OBJECTIVES

At the end of this module the learners will

 Understand the different perspectives of curriculum development.

 Understand the major approaches of curriculum development.
 Able to identify the sequence of curriculum development.
 Comprehend role of the State in curriculum designing.

PERSPECTIVES OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

Curriculum Development: Introduction

The aim of any successful educational programme should be to meet the current societal
needs. As the curriculum is envisioned to meet the educational objectives, the curriculum
development should also take into account to the needs and demands of the culture, society,
and the expectations of the population it aims to. The process of curriculum development is
defined as planned, purposeful, progressive, and systematic process to create positive
improvements in the educational system. Every time there are changes or developments
happening around the world and as a result the curricula is also affected.

It is very interesting to analyse the curriculum of ancient times. During those periods,
the people’s concern was the survival and hence through the curriculum, the children were
taught knowledge and skills for survival. They emphasised on knowledge and skills for
catching fish and hunting animals. Since formal education was not there for these population,
they emphasised only survival skills. This perspective was referred as the Saber-
tooth curriculum.

However, there was a gradual transformation from this approach due to the evolution
of discoveries and inventions. This has changed the standard of living of the ancient people for
better progression. This resulted in to a formal education system with curriculum development
which is still progressing, even today.

At this point of time it is worth enough to discuss the major foundations of curriculum.

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MAJOR FOUNDATIONS OF CURRICULUM

The commonly accepted foundations is represented using the below diagram.

a. Philosophical Foundations of Curriculum

Philosophy set the base for curriculum. It influence all the process of the curriculum;
formulation, transaction and evaluation. It addresses pertinent question that try to answer even
the purpose of curriculum. It tries to find answers for answering the purpose of the existence
of educational institutions, the relative importance of different subjects to be included and try
to answer the methods and strategies on curriculum transaction. In decision making related to
the curriculum planning and organization, it is the philosophy that provides the base and will
be used for the succeeding decision making.

b. Psychological Foundations

Psychology play a vital role in the teaching learning process it is the foundation for all
type of educational related programmes. The methods of teaching, the selection of content of
subject and the methods and theories of learning, the overall development of the students and
to inculcate the norms of the society in the students, psychology helps in all these processes.

Psychological foundation is based on the individual differences, every students have

their own unique personality and they have differences in their learning and skills. Therefore
the curriculum should be based on the above facts, and it should be design to support the
capacity and potentialities of all the students. By providing a basis for understanding the
teaching learning process, educational psychology deals with how people learn.

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 c. Socio Cultural Foundation

The society and culture exercise massive powers on the formation curriculum and the
reason behind that it was society who created schooling to safeguard the survival of their
cultural heritage, and survival of their species.

Sociological factors have highest impact on the content of curriculum and that is the
reason that curriculum developers and planner both reflect and transfer their own culture in
curriculum. Therefore a curriculum without the reflection of culture is not possible for that
reason one should consider what characteristic of the culture should be the part of curriculum
and what not.

Any discussion of curriculum should consider the social setting and its influence on
curricular decisions. Social pressures influence the characteristics of students who experience
the curriculum in the educational institutions which are established and maintained by society.

The cultural standards, attitudes and beliefs have deep impact on the individuals. Hence
it must get a space and provision in the curriculum designing.

d. Historical Foundations

The history of the curriculum tell the curriculum planner how to develop and modify
the curriculum, what to teach and what should be the core material of the subjects, what
objectives they want to achieve through the curriculum. History also tell them how the teacher
should teach, what are the best practices they need to incorporate in curriculum teaching and
what kind of teaching need to be avoid.

The historical foundation also provides information about the psychology of the
students, how they learn and what they want to learn. In times curriculum changed its shapes
and patterns from teacher centre curriculum to learner centre curriculum due to the long history
of the curriculum development process from Plato to modern curriculum. the history of the
curriculum also changed the teaching methods, now every researcher are finding new ways to
teach and it is also becoming the part of curriculum an history.

Now let us discuss the process of curriculum development

PROCESS OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

Generating a new curriculum or revising an existing one, curriculum development

means recreating or modifying what is taught to students. Development includes a number of
decisions whose outcomes aggregate as a curriculum design. Curriculum designs are based on
the primary sources of curriculum content that make possible the realization of a particular
purpose of education. These purposes typically emphasize cultivating cognitive achievement,
developing learners to their fullest potentials, or preparing people for living in a changing,
unstable world.

The how part of curriculum development (Process) is inevitable for accomplishment of

achieving educational goals. It demands for systematic and sequential approach that form as a
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deterministic factor for several aspects like societal and learner’s needs. This process must be
treated with maximal efficiency and effectiveness. There should be a specific algorithm from
defining the objectives to evaluation and incorporation of additional inputs.

The process of curriculum development can be represented using the following figure.

SEQUENCE OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT INCLUDES:-

 Setting up the aims and objectives to be achieved by the curriculum;

 Determination of the content of the curriculum
 the methods to be adopted 'in the organisation and the presentation of the contents to the
student
 Learning experiences (instructional strategies, resources and activities);
 Measuring or assessing the progress and performance of a student -Evaluation approaches
 Learning resources
 Feedback from graduates or products of the curriculum and analysing the data so as to
review other components in the curriculum process.

In order to have a clear concept on the curriculum development process, it is essential that
a thorough knowledge of different perspectives of curriculum development. Now let us
discuss…

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DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

Five curricular perspectives including its major proponents and tenets of each perspective
is presented here.

1. The Traditional Perspective

Educationalists of nineteenth century tried to incorporate the

then contemporary societal issues in the curriculum. This resulted
in the traditional perspectives. They conceived the position that the
primary aim of curricula is to transmit the accumulated knowledge
of the society. One of its major proponents was a humanities
professor at the University of Virginia Eric Donald Hirsch, Jr. who
suggested that the main purpose of education is to acculturate
children.

The major criticisms against this levelled by the progressive educators that this perspective
takes is authoritarian approach.

2. The Experiential Perspective

The experiential perspective is the characteristic of the

twentieth century. The experiential perspective uphold that
curricula should take a comprehensive approach to students by
considering all their experiences. Its main exponent of this
perspective was John Dewey–the American philosopher and
psychologist.

In fact the social reformation movement of early twentieth century

pave way for the progressive education and the experiential
perspectives.

3. The Discipline Perspective

The essence of this perspective is that if a student familiarises and understand the structure
of a discipline he/she will be able to comprehend the subject’s structure. This perspective
highlights exploration and extrapolation as a primary skill needed.

Behavioural psychologists criticised severely on this perspective. They argued that the
knowledge regarding how people learn and behave was being totally ignored by this approach.
Simply putting the content of science and mathematics and its instructional materials did not
teach either subject effectively.

4. The Behavioural Perspective

Behavioural perspectives strongly recommends that educators should not be as

concerned with over emphasis on content. Stress must be given to the how part of learning and
behaviours that students acquire while in school. The major proponents of this perspective were
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Edward Thorndike, widely considered as the founder of behavioural
psychology, and Franklin Bobbitt, a faculty member at the University
of Chicago around the turn of the last century.

The educators themselves became critics of the behavioural perspective

arguing that there is no provision for how rapidly social structures were
changing. The curriculum should be developed based on analysis of real
life activities.

5. The Constructivist Perspective

This perspective suggests that curriculum should be based on the

principle that curriculum must take into consider the personal ways
of a learner to make sense of newly acquired knowledge. It highlights
the knowledge construction process of the learner than to the
acquisition of knowledge. The credit of this perspective indirectly
goes to Jean Piaget- the cognitive constructivist.

Learning is in sequence with the chronological development of the

learner. Piaget stressed the process of assimilation and
accommodation to reorganise information. Cognitive constructivism
is a highly admired perspective for developing the curriculum
considering information reorganisation and production of new knowledge.

Factors considered in Curriculum Development

In developing a curriculum a number of factors are considered, and these factors are the
elements that can promote or mar curriculum implementation if not taken cognizance of in the
beginning. The elements include the learners, the teachers, the society or community. The
philosophy of education, psychology of learning, the economy of the society and the values of
the society.

Curriculum development deals with the arrangement of curriculum materials to facilitate

implementation. Curriculum development includes curriculum planning, curriculum
implementation and curriculum evaluation. It involves all stakeholders in the education of the
Learners and takes into account everything that will make the curriculum recipients functional
members of their society.

Approaches to Curriculum Development

In discussing the approaches to curriculum

development, one focuses on the manner curriculum is
arranged to facilitate effective delivery by the implementer.
Approaches to curriculum development are the strategies
employed in organizing curriculum content and learning
activities that are presented to the learners. They are the
ways of attaining a functional curriculum development.

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Approaches to curriculum development can also be regarded as models of curriculum
development.

The Four-Step Approach

There are different

approaches to curriculum
development, which are
presented according to ones
focus on the elements of
curriculum development and the
level of operation of the
curriculum. No matter the
approach or design or model,
they all cover the same scope
needed to develop a functional
curriculum. Giles et al. (1942) developed a four-step model of curriculum development. The
four steps are: selection of objectives, selection of learning experiences, organization of
learning experiences and evaluation.

Their understanding of curriculum development approach is that the developer must

first of all select the objectives which they believe propels the other steps, since every other
step has focus on attainment of the objectives. Tyler's (1975) approach to curriculum
development also has four steps, just like Giles et al.

The only difference between the two approaches is that Tyler's approach is liner,
showing that one step leads to another; while Giles et al show the interrelatedness and
interdependence of the steps. They believe that the objectives determine what happens at the
other steps.

The Five-Step Approach

The five-step approach presents a departure from the four-step approach as discussed
above. Nicholls and Nicholls (1978) recommended this type of approach. The additional step
is due to their emphasis on situational analysis. They see this as a very crucial component of
curriculum development process.

Situational analysis is the diagnosis of all the

factors and issues involved in curriculum
planning and development. These factors are
identified and analysed to ensure that the
development of the curriculum will be hitch
free and that a worthwhile and functional
curriculum is developed. They believe that
embarking on situational analysis would
facilitate selection of the objectives that reflect
the needs of the society.
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The Seven-Step Approach

Taba (1962)
proposes her model or
approach to curriculum
development to have
seven components. She
strongly believes that the
phases should be
specified to avoid
confusing the curriculum
developer. She has the
same point with Nicholls
that curriculum
development should
begin with situational
analysis. She went
further to identify the
factors to be studied at the situational analysis phase, which include: the learner, the teacher,
the learning process, the nature of available accumulated body of knowledge, the nature of the
educational system and facilities, the nature of the society, and environmental influences on
the learner. The data collected from this analysis will equip the curriculum developer with the
necessary details to select the curriculum objectives. The process or approach has the following
steps: Situational analysis, selection of objectives, selection of learning experiences, selection
of content, organization of learning experiences, organization of content, and evaluation.

ROLE OF THE STATE IN CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

Each country must organize its curriculum work along the lines it regards as most
relevant for its special conditions. Some countries will have highly centralised curriculum
centres while others will attempt to provide for decentralised curriculum work. Some will place
their curriculum work in the Ministry of Education; others will create National Centres located
in some relation to the Ministry, the institutions of higher education, and the public-supported
schools; while others will regard curriculum work as a series of special contract projects to be
supported by public and private funds. However it is organized, each country will have to
provide for four functions

1. Determination of the specifications for the curriculum.

This will include the content and objectives of the curriculum. This function requires a
series of value decisions based on available evidence in the country. This is the most
fundamental set of problems in curriculum development and each nation may learn from the
experience of other nations with these problems.

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 2. The development of learning material and instructional procedures.

This function requires highly skilled workers who can create materials and procedures
which will serve the functions specified for the curriculum. It also includes the trying out of
the materials and procedures -under appropriate conditions with students and teachers to find
ways of improving them and to determine the limitations and advantages of each set of
materials and techniques, again each country can profit from the experiences of other countries
and each country may contribute materials and ideas to other countries. This stage in
curriculum development constitutes a technology which can be shared by all and which can be
improved in a systematic way from year to year,

3. The evaluation of the effectiveness of learning materials and Instructional

procedures.

This function involves the careful use of evidence to determine the extent to which the
curriculum has the intended effects on students. This stage in curriculum development includes
the creation of appropriate evaluation techniques, the use of appropriate sampling procedures
and research designs and the analysis of the evidence by appropriate statistical and data
processing procedures. Of all the functions, this is one of the most highly developed
international technologies which can be shared by countries possessing appropriately trained
personnel.

4. The in-service and pre-service training; of teachers for curriculum

Each nation must find ways of bringing its teachers up-to-date on new subject matter,
methods and ideas finally used in the new curriculum developments. While this is not properly
a part of curriculum development, it is clear that new instructional material and instructional
methods cannot be used in the schools until the teachers have been prepared for the changes.

THE TEACHERS ROLE IN CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

The success of effective curriculum implementation depends on the teacher variable. The
teacher has to perform multiple roles which are of crucial. Their knowledge of the learner,
learning process, strategies for transaction and evaluation plays significance in the curriculum
developing process. The experiences and pedagogical as well as technological competencies
are to be treated as of prime importance while assigning the responsibility of curriculum
designing. The active involvement of the teachers’ are of supreme important as it is the teacher
who levers the institutional experiences complimentary to the individual as well as the societal
needs. If the active involvement the teachers are ensured effectively in the curriculum
designing process, many of the limitations of the present curriculum can be minimised.

The given cyclic representation illuminate the role of teacher in the curriculum designing
process.

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SUMMARY

If an educational programme is to be planned and if efforts for continued improvements

are to be made, it is very essential to have some conception of the goals that are being aimed
at. These educational objectives become the criteria by which materials are selected, content is
outlined, instructional procedures are developed and tests and examinations are prepared. All
aspects of the educational programme are really means to accomplish the basic educational
purposes.

Hence if we are to study an educational programme systematically and intelligently,

we must first be sure as to the educational objective. The traditional perspective of curriculum
development concentrate on the mastery of basic literacy skills and the diffusion of values. The
experiential perspective stresses the need to integrate and incorporate all aspects of a student’s
life where as the disciplines perspective promotes the development of intellectual capabilities
by focusing on the thought structures of given content areas. The behavioural perspective
highlights well defined learning objectives and the capability of the curriculum to meet the
needs of the students as they acquire these objectives. Finally, the constructivist perspective
promotes the notion that educators should devise curricula so that students may personalize
their learning by reorganizing their thought structures around what they learn in school. All
five perspectives provide vantage points that augment varying visions of modern education.
The curriculum developer must establish a clear philosophy and set overarching goals that
guide the entire curriculum and the decisions that affect each aspect of the curriculum. There
should be established sequences both within and between levels and assure a coherent and
articulated progression from one level to another.

REFERENCES
1. Kelly, A. (2009). The Curriculum: Theory and Practice. Londan: SAGE Publication.
2. Wesley Null (2011). Curriculum: From Theory to Practice, Rowman & Littlefield
3. Alistair Ross (2003). Curriculum: Construction and Critique. Routledge

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GLOSSARY
 Curriculum development

Curriculum development is defined as planned, a purposeful, progressive, and systematic

process to create positive improvements in the educational system.

 In-service training for teachers

In-service education can simply be defined as the relevant courses and activities in which
a serving teacher may participate to upgrade his professional knowledge, skills, and
competence in the teaching profession.

 Pre – service training for teachers

Pre- service teacher training programmes are recognised, private and public educational
programmes designed to train future teachers to formally enter the profession at a
specified level of education.

CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Determination of the specifications for the curriculum includes content and ------------
of the curriculum.
a. Objectives
b. Evaluation
c. Learning aids
d. Activities
2. The major proponent of Experiential Perspective of curriculum development was
a. Thorndike
b. John Dewy
c. Jean Piaget
d. Maria Montessori
3. The eminent psychologist Jean Piaget was the proponent of -------------------
perspective of curriculum development
a. Experiential
b. Behavioural
c. Traditional
d. Constructivist
4. The type of curriculum that existed during the ancient times in which the purpose of
teaching was for survival.

a. Hidden curriculum
b. Core curriculum
c. Integrated curriculum
d. Saber-tooth curriculum.
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Answers

1. A
2. B
3. D
4. D

WEB LINKS
https://www.topeducationdegrees.org/faq/what-is-curriculum-development/
https://simplyeducate.me/.../the-meaning-and-importance-of-curriculum-development/
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/SDE/Health-Education/curguide_generic.pdf
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1095725.pdf
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
1. List out the sequence of curriculum development
Sequence of curriculum development includes:-
 Setting up the aims and objectives to be achieved by the curriculum;
 Determination of the content of the curriculum
 the methods to be adopted 'in the organisation and the presentation of the
contents to the student
 Learning experiences
 Measuring or assessing the progress and performance of a student -Evaluation
approaches
 Learning resources
 Feedback from graduates or products of the curriculum and analysing the data
so as to review other components in the curriculum process.

2. What are the different perspectives on curriculum development?

The different perspectives includes
 The Traditional Perspective
 The Experiential Perspective
 The Discipline Perspective
 The Behavioural Perspective
 The Constructivist Perspective

3. What are the foundations of curriculum?

 Philosophical foundation of curriculum
 Psychological foundation of curriculum
 Socio Cultural Foundation of curriculum
 Historical foundations of curriculum

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