Module 2: The Teacher

as a Knower of
Curriculum
Lesson1: the school curriculum: definition,
nature and scope.
Whether curriculum is taken in its narrow view as a listing of
subjects to be taught in schools or broadly as all learning
experiences that individuals undergo while in school, we cannot
deny the fact that curriculum should be understood by teachers
and other stakeholders.
Like many concepts in education, there seems to be no
common definition of ‘curriculum’. Because of this, the concept
of curriculum is sometimes characterized as fragmentary,
elusive and confusing.
The word curriculum originates from the Latin word
curere referring to the oval track upon which Roman
chariots raced.
The new International Dictionary defines curriculum as
the whole body of a course in an educational institution
or by a department while the
Oxford Dictionary defines curriculum as courses taught in
schools or universities
 Some definitions of curriculum
1. A planned and guided set of 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. (Daniel Tanner, 1980)
2. A written document that systematically describes goals
planned, objectives, content, learning activities, evaluation
procedures and so forth. (Pratt,1980)
3. 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
make up a curriculum. (Schubert, 1987)
4. 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. (Hass,1987)
5. As a program of activities (by teachers and pupils)
designed so that pupils will attain so far as possible
certain educational and other schooling ends or
objectives. (Grundy,1987)
6. A plan that consists of learning opportunities for a
specific time frame and place, a tool that aims to bring
about behavior 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)
7. As answers to three questions:
i. What knowledge, skills and values are most worthwhile?
ii. Why are they most worthwhile?
iii. How should the young acquire them? (Cronbeth,1992)
 Some points of view of other Curricularists
Since the concept and meaning of curriculum are shaped by a
person’s point of view, this has added to fragmentation, and
some confusion. However, when put together, the different
definitions from diverse points of view, would describe
curriculum as dynamic and perhaps ever changing.
Point of view about can either be traditional or progressive
according to their philosophical and psychological orientations.
These views can also define what a curriculum is all about.
 Curriculum from Traditional Points of View
The traditional points of view of curriculum were advanced by
Robert Hutchins, Arthur Bestor, and Joseph Schwab.
Robert Hutchins views curriculum as “permanent studies”
where rules of grammar, reading, rhetoric, logic and
mathematics for basic education are emphasized. The 3Rs
(Reading, Writing, ‘rithmetic) should be emphasized in basic
education while liberal education should be the emphasis in
college.
Arthur Bestor as an essentialist believes that the mission of the
school should be intellectual training, hence curriculum should
focus on the fundamental intellectual disciplines of grammar,
literature and writing. It should include mathematics, science,
history and foreign language.
Joseph Schwab thinks that sole source of curriculum is a
discipline, thus the subject areas such as science,
mathematics, social studies, English ang many more. In
college, academic disciplines are labelled as humanities,
sciences, languages, mathematics among others. He coined
the word discipline as a ruling doctrine for curriculum
development.

Philip Phenix asserts that curriculum should consist entirely

of knowledge which comes from various disciplines.
Curriculum from Progressive Point of View
John Dewey believes that education is experiencing.
Reflective thinking is a means that unifies curricular
elements that is tested by application.
Holin Caswell and Kenn Campbell viewed curriculum as
all experiences children have under the guidance of
teachers.
.
Othaniel Smith, William Stanley and Harlan shore likewise
defined curriculum as a sequence of potential experiences, set
up in schools for the purpose of disciplining children and youth
in group ways of thinking and acting.
Collin Marsh and George Willis also viewed curriculum as all the
experiences in the classroom which are planned and enacted by
the teacher and also learned by the students.
CURRICULUM is what is taught in school, a set of subjects, a
content, a program of studies, a set of materials, a sequence
of courses, a set of performance objectives, everything that
goes within the school. It is what is taught inside and outside
of school directed by the teacher, everything planned by
school, a series of experiences undergone by learners in
school or what individual learner experiences as a result of
school. In short, curriculum is the total learning experiences of
the learner, under the guidance of the teacher.
Lesson2: Approaches about School Curriculum
 Three Ways of Approaching a Curriculum

1. Curriculum as a Content or Body of Knowledge

It is quite common for traditionalist to equate a curriculum as
a topic outline, subject matter, or concepts to be included in the
syllabus or books. If curriculum is equated as content, then the
focus will be the body of knowledge to be transmitted to
students using appropriate teaching method.
For example, a primary school mathematics curriculum consist
of topics on addition, multiplication, subtraction, division,
distance, weight and many more.
Another example is in secondary school science that involves
the study of biological science, physical science, environmental
science and earth science.
All curricula have content regardless of their design or models. The fund of
knowledge is the repository of accumulated discoveries and inventions of man
from the explorations of the earth and as products of research.
There are four ways of presenting the content in the curriculum. These are:
1. Topical research where much contents is based in 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 develops conceptual
structures and
4. Modular approach that leads to complete units of instruction.
 Criteria in the Selection of Content
There are some suggested criteria in the selection knowledge
or subject matter. (Scheffer,1970 in Bilbao, et al 2009)
1. Significance - content should contribute to ideas, concepts,
principles and generalization that should attain the overall
purpose of the curriculum. It is significant if content becomes
the means of developing cognitive, affective or psychomotor
skills of the learner. As education is a way of preserving culture,
content will be significant when this will address the cultural
context of the learners.
2. Validity - the authenticity of the subject matter, forms
its validity. Knowledge becomes obsolete with the fast
changing times. Thus there is a need for validity check
and verification at a regular interval, because content
which maybe valid in its original form may not continue
to be valid in the current times.
3. Utility – usefulness of the content in the curriculum is
relative to the learners who are going to use these.
Utility can relative to time. It may have been useful in
the past, but may not be useful now or in the future.
Questions like: Will I use this in my future job? Will it add
meaning to my life as a lifelong learner? Or will the
subject matter be useful in solving current concerns?
4. Learnability – the complexity of the content should be
within the range of experiences of the learners. This is
based on the psychological principles of learning.
Appropriate organization of content standards and
sequencing of contents are two basic principles that
would influence learnability.
5. Feasibility – can the subject content be learned
within the time allowed, resources available,
expertise of the teachers and the nature of the
learners? Are these contents of learning which can
be learned beyond the formal teaching learning
engagement? Are these opportunities provided to
learn these?
6. Interest – will the learners take interest in the
content? Why? Are the contents meaningful? What value
will the contents have in the present and future life of
the learners? Interest is one of the driving force for
students to learn.
 Guide in the Selection of the Content in
the Curriculum
1. Content is commonly used in the daily life.
2. Content is appropriate to the maturity levels and abilities of the
learners.
3. Content is valuable in meeting the needs and competencies of the
future career.
4. Content is related to other subject fields or discipline for
complementation in integration.
5. Content is important in the transfer of learning in other disciplines.
 BASIC principles of curriculum content
In 1952, Palma proposed the principle of BASIC as a
guide in addressing CONTENT in the curriculum. B.A.S.I.C
refers to:
Balance - content should be fairly distributed in depth
and breadth. This will guarantee that significant contents
should be covered to avoid too much or too little of the
contents needed with in the time allocation.
Articulation – as the content complexity prosses with the
educational levels, vertically or horizontally across the
same discipline smooth connections or bridging should
be provided. This will assure no gaps or overlaps in the
content. Seamlessness in the content is desired and can
be assured if there is articulation in the curriculum. Thus,
there is a need off team among writers and implementers
of curriculum.
Sequence – the logical arrangement of the content,
refers to sequence or order. This can be done vertically
for deepening the content or horizontally for broadening
the same content. In both ways, the pattern usually is
from easy to complex, what is known to the unknown,
what is current to something in the future.
Integration – content in the curriculum does not stand
alone or in isolation. It has some ways of relatedness or
connectedness to other contents. Contents should be
infused on other disciplines whenever possible. This will
provide a wholistic or unified view of curriculum instead
of segmentation. Contents which can be integrated to
other disciplines acquire a higher premium than when
isolated.
Continuity – content when viewed as curriculum should
continuously flow as it was before, to where it is now
and where it will be in the future. It should be perennial.
It endures time. Content may not be in the same form
and substance as seen in the past since changes and
developments in curriculum occur. Constant repetition,
reinforcement and enhancement of content are all
elements of continuity.
 2. Curriculum as a Process.
We have seen that the curriculum can be approached as
content. On the other hand, it can also be approached as a
process. Here, curriculum is not seen as a physical thing or a noun,
but as a verb or an action. 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. It is an active process with
emphasis on the context in which the processes occurs.
Used in analogy of the recipe in a cookbook, a recipe is the
content while the ways of cooking is the process.
 Curriculum as process is seen as a scheme about the practice
of teaching. It is not a package of materials or a syllabus of
content to be covered. The classroom is only part of the learning
environment where the teacher places an action using the
content to achieve an outcome. Hence the process of teaching
and learning becomes the central concern of teachers to
emphasize critical thinking, thinking meaning-making, and
heads-on, hands-on doing and many others.
The intersection of the content and process is called the
Pedagogical Content Knowledge or PCK. It will address the
question: If you have this content, how will you teach it.
To teachers, the process is very critical. This is the other side of the coin:
instruction, implementation, teaching. These three words connote the
process in the curriculum. When educators ask teachers: what curriculum
are you using? Some of the answers will be:
1. Problem-based.
2. hands-on, minds-on
3. Cooperative learning
4. Blended curriculum
5. On-line
6. Case-based and many more.
These are the ways of teaching, ways of managing the content, guiding
learning, methods of teaching and learning and strategies of teaching or
delivery modes.
When curriculum is approached as a PROCESS,
guiding principles are presented.
1. Curriculum process in the form of teaching methods or strategies are mean to achieved 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 teachers.
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
Besides viewing curriculum as content that is to be
transmitted, or process that gives action using the content, it
has also been viewed as a product. In other words, product is
what the students desire to achieve as a learning outcomes.
The product from the curriculum is a student equipped with
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. It is
important that any statement of objectives or intended
outcomes of the school should be a statement of changes to
take place in the students.
Curriculum product is expressed in form of outcomes
which are referred to as the achieved learning
outcomes. There may be several desired learning
outcomes, but if the process is not successful, then no
learning outcomes will be achieved. These learned or
achieved learning outcomes are demonstrated by the
person who has meaningful experiences in the
curriculum. All of these are result of planning, content,
and processes in the curriculum.