Curriculum Philosophy, Past, and Present

Educational Practices

Itauma Itauma, Ph.D.

Division Chair & Assistant Professor at Northwood University - DeVos Graduate School of
Management
6 articles Follow
September 3, 2021
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A curriculum is a plan made to guide education in schools, consisting of accessible

documents with various levels of detail and the realization of those plans in the
classroom (Glatthorn et al., 2009). Curriculum, according to its Latin origins, literally
means to run a course (Glatthorn et al., 2009). A curriculum philosophy is a set of
values or criteria that guides all decision-making when developing a curriculum
(Wiles, 2005). Educators utilize philosophy to create curriculums by setting priorities.
Philosophies determine the dimensions of a curriculum, thereby defining the extent
of the curriculum development process (Wiles, 2005). Philosophy of education is a
significant component of curriculum literature. According to Wiles (2005), there are
five generic educational philosophies that represent various underlined values
contributing to the curriculum development process.

 Perennialism states that education should focus on developing rationality, and

encourages subjects and doctrines taught through highly disciplined drill and
behavior control with the teacher interpreting while the student is a passive
recipient.
 Idealism supports the refined wisdom of human beings and uses education to
sharpen intellectual processes.
 Realism supports teaching students about the world as it is, aligning with the
notion that goodness is found in the laws of nature and the structure of the
physical world.
  Experimentalism describes reality as what is experienced and openly accepts
change while continually seeking to discover new ways to expand and
improve society.
 Existentialism defines goodness, truth, and reality individually with changes in
the school environment accepted as both a natural and crucial phenomenon.

For many decades, the educational curriculum in the United States has been revised
and updated. The application of scientific principles within the curriculum of public
schools in the United States was adopted during the early 20th century (Au, 2011).
However, high stakes testing and standardization are now much more common in
21st century curricula (Au, 2011). Thus, reforms are underway to promote equity.
Studies have shown that reform-oriented curricula decreased linguistic, ethnic, and
class inequalities in schools (Boaler, 2002). According to Boaler (2002), these practices
of teaching and learning were crucial to achieving equality.

Currently, teaching practices are changing rapidly to incorporate the use of open
educational resources, which can be developed collaboratively by content specialists,
educational technologists, and instructional designers. Student-centered,
competency-based, and outcome-oriented learning are becoming increasingly
popular. The use of peer mentoring and peer assessments are also on the rise, as is
the use of grading rubrics, which shows that academic staff are now more open
about stating learning objectives and listing performance standards. Mintz (2014)
states that current educational practices value maximal student proficiency, whereas
previous practices assumed not every learner could achieve a viable
competency. Assessments are designed to motivate students and to provide a
benchmark for measuring their performance, in addition to ranking students by their
academic achievements and proficiency in skills and knowledge.
 Another area in which practices are different today compared to practices of the
past century is in the use of data to transform education. Course assessments allow
faculty to better understand how learners go through the learning process and use
the course material. Using data analytics, we can learn more about students'
responses to different teaching styles. Higher education is also increasingly
personalized to cater to the learning styles of students.

References

Au, W. (2011). Teaching under the new Taylorism: high‐stakes testing and the
standardization of the 21st century curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 43(1),
25–45. Retrieved from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220272.2010.521261\npapers2://
publication/doi/10.1080/00220272.2010.521261

Boaler, J. (2002). Learning from teaching: Exploring the relationship between reform
curriculum and equity. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 33(4), 239–258.
Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.2307/749740

Glatthorn, A., Boschee, F., & Whitehead, B. (2009). Curriculum leadership strategies for
development and implementation (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage
Publications.
Mintz, S. (2014). Five ways that 21st and 20th century learning will differ. Higher Ed
Beta. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-beta/five-
ways-21st-and-20th-century-learning-will-differ

Wiles, J. (2005). Curriculum essentials: a resource for educators (2nd ed.). Boston,
Massachusetts: Pearson Education.