CHAPTER 7

CURRICULUM INNOVATION

Curriculum Innovation

In general, innovation may mean a new object, new idea, ideal practice, or the process by which a new
object, idea, or practice comes to be adopted by an individual group or organization (Marsh & Willis,
2007). It may also mean the planned application of ends or means, new to the adopting educational
system, and intended to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the system (Henderson, 1985).
Curriculum innovations are new knowledge about curriculum, new curriculum theories, outstanding
curricular practices, new curriculum, or new curriculum designs that are sometimes developed out of a
research in education or other studies from other disciplines and academic fields.

Oftentimes, curriculum innovation is associated with curriculum change. A term in curriculum studies
which means any changes in the curriculum that is either planned or unplanned. Curriculum innovations,
therefore, are positive changes or improvements that are happening in the education system
particularly in the area of curriculum. Michael Fullan (1989) identified four core changes in educational
context that shape the definition of curriculum innovation. These core changes in schools include:

1. Some forms of regrouping or new grouping (structure);

2. New curriculum materials;
3. Changes in some aspects of teaching practices (new activities, skills, behavior); and
4. A change in beliefs or understandings vis-à-vis curriculum and learning.

At the heart of any curriculum innovation are educators committed as change agents facilitating a
smooth implementation of any curriculum innovation. They are professionals with expertise in various
disciplines and with extensive knowledge in pedagogy. They understand the school system and other
variables that may influence it. They developed curriculum innovations that are designed to bring about
positive changes and holistic development for the learners. Curriculum innovations may focus on the
classroom or school level, or they could be changes specific to a particular discipline. In this book,
curriculum innovations are clustered into several ideas that continue to shape curriculum and education
systems in general.

A. Standards-based Curriculum

A standards-based curriculum is designed based on content standards as explicated by experts in the

field (Glatthorn et al., 1998). Curriculum standards include general statements of knowledge, skills, and
attitudes that students should learn and master as a result of schooling (Marzano, 1996; Glatthorn et al.,
1998). They are statements of what students should know and be able to do. Standards generally
include three different aspects: knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

1. Knowledge or Content Standards describe what students should know. These include themes or
conceptual strands that should be nurtured throughout the students’ education.
2. Skills Standards include thinking and process skills and strategies that students should acquire.
3. Dispositions are attitudes and values that should be developed and nurtured in students.

Curriculum standards are different from competencies. Standards are broader while competencies are
more specific and prescriptive in terms of the scope of knowledge, skills, and values that students should
learn. Curriculum standards provide more creativity and freedom for educators to explore various
learning opportunities and better forms of assessing students’ achievement (Morrison, 2006).

Literatures offer many reasons or positive benefits for developing curriculum standards. For instance,
curriculum standards provide a structure that allows students to learn common knowledge, skills, and
values. They give direction or framework in designing a course. VanTassel-Baska (2008) identified
varieties of benefits of using curriculum standards to education:

1. Ensure that students learn what they need to know for high-level functioning in the 21 st century.
2. Ensure educational quality across school districts and educational institutions.
3. Provide educators with guideposts to mark the way to providing students with meaningful
outcomes to work on.
4. Provide a curriculum template within which teachers and candidates are able to focus on
instructional delivery techniques that work.

In a standards-based curriculum, these curriculum standards serve as bases for designing the content of
a curriculum. As a curriculum innovation, it gave birth to the development of core curriculum and state
standards. In the Philippines, for example, curriculum standards are useful in developing and organizing
the curriculum for K-12.

A standards-based curriculum involves teachers in the process of curriculum planning and design. A
standards-based curriculum empowers the teachers to take an active role in planning for the
implementation of the curriculum standards prescribed by the government.

B. Multicultural Curriculum

A multicultural curriculum aims to promote cultural literacy and cultural understanding. Schools use
different strategies and approaches to develop cultural literacy and promote cultural understanding.
Usually, this is done through cultural awareness activities by knowing the different costumes, songs,
literatures, foods, and introducing them to different historical places of different countries as part of
daily lessons. However, cultural awareness alone is not sufficient to develop cultural understanding. All
material culture has a context and a story to share. Hence, there is a need for a more realistic or
concrete program that will enable the learners and teachers to experience and understand these
aspects of culture in the classroom.

Banks (1994) identified five dimensions that schools could adopt when trying to implement
multicultural curriculum. These dimensions are very useful in developing cultural literacy and in
promoting cultural understanding in schools.

1. Content Integration deals with the extent to which teachers use examples and content from a
variety of cultures and groups to illustrate key concepts, principles, generalizations, and theories
in their subject area or discipline.
2. The Knowledge Construction Process consists of methods, activities, and questions teachers use
to help students to understand, investigate, and determine how implicit cultural assumptions,
frames of reference, perspectives, and biases within a discipline influence the ways in which
knowledge is constructed.
3. Prejudice Reduction describes the characteristics of students’ attitudes and strategies that can
be used to help them develop more democratic attitudes and values.
 4. Equity Pedagogy exists when teachers modify their teaching in ways that will facilitate the
academic achievement of students from diverse racial, cultural, ethnic, and gender groups.
5. An Empowering School Culture and Social Structure involves the restructuring of the culture and
organization of the school so the students from diverse racial, ethnic, and gender groups will
experience quality.

There are many ways in which a multicultural curriculum can be developed and implemented. Bennett
(1999) proposed a multicultural curriculum focusing on six goals: (1) develop multiple historical
perspectives; (2) strengthen cultural consciousness; (3) strengthen intercultural competence; (4) combat
racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice and discrimination; (5) increase awareness of the state of
the planet and global dynamics; and (6) build social action skills. Following these ideas, it is important to
develop teaching strategies and instructional materials that promote the development of cultural
literacy and cultural understanding among teachers and learners.

C. Indigenous Curriculum:

The idea of an indigenous curriculum was a product of a vision to make curriculum relevant and
responsive to the needs and context of indigenous people. It links the curriculum with the society’s
culture and history. It values the importance of integrating indigenous knowledge systems of the people
to the existing curriculum. The Author’s earlier studies on indigenous curriculum provided a framework
for linking indigenous knowledge with the curriculum and provided several dimensions that serve as a
framework for the development of an indigenous curriculum:

1. Construct knowledge so that young children understand how experiences, personal views, and
other peoples’ ideas influence the development of scientific concepts and scientific knowledge.
2. Use instructional strategies that promote academic success for children of different cultures.
3. Integrate contents and activities that reflect the learners’ culture, history, traditions, and
indigenous knowledge in the curriculum.
4. Utilize community’s cultural, material, and human resources in the development and
implementation of the curriculum.

Specifically, indigenous curriculum may consider using and implementing the following strategies at the
school level:

1. Integrating contents and activities that reflect the learners’ culture, history, traditions, and
indigenous knowledge in the curriculum
2. Using the local language as the medium of instruction for several subjects like Math, Science,
Social Studies, Physical Education, Music, Values Education, and Home Economics and Livelihood
Education
3. Involving community folks and local teachers in the development of the curriculum
4. Developing local instructional materials and learning outside the classroom by utilizing various
community resources that are available for conducting observations and investigations
5. Using instructional strategies that are relevant to indigenous learning system
As a form of innovation, an indigenous curriculum is founded on the way of life, traditions, worldview,
culture, and spirituality of the people, and it is a pathway of education that recognizes wisdom
embedded in indigenous knowledge. This indigenous knowledge is very influential to the development
of young children. It is embedded in their daily life since the time they were born. They grow up into a
social and cultural setting-family, community, social class, language, and religion. An indigenous
curriculum, therefore, is a noble way of responding to the needs of indigenous people. In an indigenous
curriculum, the first frame of reference for developing a curriculum must be the community, its
environment, its history, and its people (Pawilen, 2006, 2013).

D. Brain-based Education

Prominent advocates in brain-based education, Caine and Caine (1997) considered curriculum and
instruction from a brain-based approach. They begin with brain-mind learning principles derived from
brain research findings and apply these principles in the classroom and in designing a curriculum. These
principles are:

1. The brain is a whole system and includes physiology, emotions, imagination, and predisposition.
These must all be considered as a whole.
2. The brain develops in relationship to interactions with the environment and with others.
3. A quality of being human is the search for personal meaning.
4. People create meaning through perceiving certain patterns of understanding.
5. Emotions are critical to the patterns people perceive.
6. The brain processes information into both parts and wholes at the same time.
7. Learning includes both focused attention and peripheral input.
8. Learning is both unconscious and conscious.
9. Information (meaningful and fragmented) is organized differently in memory.
10. Learning is developmental.
11. The brain makes an optimal number of connections in a supportive but challenging
environment; however, when there are perceptions of threat, the brain may inhibit learning.
12. Every brain is unique in its organization.

Another advocate of brain-based education, Resnick (1987), theorized that learners learn more if they
are given several ways to look at a problem and if they are asked to give more than one way of solving it.
Caine and Caine (1991) also cited studies showing that the brain learns best when it works to solve
problems or accomplishes specific tasks instead of merely absorbing isolated bits of information and
that the brain’s primary function is to seek patterns in new learning. In addition, Sylwester (1995)
pointed out that classrooms in the future may focus more on drawing out existing abilities rather than
on precisely measuring one’s success with imposed skills, encouraging the personal construction of
categories rather than imposed categorical systems, and emphasizing the individual, personal solutions
of an environmental challenge over the efficient group manipulation of the symbols that merely
represent the solution.

Brain-based education has some direct implications in the development of curriculum. It postulates that
brains do not exist in isolation. The brain exists in bodies, which in turn exist in a culture, the culture in
which one happens to live becomes an important determinant of the brain's structure and organization
(Gardner, 2000). This offers an immense possibility for including social concerns and cultural matters in
the curriculum.

E. Gifted Education Curriculum

Gifted Education Curriculum is designed to respond to the needs of a growing number of gifted learners
and to develop gifted potentials. There are several examples of gifted curriculum models presented as
follows:

1. Schoolwide Enrichment Model

The Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) (Renzulli & Reis, 2009, 1997) is widely implemented as an
enrichment program used with academically gifted and talented students and a magnet
theme/enrichment approach for all schools interested in high- end learning and developing the
strengths and talents of all students (Davis, Rimm, and Siegle, 2011). The major goal of the SEM is the
application of gifted education pedagogy to total school improvement

The SEM provides enriched learning experiences and higher learning standards for all the children
through three goals: (1) developing talents in all children, (2) providing a broad range of advanced-level
enrichment experiences for all students, and (3) providing advanced follow-up opportunities for young
people based on their strengths and interests. The SEM focuses on enrichment for all students through
high levels of engagement and the use of enjoyable and challenging learning experiences that are
constructed around students interests, learning styles, and preferred modes of expression.

2. Parallel Curriculum Model

The Parallel Curriculum Model (PCM) evolved from a National Association for Gifted Children curriculum
in 1998. A group of scholars (Tomlinson, Kaplan, Renzull, Purcell, Leppien, & Burns) collaboratively
developed this model. It is based on the premise that every learner is somewhere on a path toward
expertise in a content area. It promotes a curriculum model for developing the abilities of all students
and extending the abilities of students who perform at advanced levels. The PCM offers four curriculum
parallels that incorporate the element of ascending intellectual demand to help teachers determine
current student performance levels and develop intellectual challenges to move learners along a
continuum toward expertise (Tomlinson et al., 2002). The four curriculum parallels in this model are:

a. Core Curriculum focuses on the nature of knowledge that is embedded in the discipline.
This includes the core concepts, skills, and values that are unique for each discipline.
b. b. Curriculum of Connection focuses on the integration or interconnectedness of
knowledge across different disciplines.
c. Curriculum of Practice involves the application of knowledge to different real-life
situations and the methodology of a practitioner
 d. Curriculum of Identity fits the learner’s values and goals and those that characterize
practicing professionals

The beauty of this model lies in its framework of helping the learners to experience the nature of the
disciplines rather than just accumulating information.

It is designed to engage the learners to the core of knowledge development in each discipline.

3. Autonomous Learner Model

Betts (2004) pointed out that curricular offerings typically fall into three levels. Level I is a prescribed
curriculum and instruction that focuses on state standards. Level II involves differentiation of curriculum
based on individual differences. Level III features learner-differentiated options where students are self-
directed and teachers provide opportunities for the learners to be in charge of their learning. This model
focuses on the third level.

The Autonomous Learner Model is divided into five major dimensions:

a. Orientation acquaints students, teachers, and administrators with the

central concept in gifted education and the specifics of this model. At
this level, gifted students work together in doing self-understanding
exercises that will help them be familiarized with each other. The
students are expected to develop an Advanced Learning Plan as part of
their orientation experience that includes information about their
giftedness, various personal and academic needs, learning experiences
they might need, and other things that will help them succeed in school.
b. Individual Development focuses more clearly on developing skills,
concepts, and attitudes that promote lifelong learning and self-directed
learning.

c. Enrichment Activities involve two kinds of differentiation of curriculum,

namely (1) differentiation of curriculum by the teacher and (2)
differentiation by the student. Students are exposed to various activities
to develop their passion for learning.
d. Seminars are designed to give each person in a small group the
opportunity to research a topic and present it in seminar format to
other people or to a group.
e. In-depth Study is one in which students pursue areas of interest in long-
term individual or small group studies. The students will decide what
will be learned, the process of doing it, the product, how content will be
presented, and how the entire learning process will be evaluated.

4. Integrated Curriculum Model

This model is a popular way of organizing or designing different kinds of curriculum. The Center for
Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary developed its curriculum based on this model and
has trained many teachers around the world in using their curriculum materials (Davis et al., 2011). The
model presented three dimensions based on the model of VanTassel-Baska (1987) that guide the
development of the curriculum.

a. Advanced Content Dimension meets the needs of gifted students for acceleration by
providing content earlier and faster than same-age peers would normally receive it.
Content area experts and educators work collaboratively to develop the content, and
they align key topics, concepts, and habits of mind within a domain to content area
standards.
b. Process/Product Dimension incorporates direct instruction and embedded activities that
promote higher-order thinking skills and create opportunities for independent pursuit in
areas of student interest.
c. Issues/Themes Dimension is where learning experiences are organized. In doing so,
students are able to develop deeper ideas and philosophies that ultimately promote
understanding of the structure of knowledge learned.

5. Kids Academia Model

Kids Academia is a program for young Japanese children ages 5-8, which was developed by Dr. Manabu
Sumida in 2010. The program is designed to provide excellent science experiences for gifted children in
Japan. The kids who participated in the program were rigorously selected using a checklist adopted from
the Gifted Behavior Checklist in Science for Primary Children. Faustino, Hiwatig, and Sumida (2011)
identified three major phases that are followed in the development of the curriculum.

a. Group Meeting and Brainstorming Activities. The teachers and teaching assistants hold
several meetings and brainstorming activities to decide on the themes that will be
included in the program. A general orientation of the program is also done during this
phase.
b. Selection of Contents for Each Theme. The teachers and teaching assistants carefully
select the lessons and topics that are included in the theme. A rigorous study of the
topic is done in this phase.
c. Designing Lessons. This phase includes the careful preparation of lesson plans and other
instructional materials needed for implementing each lesson.

The activities for each lesson were selected based on the following guidelines developed by Dr. Sumida:

a. Stimulates the interest of the children

b. Allows children to express their own ideas and findings
c. Uses cheap and easy-to-find materials
d. Teaches the correct use of scientific terms.
e. Uses simple laboratory equipment
f. Allows individual or group activities
g. Encourages socio-emotional development
h. Connects to other subjects and to everyday life experiences
i. Includes topics related to family and community
 j. Uses materials connected to family and community
k. Applies what children learned to their families and society

In addition, the program adapted the Wheel of Scientific Investigation and Reasoning as a guide for
developing skills of gifted children. This model was adopted

From the Scientific Wheel Model of the Center for Gifted Education of the College of William and Mary
to develop scientific habits of mind for independent research investigations.

The Kids Academia Model is a form of curriculum innovation that shows how experts in tertiary
education could help strengthen teaching and learning in basic education. It is a form of collaboration
between the university, the home, and the local school. It is a kind of partnership among professors,
parents, and basic education teachers. This model is now reaping various awards in Japan.

F. Differentiated Curriculum

Differentiation is a philosophy that enables teachers to plan strategically in order to reach the needs of
the diverse learners in classrooms today. A differentiated curriculum, therefore, is a curriculum that
considers the unique characteristic, learning styles, thinking preferences, intelligence, need, cultural
backgrounds, interests, gender, and other unique characteristics of the learners. It is a curriculum that
enhances learning, making it learner-centered and dynamic. Differentiated curriculum enables teachers
to plan the curriculum based on the nature and needs of learners. It enables fast learners and slow
learners to have equal opportunity to master the lesson and to develop holistically.

As a curriculum innovation, differentiated curriculum is designed to help learners experience learning

and to be engaged in doing several meaningful classroom activities. In differentiated curriculum, the
lessons are carefully selected, learning experiences are carefully designed based on the learning styles of
the learners, and the assessment tools are varied. According to Gayle Gregory and Carolyn Chapman
(2002), there are six steps in planning differentiated learning: (1) set standards; (2) define content; (3)
activate prior knowledge; (4) acquire new knowledge; (5) apply and adjust the learning; and (6) assess
learning.

These procedures are useful in developing differentiated classrooms that respond to different types of
learners. Gregory and Chapman (2002) also suggested a framework for selecting learning experiences
for differentiated learning. This framework can help teachers select instructional strategies; suggest
strategies for grouping students; and reflect on what type of assessment tools can be used for a
particular lesson.
The diversity of learners coming to school to learn requires a curriculum and a learning environment
that are more inclusive and learner-centered. Differentiation can also improve the quality of
instructional materials used in schools. Several curriculum issues related to gender sensitivity, cultural
sensitivity, and other issues may also be resolved by differentiated curriculum. It is, therefore, important
to provide teacher orientation and training on the use of differentiated learning strategies and
approaches.

G. Technology Integration in the Curriculum

Technology offers multiple opportunities to improve teaching and learning and in the total education
system. The Internet, for example, provides vast information that people may need to know. The
Internet is more than just a collection of knowledge. It also offers different ways and opportunities for
discovering and sharing information. Nowadays, everything is almost possible with a single click of the
computer mouse and by using any search engine.

Technology Integration is breaking the geographical barriers in education. It is creating a new space for
meaningful learning. With technology, it is now possible to connect and interact with other schools,
educators, and other institutions from different parts of the world. There are several innovations from
basic education to graduate education that are associated or influenced by technology integration.
Some of these innovations are:

 Distance education;
 Computer-assisted instruction;
 Online learning
 Teleconferencing
 Online libraries;
 Webinars:
  Online journals; and
 e-books.

ICT literacy is now fast-becoming an important form of literacy that is essential for each learner to learn
and master. It also requires all teachers to be ICT literate to be able to utilize technology to enhance or
improve the way they teach. It is also important for teachers to teach students how to use technology
responsibly, especially with the current popularity of social networking and other technological
innovations.

H. Outcomes-based Education

Outcomes-based education (OBE) is one of the dominant curriculum innovations in higher education
today. It came out as a curricular requirement for specific fields of study in engineering, nursing, and
tourism education, among others. ASEAN education framework for higher education requires all
colleges, universities, and institutes to transform all their educational programs to OBE.

OBE is defined as a curriculum design that ensures coherent, logical, and systematic alignment between
and among the different levels of outcomes. OBE also ensures connection among the essential elements
of the curriculum: intent, content, learning experiences, and evaluation. As a curriculum design, it seeks
to ensure that the necessary instructional support system, learning environment, and administrative
support system are in place based on the desired outcomes developed by a HEL. It supports the quality
assurance system.

Basically, an educational outcome is a culminating demonstration of learning (Spady, 1993). It includes

what the student should be able to do at the end of a course (Davis, 2003). Outcomes are clear learning
results that we want students to demonstrate at the end of significant learning experiences and are
actions and performances that embody and reflect learner competence in using content, information,
ideas, and tools successfully (Spady, 1994).

Figure 18 shows the different levels of outcomes in OBE. At the institutional level, this includes the
philosophy, vision, mission, and aims of the institution. They are statements of what a HEI hopes to
contribute to the society. At the program level, these are the goals, program competencies, and course
outcomes that all students should master and internalize. At the instructional level, outcomes include
the learning objectives for every course in higher education. At any level, outcomes should be mission-
driven, evidence-based, and learning-focused.

Institutional Level

Philosophy.

Vision

Mission

Aims

Program Levels
Program Goals

Program Competencies

Course Level

Course Objectives

Instructional Objectives

Figure 18. Different Levels and Types of Outcomes

OBE as a curriculum design enables higher education institutions to develop various curricula based on
the needs of students and the demands of society. It encourages educational institutions to clearly focus
and organize the learning environment that supports the development of students and the
implementation of the curriculum. This means starting with a clear picture of what is important for
students to be able to do, then organizing the curriculum, instruction, and assessment to make sure this
learning ultimately happens. OBE is an approach to planning, delivering, and evaluating instruction that
requires administrators, teachers, and students to focus their attention and efforts on the desired
results of education (Spady, 1994). Hence, it is a process that involves the restructuring of curriculum,
assessment, and reporting practices in education to reflect the achievement of high- order learning and
mastery rather than accumulation of course credit. It is important that when designing a curriculum for
OBE, the competencies and standards should be clearly articulated. Writing the learning outcomes in
OBE closely resembles Robert Mager’s guidelines (1984) that include expected performance, the
conditions under which it is attained, and the standards for assessing quality.

According to Spady (1994), there are two common approaches to an OBE curriculum, namely:

1. Traditional/Transitional Approach emphasizes student mastery of

traditional subject-related academic outcomes (usually with a strong
focus on subject-specific content) and cross-discipline outcomes (such
as the ability to solve problems or to work cooperatively).

2. Transformational Approach emphasizes long-term cross-curricular

outcomes that are related directly to students’ future life roles (such as
being a productive worker or a responsible citizen or a parent).

Spady (1994) also identified four essential principles of OBE. These are as follows:

1. Clarity of focus means that everything teachers do must be clearly focused on what they want
learners to ultimately be able to do successfully.
2. 2. Designing back means that the starting point for all curriculum design must be a clear
definition of the significant learning that students are to achieve by the end of their formal
education.
3. High expectations for all students.
 4. Expanded opportunities for all learners.

Designing curriculum based on OBE principles is a noble process of making curriculum relevant and
responsive to the students’ needs and requires a paradigm shift in teaching and learning. Malan (2000)
identified several features of outcomes based learning.

 It is needs-driven. Curricula are designed in terms of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes
expected from graduates and aim to equip students for lifelong learning.
 It is outcomes-driven. The model has a line that runs from taking cognizance of training needs to
setting an aim (purpose) for the program, goals for syllabus themes, learning outcomes, and
finally assessing the learning outcomes in terms of the set learning objectives.
 It has a design-down approach. Linked to the needs and the purpose of the program, learning
content is only selected after the desired outcomes have been specified. Content becomes a
vehicle to achieve the desired learning outcomes, which are aimed at inculcating a basis for
lifelong learning.
 It specifies outcomes and levels of outcomes. Learning objectives are described in terms of
Benjamin Bloom’s cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains and set according to Robert
Mager’s guidelines for formulating objectives.
 The focus shifts from teaching to learning. The model has a student-centered learning approach
where lecturers act as facilitators. Study guides help the learners to organize their learning
activities and group work, continuous assessment, and self-assessment are major features.
 The framework is holistic in its outcomes’ focus. Although the learning objectives are aimed at
learning at grassroots level, they are linked to goals and aims at higher levels. Attaining learning
objectives is, therefore, not an end in itself; it provides building blocks for achieving higher-level
outcomes.

As a curriculum innovation, OBE is a complete paradigm shift in higher education. It calls for an
education that is more focused and purposive. An OBE curriculum is mission-driven that requires all
institutions to anchor all their curricular offerings to the curriculum and to the vision, mission, and
philosophy of the institution. Outcomes- based Education follows a logical and systematic process that is
linear, starting with the institutional outcomes. The interrelated processes and the expected outputs are
clearly stated.

I. Transition Curriculum

The transition program is designed for special learners that are intellectually disabled and those that are
physically handicapped. It is designed to meet their special needs and respond to their specific interests.
It is like a care package that will empower the learners in their transition from home to school, or from
post- elementary or post-secondary to the world of work. In the transition program, the learners will
also enjoy an education that will enable them to become functional in their everyday lives.

In the Philippines, Quijano (2007) presented the Philippine Model of Transition that focuses on enabling
every special learner for community involvement and employment. The model envisions full
participation, empowerment, and productivity of those enrolled in the program. The transition program
includes three curriculum domains: (1) daily living skills, (2) personal and social skills, and (3)
occupational guidance and preparation. This model necessitates the need for support from professionals
and other key people in the community in order for the individual with special needs to attain
independent living. According to Gomez (2010), this model of transition program can also be used for
children in conflict with the law (CICL).

The Transition Program in the Philippines could be expanded to many different possible points of entry
that will extend the scope of transition program from young children to adults. These may include the
following examples:

1. Transition to school life – may include children and adult special learners who would like
to attend or who have been assessed to be ready for regular school under the inclusion
program. This may also include students who would like to learn basic literacy programs
under the Alternative Learning System.
2. Transition after post-secondary schooling – includes programs that will prepare special
learners for vocational courses and on-the-job trainings. It may also include programs
that will help students move to higher education if possible.
3. Transition from school to entrepreneurship – includes programs that I will allow special
learners to become entrepreneurs in their respective communities.
4. Transition from school to adult life – includes programs that will allow students to adjust
and adapt to adult life.
5. Transition to functional life – includes learning of life skills that will allow the special
learners to learn how to take care of themselves and develop some special skills that
they can use every day.

Reflections on Curriculum Innovation

 Educators and curriculum workers are always encouraged to innovate in the curriculum.
 Curriculum innovations are essential changes in the curriculum that have positive results
for the school and for the students.
 In proposing curriculum innovations, the curriculum worker should study the nature of
the innovation in relation to the social context of the learners and the school.
 Curriculum innovations could be new ideas and theories, new subjects or courses,
educational tools, new curriculum design, a curriculum product, or a new process.
 Many curriculum innovations that were introduced in the country are solutions to the
different problems and issues in Philippine education. They are also aimed to make the
curriculum relevant and responsive to every Filipino learner.
 Curriculum innovations could be introduced in any level of education – from the
national level down to the school level.
 Teachers and administrators play an important role in introducing and implementing
curriculum innovations,
 The success of any curriculum innovation is based on the support of stakeholders and
the government.
 Curricular innovations at the local school level are encouraged.