Curriculum Development
Definition :
It is the total effort of the school to bring about desired outcomes in
school and out-of-school situations. It is also defined as a sequence of
potential experiences set up in school for the purpose of disciplining
children and youth in group ways of thinking and acting.
Curriculum can be defined “as a dense and flexible contract between
politics / society and teachers”.
Significance:
The Curriculum takes content (from external standards and local goals)
and shapes it into a plan for how to conduct effective teaching and
learning. It is thus more than a list of topics and lists of key facts and
skills (the “input” ). It is a map of how to achieve the “outputs” of desired
student performance, in which appropriate learning activities and
assessments are suggested to make it more likely that students achieve
the desired results.
Vision of curriculum:
1-It's is a diversity of learning processes to achieve quality education.
2-The curriculum is a political and technical issue that is well embedded in
the complex interfaces between politics, society, and education.
Definition of Curriculum Development:
Curriculum development is defined as planned, purposeful, progressive,
and systematic process in order to create positive improvements in the
educational system. Every time there are changes or developments
happening around the world, the school curricula are affected. There is a
need to update them in order to address the society’s needs.
It is defined as the process of selecting, organizing, executing, and
evaluating learning experiences on the basis of the needs, abilities and
interests of the learners and the nature of the society or community.
Importance of Curriculum Development:
Curriculum development has a broad scope because it is not only about
the school, the learners and the teachers. It is also about the
development of a society in general.
In today’s knowledge economy, curriculum development plays a vital role
in improving the economy of a country. It also provides answers or
solutions to the world’s pressing conditions and problems, such as
environment, politics, socio-economics, and other issues on poverty,
climate change and sustainable development.
There must be a chain of developmental process to develop a society.
First, the school curriculum particularly in higher education must be
developed to preserve the country’s national identity and to ensure its
economy’s growth and stability.
Curriculum Planning:
A Curriculum Planning is the process whereby the arrangement of
curriculum plans or learning opportunities are created.It is the process of
preparing for the duties of teaching, deciding upon goals and emphases,
determining curriculum content, selecting learning resources and
classroom procedures, evaluating progress, and looking towards next
steps.
Curriculum Laboratory:
Curriculum laboratory is a place or workshop where curriculum materials
are gathered or used by teachers or learners of curriculum.
Essential School:
Its approach is authoritative and the teacher’s role is to assign lessons
and to recite recitations. It is book-centered and the methods
recommended are memory work , mastery of facts and skills, and
development of abstract intelligence.
Progressive School:
It conceives the curriculum as something flexible based on areas of
interest. It is learner-centered, having in mind that no two persons are
alike. Its factor of motivation is individual achievement believing that
persons are naturally good. The Role of the teacher is to stimulate direct
learning process.It uses a life experience approach to fit the student for
future social life. Constant revision of aims and experimental techniques
of teaching and learning are imperatives in curriculum development in
order to create independent thinking, initiative, self-reliance, individuality,
self-expression and activity in the learner.
Types of Curriculum:
1-Objective-based curriculum:
-It specifies behavioral objectives to change the behavior of students.
-Objectives may describe what the teacher or student is to do, what
subject matter is to be covered, or the expected student learning.
2-Content-based curriculum:
-It focuses on traditional subject disciplines.
- It is directive, detailed and rigid in both structure and time allocation.
-It emphasizes lower level cognitive skills:
(memorization and reproduction of factual information).
3-Outcome-based curriculum:
-It focuses on the results rather than the means to achieve them.
-It supports the development of skills or understandings than cover
required content.
4-Competency-based curriculum:
-It avoids a subject-based approach and emphasizes the cross-
connections between learning areas.
- It aims to ensure that every learner reaches specific minimum levels of
competency at particular stages of schooling.
-It integrate knowledge, attitudes and values in order to competently
address real-life situations.
5-Integrated curriculum:
-Skills and knowledge are developed in more than one area of study.
-It acknowledges that learning and knowledge have a social dimension
and that learning is not only a “school-based” activity.
6-Standards-based curriculum:
-Assessments are criterion referenced.
-Student's performance is measured against the defined standard, not
against the performance of other students.
Curriculum tools:
Aims, goals and Objectives:
Every curriculum must have an education philosophy. Aims must be
linked to the country education philosophy. Every curriculum is aimed at
developing in the learners certain competencies or abilities. The
curriculum process must identify the aims that the curriculum is intended
to achieve.
1-Aims are broad statements which cover all of the experiences provided
in the curriculum.
2-Goals are tied to specific subjects or group of contents within the
curriculum.
3-Objectives describe the more specific outcomes that can be attained as
a result of lessons or instruction delivered at the classroom.
Selecting Aims:
1-Analysis of our culture : we should take into account our cultural values,
norms and expectations when selecting aims.
2-The present status of the learner.
what has the learner already known? What are his/her characteristics?
What is he/she ready for.
3-The state of our knowledge of the subject matter or content.
We should examine knowledge to see if they contain things that are of
real value to the learner and society.
4-Relevance to school’s philosophy of education.
Each nation has its own philosophy of education which its schools try to
implement .
Content & Learning Experiences:
Content is what we teach. Learning experience is an activity which the
learner engages in which results in changes in his behavior. We should
select those contents and learning experiences that will achieve goals of
the curriculum.
Selecting Content:
1-Validity : means two things, is the content related to the objectives and
is the content true or authentic?
2-Significance : is the content significant or will lead it to the memory
mastery or more understanding of the course or subject?
3-Utility : here the question is whether the content selected is useful and
will lead to the acquisition of skills and knowledge that are considered
useful by society?
4-Interest : is the content interesting to the learner? Or can the content be
made interesting to learners?
5-Learnability : is the content selected such that learners can learn and
understand given their present level?
Selecting Learning Experiences:
Learning experience must be related to the stated goals of the
curriculum. Relevance to life : learning experience must be related to the
learner’s real life situations in and out of school. learning experiences
must cater to the needs of different types of learners by providing
different types of experiences. Suitability:learning experiences must be
suitable to the learners' present state of learning and characteristics.
Stages of curriculum Development:
The curriculum development process systematically organizes what will
be taught, who will be taught, and how it will be taught. Each component
affects and interacts with other components. For example, what will be
taught is affected by who is being taught (e.g:their stage of development
in age, maturity, and education). Methods of how content is taught are
affected by who is being taught, their characteristics, and the setting.
Input, Process and Output:
I can say that the idiom Input refers to the syllabus, the
item Process refers to the methodology and the item Output refers to the
learning outcomes.
Curriculum Development Techniques:
Curriculum development in language teaching can start from input,
process or output. Each starting point reflects different assumptions
about both the means and ends of teaching and learning. This leads to
the distinction I wish to make between forward design, central design, and
backward design.
1-Forward design means developing a curriculum through moving from
input, to process, and to output.
2-Central design means starting with process and deriving input and
output from classroom methodology.
3-Backward design as the name implies, starts from output and then deals
with issues relating to process and input.
Steps of development:
1-Planning:
A Committee is formed. This committee must include teachers,
administrators, experts, members of the public and learners. A research
is wanted. This research allows a curriculum committee to identify key
issues and trends that will support the needs assessment that should be
conducted and the philosophy that should be developed.
2-Articulation:
Why is learning? What are our beliefs about teaching and learning?This
philosophy must be linked to the aims, goals, and objectives. The course
content, learning experiences and activities must be linked to the aims,
goals and objectives. Assessment must be linked to the learning
experiences.
3-Implementing:
Putting the New Program into Practice through choosing the relevant
method of teaching and material.
4-Evaluating:
Determining the Success of the New Program. Using surveys, focused
discussions and meetings. A curriculum development committee needs to
periodically gather data on perceptions of program strengths,
weaknesses, needs, preferences for textbooks and other materials, and
topics or objectives that do not seem to be working effectively.
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External links:
1-Classroom activity 11.
2-High school Activities.
3-Middle schools Activities.
4-Elementary schools Activities.
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English Teaching Forum 2006, Volume 44, Number 4
1-Creating Positive Attitudes Towards English as a Foreign Language
2-Constructivism in Theory and in Practice
3-Conditions for Teacher Research
4-Translation and Foreign Language Reading Comprehensio n
5-Classroom Techniques: Romeo and Juliet in One Hour
6-Newspapers in America
7-Lesson Plan: Using Journalism Skills in the Language Classroom
8-The Lighter Side
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