Curriculum Conceptions
Curriculum makers have different ideas about curriculum matters and curriculum
development processes. They have different point of view about curriculum concerns , goals
of what a curriculum should accomplish and how a curriculum should be designed or
constructed. These explain the presence of various curriculum orientations and
conceptions.
1. Academic Rationalist – considered as the oldest among the conceptions. It stresses
the importance of different bodies of knowledge, known as disciplines or subject
areas, as the focus of curriculum.
2. Cognitive Processes – seeks to develop a repertoire of cognitive skills that are
applicable to wide range of intellectual problems. The subject matters are
instruments or tools for developing these cognitive skills that are lasting in the lives
of individuals.
3. Humanistic Conception – stresses the idea that curriculum or education is an
instrument for developing the potential of learners. It seeks to help individuals
discover and develop their unique identities. It stresses that curriculum should
focus on the needs and interests of learners.
4. Social Reconstructionist – views the school or schooling as an agency for school
change. Hence, it stresses that curriculum should respond to the different needs,
issues, problems and demands of the society.
5. Technological Conception – is preoccupied with the development of means to
achieve curriculum of educational goals. It views schooling as a complex system
that can be analysed into its constituent components.
6. Eclectic Conception- is where curriculum workers find themselves aligning their
ideas with 2 or more curriculum conceptions. Hence, this conception reiterates
the realities in curriculum development that each of the conceptions is to be
considered and is influential to a certain extent in designing curriculum.
Elements of a Curriculum
In general, curriculum has four important elements. These elements must be present in
all curriculum documents or before a document can be called a curriculum. These four
elements are: Curriculum Intent, Content, Learning Experiences and Evaluation.
1. Curriculum Intent- is the term used by Print (1993) to mean the direction that
curriculum developers wish to take as a result of participating in the curriculum. It
includes the aims, goals and objectives found in curriculum documents.
Aims are broad statements of social or educational expectations. They include what
is hoped to be achieved by the entire curriculum.
Goals are statements more specific than aims. Goal are general statements of what
concepts, skills and values should be learned in the curriculum.
Objectives are specific learning outcomes. These include what specific, concepts,
skills and values should be learned by the students. Usually, objectives are used in
making decisions or planning on instruction.
These topics are based on the curriculum intents. Contents may include values,
concepts, skills that are important for the learners to learn.
2. Learning Experiences – include all instructional strategies that are useful for the
implementation of the curriculum. These may appear in the form of activities,
strategies, methods or approaches that are useful in implementing the curriculum
or in teaching the content.
3. Evaluation – includes the different ways and tools used for evaluating whether or
not the curriculum intents were realized. Evaluation tools are also used to
evaluate the performance of the learners after they have undergone the
curriculum.
Hilda Taba (1962) observed that al curricula, no matter what design they have are
composed of certain elements.
- A curriculum usually contains a statement of aims and specific objectives.
- It indicates some selection and organization of content.
- It either implies or manifests certain patterns of learning and teaching whether
because the objectives demand them or because the content organization
requires them.
- It includes a program of evaluation of the outcomes .
UNderstanding the different elements of curriculum will help curriculum workers specially
teachers in designing curriculum and in analysing the different curriculum materials that are
offered In schools and to students.
