The Definition and Conception of Curriculum

It is never easy to define the meaning of the word curriculum as there are plethora of
conceptions and definitions of the word according to the scholars. In this particular piece of
writing, it will explain in details the conceptions and definitions of the curriculum from two
different viewpoints known as prescriptive and descriptive. According to Goodlad (1979), it is
fundamental for educators to discern the meaning of curriculum to achieve goals in the education
field.

PRESCRIPTIVE CURRICULUM
Generally, Ellis (2004) explains that prescriptive curriculum is something what ought to
happen, or in other words what needs to take place in certain course of study. To add to this,
prescriptive curriculum is a sort of plan or program that has been designed in the beginning that
must take place at any educational institutions in the country.
The most prominent conception of prescriptive curriculum is a content taught by the
teachers and learned by the students. Phenix (1962) defined the prescriptive curriculum as what
is studied, the content or subject matter of instruction that was already planned. The content
comprises variety of matters that the students is expected to learn and gain, while teachers are the
medium to deliver what they ought to (Burke, 2009; Cambridge, 2012; Marzano, 2010;
Odendahl, 2011; Popham, 2011).

On the other hand, McBrien & Brandt (1997) reckon the same as prescriptive curriculum
denotes to a written plan outlining of what students will be taught at school. Curriculum also on
another note may refer to all the courses offered at a given school, or all the courses offered at a
school in a particular area of study. The curriculum might as well involve practical studies that
nurture many skills in students as a preparation for the future professions. In another similar
definition, Gagne (1967) has defined prescriptive curriculum as a content of units that will be
learned by specified prior units which has been designed at the first place.
Dewey (1902) & Bobbitt (1918) state that prescriptive curriculum as an entire range of
experiences that are both directed and undirected in revealing the skills of the student.
Meanwhile, the Indiana Department of Education (2010) defines prescriptive curriculum as the
planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials, resources, and processes for
evaluating the attainment of educational objectives.
In addition, Lunenburg (2011) insists that prescriptive curriculum involves the issues of
curriculum development or improvement, hence focusing on the production of curriculum.
Krathwohl, Bloom, & Masia (1964) correspondingly agree to this definition that the processes of
developing, implementing, and evaluating a curriculum may be considered as the essential
elements of a curriculum plan. A curriculum plan is a system for both decision making and action
with respect to curriculum functions directed at a specified population.
The theory and research of John Goodlad (1994, 1998) supports this perspective.
Goodlad argues not only that curriculum development results in a plan for instruction, including
elements of evaluation and the potential for school improvement, but also that the key unit for
educational change is the individual school; and the chief decision makers in effectuating a

curriculum plan are the school principal, teachers, students, parents, and local community. Thus,
the primary ingredient of teaching and learning is the local school site.

Descriptive Curriculum
Apart from that, the term of descriptive curriculum on the other hand can be deduced as
the real situations that happen in the classrooms (Ellis, 2004). Meanwhile, some scholars also do
interpret descriptive curriculum as experience that individual undergo at school.
Caswell & Campbell (1935); Smith, Stanley & Shores (2006) claim that descriptive
curriculum as experiences that the students have under the guidance of the teachers. Curriculum
is a part of experiences set up in the schools for the purpose of disciplining children and youth in
group ways of thinking and acting.
Marsh & Willis (2007) view on descriptive curriculum does not vary from other scholars
views as they also pointing out that curriculum is about all the experiences in the classroom
which are planned and enacted by the teachers, and learned by the students for specific purposes.
On top of that, the conception of the descriptive curriculum as the experiences of the
learner, complemented by organized content or subject matter was introduced in many
curriculum publications. Taba (1962) asserts that to develop criteria for rational priorities in
selecting learning experiences, it is necessary to clarify some significant issues. She points out
the importance of understanding that the curriculum consists of two different things: the content
(subject matter) and the learning experiences (the mental operations that students employ in
learning subject matter).

Another further explanation regarding descriptive curriculum is by Brown (2006) who

emphasizes student school experiences link to the betterment of skills and strategies in reasoning
critically and creatively, cracking problems, working among members collaboratively,
communicating politely, writing, reading effectively and analytically and last but not least
conducting research in order to solve problems encounter.
Besides, Tanner & Tanner (1995) describe descriptive curriculum as the learning
experiences and intended outcomes formulated through systematic reconstruction of knowledge
and experiences, under the auspices of the school for the learners continuous and willful growth
in persona-social competence. In other words, descriptive curriculum creates an opportunity for
the students to reconstruct knowledge and experience which could give the students to develop
intelligent of certain knowledge and experience.
Nonetheless, Silva (2009) highlights descriptive curriculum as what the students can
accomplish with knowledge, instead of what units of knowledge should the students learn.
Because as for Silva (2009), the most prominent key in creating the 21 st century skills is on
what the students can execute with the knowledge that they have in the classroom in particular.
Furthermore, Hopkins (1941) defines this type of curriculum as a process of acquiring
where each child chooses, receives, and integrates into himself to act with, on, and upon, in
certain experiences. Meanwhile, Ragan (1960) explains that descriptive curriculum is about all
experiences of the child for which the school accepts responsibility. And lastly, Hass (1987) says
it is the set of actual experiences and perceptions of the experiences that each individual learner
has of his or her program of education.

As a whole, the definitions provided for prescriptive and descriptive curricula vary
primarily in their breadth and emphasis. It would seem that a useful definition of curriculum
should meet two criteria: It should reflect the general understanding of the term as used by
educators, and it should be useful to educators in making operational distinctions. The
curriculum is the plans made for guiding learning in the schools, usually represented in
retrievable documents of several levels of generality, and the actualization of those plans in the
classroom, as experienced by the learners and as recorded by an observer; those experiences take
place in a learning environment that also influences what is learned.