CONSIDERATION IN DESIGNING A CURRICULUM

1. Need for Analysis: refer to activities that are involved in collecting information that
will serve as the basis for developing a curriculum that will meet the needs of the
particular group of students.
 Aware of the learners strength and weaknesses
 Process of collecting and analyzing information about learners in order to set
goals and content of a language based on their needs.
 It examines what learners already know and what they need to know.
 Therefore , the need for analysis can guarantee that the course will contain the
relevant and useful things for student to learn.

2. Target group:
Who is the target audience ? for whom we design our curriculum?
Consider the pupils
 Individual needs
 Abilities
 Interest
 Potential
 Multiple intelligence (visual, auditory or kin esthetic learner)
 Various learning style
 The curriculum should also be appropriate for :
- personal development (attitudes and behaviour)
-social development
-intellectual development
-physical development
-Multiple intelligence
- interpersonal/intrapersonal development

3. Aims and objectives:

 aims should relate to the combined impact of the curriculum, the pedagogy and
the assessment of the various elements.
 Desired learning outcomes need to be student oriented and should point to the
knowledge, skills, competencies and altitudes of the students who succesfully
complete the course.
4. Content selection (topic issues/ subjects that will be covered.):
 it should be relevant to the outcome of the curriculum.
 Purpose and focus on the planned outcome.
 The content should be appropriate to the level of target group (simple to complex,
basic to advanced)
 it should be up to date
 The content should be valid
5. Learning theories, methods and approches:
 Subject centred design
 Learner centered design
 Problem centered design
5.1. Subject centered design:
 Academic subject design
-based on the belief that humans are unique because of their intellectual and the quest
for the acquisition of knowledge is to feed this intellect.
- it is much easily interpreted in text books and commercially available support
materials .
 Discipline design:
-specific body of knowledge that has its own methods of inquiry, has its own
specialized words and terminology, has a tradition and a collection of literature and
the people involved in the field.

5.2. Learner centred design

1. Child centred
- learners should actively participate in the teaching and learning process.
-learning should be related to closely to daily lives of students.
-John Dewey argued that children are not blank slates and they bring with them four
basic impulses: the impulses to communicate, to compare and contrast, to inquire and
express themselves through language
- teaching and learning draw on the experiences of the learners and the vast amount of
information they bring to the classroom
2. Romantic/ radical design
-assumes that society is corrupt and repressive. Children should be educated toward
the goal of social reform.
- Paulo Feire opposed treating students as empty vessels to be filled with knowledge
by the teacher.
- he objected to the teacher- student dichotomy (contrast) and proposed the
relationship between teacher and student be reciprocal (mutual) which is the teacher
who learns and the learner who teachers.
- learning is reflective and not externally imposed by those in power knowledge.
Knowledge is the finished product to be acquired by learners because this is
indoctrination.
- learners should challenge content and be allowed to give their opinions.
3. Humanistic designs
The curriculum should be designed to empower learners to be involved in the process
of realizing their potential.
- carl Rogers argued that the aim of education is the facilitation of learning. To
facilitate learning , the teacher accepts learning as a persons, placing importance on
their feelings and their opinions, while caring for them.
- with such curriculum , learners become fully functional persons capable of
intelligent choice
5.3 problem centred design
1. Life situations design
-life situation design makes educational sense to organize a curriculum around such
life situations (healthy, living, ethics, racial, tolerance and citizenship skills).
- student will direct relevance in studying such life social or life situation in order to
seek ways to improve their society.
- the life situations that need to be emphasized in schools depend on those things that
student need before they enter the working world and assume adult responsibilities.
6. Personal and material selection:
 Curriculum developers need to think at a strategic level about the resources
required and how these can be used effectively and efficiently.
 There should be sufficient staff to deliver and support the delivery and assesment
of the course.
 Equipment including IT equipment, models and simulators, laboratory and
clinical equipment, whiteboards, flip charts.
 Finances
 Books, journals and multimedia resources.
 Teaching rooms, office space, social and study space.
 Requirements for supervision and delivery of practical teaching.
7. Assessment and evaluation.
 It is a systematic process. By which we assess the performance of students
through tests. Furthermore, they help in collecting data related to skills
knowledge and attitude of students. In addition, they help to improve students'
performance. We have two types of assessment : summative and formative.
 Evaluation is being used to measure student progress, reform education systems,
and enhance accountability for outcomes. School administrators and teachers
alike are conducting evaluations of their own to improve school performance and
foster creative spaces for learning.
 Assessment must check that students have achieved the learning outcomes in
various contexts and ensure that the contents has been covered.
 Why do we need to evaluate our courses?
 To identify successes and falures of the curriculum with the view to correct
deficiencies.
 To measure if stated objectives have been achieved.
 To assess if the curriculum is meeting the needs of learners and the community.

8. Monitoring and support

What should be monitored?
 Student recruitment and selection processes. Do the candidates meet the selection
criteria? Do the criteria provide students who are appropriate for the course?
 Teaching staff- are the teachers available, motivated and capable of teaching the
new course.
 Training for teachers been identified and addressed.
 The teaching and learning process:
-if the curriculum is translated into practice.
-If the teaching and learning methods is appropriate
 Assessment
- are the assessment appropriate in terms of level, reliability and validity and do they
discriminate between assessing for knowledge, skills and altitude.
If appropriate procedure and regulation are being followed.
 Learning resources:
- if the recommended books and journals and other teaching materials are available
 Performance standard: to check if the minimum performance standard is being
reflected.
9. Curriculum Constraints: are the circumstances that constitute barriers on
curriculum theory such as the need to provide for individual differences in maturity,
ability and achievement, the resources of the teacher, the traditions of various schools
and the need of parents and board members.
Reasons for curriculum constraints
 The absence of curriculum framework.
 Communication tools- a major barrier to curriculum design and implementation is
lack of communication.
 Funding curriculum: design comes with a price tag, resources and amenities for
teaching.
 Time: curriculum design is time a time consuming process, instruction also takes
time.
 Tradition: curriculum developers need to remove the barrier of tradition.
Tradition reminds educators that this how we have always written curriculum.