INTRODUCTION

The word curriculum is derived from a Latin word Curare, which means running, race
course, run away or lap or course which one takes to reach a goal applied to a course of
study. If the teacher is the guide, the curriculum is the path. Curriculum is the total structure
of ideas and activities. A curriculum is considered the heart of any learning institution.
Curriculum development is a planned, purposeful, progressive, and systematic process in
order to create positive improvements in the educational system. Every time there are
changes or developments happening around the world, the school curricula are affected.
There is a need to update them in order to address the societys needs.
DEFINITION
According to Francis M.Quininn, Curriculum refers to all the educational opportunities
encountered by the students, as a direct result of their involvement with an educational
institution.
According to Gagne, Curriculum is a sequence of content units arranged in such a way
that the learning of each unit may be accomplished as a single act, provided the capabilities
described by specific prior units in the sequence have already been mastered by the learner.
DETERMINANTS OF CURRICULUM
Determinants are core values or belief systems, which direct the preparation of the
curriculum. The determinants of curriculum are categorized into philosophical,
sociological, psychological, political, scientific, historical and environmental determinants.
1. PHILOSOPHICAL DETERMINANTS OF CURRICULUM
It aims at the all-round development of the individual. It is based on the philosophy of the
nation. It reflects the ideals and aspirations of the people. It inculcates the desired ideals of
life in the youngsters.It helps in the development of proper philosophy of life. It is in
accordance with the aspiration level of the individual It enables the learners to learn the
desirable cultural values, intellectual virtues, societal norms and moral doctrine. It helps in
the development of the personal and national character. The philosophical foundations of
the education Child centeredness (Naturalistic philosophy) Need centeredness (Pragmatic
philosophy) Activity centeredness (project and basic curriculum).
2. SOCIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF CURRICULUM
Core values and needs of the Indian society Changing values of the people. Demands of the
modern society Good family, ways of life. Democratic temper of the society Faiths, beliefs
and the attitudes of the people. Makes education as an effective media of social control
Keeps in mind the social changes and reflects the social needs of the community Dynamic,

flexible ad progressive. Transmit the values and ideals that the society upholds and
consider to be inherited by new generation. Related to social interests and problems of the
society.
Cooperation Media explosion Population explosion Regional and national imbalances.
Economic efficiency Education for fellowship and leadership Creative and purposeful
activities Cultural, political factors Knowledge, attitude and beliefs. Enables the youngsters
to participate efficiently in social life. Inculcates in them respect for different vocations and
professions and creates the dignity of labour. Develops desirable social attitudes Aids them
in promoting the social progress. To develop each individual to the optimum possible
progress level Aims at educating for the vacation and vocation. It is functional and socially
utilitarian.
3. PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF CURRICULUM
Knowledge of the nature of the learner and learning process and the condition facilitating
optimum learning. Knowledge of growth and development Intelligence, development
capacities. Curriculum to be child centered, learning experiences should be provided in
accordance with the mental development of the learner.
4. SCIENTIFIC DETERMINANTS OF CURRICULUM
Democracy, equality, liberty and fraternity are the political determinants of any given
curriculum.
5. HISTORICAL DETERMINANTS OF CURRICULUM
The curriculum has to be based on the countrys historical background, culture, tradition
and the belief system.
6. ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS OF CURRICULUM
The environmental determinants of curriculum are national ecology, pollution, ozone layer
depletion and disasters like earthquake, floods, famine etc.
NATURE OF CURRICULUM
It is a continuous and ongoing: The curriculum needs to be revised at periodic
intervals to include latest developments in the practice. The gap between theory and
practice expectations can be reduced through this approach
It is flexible to meet the changing demands of the society: The expectations of
the society change with the changing patterns of diseases conditions, environmental
changes and economical changes. So the curriculum also needs to be flexible
enough to include the societal needs from time to time.

 It has societal orientation: The curriculum needs to reflect the social values and
cultural patterns of the society, where the students are expected to practice so that
they will be able to give culturally sensitive care with better understanding of the
societal patterns and expectations.
It is oriented to life situations: The possible situations, the individuals will
encounter when they are sick or unwell will be part of any nursing curriculum. It
includes not only biological experiences, but also psychosocial and spiritual
experiences of the individuals as health is holistic in nature.
It is an ideal and realistic approach: The curriculum must be acceptable to
everyone as an ideal one and needs to be realistic in nature to include all the
possible best practices. It needs to be practically possible to implement the
knowledge into real practice.
It is dualistic, in the sense that it involves the minds of the learners and the
course content: The curriculum must progress from known to unknown content of
the students. It should also keep in mind the pace of learning of the students and
should move from simple to complex information.
It is prepared by traditional authority: The curriculum is prepared by
experienced faculty and approved by statutory bodies like INC, especially the
nursing curriculum, as it involves dealing with human lives.
It is based on the interests, abilities, aptitude and needs of the children: The
curriculum content must be novel in nature to create interest and to motivate the
students. It should also be based on the skill levels expectations and should promote
their aptitude towards the profession.
It is influenced by political, economical, philosophical and scientific factors:
these include the policy decisions of the government, financial allocations to the
education sector and values and beliefs of the people, as being systematic and
logical in nature.
NEED FOR THE CURRICULUM

To meet the healthcare needs of the society

To meet the challenges of the future
To provide quality education
To prepare students for regular learning
To provide flexibility in learning
To make study more cost-effective
To compete with international standards
To meet the technological changes
To meet the political changes related to healthcare programme.

PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

1) Conservative Principle
2) Forward Looking Principle
3) Creative Principle
4) Principle of totality form
5) Activity Principle
6) Principle of preparation for Life
7) Principle of connecting to Life
8) Child-centered curriculum
9) Principle of integration and correlation
10) Principle of comprehensiveness and Balance
11) Principle of Loyalties
12) Principle of variety and flexibility
13) Principle of connecting to community needs
14) Principle of connecting with social life
15) Training for leisure
16) Principle of core or common subjects
17) Principle of all-round development of body, mind and spirit
18) Principle of democracy, secularism and socialism
19) Principle of character building
20) Principle of dignity of labor
21) Principle of vertical and horizontal articulation
22) Principle of individual differences
23) Principle of Maturity
24) Principle of organization

STEPS IN CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

According to Ralph Tayler, there are four main steps or tasks in curriculum development.
They are
Formulation of educational objectives

Selection of learning experience

Effective, efficient organization of learning

experience

Evaluation of the extent to which goals have been

achieved

THE PROCESS OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

There are five phases in curriculum process. They are

Phase I: formulating the statement of philosophy of the school or college or university
Phase II: establishment of purposes and objectives of the school or college or university
Phase - III: selection of learning experiences to achieve the purposes and objectives
Phase - IV: effecting organization of the selected learning experiences
Phase - V: evaluation of the total programme

CURRICULUM PROCESS

Philosophy

Evaluation of total programme

Purposes/Objectives

Organization of learning experience and content

Selection of learning experience

PHASE I: FORMULATING THE STATEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

The philosophy and administration of school or college or institution or education program

originates from the board of trustees and its member constituted by the government or any
private trust which are expected to become acquainted with the interests and problems in
the community.
An educational philosophy states the values which are believed to be right,true and
good by the persons responsible for the school or college.
An educational philosophy will be unique to the particular society and individuals
whome it serves.
All teaching staff should participate in the formation of the school philosophy or
college philosophy
School or college philosophy is used as a screen
School or college philosophy should not conflict with the philosophy of the
institution of which it is a part
School or college philosophy should be reexamined periodically to determine its
suitability in the light of changing condition
PHASE II: AIMS, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The ultimate goals are the expected outcomes expressed as patterns or categories of
behaviour
Ultimate goals are the expected end products of an education carriedout over time
Mediate goals are the patterns of expected behaviour at given stages over the
educational period
It is doubtful whether specific objectives can be determined in phase-I at all,because
they are concerned with fairly discrete educational goals in the class room level
PHASE - III: SELECTION OF LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Though learning experience are specific,they may be classified into general
categories which deal with mans functioning in particular ways or his interests in
certain directions or his attempts to solve certain directions or his attempts to solve
certain kinds of problems.

PHASE - IV: ORGANIZATION AND INTEGRATION OF EXPERIENCES AND

CONTENT

 The major task to be attempted in phase IV is the combining of information about

experiences including developmental sequences and stages discovered in phase II
Phase IV is the phase which leads directly into teaching situation

PHASE - V: EVALUATION OF THE CURRICULUM

The final phase in the curriculum process is the coming to conclusion about the
success or failure, of the educational enterprise by means of some measurement or
assessment of change in behaviour.

CONCLUSION
Curriculum development has a broad scope because it is not only about the school, the learners
and the teachers. It is also about the development of a society in general. In todays knowledge
economy, curriculum development plays a vital role in improving the economy of a country. It
also provides answers or solutions to the worlds pressing conditions and problems, such as
environment, politics, socio-economics, and other issues on poverty, climate change and
sustainable development.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS

1. D. Elakkuvana Bhaskara Raj;Nima Bhaskar; Text book of Nursing Education; EMMES

Publications;1st Edition; Page -337
2. Latha Venkatesan, PoonamJoshi; Textbook of Nursing Education (2015); 1st Edition;
Elsevier Publications;Page-288
3.R.Sudha; Nursing Education Principles and Concepts; JAYPEE Publications;Page -247

4.R Pramilaa; Nursing Communication And Educational Technology; Jaypee

Publications;Page-428
5. Bilbao, P. P., Lucido, P. I., Iringan, T. C.,and R. B. Javier (2008). Curriculum
development. Philippines: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.
INTERNET
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curriculum_development
www.fao.org/docrep/009/ah650e/ah650e03.
https://www.linkedin.com/.../meaning-importance-curriculum-developm.
www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/curriculum/.../curguide_generic

INTRODUCTION

The scaling techniques are used to measure the attitude and behavior in social research. A
scale is a continuum from highest to lowest points and has intermediate points in between
these two extremes. An attitude is a dispositional readiness to respond to certain situations,
persons or objects in a consistent manner, which has been learned and has become ones
typical mode of response. Attitude scales are used for measuring the social attitudes.
Uses
To utilize simultaneously a number of observations on a respondent
Meaningful responses are logically arranged in the analysis of attitude and behavior
TYPES OF ATTITUDE SCALE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Point scale
Differential scale
Summated ( Likert ) scale
Scalogram scale
The Q-sort scaling scale
Semantic differential scale

DIFFERENTIAL SCALE (LL Thurstone scale)

INTRODUCTION
The Thurstone scale was the first formal technique for measuring an attitude in psychology.
It was developed by Louis Leon Thurstone in 1928,as a means of measuring attitudes
towards religion. It is made up of statements about a particular issue and each statement has
a numerical value indicating how favorable or unfavorable it is judged to be. People check
each of the statements to which they agree and a mean score is computed, indicating their
attitude.
METHODS FOR DEVELOPING UNIDIMENSIONAL SCALE
Thurstone actually invented three different methods for developing a unidimensional scale;
1) The method of equal appearing intervals
2) The method of successive intervals
3) The method of paired comparisons.
The three method differed in how the scale values for items were constructed, but in all
three cases, the resulting scale was rated the same way by respondents.
Construction of Thurstone scale (method of equal appearing intervals)

i)

ii)

iii)

iv)

v)

Developing the focus

First decide on the concept or theme to which the respondent has to
rate.
Define the focus for the scale and the purpose for which it has to be
created.
The concept should be clear as possible.
They are used to measure the attitude towards a given concept or
construct.
Generating potential scale items
For the purpose a large number of statements are collected that
relate to the concept or construct being measured.
All of the statements are worded similarly-that they do not differ in
grammer or structure.
Rating the scale items
The judges rate these statements along an 11 category scale in which
each category expresses a different degree of favorableness towards
the concept.
It is to rate their favorableness of each statement in terms of an
attitude towards a concept for, eg. AIDS where 1 = extremely
unfavorable attitude towards people with AIDS and 11=
extremely favorable attitude towards people with AIDS.
Computing scale score values for each item
The next step is to analyze the rating data
The items are then ranked according to the mean or median ratings
assigned by the judges
For each statement, from 50 judges values the median and the
interquartile range is computed.
The median is the value above and below which 50% of the ratings
fall.
The first quartile (Q1) is the value below which 25% of the cases
fall and above which 75% of the cases fall.
The median is 50th percentile. The third quartile, Q3, is the 75th
percentile.
The interquartile range is the difference between third and first
quartile, i.e.Q3-Q1.
These values can be computed easily with any introductory
statistics program or with most spreadsheet programs.
To facilitate the final selection of items for the scale, sort the table
of medians and interquartile range.

Select the final scale items

The statements that are selected should be at equal intervals across

the range of medians.
Within each value, the statement with smallest interquartile range is
selected.
This is the statement with the least amount of variability across
judges.
And also, look over the candidate statements at each level and select
the statement that makes the most sense.
If the best statistical choice is a confusing statement, the next best
choice is selected.
Administering the scale
The final selected items make a single Thurstone scale to measure
the attitude towards a concept
This is given to the samples to measure the attitude
The statements are worded in such a way so that a person can agree
or disagree with them
The scale is then administered to assemble of respondents whose
scores are determined by computing the mean or median value of
the items agreed with.

vi)

ADVANTAGES
A person who disagrees with all the items has a score of zero. So the advantage of this scale
is that it is an interval measurement scale. But it is the time consuming method and labour
intensive. They are commonly used in psychology and education research.

LIKERT SCALE (SUMMATIVE SCALE)

INTRODUCTION

A Likert Scale is a type of psychometric scale frequently used in

psychology questionnaires. It was developed by and named after
organizational psychologist Rensis Likert.

DEFINITION
According to R.Sudha, the Likert scale is an ordered, one dimensional scale from which
respondents choose one option that best aligns with their view.
According to Suresh K. Sharma, Likert scale is a composite measure of attitudes that
involve summation of scores on set of items (statements) to which respondents are asked to
indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement.
USES OF A LIKERT SCALE
It is basically used to measure the attitudes, values and feelings of the people about
a specific concept such as situation, people, place, object, programme, practice,
policy and so on
This scale is used to have quantified measurement of the qualitative attributes of
people such as feelings, values and attitudes
It may also be used to assess the opinion of the people about a particular abstract
concept
It spreads out people with various attitudes, emotions and feelings towards a
particular concept.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A LIKERT SCALE

Psychological measurement tool: Likert scale is basically a psychological
measurement tool to assess the attitudes, values and feelings of the people about a
specific concept.
Illustrative in nature: This scale is generally illustrative in nature, where which
statement in the scale is stated in an explicitly illustrative way so that a person can
make a clear judgment about the degree of agreement or disagreement with the
particular item of scale.
Neutral statements: The scale must contain neutral statements without
incorporation of any bias of the evaluator.
Bipolar scaling method: This is composed with an alternative mixture of positive
and negative declarative statements, so that the respondents casual response bias
can be eliminated. positive statements get a high score with agreement and negative
statements with high score with disagreement with the statement.

 Measurement of the specific number of scaling categories: This scale is

originally developed with five scaling categories and later the scales even
developed with four,six and seven scaling categories.

LEVELS OF LIKERT ITEMS

A Likert scale uses a number of Likert items, which are statements to which a respondent
expresses his agreement or disagreement. Generally, a five-point or seven-point scale is
used, for instance:

Strongly agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Each item is bipolar: it measures either someone's agreement or disagreement to the

statement and allows you to give some measure of how much you agree or disagree. There
are a variety possible response scales (1-to-7, 1-to-9, 0-to-4). All of these odd-numbered
scales have a middle value is often labeled Neutral or Undecided. It is also possible to use a
forced-choice response scale with an even number of responses and no middle neutral or
undecided choice. In this situation, the respondent is forced to decide whether they lean
more towards the agree or disagree end of the scale for each item
STEPS OF DEVELOPING A LIKERT SCALE
The basic steps of developing a Likert scale are:
1) Determine the focus: what concept are you going to measure (see what people's
attitudes are toward it)?
2)
Ask a group of people (or a person) to write down different statements about this
concept, reflecting different opinions or attitudes about the subject. Make sure you
have a large number of statements, making sure that people can express their degree of
agreement or disagreement on a five or seven-point scale.
3)
Rating the scale items: the next step is to have your group rate each statement on
your five-point (or seven-point, or 10-point) scale in terms of how much each
statement indicates a favorable or unfavorable attitude towards the concept. The
members of the group must not express their own opinion; they must only indicate
how favorable or unfavorable they feel each statement is. All statements (Likert items)
in the Likert scale must use the same number of points on the scale (so either a 5-point
scale, or a 7-point scale, but not a mix of the two).
4)
Select the items for the actual scale: The next step is to compute the
intercorrelations between all pairs of items, based on the ratings of the judges. In
making judgments about which items to retain for the final scale there are several
analyses you can:

a.

Throw out any items that have a low correlation with the total (summed)
score across all items
b.
For each item, get the average rating for the top quarter of judges and the
bottom quarter. Then, do a t-test of the differences between the mean value for
the item for the top and bottom quarter judges.

SCORING OF THE LIKERT SCALE

Statement

Strongly
agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly
disagree

(Positive statement)

1.person with multiple sex partners

are at high risk of AIDS
(Negative statement)
2.you can get AIDS by sharing
utensils

GUIDELINES FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF LIKERT SCALE

A five-point or seven point Likert scale may be designed with appropriate degrees
of agreement and disagreement phrases
The statements should be brief, concise and precise
Each statement should convey only one complete thought. More than one idea
should not be included in a single statement, it is better to construct more statements
The statement should belong to the attitude variable that is to be measured
Care should be taken on language :
Use simple sentences
Avoid double negatives
Avoid: all, always, none, or never
Use with care: only, just, merely
Avoid words with more than one meaning
The statements should cover the entire range of the affective scale of interest

 Statements should be such that they can be rejected(agreed/disagreed)

Acceptance and rejection should indicate something about the attitude measured
ADVANTAGES
Questions used are usually easy to understand and so lead to consistent answers
Easy to use
It is less time consuming during construction and administration
DISADVANTAGES
Only a few options are offered, with which respondents may not fully agree
People may become influenced by the way they have answered previous questions.
For eg- if they have agreed several times in a row, they may continue to agree
They may also deliberately break the pattern, disagreeing with a statement with
which they might otherwise have agreed

CONCLUSION
A scale is a device designed to assign a numeric score to people to place them on a
continuum with respect to attributes being measured, like a scale for measuring attitudes or
weight. These rating scales are used to assess the attitudes and feelings of self concept. The
expressions in view of any point are accounted as measurements towards any item, object
or concept. It shows a persons positive or negative attitude towards any concept.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

1. Suresh K. Sharma, Reena Sharma; Communication And Educational

Technology In Nursing; Elsevier Publications;Page-404
2. D. Elakkuvana Bhaskara Raj; Nima Bhaskar; Text Book Of Nursing
Education; Emmes Publications;1st Edition; Page -136
3. R.Sudha;
Nursing Education Principles And
Publications;Page-188

Concepts;

Jaypee

JOURNAL
1. Thurstone, L. L. (1928). Attitudes can be measured. American Journal of
Sociology, 33, 529-54
2.

Traylor, Mark (October 1983). "Ordinal and interval scaling". Journal of the Market
Research Society 25 (4): 297303.

INTERNET
1.

http://asq.org/quality-progress/2007/07/statistics/likert-scales-and-data-analyses.html