BCHE 1073 Curriculum Development

Assignment 1

Curriculum development can be defined as the planned, purposeful, progressive and

systematic process that brings positive improvements in the educational system. It also refers
to the process of selecting, organizing, executing, and evaluating learning experiences on the
basis of the needs, abilities and interests of the learners and the nature of the society or
community. Curriculum development aims at providing young children positive learning
experiences and disciplining the ways that youths act or think. Every school puts in full effort
to create the most appropriate curriculum for their school children to achieve the desired
outcomes of students’ academic performance, behaviors and other personal development.
Teachers are responsible for ensuring that their lesson planning meets the students’
educational needs, the desired outcomes of the curriculum as well as the materials used are
current and comprehensible. As the world changes, approaches and profiles develop and new
perspectives on research and professions influences the curricula. Innovative teaching
techniques and strategies, such as transformative learning or blended learning, are being
introduced in order to improve the students’ learning experiences. As a result, an institution
needs to have a plan in place for acknowledging these changes and then be able to implement
them in the curricula. Developing, designing and implementing a curriculum is no easy task.
Schools bear a responsibility to ensure that the curriculum developed meets the educational
needs of students and the learning activities and assessments are able to bring positive
improvements to children and eventually achieve the desired results. One of the most famous
models of curriculum named “The Oliva Model” was developed by Peter Oliva to explain the
concept of curriculum and how a curriculum can be planned based on some criteria listed to
achieve quality educational outcomes. The Oliva Model is a linear, deductive and prescriptive
model that suggests a process for the complete development of a school’s curriculum. Oliva
recognized the needs of students in particular communities are not always the same as the
general needs of students throughout our society. Therefore, he combined a scheme for
curriculum development and a design for instruction. The Oliva Model consisted of twelve
components. It illustrated the step-by-step process of developing a curriculum.

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The Oliva Model is a linear, deductive and prescriptive model that consisted of twelve
components. The figure above shows the twelve components in the Oliva Model of
curriculum development which is a cycle of a curriculum development. The Oliva Model of
curriculum development summarized the whole process for a completed curriculum. This
curriculum model is important for the evaluation of curriculum development as an indicator
to determine whether the curriculum has achieved the planned curriculum goals and
objectives. This model combines a scheme for curriculum development (component 1-4, 12)
and a design for construction (component 5-11). The important features are the feedback lines
that cycle back from the evaluation of instruction to the instructional goals. These lines
indicate the necessity for continuous revision of the curriculum. Other than the educational
field, many enterprises or corporations also refer to this model of curriculum to make plan in
achieving respective aims and goals successfully.

The first to twelfth components stated in the Oliva Model of Curriculum Development:

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1) The statement of aims and philosophy education according to the needs of students and
society
2) Specifications of needs
3) Curriculum goals, which is the purposes stated in general terms without a specific criteria
or achievement
4) Curriculum objectives, which is the purposes in specific and measurable terms
5) Organization and the implementation of the curriculum
6) Specifications of instructional goals
7) Specifications of instructional objectives
8) Selection of strategies
9) Preliminary selection of evaluation techniques
10) Implementation of strategies
11) Final selection of evaluation techniques
12) Evaluation of instructions
13) Evaluation of the curriculum

There is a total of twelve main components included in the Oliva model of curriculum.
Among the twelve components in the Peter Oliva’s model of curriculum, I think that one of
the components that can best describe the curriculum is the general purpose and special
purpose curriculum. I believe that educators have the responsibilities to help learners to set
short and long-term goals to guarantee their further achievement inside and outside the school
environment. Goal setting is the fundamental to the long term success of a person, plan or
event. Therefore we should identify and list out the learning objectives and purposes while
panning the lessons and curriculum for young children. Curriculum is the planned learning
processes for learners to help them make positive improvements in either their academic or
their behaviors. It is important to ensure that the curriculum planning takes the students’
educational needs into consideration so that they will be able to achieve their developmental
milestones. School curriculum is planned based on the educational, physical, mental, social
and emotional needs of young children. With appropriate curriculum, students are able to

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learn and develop many skills such as problem-solving skill, critical thinking skill, working
memory and self-control. Effective and proactive curriculum should has clear objectives and
goals so that we can measure the effectiveness of the curriculum by comparing the outcomes
achieved with the goals set in the curriculum. In other words, the objectives and goals act as
the measure stick for school and teachers to determine the future “success” of the curriculum
and students. With the goals set in the curriculum, it helps teachers and students to be
accountable in every actions they take. Having goals make learners aware of actions and
efforts. Clear objectives and goals are important to help teachers and learners to determine the
appropriate approaches in making their efforts to achieve the learning objectives or to change
another approach if the previous one does not work and turn out the desired outcomes. In
conclusion, the general purpose and special purpose curriculum acts as the indicator to
determine the students’ improvements and achievements.

The next component from the tenth components in the Oliva Model of Curriculum that
can best explain the definition of curriculum is the implementation of learning strategies.
Since curriculum is defined as the planned learning experiences that make positive
improvements in the educational system, then appropriate teaching and learning strategies
definitely have to be included in the curriculum so that lessons can be delivered effectively in
the classroom. The curriculum identifies the learning outcomes, standards and core
competencies that students must demonstrate before advancing to the next level. It helps
teachers to be more systematic in delivering lessons with appropriate curriculum resources.
Besides, it also helps to give learners the appropriate and relevant content with the
application of the learner’s environment. With knowledge and experiences, teachers play a
key role in developing, implementing, assessing and modifying the curriculum. Studying and
writing curriculum is an ongoing part of the curriculum development that may be adjusted at
any time during the process. However, for the curriculum development to be successful,
school administrators and teachers have to cooperate to implement the curriculum in teaching
every class. Implementation of strategies is a process that turns the strategies into actions to

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achieve the expected and desired outcomes. Implementation of your strategic plan is
important even than creating your plan because without the consistent effort of implementing
the strategic plan, improvement does not happen in either children’s academic or behavior.
When the strategies of a curriculum is implemented in classroom, educators and learners get
the opportunity to practice the strategy. Eventually the more time the student do practice, the
more skillful they will be, which can bring the valued improvement in certain area of
learning. In short, approach and strategy implementation is important in order to achieve the
quality education effectively.

Furthermore, the evaluation of learning and curriculum evaluation which are the eleventh
and twelfth components in the Oliva Model of Curriculum can be said as the definition of
curriculum. Curriculum is the planned learning process that aims at making positive
improvements in educational system. Evaluation of learning means the review on the learning
process and the learning outcomes to see whether the learning objectives are met. The process
of learning and the outcomes are important to show that the particular curriculum are
effective in helping students to improve positively. However, every student learn at their own
pace according to learning ability and of course the curriculum approaches affect how well
can the student understand and master the topic of a lesson taught. A good curriculum should
cover all compulsory subjects and topics that were set by the Ministry of Education with the
appropriate teaching methods and teaching materials. Therefore, through evaluation it can
identify the effectiveness of a curriculum and some improvements that can be made to the
curriculum to adjust the curriculum until it can fit to all kind of students. Eventually, students’
learning experiences can be improved and enhanced with better curriculum and desired
outcomes of a curriculum is expected to be achieved. While the curriculum evaluation has to
be done consistently too for the purposes of checking the effectiveness of the curriculum and
update any latest and useful lesson plan if necessary. Evaluation is a systematic procedure to
review the effectiveness of the curriculum and analyze the review to provide constructive
feedback and suggestion to improve the curriculum. It helps to determine the usefulness of an

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educational approach and areas that could be improved in a curriculum. In other words, by
doing regular evaluation on curriculum, school can ensure that the curriculum is effective and
progressive and able to help students in their growth and development.

In conclusion, the proactive and progressive curriculum is significantly necessary for the
holistic development of young children. The children development includes the academic
performance, physical development and their attitude and behavior shaping. Moreover, it is
also important to develop the quality education with the systematic plan, teaching methods
and learning strategies as well as the appropriate content of curriculum. Peter Oliva
developed the Oliva Model to explain the important components for curriculum. The Oliva
Model is linear, deductive and prescriptive. It combined a scheme for curriculum
development and a design for instruction. In the Model of Curriculum suggested by Peter
Oliva, it consisted of twelve components that emphasis on the creation of school curriculum
for educational institutes. Having a clear objective of curriculum allows the school to have a
direction in leading the quality education in the future. It helps educators to set goals and do
planning in the effort of achieving success in educational institutes. Another important
component is that implementation of learning strategies because with that curriculum can be
carried out more effectively when educators apply strategies in their teaching and students
learn with useful strategies in their journey of learning. Remember to do the implementation
consistently so that the curriculum can achieve the desired outcomes and success in the
educational field. Evaluation of learning and curriculum helps to improve the learning
process and the quality of curriculum respectively. By doing evaluation, improvement for
certain areas can be made to prepare better curriculum for all educator and learners. With the
important components taken considered in preparing the curriculum, it is believed that
curriculum will be effective and systematic for all educators and learners.

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References:
Orlanda, I. (2014). The Oliva Model of Curriculum. Slideshare.net. Retrieved 16 July 2021,
from https://www.slideshare.net/jheallyorlanda/the-oliva-model-of-curriculum.

The Oliva Model. Scribd.com. Retrieved 16 July 2021, from

https://www.scribd.com/document/422247076/the-oliva-model.