CURRICULUM – OLD AND NEW CONCEPTS, MECHANICS OF CURRICULUM PLANNING

CURRICULUM – OLD AND NEW CONCEPTS, MECHANICS OF CURRICULUM PLANNING

In the past, the term ”Curriculum” signified a course of studies followed by a pupil in a teaching institution. Today, it means in general terms, the contract between society, the state and educational professionals with regard to the educational activities that learners should undergo during a certain phase of their lives to learn something desirable.

According to Ronald Doll, curriculum is the formal and informal content and process by which learners gain knowledge and understanding, develop skills, and alter attitudes, appreciations and values under the auspices of an academic institution. In other words, curriculum can be defined as the total experience. From this view point, Curriculum is not only the content selected and delivered, but also the planned and unplanned activities in which individuals participate as students.

A curriculum is the instructional and the educative progamme by following which the pupils achieve their goals, ideals and aspirations of life. It is curriculum through which the general aims of a school education receive concrete expression.

Traditional concept- The traditional curriculum was subject-centered while the modern curriculum is child and life-centered.

MODERN CONCEPT OF CURRICULUM

Modern education is the combination of two dynamic processes. The one is the process of individual development and the other is the process of socialisation which is commonly known as adjustment with the social environment.

PRINCIPLE OF CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION

The content of curriculum is determined on the basis of some academic principles which are stated below:

(1) Aims of education and objectivity:

Life is complex. A curriculum should reflect the complexities of life. In other words, in framing the curriculum one should take into consideration the aims and objectives of education.

(2) Child-Centric Principle:

The curriculum should be framed according to the actual need, interests and capacities of the child. That means a curriculum must be child-centric as modern education is child-centered.

(3) Principles of Civic and social needs:

         Man is a social being. He lives in the society. The child develops in the                  society. Modern education aims at both developments of the individuality of the child as well as the development of the society.

(4) Principles of conservation:

Man has conserved experiences very carefully for better adaptability. Education is regarded as a means of deserving the cultural heritage of humanity. The school serves two-fold functions in this regard- preservations of the past experiences and transmission of experiences.

(5) Principle of creativeness:

Education not only conserves that past experiences of humanity but also helps an individual to develop his innate potentialities.

(6) Principle of forward-looking:

The aim of the life-centered education is not limited to the present life-situations in the family and society. Hence, education must prepare the child of shouldering future responsibilities. So in farming the curriculum we must take into consideration the future needs of the child as well as the needs of the society.

(7) Principle of preparation for living:

The children should know the various activities of the environment around them and how these activities are enabling the people to meet their basic needs of food, shelter, clothing, recreation, health and education.

(8) Principle of integration and correlation:

Subjects should be arranged logically and psychologically in accordance with the child’s developing interests.

(9) Principle of learning ability:

Every item should be learnt. An item should not only be learnable, it should also have utility.

(10) Principle of individual difference:

The curriculum should be framed in such a way that every individual can have opportunity for self expression and development. The curriculum should be based on the psychology of individual difference, which can meet complexities of modern democratic society.

(11) Principle of social relevancy and utility:

Subjects should not be determined on the basis of their disciplinary value but on the basis of their intrinsic value, social relevancy and utility.

(12) Principle for utilization of leisure:

Variety subjects such as game and sports, fine arts, subjects of aesthetic value are to be introduced in the school programme to utilize leisure.

(13) Principle of variety and flexibility:

The Curriculum should include such activities and experience, which may facilitate his normal development. The curriculum for girls should naturally be different from that of boys; and girls have different needs and attitudes.

(14) Principle of Time:

Relative significance and importance of each subject in the curriculum has to be judged and determined in the light of the time available in the timetable, which is regarded as the mirror of the school programme.

CURRICULUM DESIGN

Curriculum is the medium for translating the educational theme in the teaching procedure to reach the desired objects. The foundation of the curriculum is to stimulate the students through appropriate experiences, so that the objectives set by the curriculum will be achieved. A well planned curriculum of physical education cannot be developed without a proper guide or a model.

Meaning of Curriculum Design

The dictionary meaning for the term curriculum design is sketch. The other important meanings are model, plan, pattern, guide, blue-print, outline, mental scheme and so on.

Definition of Curriculum Design:

In the words of Raymon ‘Curriculum design is a hypothetical construct that contains many of the different components which must go into an educational programme or a course study’.

Curriculum design is the statement which identifies the elements of the curriculum and their relationships to each other. Curriculum design indicates the principle of organisation and the requirements of that organisation for the administrative conditions. IT should be supported with curriculum theory. Many curriculum specialists pointed out that it is important to indicate what kind of elements will serve satisfactorily as organizing elements. This includes consideration like principles of learning and idea about the knowledge and nature of learners.

Almost all curriculum design contained important elements. But defect occur due to the imbalance distribution. The mistake is committed when the elements are poorly identified. Inadequacy is also one of the causes. The core defective is describing the content. Many curriculum design present a programme which is in appropriate to the students. Few curriculum designs postulate and provide upper and lower limits in achieving objectives. Such defects in the design create difficulties in implementation.

Many books on the curriculum development have tired to present some curriculum designs. An experienced oriented curriculum includes organised subject matter. The curriculum design also includes the aspects like developing a method of thinking creativity, and discovery. The order curriculum design paid more importance for content, and not attention was paid towards the principle of learning intellectual process.

         For an effective curriculum design, both the choice of content and its organisation should be accounted by an analysis of the unique characteristics of knowledge represented by the school subjects. Some current curriculum designs pay only a little attention to the needs of society. There are some other curriculum designs which are based on analysis of the content with only little attention to the characteristics of learners.

          Many designs are not subjected to periodical examination and revision according to changes taking place in the field of Physical education. New research findings which are available in the area of psychology of learning and changes in cultural needs are not translated to the field of curriculum. Such curriculum can be changed only by “earthquake” method of curriculum revision.     

          In a good curriculum design the problems of organisation occupy a central position. A curriculum design should convey an idea about how it deals with the major issues of organization. A design should indicate clearly the bases and provisions for the scope and continuity of learning. Scope is a way of describing what is covered or learnt. In many curriculum designs, much confusion is experiences. The confusion arises on account of the fact that while the sequence of this content is considered the sequence is overloaded.

IMPORTANCE OF CURRICULUM DESIGN

          Curriculum includes different types of patterns. Among them three are popular because of their frequent use and importance. They are:

1.   Subject based pattern

2.   Activity based pattern

3.   Environment based pattern

1.   Subject based pattern

From early times the curriculum planners have been identifying relationships among the various elements of knowledge and organized theme in logical manner. The organized knowledge is known as subject or discipline. The word knowledge comprises a number of subjects as well as a number of units in each subject.

In the subject based pattern the knowledge in each subject is organized in two forms: The first one is Content oriented form and the second one is structure oriented from.

a.    Content oriented form:

In the content oriented form, the curriculum planner is more concerned with the relationship among the various items of content.

b.   Structure oriented form:

In the structure oriented form, the curriculum planner is more concerned with the structure of the subjects.

          The history of curriculum development gives several curriculum patterns, but none of them is more predominant over subject based pattern.

2.   Activity based pattern

The life of an individual is continued in terms of activities. In the activity based pattern the curriculum planner selects a representative group of activities and organizes the entire content matter around them. In this he takes special care to choose such of those activities which are suited to the stage of development and the respective psychological characteristics of the learner as well as the administrative pattern of institutions and their organizational problems.

Activity based pattern has psychological, sociological and education importance. From the psychological point of view activities promote the development of the more activities, understanding of environment, creative instinct, imagination etc. From the sociological point of view activities familiarise students which social realities, cooperative effort, national integration, proper attitude to work etc. From the educational point of view activities provides opportunities for the development of fundamental values, mental abilities and practical skills which are important for achieving objectives of education.

Knowledge is a by - product of activities and hence the students understand it’s important and transfer knowledge to life activities when occasions demand. The curriculum familiarise the student with the problems of individual and social life and he prepares himself to face the challenges of life.

3.   Environment based pattern

An individual lives in physical, natural, social and cultural environments. In the environment based pattern, the curriculum planner selects units of environment. The types of environment based pattern are (1) Physical Environment (2) Natural Environment (3) Social Environment and (4) Cultural Environment.

The environment based pattern based on its own limitations. In the first place it is not possible to organize the entire content matter of a subject on units of environments alone. Secondly the usual practice of organization of the classes, timetable etc. does not suit environment based pattern of curriculum and hence the problems are likely to rise in the implementation of the pattern. Thirdly the environment based pattern causes distractions and interruption in learning, unless the teacher takes special care, real learning may not take place. Finally this pattern may not be approved by parents and the public because it has no link with the subject based curriculum which is the significant part of the educational tradition.

While preparing the curriculum design the expert should take into account the following factors:

1.   Social Needs of the Society

Curriculum should not fail to consider the needs of the community. The activities which are included in the curriculum should be suitable to the people in rural and urban and Agricultural and Industrial areas. The nature of activity should differ according to the geographical situation and culture of the community.

2.   Individual needs

The curriculum designer should be a student centered and it should meet the needs of boys and girls separately. The activities should be based on their needs, interest, capacity, age, sex, etc.

3.   Past Experiences of Students

The curriculum designer should have a thorough knowledge regarding the past experience of the players. A separate syllabus for beginners and advanced players is highly essential.

4.   Clear Idea to the Teacher

The curriculum should give clear idea to the teacher regarding the subject. Then only the teacher can initiates the order of activities from simple to complex or known to unknown.

5.   Balance

It should be a Balanced one. The curriculum should be well designer for all age groups both sex and suitable activities must be included for physically handicapped pupils also.

6.   Nature of Activities

The activities must include the fundamental skills which is essential for life. They are walking, running, jumping, throwing and swimming.

7.   Dynamic

It should be dynamic and not a static one. Nothing is permanent in this world. Everything goes on changing very rapidly. So the curriculum must be changed according to time, situation and need.

8.   Democracy

It should be democratic one. The design should give equal opportunity for all. It should consider the student, teacher and also the society.

9.   Social Philosophy

While preparing the curriculum design the curriculum designer should bear in mind the philosophy of society. The curriculum must give enough opportunity to conduct research I socio-economic cultured area.

10. Educational Principles

Some of the important educational principles are:

a.    Good health habits

b.   Self realization

c.    Good citizenship

d.   Worthy home membership etc.

11.Physical Education Objectives

In order to achieve the goal, the curriculum design must be based on the three main elements like physical, mental and emotional stability.

12. Improvement of the teacher

The curriculum should give enough professional growth to every teacher to increase their job satisfaction.

13. Good relationship with the society

The curriculum should give more importance to the society. The curriculum must allow the society to make use of the facilities end equipments which are available in an educational institution. Likewise the society also give chances for the students to utilize the facilities which are under the control of the society.

FACTORS AFFECTING THE CURRICULUM

          These are numerous factors which have a direct influence upon the physical education curriculum. Some of the important factors are:

a.    Individual factors:

It includes age, sex, need, interest, ability, knowledge, experience, financial condition, cultural beliefs and individual principles.

b.   School factors:

It includes type of the school environment (residential, partly residential and non-residential), climate and weather conditions, availability of time, efficiency of physical education teachers, financial condition of the institution, supervision, assistance from class-room teachers, teacher-pupil ratio, availability of facilities and equipment etc.

c.    Social factors:

It includes nature of the society, cultural background of the society, economic condition of the society, human relationship with the society.

PRINCIPLES FOR PLANNING CURRICULUM DESIGN

All the activities may not satisfy all the criteria at all times. In order to select suitable activities some important principles have to be followed. Although there are number of principles that include the activities, physiological and sociological principles are very important.

1.   Physiological Principles

(a)  The physical education programme should provide ample opportunities for a grate range of activities and movements involving the large muscles.

(b)  The factors that are related to the growth and development of children should guide the curriculum construction 

(c)   Provision should be made in the programme for the difference in the physical capacities and abilities which are found among students.

2.   Psychological principles

(a)  Include natural play activities.

(b)  Fellow know to unknown or simple to complex method.

(c)  There must be a provision for ‘Select the activity as you like’ and not flow ‘take it’.

(d)  Individual differences must be taken in to account.

3.   Sociological principles

(a)  Nature of the society

(b)  Culture of the society

(c)  Interest of the Society

   CONCLUSION

          Curriculum design is a model or a plan which is being used by the curriculum designer while constructing a new curriculum. The curriculum designer expected to go through a number of curriculum designs and he has to select.

PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM DESIGN ACCORDING TO THE NEEDS OF THE STUDENTS AND STATE AND NATIONAL POLICIES

The curriculum should be designed on the basis of the following principles:

·         Challenge and enjoyment

·         Breadth

·         Progression

·         Depth

·         Personalization and choice

·         Coherence

·         Relevance

The principles must be taken into account for all children and young people. They apply to the curriculum both at an organisational level and in the classroom and in any setting where children and young people are learners.

The principles will assist teachers and schools in their practice and as a basis for continuing review, evaluation and improvement. They apply to the curriculum at national education authority, school and individual levels and must be taken into account for all children and young people.

Although all should apply at any one stage, the principles will have different emphases as a child or young person learns and develops.

1.   Challenge and Enjoyment:

Children and young people should find their learning challenging, engaging and motivating. The curriculum should encourage high aspirations and ambitions for all.

At all stages, learners of all aptitudes and abilities should experience an appropriate level of challenge, to enable individual to achieve his or her potential. They should be active in their learning and have opportunities to develop and demonstrate their creativity. There should be support to enable children and young people to sustain their effort.

2.   Breadth:

All children and young people should have opportunities for a broad, suitably weighted range of experiences. The curriculum should be organised so that they will learn and develop through a variety of contexts within both the classroom and other aspects of school life.

3.   Progression:

Children and young people should experience continuous progression in their learning from 3 to 18 within a single curriculum frame work.

Each stage should build upon earlier knowledge and achievements. Children should be able to progress at a rate meets their needs and aptitudes, and keep options so that routes are not closed off to early.

4.   Depth:

There should be opportunities for children to develop their full capacity for different types of thinking and learning. As they progress, they should develop and apply increasing intellectual rigour, drawing different strands of learning together, and exploring and achieving more advances levels of understanding.

5.   Personalisation and Choice:

The curriculum should respond to individual needs and support particular aptitudes and talents. It should give each child and young person increasing opportunities for exercising responsible personal choice as they move through their school career.

Once they have achieved suitable levels of attainment across a wide range of areas of learning, the choice should become as open as possible. There should be safeguards to ensure that choices are soundly based and lead to successful outcomes.

6.   Coherence:

Taken as whole, children and young people’s learning activities should combine to form a coherent experience. There should be clear links between the different aspects of children and young people’s learning, including opportunities for extended activities which draw different strands of learning together.

7.   Relevance:

Children and young people should understand the purposes of their activities. They should see the value of what they are learning and its relevance to their lives, present and future.

ROLE OF TEACHERS

          The teacher student relationship is very important for children. Children spend approximately 5 to 7 hours a day with a teacher for almost 10 months. All of us have gone through schooling, and if fortunate had a favourite teacher. A positive relationship between the students and the teacher is difficult to establish, but can be found for both individuals at either end. The qualities for a positive relationship can vary to set a learning experience approachable and inviting the students to learn. A teacher and student which have the qualities of good communications, respect in a classroom, and show interest in teaching from the point view of the teacher and learning from a student will establish a positive relationship in the classroom.

          Children have different strategies for learning and achieving goals. A few students in a classroom will grasp and learn quickly, but at the same time there will be those who have to be repeatedly taught using different techniques for the student to be able to understand the lesson. On the other hand, there are those students who fool around and use school as entertainment. Teaching then becomes difficult, especially if there is no proper communication. Yet teachers creating a positive relationship with their students will not necessarily control of all the disruptive students.

          The key is, teachers need to continuously monitor the student in order for him or her to be aware of any difficulties the students is having. Understanding the child’s problem, fear, or confusion will give the teacher a better understanding the child’s learning difficulties. Once the teacher becomes aware of the problems, he or she will have more patience with the student, thus making the child feel secure or less confused when learning is taking place in the classroom.

The communication between the student and the teacher serves as a connection between the two, which provides a better atmosphere for a classroom environment.

TEACHERS ROLE IN CURRICULUM PROCESS

          Viable candidates for curriculum leadership are their presence in the classroom level. It is in the classroom where the curriculum is carried out. It is in the classroom is basically the work field of teachers, teachers experience first-hand the results of curriculum planning and how these make an impact on the learners. Teachers are in the best position to witness whether the curriculum is at odds or in keeping with the needs and interests of students. Couple their vantage point with their practical and theoretical understanding of education, they can judge whether or not a particular curriculum design (i.e., content, methods and material are structures and assigned) will meet the specified curriculum objectives. In addition, their interactions with lay people like students, parents and guardians make them the most capable in bridging the gap between curriculum theory and practice.

          If teachers are to be put into leadership roles, they must have a deeper understanding of education as a whole than is currently evident through evaluation of teacher preparation program content and standards. The latter’s job demands strong theoretical bases not only on education, but more specifically, on curriculum development. Deeper understanding and knowledge and sharper critical and analytical skills are required of curriculum leaders.

          The problem lies in the teacher’s self-perception and the role identification. They identify themselves as instructors. As soon as the finish their education (and get certified), teachers see themselves as implementers not as leaders in curriculum development. As far as they are concerned their obligations and opportunities begin and end within the walls of classroom. And this perception and identification is conversely reaffirmed by various academic institutions.