Curriculum

In formal education, curriculum plural: curricula/ or curriculums)

is the planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials,
resources, and processes for evaluating the attainment of educational
objectives.

Definitions :-
All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is
carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school. (John
Kerr)
Outlines the skills, performances, attitudes, and values pupils are
expected to learn from schooling. It includes statements of desired pupil
outcomes, descriptions of materials, and the planned sequence that will
be used to help pupils attain the outcomes.
The total learning experience provided by a school. It includes the
content of courses (the syllabus), the methods employed (strategies),
and other aspects, like norms and values, which relate to the way the
school is organized.
The aggregate of courses of study given in a learning environment. The
courses are arranged in a sequence to make learning a subject easier.
In schools, a curriculum spans several grades.
Curriculum can refer to the entire program provided by a classroom,
school, district, state, or country. A classroom is assigned sections of
the curriculum as defined by the school.
As an idea, curriculum came from the Latin word which means a
race or the course of a race (which in turn derives from the verb "currere"
meaning to run/to proceed). As early as the seventeenth century, the
University of Glasgow referred to its "course" of study as a curriculum, and
by the nineteenth century European universities routinely referred to their
curriculum to describe both the complete course of study (as for a degree
in Surgery) and particular courses and their content. By the beginning of
the twentieth century, the related term curriculum vitae ("course of one's
life") became a common expression to refer to a brief account of the course
of one's life.
A curriculum is prescriptive, and is based on a more
general syllabus which merely specifies what topics must be understood
and to what level to achieve a particular grade or standard. Curriculum has
numerous definitions, which can be slightly confusing. In its broadest sense
a curriculum may refer to all courses offered at a school. This is particularly
true of schools at the university level, where the diversity of a curriculum
might be an attractive point to a potential student.
A curriculum may also refer to a defined and prescribed course of
studies, which students must fulfill in order to pass a certain level of
education. For example, an elementary school might discuss how its
curriculum, or its entire sum of lessons and teachings, is designed to
improve national testing scores or help students learn the basics. An
individual teacher might also refer to his or her curriculum, meaning all the
subjects that will be taught during a school year.
On the other hand, a high school might refer to a curriculum as the
courses required in order to receive ones diploma. They might also refer to
curriculum in exactly the same way as the elementary school, and use
curriculum to mean both individual courses needed to pass, and the overall
offering of courses, which help prepare a student for life after high school.



PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION

Curriculum organisation is a scientific process which involves basic
principles on which itscredibility exists. It is not just collection of topics,
because it reflects ethos (philosophy / culture)of the society: themes of
the subject and learning variability

1. Principle of Child-Centeredness
Curriculum is mainly for the students. So, the age, interest, capability,
capacity,aspiration, needs and psychology of the learner should be taken in
to an account.

2. Principle of Community-Centeredness
The soci al needs and t he l ocal needs of t he l ear ner shoul d
be t aken i n t oaccount while we construct the curriculum. It should
be reflect the values of democracy, ethos and main concerns of the
country.

3. Principle of Balance / Integration
(Child = Community)It is also called principle of Integration. The curriculum
should integrate:1. Cognitive, affective and psychomotor objectives and
abilities2. Knowledge and experience3. Objectives and content4. Childs
activity and needs with the society needs and activity.It should be related to
the social environment of the students. Here the equal/balance importance
should be given to the need of the Child and need of the Community.

4. Principle of Need
Curriculum helps in fulfilling the various needs of the learner. Each learner
hashis needs which are generally related to physical, emotional and
social development. A wellplanned curriculum provides all such
opportunities through many fold activities whichsatisfies the need of
the learner. It should not be merely the academic but it should includeall
other equally important activities too.
.
5. Principle of Utility
One of the purposes of education is to prepare the child for living and
learning.This is the most important consideration, so that the child can live
a fruitful and self-fulfillinglife. Curriculum should provide rich experiences,
both academic and social to the students.The content, activities and
experience of the curriculum at a particular stage / grade areuseful
to the learner for the further/higher studies.
6. Principle of Creativity
It should place the pupil in the place of the discoverer and provision should
bemade the creative type of activities.

.
7. Principle of Preservation/Conservation
It should help in the preservation /conservation and transmitting the
knowledge,traditions, standards of conduct on which the culture and
civilization depend.


8. Principle of Variety
I n a c l as s r oom t her e ar e di f f er ent t ypes of t he s t udent s
on t he bas i s of intelligence, ability, aptitude and attitude The
curriculum should satisfy the variety of knowledge, varying interest, needs
of the students.

9. Principle of Elasticity / Flexibility
Fl exi bi l i t y i s an i mpor t ant par t i ng cur r i cul um devel opment . I t
shoul d gi venenough time and sufficient chance to the students, to
search their own examples andexperience from the surroundings.
10. Principle of Contemporary Knowledge
Curriculum should give the modern or current knowledge and
theories to thestudents. That will give the knowledge of utilization of local
resources (salt, plants, soil) tothe students.While organizing the curriculum the
following principles also should be followed:11. Principle of Sequencing12.
Principle of Continuity13. Principle of Accuracy14. Principle of Adequacy15.
Principle of Interest16. Principle of Readiness17. Principle
of Meaningfulness18. Principle of Continuous Evaluation

CONCLUSION

The curriculum is the totality of experiences that the child
gains through the multifariousactivities in the school. The review of
the present curriculum is reveal that it is subject
oriented,examination ridden, not in conformity with the aims and objective
of the teaching science, rigid andoutfits the different age group. So, it is
imperative that the present curriculum should be reorganizedin the light
of the principles mentioned above.