CHAPTER

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UNDERSTANDING CURRICULUM

This chapter explore significant pieces of literature and theories that will help
curriculum workers, teachers, and students understand basic concepts of curriculum,
types of curriculum, curriculum foundation, and curriculum conception. In this chapter, you
should be able to:
1. define curriculum
2. analyze the different types of curriculum;
3. discuss different curriculum foundations; and
4. discuss different curriculum conceptions.

Definition of Curriculum

A clear understanding of what curriculum is helps scholars and students in

understanding the curriculum as a dynamic field in education. Reid (2006) opined
that people talk about, write about, legislate for, teach courses on, and take credits in
curriculum; hence, it is important to have a concrete explanation of what curriculum
is.
Many books on curriculum present various images, characterizations, and
definitions of the term curriculum. To analyze or discuss all of these definitions
would be a massive endeavor since there are more than eleven hundred books
written about curriculum (Schubert 1980). Presented in this book are just a few
definitions provided by Beauchamp (1992), Eisner (1985, Glatthorn (2006), Marsh
(2004), Oliva (2005), Pinar (1995), Posner (1995), Reid (2006), Saylor (1981), and
Schubert (1986), among others.

 Curriculum as a list of subjects. This definition suggest that curriculum

includes the “permanent” or the traditional subjects offered in the school
curriculum such as Mathematics, Language, Science, Music, Arts, and others.
 Curriculum as learning experiences. This definition includes students '
curricular and co- curricular activities and the learning experiences they
encountered inside or outside the school.    This also includes the hidden
curriculum, or those things learned by the students as a result of their
experiences in the school with their peers, schoolmates, teachers, school
staff, or the values they learned from a school program.    In short, curriculum
includes the school culture.
 Curriculum as intended learning outcomes.    This definition includes a list
of learning competencies or standards that students should learn in school.

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 Curriculum as planned learning experiences. This definition includes
documents specifying contents, objectives, or general ideas of what students
should know in schools or in a specific discipline.
 Curriculum as a discipline.    This definition has its own principles, theories,
and practices.
 Curriculum as content or subject matter. This definition views curriculum
as a series of topics under each subject area.

It is important that curriculum workers have a common understanding of what

curriculum is. Their personal definition of curriculum defines the curriculum
product that they will produce.    Many curriculum projects fail, and many
curriculum researches appears vague because of an unclear understanding of
the field of curriculum. Besides, only few people are experts in curriculum studies,
especially in the Philippines, who may be consulted regarding   these project and
researches