Lebanese Curriculum 1

School of Education

Final Project

Spring 2020: Date: 30/ 5/ 2020

Course Title: Curriculum Design and Evaluation

Course Code: EDUC600

Instructor: Dr. Hanan Halabi

Students: Fatima Shahine/ Rafeef Ramadan

Rida Zogheib/ Zeinab Darwish

ID: 11833625/ 11430248

11932348/ 11520033

Campus: Beirut
Lebanese Curriculum 2
Table of Content

Introduction 2

Curriculum Approach 3

Major and educational Philosophies 5

Psychological foundation 6

Curriculum Design 7

Curriculum Development 8

Curriculum Implementation 9

Conclusion 10

References 11
Lebanese Curriculum 3
Introduction

Lebanon is usually well known for its famous and good standard universities and schools

in the Middle East. Unfortunately, its curriculum is highly influenced by many cultures over the

years. These cultural influences reflected the educational system in Lebanon. The Lebanese

education system through its history has not been able to lessen the sectarian divisions and the

social inequalities that affect the Lebanese society. The disproportionate role and importance

given to the sectarians and leaders on a wide range of issues in societies, going from their

opposition to civil marriage to their obstruction in the curricula education, is clearly an obstacle

to change. Nevertheless, Lebanon’s education definitely falls under the category of having an

education system that reinforces social fissures framing weakness in education structure and

content which may have contributed to a dangerous source of conflict. Therefore, the opposition

of religious groups and social figures on several subjects has prevented the emergence of new

united curricula. Their opposition was rooted in economic interests and was not only ideological

because, until now, more than six history textbooks series are used. The Lebanese education

system has turned into a dual system on a social level, in which the middle and upper middle-

income groups have sought mostly in private education, with the exception of free private

education which is focused on the very poor, while the lower middle income and poor social

groups are attracted by public education. Therefore, the educational context remained largely

unchanged since the end of the civil war with a limited application of the curricula, textbooks,

and teacher training.

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Curriculum Approach

Curriculum as a field of study has been characterized as elusive, fragmentary, and

confusing. It is considered narrowly, as subjects taught in schools, or broadly, as experiences that

individuals require for full participation in society. Therefore, we look at the curriculum in terms

of approach and definition. Thus, the oldest and still the dominant approach that the Lebanese

curriculum follows is the behavioral approach. For formulating curriculum, it relies on technical

and scientific principles and includes paradigms, models, and step-by-step strategies. This

approach is usually based on a plan where goals and objectives are specified, content and

activities are sequenced to coincide with the objectives, and learning outcomes are evaluated in

relation to the goals and objectives. The Lebanese curriculum is a pure subject based curriculum

that focuses on the material, subject matter, rather than the student. It relies on direct instruction,

practice and drill, monitoring students, and prompt feedback. Usually, teachers spend most of

their time presenting information to students; as much information as possible, in as many ways

as possible. Students’ job is to listen to lectures, read textbooks, work on presentations, take part

in discussions with teachers and fellow students, and confer privately with teachers.

Unfortunately, they are all overwhelmed by the bounty heaped upon them. The Lebanese

curriculum has not been changed throughout years. Yet, the educational center for research and

development has stated that the Lebanese curriculum has changed from focusing on subject

matter, behaviorism, to focusing on students’ needs and interest, academic approach, with

respect to teachers being mediators between the learner and the curriculum. It overemphasized

on the learner as an individual who needs to be validated rather than as a social being. Therefore,

curriculum should start not from the student as a learner, but from his or her entitlement, or

access, to knowledge. Attention is now on understanding how knowledge can be constructed,

Lebanese Curriculum 5
deconstructed, and then reconstructed. The academic approach to curriculum addresses much

more than subject matter and pedagogy. It covers numerous foundational topics, thus presenting

an overview of the curriculum. However, it is doubtful that the academic approach will become

popular among practitioners in the Lebanese curriculum. It contradicts the fact of the behavioral

approach used in the Lebanese curriculum. The Lebanese curriculum will forever focus on

subject matter using students as data for receiving information. Nevertheless, the behavioral

approach to curriculum, with its dependency on technical means of selecting and organizing

curricula, is likely to continue to serve students well in the future. The Lebanese state will never

be able to build a public education system able to compete with the education supported by the

sects, indeed short-term political interests have shown to prevail over the concern of the future

state.
Lebanese Curriculum 6
Major and educational Philosophies

Referring to the behavioral approach followed in the Lebanese curriculum, behaviorism

reflects Aristotle’s ideas of realism (essentialism). It is the major educational philosophy used in

the Lebanese curriculum. Realism is a traditional school of thoughts based on subject matter. It

states that a curriculum of organized, separate subjects provides the most accurate and efficient

way to learn about reality. Therefore, the aim of education in the Lebanese curriculum is to give

to the student a complete knowledge and understanding of human society, human nature, and

motives. Accordingly, many realists emphasize mastering the skills, facts, and concepts that form

the basis of the subject matter. For all children, the educational process must be one of collecting

factual knowledge to their maximum absorptive capacity. Discipline, training, homework, and

serious study are emphasized to show that students are made to work hard not to have fun.

Nevertheless, the Lebanese curriculum, therefore, believes that students need subjects to help

them learn. In order to learn, students should rely on teachers. The teacher’s primary

responsibility is to bring students’ ideas about the world into correspondence with reality by

teaching skills such as reading. She/he is responsible for the class and decides on the curriculum

with minimal student input. Nevertheless, Lebanese schools are academic institutions that

societies establish to provide students with knowledge. All students should pursue the same

academic curriculum that prepares them to make rational decisions. All students should undergo

standardized tests to test their knowledge.

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Psychological foundation

The Lebanese curriculum is organized for students to master the subject matter. It relies

on step-by-step, structured learning methods. Accordingly, the Lebanese curriculum focuses on

behaviorism. The main characteristics of the Lebanese curriculum are the principles of testing,

monitoring, drilling, and feedback. In behaviorism, curriculum and instruction can be broken

down into small units with appropriate sequencing of tasks and reinforcement of desired

behavior. Moreover, the Lebanese curriculum requires the idea of connectionism; that is testing

the relationship between a stimulus and a response, classical conditioning. Connecting more

stimulus and response in the brain, one attained more complicated association, sophisticated

understanding to produce knowledge. Nevertheless, perspectives that allow for investigations of

the mind have been incorporated into behaviorism. Cognitive developmental theories are being

integrated into some behaviorists’ approaches to human learning. Therefore, the Lebanese

curriculum also focuses on the cognitive aspect by collecting information and neglecting the

emotional and psychological side, including the formation of tendencies, habits, attitudes and

positive values of the scholar. Neglecting the emotional side of the scholar causes the absence of

the sources of energy directed to the behavior of the individual, and thus education encompasses

a weak impact in forming the proper ethics and building the integrated personality of its children.

In schools, the focus remains on providing students with information in a very nonfunctional

way. Curriculars miss the flexibility to own higher skills of thinking like analysis and synthesis.

Therefore, the curriculum is deficient which makes it failing to attain the specified educational

goals.
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Curriculum Design

Looking forward to the Lebanese curriculum design, we have observed a niche between

creating an intelligent person and the support of sectarianism and regionalism rooted in the

curriculum. The curriculum has ignored the citizen’s basic needs and focused on the problems

raised by sectarians and politicians. The Lebanese curriculum relies on subject centered design; it

focuses on the knowledge and content which follows Aristotle’s academic idea. However, the

curriculars in Lebanon have designed a curriculum that is based on theories, part of it is planned,

implemented-given, and the other part is unplanned, implicit-hidden. It follows Tyler's

objectives-centered model. The model is product focused that focuses primarily on the product

rather than the process for achieving the goals and objectives of the curriculum. In addition, it is

designed to measure the degree to which predefined objectives and goals have been attained. The

Lebanese curriculum’s educational objectives are written in a very linear manner which do not

show interdependence and complementarity between its aspects. The approach is based on

numbers, not standards, that is, the filling within the materials. Therefore, the Lebanese

curriculum is heavily loaded; it requires breadth that relies on quantity not quality. Moreover, the

curriculum is based on subject design which stresses on the objectives of the curriculum. It is a

textbook treatment curriculum that obligates teachers to focus on the content of the subject.

Nevertheless, the Lebanese curriculum is not helping in eliminating ignorance but rather it is

making kind of indoctrination, not up-to-date, due to the lack of a well-designed curriculum.
Lebanese Curriculum 9
Curriculum Development

The Lebanese curriculum uses a technical-scientific approach attempting to

systematically outline those procedures that facilitate curriculum development. The technical-

scientific approach to education and curriculum stresses students learning specific subject matter

with specific outputs. Curriculum development is a plan for structuring the learning environment

and coordinating personnel, materials, and equipment. The Lebanese curriculum follows Tyler's

technical scientific model which is one of the best known. Tyler indicated that curriculum

planners should identify objectives by gathering data from the subject matter, the learners, and

the society. As long as we are changing, we should consider our objective all the time as one

objective leads the next. Unlike the Lebanese curriculum, most curricular team members are

teachers because they implement the curriculum and draw on their classroom experiences when

developing curricula. They are likely to be familiar with effective subject content and

instructional strategies. Therefore, the more the teachers are involved the better the curriculum is.

As mentioned, the discussion of aims is essential to education; it provides direction and reflects

our value judgments. In the Lebanese curriculum, aims cannot be found, but rather, it has goals.

Their goal is to first serve the society and then the students. Nevertheless, the Lebanese

curriculum has no validity because it has not been changed throughout years. Its main concern is

to put adults in less primary positions; select content that is good to the society then is good for

the students. Students, in Lebanon, have no experience in content because the curriculum lacks

activities.

Conclusion
Lebanese Curriculum 10
In conclusion, education in Lebanon has unfortunately been an instrument to reproduce

and reinforce social and sectarian division. The sects have certainly considered education as a

means of maintaining and reproducing group identity. The curriculum will always be subject-

centered to students transmitting information the sectarians want. It will always be built on

social, economic, and religious differences which prevents the emergence of a new united

curricula. Accordingly, the Lebanese state will never be able to build a public education system

able to strive with schools supported by the sects. Therefore, the education system certainly

amplifies this division giving it a theoretical cover.

Lebanese Curriculum 11
References

1. https://www.crdp.org/mag-description?id=9643

2. http://www.lebanonrenaissance.org/assets/Uploads/0-The-negative-face-of-the-Lebanese-

education-system-by-Nmer-Frayha-2009.pdf

3. PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES IN EDUCATION

4. oregonstate.edu › instruct

5. Realism: Overview & Practical Teaching Examples - Video ...

6. study.com › academy › lesson › realism-overview-pract…

7. Book: Allan C. Ornstein / St. John’s University

8. Francis P. Hunkins / University of Washington, Emeritus