected to be changed by the
educative process; and
-Intent communicated by statement describing a propose a change in learners.

Cognitive Domain: Bloom et. al 1956 - thought process

 Knowledge
 Comprehension
 Application
 Analysis
 Synthesis
 Evaluation

Affective Domain: Krathwohl, 1964 - valuing, attitude and appreciation

Receiving - willingness to Pay attention to a particular stimuli

Responding - active participation on part of the students.
Valuing - worth or value attaches to a particular phenomena, object or behaviour.
Organization - bringing together different values and building a value system.
Characterization by Value - developing a lifestyle from value system

Psychomotor Domain (Simpson, 1972) - psychomotor attributes

 Perception - use of sense organs to guide motor activities.

 Set - readiness to take a particular type of action
 Guided Response - Imitation and trial and error
 Mechanism - responses have become habitual
 Complex overt responses - skillful performance and with complex movements
pattern.
 Adaptations - skill well-developed that the ability to modify with ease.
 Origination - creating new movements patterns, creativity.

Component 2: Curriculum content or Subject matter

Content
-Compendium of facts, concept generalization, principles and theories.
Subject centered view of the curriculum.
Gerome Bruner
-"knowledge is a model we contruct to give meaning and structure to regularities in
experience"

 Subject Area and its Learning Content

 Communication Arts - listening ,speaking, reading, writing and effective use of

language.
 Mathematics - numeric and computational skills geometry and measurement,
algebra, logic and reasoning.
 Science - all branches of natural sciences exploration and discovery dealing with
natural phenomena and scientific investigations.
 Social Studies - basic elements of geography, History, Sociology, Anthropology,
Economics, Civics, Political Science and Psychology.
 Music - basic music theory, practice in listening, singing, playing,musical
instruments and music preparation.
 Physical Education - health and physical fitness, individual team sports,
spectatorship and wise use of leisure.
 Vocational Education - psychomotor and manipulative skills in basic crafts and
trades design, work ethic, and appreciation of manual productive work.

 Criteria in selection of subject matter

Self-sufficiency
- attaining self-sufficiency in most economical manner.
- less teaching and learners effort but more results and effective learning outcomes.
Significance
- content will contribute to basic ideas, concepts and principles and generalization to
achieve the aim of the curriculum.
- it will develop the cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills of the learners and
cultural aspects will be considered.
Validity
- authenticity of the subject matter.
Interest
- a key criterion in learner centered curriculum; content should be based on the interest
of the learner.
Utility
- usefulness of the content to the learner either for the present or the future.
Learnability
- subject matter should be within the range of the experiences of the learners.
Feasibility
- content should be learned within by time allowed, resources available, expertise of the
teacher, and nature of the learner.

Organizing Different Learning Contents (Palma, 1992)

 Balance
 Articulation
 Sequence
 Integration
 Continuity
Component 3: Curriculum Experiences
 Teaching Strategies and Methods
 Educational Activities

Guide for selection and use of methods

1. Teaching methods are means to achieve at the end.
2. There is no single best teaching method
3. Teaching methods should stimulate the learners desire.
4. Learning styles of the students should be considered.
5. Every method lead to the development of learning outcome in three domains.
6. Flexibility
Component 4: Curriculum Evaluation
 Formal determination of the quality, effectiveness or value of the program,
processes, product of the curriculum
 Meeting the goals and matching them with intended outcomes (Tuckman)
Stufflebeam's CIPP ( Content, Input, Product, Process)
 Most widely use in evaluation.

 CIPP
 Content/Context
 Input
 Process
 Product

Plan action of the curriculum of Evaluation

1. Focus on the particular component of the curriculum

2. Collect or gather the information.
3. Organize the information
4. Analyze the information
5. Report the information.
6. Recycle the information

Curriculum Approaches

1.Behavioral Approach
 anchored on the behaviorist principles, usually based on a blueprint which goals and
Objectives are specified, contents and activities are arranged.
 Frederick Taylor
 Aimed to achieve efficiency
 begin with educational plans that start with the setting of goals or objectives.
2.Managerial Approach
 general manager (principal) sets the policies and priorities, establishes the direction
of the change and innovation and the planning and organizing curriculum and the
instruction.
 less concerned about the content that the organization and the implementation.
Roles of the Supervisor (Managerial Approach)

1. Help develop the School educational goals

2. Plan curriculum with students, parents, teachers and other stakeholders.
3. Design program of the study by grade levels.
4. Plan schedule classes or school calendar.
5. Prepare curriculum guides or teacher guides by grade level or subject area.
6. Help in evaluation and selection of textbooks.
7. Observed teachers
8. Assist teachers in the implementation of the curriculum.
9. Encourage curriculum innovation and change
10. Develop standards for curriculum and instructional evaluation.

3.System Approach
 influence by system theory
 the parts of the total school districts or schools are examined in terms of how they
relate to each other.
 represented by organizational chart.
 shows the line-staff relationship of personnel on how decisions are made.

George Beauchamp
The system theory of education are;
1. Administration
2. Counseling
3. Curriculum
4. Instruction
5. Evaluation

Humanistic Approach

 Rooted in the progressive philosophy and child centered movement

 Considers the formal or planned curriculum and the informal or hidden curriculum
 Learners is at the centers of the curriculum.