Dr. V.K. Maheshwari, Ph.

D
Philosophical commentary on issues of
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Critical Appraisal of Existing Curriculum / Syllabus

Posted on February 7, 2015 by admin

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A(Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V.(P.G) College, Roorkee, India

School is a twelve-year jail sentence where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned. I
teach school and win awards doing it. I should know.

John Taylor Gatto

As per the modern thinking, education is a tri-polar process, in which on the one end is the teacher, on the second
is the student and on the third is the curriculum. The most comprehensive concept of curriculum is given by those
who conceive it to include the total environment of the school. In fact, the curriculum has been described as “the
environment in motion.”

The curriculum includes all the learner’s experiences in or outside school which has been devised to help him
develop mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually and morally.

Thus, the various subjects included for study in a curriculum are not intended merely for study or rote learning
but to convey experiences- of various kinds .Curriculum does not mean only the academic subject traditionally
taught it the school, but it includes the totality of experiences that a pupil receives through the manifold activities
that go on in the school in the classroom, library laboratory, workshop, playground and in the numerous informal
contacts between teachers and pupils.

Curriculum is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. Curriculum is a means or tool. Explaining the concept of
curriculum as a tool of education, Cunningham writes, “The curriculum is the tool in the hands of the artist (the
teacher) to mould his material (the pupil) according to his ideal (objective) in his studio (the school).” Here the
educator is compared to an artist and the curriculum as one of the instruments of tools used by him to develop the
student according to, and in conformity with the aims of education.
Evaluation of Curriculum

Formative Assessment:

Formative assessment made in a situation when the curriculum is answerable to the public. Assessment in such a
situation must ensure objectivity, credibility and relevance. To ensure these, it-will follow the get standardized
norms/ procedures of lest construction, administration and interpretation. Informal assessment is applicable to
situations where an individual or a voluntary body is a curriculum to obtain some information to fulfil some
personal requirements. The informal assessment also needs to be objective and reliable, but the evaluator is not
bound to satisfy about these qualities of his assessment. Hence, the process of assessment need not follow the set
procedures of evaluation.

Summative Assessment:

Formative assessment is concerned with identifying learner weaknesses in attainment in order to help the learner
and the teacher overcome/remedy. Summative assessment aims at certifying and grading the attainment of the
learner at the end of a given course.

(i) Tests for formative assessment are given at regular and frequent intervals during a course, while the tests for
summative assessment are given at the end of a course or at the end of a fairly long period, say a term or a
semester or a year. In a course that extends over six months, a test at the end of say, every fortnight will be a
fomative test, while the test at the end of the six months will be summative.

(ii) The level of generalisation sought by the items of a summative test will be must higher compared to that
sought by the items of a formative test. For instance, if the items of a formative test check the ability to apply a
given rule or principle to a given unfamiliar situation, the items in a summative test may check the ability to apply
one or more to the appropriate rules/principles from among the many given in a variety of situations.

(iii) The functions of formative and summative assessments are different in the context of EOEP. Formative
assessment includes tests and other forms of measurement intended to give a measure or of success of the parts of
a curriculum even when the curriculum is. in the process of development. Summative evaluation includes such
forms of measurement that would give a measure of success of the course as a whole.

Developmental Assessment:

Besides formative assessment and summative assessment in education, yet another term is in use. It is
‘development assessment”. Used in the context of curriculum development, it refers to the evaluation of the
preliminary versions of curriculum with representative sample of learners. It is generally treated as a part of the
curriculum development schedule. Formative assessment in this context refers to the evaluation of a course made
with larger group of learners. The purpose of such assessment is not to help the process of curriculum
development but to help the activities of maintenance and revision of curriculum already developed.

Criteria for Curriculum Evaluation

The review about literature related to curriculum indicates that there are four major criteria for assessing the
workability of the curriculum.
1.Subject-Content.

Various subjects are included in the curriculum, such as-Hindi, English, Sanskrit, History, Geography, Social
Science, Physical Sciences, Bio-science, Home science, Maths,Economics, Psychology, Sociology, Physical
education, Art, and Drawing etc. The structure of content of these subjects is determined for the curriculum
development.

2. Experiences.

The curriculum provides the following type of experiences to the students, social, historical, geographical (time
and place sense), physical, political, civics senses, religious, spiritual and reactive experiences, expression of ideas
facts and events.

3. Skills.

Curriculum provides the situations for developing skills or psychomotor actives-languages reading, writing,
speaking, observations, perception, use of different type, instrument in the workshops and field works,
communications skills, craft work, and verbal and non-verbal communication skills. It is related to psychomotor
objectives.

4. Attitude and Values.

Curriculum provides the experiences for developing affective domain of the learners. The feeling, beliefs, attitudes
and values are developed. It develops self-confidence, honesty, sensitivity sincerity, morality, objectivity, character
and adjustment.

Related to cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains, the factors are given due weight age in good curriculum.

Critical Appraisal of Existing Syllabus

The concept of curriculum is very wide and extensive. It includes all those experiences which a student gets in the
aegis of the school. It includes all educational and co-curricular activities inside and outside the classroom. The
curriculum can be understood in the form of activity and experience.

Curriculum is the organized form of subject-matter, specially prepared to experiences and activities which provide
the student with the knowledge and the skill he will require in facing the various situations of real life.

The term ‘syllabus’ is often used in the sense of the term ‘curriculum’. In fact, the matter for an intellectual subject
is called content. When this content is organised in view of teaching in the classroom, this is called syllabus.

Thus, the syllabus presents the definite know ledge regarding the amount of knowledge to be given to students
during the course of teaching of different subjects; while the curriculum demolish which educational activities, the
teacher would complete the needs of the syllabus. In other words, the syllabus determines the content to teaching,
while the curriculum determines the methods of teaching for imparting it.

Teaching can be made more effective if a science teacher is fully satisfied with the curriculum which he has to
teach. Also, he should know its utility. It can be possible only when he studies the prevalent syllabus critically. It
should be fully clear to him that each subject has certain specific aims which students have to achieve. A teacher
should examine these aims and how they can be achieved on the basis of the present syllabus.

From this view, the prevalent syllabus can be placed under the following bases for its critical study:

Syllabus in Relation to Objectives:

The syllabus is a means to attain the objectives. If aims and means are not in consonance, then the desirable
outcomes would only be a pipedream. The utility of the syllabus depends on the fact whether the topics included
in it are helpful in the realization of the concerned teaching objectives. In this context, it would be necessary to
evaluate the syllabus. The following table can be used

S No. Topic Cognitive Affective Psychomotor

Domain Domain Domain

1. Theoretical 2

Topics 3

2 Practical 1

Topics 2

Selection of Organization of Syllabus:

The selection of syllabus is the second most important test on the basis of which critical analysis should be
conducted. The details of syllabus organisation can be used in the following table beneficially:

S No. Topic (1) Topic (2) Topic (3) Topic (4) Topic (5)
 Approaches of
Syllabus

1. Logical
approach

2. Topical
approach

3. Concentric

approach

4. Interest and
need

-oriented
approach

5. Democratic

approach

Comprehensiveness of Syllabus:
The selection of the syllabus should be as per the level of students. So, the subject matter included in the topics
should be neither floating nor deep.

Comprehensiveness is a qualitative concept. So, it will have to be evaluated in a relative manner. For it, a rating
scale will have to be used. If common analysis has to be conducted, then the three-point rating scale should be
used, and if more intensive study has to be carried out, then five-point rating scale should be desirable.

S Five-point Rating Theoretical Practical

No Scale
Topics Topics

1. Most
comprehensive

2 Very
comprehensive

3. Comprehensive

4. Less
comprehensive

5. Not
comprehensive

Data in the above table can be given numerical value in order to calculate comprehensiveness of the syllabus, (for
it, all tallies of most comprehensive should be multiplied by 5, very comprehensive by 4, comprehensive by 3, less
comprehensive by 2 and not comprehensive by 1, and thus calculate relative comprehensiveness.

Theoretical, Practical or Both:

Both theoretical and practical aspects of science are equally important. If the syllabus is only theoretical, it would
make the syllabus bookish and abstract. Due to this, the content in different topics would have to be analysed to
see how much theoretical aspect it contains and what practical possibilities exist in it. This can be analysed
objectively as follows :

S No. Topic Theoretical Content Practical Content (%) Total

(%)
Percentage

1. _—_

2 —

3. —

4. —

5. —

Examination-centred:

For both students and teachers, the importance of a topic is determined on the basis of its importance in the
examinations. The amount of emphasis of a topic varies with the value of the topic from examination viewpoint
for both teachers and students. It has influenced to such extent that the number of marks allotted for each topic
are given in the syllabus itself. The analysis of examination effect can be done by the following table :

S No. Topic Number of Questions in Score

Question Paper
 1. —

2. —

3. —

4. —

5. —

Child-centred:

The syllabus should not only be meant for common students, but it should have due provisions for talented and
backward students also. The syllabus should be analyzed from this viewpoint also.

The focal point of the syllabus should be the student. The syllabus should be selected keeping in view the age,
previous knowledge, interest, aptitude, needs etc. of students. It should be found out the importance given to
these factors in the syllabus. It would only the be possible to evaluate its utility for students.

Correlation:

Because a student attains knowledge as a whole unit, so the importance of science being related with other
subjects, its influence or. other subjects and influence of other subjects on it cannot be ignored. Therefore, it
should be known whether the form of syllabus is partial or not, which can be done on the basis of the following
table :

S No. Topic Subjects of Subjects of Subjects of

Unilateral Collateral Multilateral

Correlation Correlation Correlation

1. —
 2 —

3. —

4. —

5. —

Interpretation of Evaluation Results

Evaluation results are interpreted in various ways from different said prints and for different purposes such as
guidance, performance .etc.

For Future Education:

The syllabuses for the secondary level and higher education should be inter-connected, so that continuity of
knowledge can be maintained. The syllabus should be analyzed on this basis by which it can be ascertained which
topics can form the basis for future higher education, so that the capability of the syllabus in view of its can be
evaluated.

Although no one, and no teacher, can predict the future with any certainty, people in leadership capacities such as
teachers are required to make guesses about the probable future and plan appropriately. Teachers therefore need
to plan their curriculum according to the more likely future their students face while at the same time
acknowledging that the students have a future. The competent leader cannot plan according to past successes, as
if doing so will force the past to remain with him. The most competent leader and manager, in fact, is not even
satisfied with thoughts of the future, but is never satisfied, always sure that whatever is being done can be
improved.

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Dr. V.K. Maheshwari, Ph.D

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