Tabas Model of Curricullum Development

Hilda Taba

Hilda Taba (December 7, 1902 - July 6, 1967) was an architect, a curriculum theorist, a curriculum reformer, and a teacher educator. She then attended the Vorus Girls Grammar School and earned her undergraduate degree in English and Philosophy at Tartu University , then she earned her Masters degree. she became curriculum director at the Dalton School in New York City.

The Taba Model

Taba took what it is known as grassroots approach to curriculum development. She believed that the curriculum must be designed by teachers rather than handed down by higher authority. She felt that teachers should begin the process by creating specific teaching-learning units for their students rather than creating a curriculum design. She advocated that teachers take an inductive approach to curriculum development. This meant starting with the specifics and building toward a general design This was just the opposite to the more traditional deductive approach which starts with the general design and than working toward the specifics.

1. Taba

proposed 7 major steps to her grass-roots model in which teachers would have major input throughout the curriculum development process:

1.

2.

3.

Diagnosis of need: The teacher who is also the curriculum designer starts the process by identifying the needs of students for whom the curriculum is planned. For example, the majority of students are unable to think critically. Formulation of objectives: After the teacher has identified needs that require attention, he or she specifies objectives to be accomplished. Selection of content: The objectives selected or created suggest the subject matter or content of the curriculum. Not only should objectives and content match, but also the validity and significance of the content chosen needs to be determined.

Organisation of content: A teacher cannot just select content, but must organise it in some type of sequence, taking into consideration the maturity of learners, their academic achievement, and their interests.
Selection of learning experiences: Content must be presented to students and students must be engaged with the content. At this point, the teacher selects instructional methods that will involve the students with the content. Organisation of learning activities: Just as content must be sequenced and organised, so must the learning activities. Often, the sequence of the learning activities is determined by the content. But the teacher needs to keep in mind the particular students whom he or she will be teaching. Evaluation and means of evaluation: The curriculum planner must determine just what objectives have been accomplished. Evaluation procedures need to be designed to evaluate learning outcomes.

2. Testing experimental units.

The units must now be tested to establish their validity and teachability and to set their upper and lower limits of required abilities.

3. Revising and consolidating.

The units are modified to conform to variations in student needs and abilities, available resources, and difference styles of teaching so that the curriculum may suit all types of classrooms.

4. Developing a framework.
After a number of units have been constructed, the curriculum planners must examine them as to adequacy of scope and appropriateness of sequence.

5. Installing and disseminating new units.

Taba called on administrators to arrange appropriate in-service training so that teachers may effectively put the teaching-learning units into operation in their classrooms.

Conclusion :

In Tabas book, Curriculum development: Theory and Practice (1962), she argued that there was a definite order to creating the curriculum. Where Taba differed from Tyler was that she believed that those who teach the curriculum, the teachers, should participate in developing it. She advocated what has been called the grassroots approach, a model whose steps or stages are similar to Tylers. Taba believed that teachers should begin the process by creating specific teaching-learning units for their students. More specifically, she advocated that teachers take an inductive approach to curriculum developmentstarting with specifics and building to a general designas opposed to the more traditional deductive approachstarting with the general design and working toward the specifics.

Tabas Curriculum Development Model