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Welcome to the Foundations
of Teaching for Learning.
This is week one on getting to know curriculum.
Lecture one today will focus on the concept of curriculum.
Curriculum, what is it?
Actually there's a lot of confusion about this word curriculum and some
will say curriculum means fulfilling certain purpose or an objective.
Some will say is a bunch of lesson plans and some will say is a delivery mechanism.
Some might say it is the techniques and tools that's used in teaching.
Some will say it's educational materials.
So actually what is it and how this idea came about.
For this we may want to look back and how it originated.
Actually it's from the word curere,
a Latin word meaning running a race or race course.
What it means is,
different kinds of action,
deeds and experiences that is provided for
students in a learning process for the child's growth and development.
So that is what curere means.
It can be seen as an umbrella term that encompasses
all planned and unplanned experiences
that is provided in an education institution like school.
We can see a curriculum in two different perspectives.
One is the macro level perspective,
the other one is micro.
Macro level perspective gives a broader definition about curriculum.
It is about anything and everything around us that provides an opportunity for learning.
So that can be considered as part of curriculum.
At this point I would like to highlight what
Michel de Montaigne has said about curriculum.
He says, "In true education,
anything that comes to our hand is as good as a book.
The prank of a page boy,
the blunder of a servant,
a bit of table talk,
they are all part of the curriculum."
So curriculum can be like everything that we sense around,
we feel that provides a some kind of experiences that allows us to grow in some ways.
At the micro perspective level,
it is very much education-institution based and it is streamlined and
directed to fulfill certain needs of the government or the community.
It is actually aimed at fulfilling
bigger goals like reducing certain kind of workforce that is needed for
the nation and based on these needs
the curriculum is designed and implemented accordingly.
Curriculum at this micro perspective level it is considered
more as a plan of action for learning.
So it is reduced to a formal written document that systematically
describes the course of study and is appropriate with the educational level.
It includes all the different subjects,
courses, learning objectives, skills,
knowledge and values that need to be instilled in the children and
the content learning outcomes or experiences and evaluation formats and procedures.
Curriculum is defined very clearly by Tanner and Tanner.
They say that the curriculum is the 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 and social competence.
Curriculum can also be seen as a framework in
an educational context that shapes and guides teaching learning process.
It is a kind of road map that is given to teachers to follow through.
Deeper level analysis also talks about it is the what,
why and how of education.
And these are very important questions that need to be
raised in order to understand the purpose of the curriculum.
There are three major questions in curriculum.
Let's take a look at the three questions here.
What knowledge, skills, and values are most worthwhile?
Whether it is Sciences,
creative and critical thinking skills.
So in your system you may want to think about what are the knowledge,
skills and values that is given importance and why?
Question number two leads to the question, why are they most worthwhile?
What is the reason that this particular knowledge,
skills and values are emphasized in the curriculum in your country?
So what is the background story for this?
We can also take a look at the third question.
How should they be imparted to the children
so that it will bring about the experience in them?
So, what method is used,
what strategies are being used and what kind of changes in behavior is happening?
This may be some important questions that we
may want to ponder upon in curriculum development.
There is actually a source of confusion when we come
to the terms curriculum and syllabus.
Most often people use these two terms
interchangeably but there is a difference between the two.
Curriculum refers to
a more comprehensive educational package involving the conceptualization,
planning, designing and detailing of
a comprehensive learning program for the benefit of deploying it in the schools.
So it is the bigger idea,
the bigger goal and objective of teaching learning in an institution.
Example. Elementary school curriculum.
It is based on the need for the different kinds of knowledge,
skills and values that children attending in elementary schools should possess.
The subjects formal and informal learning and co-curriculum experiences
are planned accordingly.
Now take a look at this definition of a syllabus.
What is it about and how it differs from a curriculum.
For example, if you take social studies a subject for
year one students in elementary levels school.
It may contain the objectives of the subject,
the planned content or the coverage of the subject matter,
teaching techniques and strategies,
the learning outcome and the learning activities that will provide
the learning outcome for the students and finally the evaluation methods and procedures.
So these are the components that we could find in a syllabus.
Now we have come to think, pair, share section.
Here with a colleague of yours you may want to
think about the three questions laid out here.
Think about, what is the difference between
a syllabus and a curriculum in your school and classroom setting?
What is the basis for the curriculum that is provided for your students?
I mean what knowledge,
skills and values are considered most worthwhile and why?
And how much scope do you have for the invention and
creation of activities beyond the prescribed curriculum.
Think about these questions and come up with
some ideas that may be helpful in understanding this topic further.
Thank you very much and I shall see you in the next lecture on aspects of curriculum.
See you later.
Associate Professor Suseela MalakolunthuDirector of the Leadership for Learning and Research Network
Professor John MacBeathProfessor Emeritus
