Curriculum Development

Curriculum Essentials
 Curriculum and the Teacher
Curriculum in Schools
The Sabre-Tooth Curriculum by Harold
Benjamin (1939)
 Curriculum then, was seen as a tradition
of organized knowledge taught in
schools of the 19th century.
 Activity
Guide Questions:
1. Does the Sabre-Tooth Curriculum still exist at
present? Give examples of your evidence.
2. Describe the kind of curriculum that exists as
described in the article.
3. What does the author mean, when he said “A
curriculum should be timeless”? Explain
4. What is the difference between education and
training?
 No formal, non-formal or informal
education exists without a
curriculum.
 Classrooms will be empty with no
curriculum.
 Teachers will have nothing to do, if
there is no curriculum.
 Curriculum is the heart of the
teaching profession
 Every teacher is guided by some sort
of curriculum in the classroom and
in schools.
In our current Philippine educational system,
different schools are established in different
educational levels which have corresponding
recommended curricula. The educational
levels are:

1. Basic Education
2. Technical – Vocational Education
3. Higher Education
Types of Curricula in Schools
(Glatthorn, 2000 as mentioned in Bilbao, et.al., 2008)

1. Recommended Curriculum
 Almost all curricula find in our
schools are recommended.
 The recommendations come in
the form of memoranda or
policies, standards and
guidelines.
2. Written Curriculum
 This includes documents based on the
recommended curriculum.
 They come in the form of course of study,
syllabi, modules, books or instructional
guides among others.
 Teacher’s lesson plan and K to 12 for
Philippine Basic Education
3. Taught Curriculum
 From what has been written or
planned, the curriculum has to be
implemented or taught.
 The teacher and the students will
put life to the written curriculum.
 It depend largely on the teaching
style of the teacher and the
learning style of the learners.
4. Supported Curriculum
 This is described as support
materials that the teacher needs
to make learning and teaching
meaningful.
 It also includes facilities when
learning occurs outside or inside
the four-walled building.
5. Assessed Curriculum
 Taught and supported curriculum
have to be evaluated to find out if
the teacher has succeeded or not
in facilitating learning.
 In the process of teaching and at
the end of every lesson or
teaching episode, an assessment
made (assessment for/of/as
learning).
6. Learned Curriculum
 Teachers always believed that if
a student changed behavior,
he/she has learned. The positive
outcome of teaching is an
indicator of learning.
 These are measured by tools in
assessment, which can indicate
the cognitive, affective and
psychomotor outcomes.
 It will also demonstrate higher
order thinking and critical thinking
and lifelong skills.
7. Hidden/Implicit Curriculum
 This curriculum is not deliberately
planned, but has greater impact
on the behavior of the learner.
 Peer influence, school
environment, media, parental
pressures, societal changes,
cultural practices, natural
calamities are some factors that
create the hidden curriculum.
 Teacher as the Curricularist
Exciting Facilitating Recommending
Growing Knowing Planning
Initiating
Growing Evaluating Frustrating
Rewarding Innovating
Broadening
Believing
Showing Building
Copying
Curricularist
 Teachers doing a series of
interrelated actions about
curriculum, instruction,
assessment, evaluation, teaching
and learning.
 A classroom teacher involved with
curriculum continuously all day.
 In the past, they are referred only
to those who developed curriculum
theories.
Most influential curricularist in
America:
 John Dewey
 Ralph Tyler
 Hilda Taba
 Franklin Bobbit

Hayes (1991)
Curricularist
 A professional who is a curriculum
specialist (Hayes, 1991; Ornstein
& Hunkins; Hewitt, 2006).
 A person who is involved in
curriculum knowing, writing,
planning, implementing,
evaluating, innovating, and
initiating.
 The classroom is the first place of
curricular engagement.
 The first school experience sets
the tone to understand the
meaning of schooling through the
interactions of learners and
teachers that will lead to learning.
 Curriculum is the heart of
schooling.
Different roles of teacher in the
classroom and in the school:
The teacher as curricularist…
1. knows the curriculum (Knower)
2. writes the curriculum (Writer)
3. plans the curriculum (Planner)
4. initiates the curriculum (Initiator)
5. innovates the curriculum
(Innovator)
6. implements the curriculum
(Implementor)
7. evaluates the curriculum
(Evaluator)
The Teacher as a Knower of Curriculum
Curriculum
 The word originates from the Latin word
“currere” referring to the oval track upon which
Roman chariots raced.
 The whole body of a course in an educational
institution or by a department (The New
International Dictionary).
 Courses taught in school or universities (Oxford
English Dictionary)
Some Definitions of Curriculum
1. Curriculum is a planned and guided
learning experiences and intended
outcomes, formulated through the
systematic reconstruction of
knowledge and experiences under
the auspices of the school, for the
learners’ continuous and willful
growth in personal social
competence (Tanner, 1980).
2. Curriculum is a written document
that systematically describes goals
planned, objectives, content, learning
activities, evaluation procedures and
so forth (Pratt, 1980).
3. Curriculum refers to the contents of
a subject, concepts and tasks to be
acquired, planned activities, the
desired learning outcomes and
experiences, product of culture and
an agenda to reform society
(Schubert, 1987)
4. Hass (1987) provides a broader
definition, stating that a curriculum
includes “all of the experiences that
individual learners have in a program
of education whose purpose is to
achieve broad goals and related
specific objectives, which is planned
in terms of a framework of theory
and research or past and present
professional practice”
5. Grundy (1987) defines curriculum as
a programme of activities (by
teachers and pupils) designed so
that pupils will attain so far as
possible certain educational and
other schooling ends or objectives.
6. Cronbleth (1992) defines curriculum
as answering three questions: what
knowledge, skills and values are
most worthwhile? Why are they most
worthwhile? How should the young
acquire them?
7. Curriculum is a plan that consists of
learning opportunities for a specific
time frame and place, a tool that
aims to bring about behaviour
changes in students as a result of
planned activities and includes all
learning experiences received by
students with the guidance of the
school (Goodland and Su, 1992).
 Curriculum from Traditional
Points of View

Robert Hutchins believes that college

education must be grounded on liberal
education while basic education should
emphasize the rules of grammar,
reading, rhetoric, logic and
mathematics. For him, curriculum is
viewed as permanent studies which
explain why some subjects are
repeated from elementary to college,
such as grammar, reading, and
mathematics.
Arthur Bestor is an essentialist who
believes that the mission of the school
is to train the intellectual capacity of
learners. Hence, subjects to be offered
are grammar, literature, writing,
mathematics, science, history and
foreign language.
Joseph Schwab views that:
discipline is the sole source of curriculum,
and so, the curriculum is divided into chunks
of knowledge which are called subject areas
like English, mathematics, social studies,
science, humanities, languages, and others.
As a leading curriculum theorist, Schwab
used the term discipline as the ruling
doctrine for curriculum development.
Therefore, curriculum is viewed as a field of
study and it should only consist of knowledge
that comes from the disciplines; for example,
linguistics, economics, chemistry, among
others.
Phillip Phenix asserted that curriculum
should consist entirely of knowledge
which comes from various disciplines.

Collectively from the traditional view

of theorists, curriculum can be defined
as a field of study. Curriculum is highly
academic, and is concerned with broad
historical, philosophical, psychological
and social issues.
 Curriculum from Progressive Points
of View
John Dewey
He is the famous proponent of
progressivism.
He argues that reflective thinking is
important. It is a tool to unify all the
curricular elements, such as aims, goals,
and objectives; subject matter/content;
learning experiences; and evaluation
approaches.
For him, it is important to test the
knowledge or thought through application,
or the learning by doing, which became
influential in education. His famous
philosophy is pragmatism.
Hollis Caswell and Doak Campbell
define curriculum as “all experiences
children have under the guidance of
the teachers.” In this regard,
curriculum should contain all the
experiences needed by the children to
learn, and a teacher should only act as
a guide or facilitator.
B. Othanel Smith, William O. Stanley,
and J. Harlan Shores
share the same view that the
curriculum, as the way Caswell &
Campbell view it, as “a sequence of
potential experiences set up in the
schools for the purpose of disciplining
the children and the youth while doing
group activities.”
Colin J. Marsh and George Willis
define curriculum as the “experiences in
the classroom which are planned and
enacted by the teacher, and also learned
by the students”. In this definition, the
experiences are done in the classrooms.

Progressivists believe that teachers

must provide sets of experiences that
are planned and facilitated by the
teachers in order for the students to
actualize what they have learned within
or outside the classrooms.
 Approaches to School Curriculum
Three Ways of Approaching a Curriculum
1. as content or a body of knowledge to be
transmitted
2. as a product or the learning outcomes
desired of learners
3. as a process or what actually happens in the
classroom when the curriculum is practised.
1. Curriculum as a Content or Body of
Knowledge
 Traditionalists equate curriculum as
a topic outline, subject matter, or
concepts to be included.
 If curriculum is equated as content,
then the focus will be the body of
knowledge to be transmitted to
students using appropriate teaching
method.
 In most educational setting,
curriculum is anchored on a body of
knowledge or discipline.
Four ways of presenting the content
in the curriculum:
1. topical approach, where much
content is based on knowledge,
and experiences are included;
2. concept approach with fewer
topics in clusters around major
and sub-concepts and their
interaction, with relatedness
emphasized;
3. thematic approach as a
combination of concepts that
develop conceptual structures;
and
4. modular approach that leads to
complete units of instruction.
Criteria in the Selection of Content
1. Significance
 The subject matter or content is
significant if it is selected and
organized for the development of
learning activities, skills, processes,
and attitude.
 It also develops the three domains of
learning namely the cognitive,
affective and psychomotor skills and
considers the cultural aspects of the
learners. Particularly, if your students
come from different cultural
backgrounds and races, the subject
matter must be culture-sensitive.
2. Validity
 It refers to the authenticity of the
subject matter or content you
selected. Make sure that the
topics are not obsolete.

3. Utility
 Another criterion is the usefulness
of the content or subject matter.
Students think that a subject matter
or some subjects are not important
to them. They view it useless. As a
result, they do not study.
4. Learnability
 The subject matter or content
must be within the schema of the
learners. It should be within their
experiences. Teachers should
apply theories in the psychology
of learning to know how subjects
are presented, sequenced, and
organized to maximize the
learning capacity of the students.
5. Feasibility
 It means full implementation of
the subject matter. It should
consider the real situation of the
school, the government, and the
society, in general. Students
must learn within the allowable
time and the use of resources
available. Do not give them a
topic that is impossible to finish.
6. Interest
 This criterion is true to the learner-
centered curriculum. Students learn
best if the subject matter is
meaningful to them. It becomes
meaningful if they are interested in
it. However, if the curriculum is
subject-centered, teachers have no
choice but to finish the pacing
schedule religiously and only teach
what is in the book. This approach
explains why many fail in the
subject.
Guide in the Selection of the
Content in the Curriculum
1. Commonly used in the daily life.
2. Appropriate to the maturity levels
and abilities of the learners
3. Valuable in meeting the needs and
competencies of the future career
4. Related to other subject fields or
discipline for complementation and
integration
5. Important in the transfer of learning
to other disciplines
 BASIC Principles of Curriculum
Content

According to Palma in 1992, in organizing

the learning contents, the curriculum
organizer must take into consideration the
principles on balance, articulation,
sequence, integration, continuity.
Balance
It means that the curriculum is fairly
distributed in deep and breath of the
particular learning area or discipline.
The elementary curriculum is really
fairly distributed. Though the number of
competencies is not equal in every
quarter but this doesn’t mean that they
are not fairly distributed because the
competencies are actually budgeted
base on the number of days of teaching
per topic which would fit in to the
number of days per grading period.
Articulation
It means the smooth connection of
the subject matters. The subject
matters in the elementary curriculum
are really connected. The former is
connected with the latter. That is why
in the learning process, review is
encouraged to really establish and
deepen the connection of the subject
matters to make it more meaningful
to the children.
Sequence
This is the logical arrangement of the
subject matters. Based on observation
and experience, the subject matters are
logically arranged from easy to difficult,
basic to complex. Topics in other
learning areas, like HEKASI, Science
and Math, are actually arranged from
where the students can find a closer
connection to their selves and
experience so that they can easily
relate to it.
Integration
This is the horizontal connections in
subject areas. Well, this is actually
encouraged. The fact is that there
are subject matters that can be
integrated in other subject area. Like
the integration of values in all subject
areas, the integration of Science and
Math concepts in teaching English;
and HEKASI and MSEP concepts in
teaching Filipino.
Continuity
It refers to the constant repetition,
review and reinforcement of learning.
Meaning, a lesson should not stop after
an evaluation. It has to be repeated
through review and reinforcement.
Thus, this is the principle in the
elementary curriculum. We even
targeted that the learning in school
should be applicable and applied to the
daily life.
2. Curriculum as a Process
Curriculum is seen as a verb or an
action word. It is the interaction
among the teachers, students, and
content.
As a process, curriculum happens
in the classroom as the questions
asked by the teacher and the
learning activities engaged in by
the students.
 As a process, curriculum links to the
content. The process provides
curriculum on how to teach the
content.
 When accomplished, the process will
result to various curriculum
experiences for the learners.
 The intersection of the content and
process is called Pedagogical
Content Knowledge (PCK).
 Instruction, implementation and
teaching are three words that connote
process in the curriculum.
 When educators ask teachers: What
curriculum are you using?
Some of the answers:
 Problem-based
 Hands-on, Minds-on
 Cooperative learning
 Blended Curriculum
 On-line learning
 Case-based
 Guiding Principles when Curriculum
approached as a PROCESS:
1. Curriculum process in the form of
teaching methods or strategies are
means to achieve the end.
2. There is no single best process or
method. Its effectiveness will
depend on the desired learning
outcomes, the learners, support
materials and the teacher.
3. Curriculum process should
stimulate the learners’ desire to
develop the cognitive, affective,
psychomotor domains in each
individual.
4. In the choice of methods, learning
and teaching styles should be
considered.
5. Every method or process should
result to learning outcomes which
can be described as cognitive,
affective and psychomotor.
6. Flexibility in the use of the process
or methods should be considered.
An effective process will always
result to learning outcomes.
7. Both teaching and learning are the
two important processes in the
implementation of the curriculum.
3. Curriculum as a Product
Product is what the students
desire to achieve as a learning
outcome.
The product from the curriculum is
a student equipped with the
knowledge, skills and values to
function effectively and efficiently.
The real purpose of education is to
bring about significant changes in
students’ pattern of behavior.
 Products of learning are
operationalized as knowledge, skills
and values.
 Curriculum product is expressed in
form of outcomes which are referred
to as the achieved learning
outcomes.
Curriculum Development: Processes and Models
 Curriculum is a dynamic process.
 Curriculum development is a dynamic process
involving many different people and procedures.
 Curriculum development is linear and follows a
logical step-by-step fashion involving the
following phases: curriculum planning,
curriculum design, curriculum implementation
and curriculum evaluation.
1. Curriculum Planning
 It considers the school vision,
mission and goals. It also includes
the philosophy or strong education
belief of the school. All of these can
will eventually translated to
classroom desired learning
outcomes for the learners.
2. Curriculum Designing
 The way curriculum is
conceptualized to include the
selection and organization of
content, the selection and
organization of learning
experiences or activities and the
selection of the assessment
procedure and tools to measure
achieved learning outcomes. It will
also include the resources to be
utilized and the statement of the
intended learning outcomes.
3. Curriculum implementing
It is putting into action the plan
which is based on curriculum
design in the classroom setting or
the learning environment.
4. Curriculum evaluating
It determines the extent to which
the desired outcomes have been
achieved.
It will also pinpoint where
improvement can be made and
corrective measures, introduced.