FOUNDATION OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

Leaning outcomes
 Describe the foundation of curriculum development
 Explain how each foundation influence the curriculum

Take off

Curriculum development is anchored on a very solid foundation. Although

considered to be a new discipline, its significance in the light of global development
has now been acknowledged.

4 Major Foundation of Curriculum

1. Philosophical
2. Historical
3. Psychological
4. Sociological

*Philosophical Foundation

Introduction

Educators, teachers, educational planner, and policy maker must have a

philosophy or strong belief about education and schooling and the kind of curriculum
on teacher's classrooms or learning environment. Philosophy provides educators,
teachers, and curriculum maker with framework for planning, implementing, and
evaluating curriculum in school. The philosophical foundation of curriculum helps
determine the driving purpose of education, as well as the roles of the various
participants. While all foundations propose to set goals of curriculum, philosophy
presents the manner of thinking from which those goals are created.

Philosophy of the curriculum answers the following questions:

 What are schools for?

 What subjects are important?
 How should students learn?
 What methods should be used?
 What outcomes should be achieved? Why?

Philosophies in education presented by Orstein and Hunkins(2004)

 Perennialism
 Essentialism
 Progressivism
 Reconstructionism
1. Perennealism
 Perennialism comes from the word perennial, which means everlasting. It is a
very conservative and inflexible educational philosophy.

Aim:
✓This philosophy intends to educate the rational individuals. It aims to develop the
students’ intellectual and moral qualities.
✓It is a universal curriculum on the view that all human beings possess the same
essential nature.
✓It is heavy on the humanities, on general education, and less emphasis on
vocational and technical education.
✓It is a teacher-centered philosophy that emphasizes the importance of transferring
knowledge, information, and skills from the presumably wiser older generation to the
younger ones.

Role:
✓The teachers assist the students to think with reason (critical thinking HOTS).
✓The students are believed to to be needed to learn the great ideas of Western
Civilization that has the potential for solving problems in any era.
✓It aims to teach students ways of thinking that will secure one’s freedom, human
rights, and responsibilities through the nature.
✓As it is teacher-centered, the students’ interests or experiences are not allowed by
the teachers to substantially dictate what they teach.
✓They make use of whatever creative techniques and other tried effective methods
which are believed to be most conducive to disciplining the students’ minds.

Focus:
✓It focuses on classical subjects and literary analysis.
✓As this curriculum is enduring, they emphasize that students should not be taught
information that may soon be outdated or changed due to being found incorrect.
✓Perennealists believe that one should teach the things that one deems to be of
everlasting importance or relevance to all people everywhere, that ideas are relevant
and meaningful today as when they first written.

Trends:
✓It emphasizes on use of great books (Bible, Qur-an, Classics) and Liberal Arts, the
law or principles of science, to discover enduring truth.

2. ESSENTIALISM

Aim:
 To promote intellectual growth of learners to become competent.
 This philosophy contends that teachers teach for learners to acquire basic
knowledge, skills and values.
 Teachers teach "not to radically reshape society but rather to transmit the
traditional moral values and intellectual knowledge that students need to become
model citizens."
Role:
 Teachers are sole authorities in the subject area.
 The teachers and administrators decide what is most important for the students to
learn and place little emphasis on student interests, particularly when they divert
time and attention from the academic curriculum.
 Essentialist teachers emphasize mastery of subject matter. They are expected to
be intellectual and moral models of their students. They are seen as "fountain of
information" and as "paragon of virtue", if ever there is such a person.

Focus:
 Essential skills of the 3Rs; essential subjects.
 Essentialist programs are academically rigorous. The emphasis is on academic
content for students to learn the basic skills or the fundamental R's --- reading,
'riting, 'rithmetic, right conduct as these are essential to the acquisition of higher
or more complex skills needed in preparation for adult life.
 The essentialist curriculum includes the "Traditional disciplines such as Math,
Natural Science, History, Foreign Language, and Literature. Essentialists frown
upon vocational courses" or other courses with watered down academic content.
 To gain mastery of basic skills, teachers have to observe "core requirements,
longer school day, a longer academic year".
 With mastery of academic content as primary focus, teachers rely heavily on the
use of prescribed textbooks, the drill method and other methods that will enable
them to cover as much academic content as possible like the lecture method.
 There is a heavy stress on memorization and discipline.

Trends:
 Back to basics, Excellence in education, cultural literacy.

3. Progressivism

Aim:
 To promote democratic social living.
 This is a philosophy of education that is rooted in the philosophy of pragmatism.
Unlike Perennialism, which emphasizes a universal truth, progressivism favors
“Human experience as the basis for knowledge rather than authority” (Johnson et.
al., 2011, p. 114).
 Progressivism is a very student-centered philosophy of education in which the
educational focus of progressivism is on engaging students in real-world
problem- solving activities in a democratic and cooperative learning environment
(Webb et. al., 2010). This ensures that they are actively engaged in the learning
process as well as taking a practical approach to finding answers to real-world
problems.
 A main tenet of progressivism is for the school to improve society. As a result,
progressivism was deemed to be a working model of democracy (Webb et. al.,
2010)
Role:
 Teachers leads for growth and development of lifelong learners.
 Progressivists view teachers as a facilitator in the classroom. As the facilitator,
the teacher directs the students learning, but the students voice is just as important
as that of the teacher.
 Project-Based Learning Within a progressivist classroom, key instructional
methods include: group work and the project method. Group work promotes the
experienced-centered focus of the progressive philosophy. For example is by
giving students opportunities to work together, they not only learn critical skills
related to cooperation, but they are also able to engage in and develop projects
that are meaningful and have relevance to their everyday lives.
 Promoting the use of project work, centered around the scientific method, also
helps students engage in critical thinking, problem solving, and decision-making
(Webb et. al., 2010). More importantly, the application of the scientific method
allows progressivists to verify experience through investigation.
 To support students in finding their own voice, the teacher takes on the role of a
guide. Since the student has such an important role in the learning, the teacher
needs to guide the students in “learning how to learn” (Labaree, 2005, p. 277).
Thus, the teacher needs to act as a collaborative partner. The primary aim as a
collaborative partner, according to progressivists, is to help students “acquire the
values of the democratic system” (Webb et. al., 2010, p. 75).
 Students in a progressivist classroom are empowered to take a more active role in
the learning process. In fact, they are encourage to actively construct their
knowledge and understanding by 1)Interacting with their environment, 2) Setting
objectives for their own learning, 3) Working together to solve problems, 4)
Learning by doing, and 5) Engaging in cooperative problem solving.
 Clearly, students’ role is that of an active learner.

Focus:
 Interdisciplinary subjects. Learner-centered. Outcomes-based.
 Since progressivism focuses on real-world problem-solving activities, the
progressivist curriculum also focuses on providing students with real-world
experiences that are meaningful and relevant to them rather than rigid subject-
matter content.
 John Dewey (1963), who is often referred to as the “father of progressive
education,” believed that all aspects of study (i.e., arithmetic, history, geography,
etc.) need to be linked to materials based on students’ everyday life experiences.
 There are several key features that distinguish a progressive curriculum.
According to Lerner (1962), some of the key features of a progressive curriculum
include: a focus on the student, focus on peers, an emphasis on growth, action
centered, process and change centered, quality centered, and community centered.
 To successfully apply these features, a progressive curriculum would feature an
open classroom environment. In this type of environment, students would “spend
considerable time in direct contact with the community or cultural surroundings
beyond the confines of the classroom or school” (Webb et. al., 2010, p. 74).

Trends:
 Back to basics, Excellence in education, cultural literacy.
Reconstructionism/Critical Theory

Aim:
 To improve and reconstruct society. Education for change.
 The philosophy of Social Reconstructionism is a student- centered philosophy.
 This is a philosophy that emphasizes the addressing of social questions and a
quest to create a better society and worldwide democracy.
 This educational philosophy was spear headed by a group of progressive
educators known as the “Frontier Thinkers” in the 1920s and 1930s (Webb et. al.,
2010).
 The goal of the Frontier Thinkers was to create a more “equitable” society. To
achieve such a society, the Frontier Thinkers called for social reform because
they believed the educational system was not adequately addressing critical
societal issues like war, prosperity, and depression (Webb et. al., 2010).
 Reconstructionist educators focus on a curriculum that highlights social reform as
the aim of education.
 Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) was the founder of social reconstructionism, in
reaction against the realities of World War II. He recognized the potential for
either human annihilation through technology and human cruelty or the capacity
to create a beneficent society using technology and human compassion.
 George Counts (1889-1974) recognized that education was the means of
preparing people for creating this new social order. Critical theorists, like social
reconstructionists, believe that systems must be changed to overcome oppression
and improve human conditions.
 Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was a Brazilian whose experiences living in poverty led
him to champion education and literacy as the vehicle for social change. In his
view, humans must learn to resist oppression and not become its victims, nor
oppress others. To do so requires dialog and critical consciousness, the
development of awareness to overcome domination and oppression. Rather than
"teaching as banking," in which the educator deposits information into students'
heads, Freire saw teaching and learning as a process of inquiry in which the child
must invent and reinvent the world.

Role:
 Teacher acts as agent of change and reforms.
 This philosophy is very idealistic in nature, in that it encourages schools to teach
students to dream about “what might be” rather than settle for “what is” (Webb et.
al., 2010). As such, students are encouraged to be “change agents” by challenging
the norm and seeking to make society a better place for everyone.
 Unlike other philosophies where teachers approach instruction with very specific
objectives in mind, Social Reconstructivist teachers are less authoritarian and
more focused on meeting the individual needs of the student (Sadker and
Zittleman, 2010).
 In other words, this method of instruction is more student-centered. Within this
approach to instruction, Reeves (2013) found that Social Reconstructionist
instructors 1) Spend less time lecturing and more time allowing students to work
in cooperative groups; 2)Facilitate instruction, guiding students in the direction
they need to go, but never mandating the direction students should take; 3)
Encourage students to form their own opinions based on what they think and
what their research has told them, not what they are told to think by the teacher.
 The role of the Social Reconstructivist teacher is constantly changing as a result
of the changing nature of society. In order to be an effective Social
Reconstructivist teacher, teachers must be willing to undergo constant change and
updating of their personal and professional lives and have a very high tolerance
for ambiguity.
 Within this philosophy, students are called upon to be “change agents.” As such,
they are guided by their instructors to explore issues of inequality in society and
figure out ways to address them, then work together with their peers to research
and problem solve ways to address these inequities.
 People who do not believe in this philosophy would say that students can not
really have any significant impact on society. However, “Social Reconstructionist
believe that students are the critical element in bringing about social change”
(Webb el. al., 2010, p. 85).
 Students engage in active, project-based learning, or service learning outside the
school to become immersed in the societal problem they have identified and
apply the possible solutions they have developed (Webb et. al., 2010).

Focus:
 Present and future educational landscape..
 For social reconstructionists and critical theorists, curriculum focuses on student
experience and taking social action on real problems, such as violence, hunger,
international terrorism, inflation, and inequality.
 Strategies for dealing with controversial issues (particularly in social studies and
literature), inquiry, dialogue, and multiple perspectives are the focus.
 Community-based learning and bringing the world into the classroom are also
strategies.
 Social Reconstructionists firmly believe in the power of democracy to change
society for the better. Therefore curriculum within the social reconstructionist
classroom reflects “democratic ideals and emphasizes civic education” (Webb et.
al., 2010, p. 87). Based on this emphasis, the curriculum provides students with
the opportunity to engage in service learning opportunities that would provide
them with first-hand experiences to study social problems and controversial
issues. `

Trends:
 School and curricular reform, Global education, Collaboration and Convergence,
Standards and Competencies.
References:

Bilbao, Purita P., et.al. Curriculum Development for Teachers. (Metro Manila:
Lorimar Publishing, Inc., 2015)

Bilbao, Purita P., et.al. The Teaching Profession. 4th ed. (Metro Manila: Lorimar
Publishing, Inc., 2018)

Dave Ramirez, “Perennialism”, Slideshare, October 17, 2018,

https://www.slideshare.net/dave_ram25/perennialism-119730131)(accessed March 30,
2023)