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LEARNING OUTCOMES

When you have completed this module you will be able to:
 Define what is a curriculum
 Compare the various definitions of curriculum proposed by different
scholars
 Explain what is the hidden curriculum
 Differentiate between the three approaches to curriculum
 Identify the foundations of curriculum
 Discuss the connection between curriculum and instruction
 Briefly describe the curriculum development process
 Argue whether curriculum is a discipline

OVERVIEW

1.0 Introduction 1.4 Foundations of curriculum

1.1 Definitions of curriculum 1.5 Curriculum development
1.2 The hidden curriculum 1.6 Curriculum and instruction
1.3 Curriculum approaches 1.7 Curriculum as a discipline
1.3.1 Curriculum as content
1.3.2 Curriculum as product Discussion Questions
1.3.2 Curriculum as process Readings

1
 NEWSP APER HEADLINES …………

 “Homework should be made more meaningful”

 “Students can’t read properly after 11 years of schooling”
 “Students are bored with studying the same thing each
year”
 “Teachers are unable to complete the syllabuses because
too much time is spent on co-curricular activities”
 “Teachers are reluctant to teach beyond what is in the
curriculum, considering it a waste of time”
 “Thinking skills of students need to be developed”
 “Parents passing the responsibility of educating their
children to teachers”
 “Sports is being neglected in schools”
 “Environmental education should be taught”

1.0 INTRODUCTION

You would have probably come across

these headlines in newspapers and magazines.
These headlines are an indication of society‟s
concern with what is going on in schools and in
particular the curriculum. It should be remembered
that a curriculum is contract between society and
those in power stating how its next generation of
young people will be educated. Hence the general
public have a right to question how schools are
preparing its next generation of citizens.
As society becomes more educated, more
of its members are keen in expressing their views

2
on various issues regarding what are schools doing and what is taught in schools.
Sometimes it is tempting to ask whether society ever come to a consensus on what it
wants schools to do.
Some sectors of the population are demanding that schools teach for the mastery
of the facts, concepts and principles of a discipline, while others are calling for reducing
content and placing more emphasis on the development of critical and creative thinking.
Still others feel that schools are not paying enough attention towards developing the
character of students. It appears that society is in a state of confusion not knowing what it
wants of its schools. However, what may be defined as confusion is in reality dynamism
because curriculum is a reflection of our values, choices and perspectives in differing
contexts. As society changes so will the curriculum because it is a reflection of society at
a particular point in time. For example, during colonial times, education in Malaysia was
confined to producing clerks and office assistants for the English administrative system.
Whether we consider curriculum narrowly as a listing of subjects to be taught in
schools or broadly as all learning experiences that individuals acquire while in school,
there is no denying that curriculum affects us all. Curriculum is the concern of everyone,
whether they are teachers, academics, students, parents, politicians, businessmen,
professionals, government officials or the person on the street.

ACTIVITY 1.1
1) Discuss any 3 headlines listed above that you agree with. Why?
2) Locate and report other concerns about the curriculum that you have
you come across?
3)

1.1 DEFINITIONS OF CURRICULUM

Just like most things in education, there is no agreed

upon definition of „curriculum‟. The word
originates from the Latin word currere referring to
the oval track upon which Roman chariots raced
(see picture). The New International Dictionary
defines curriculum as the whole body of a course in
an educational institution or by a department while
The Oxford English Dictionary defines curriculum
as courses taught in schools or universities.
Curriculum means different things to different
people. Most people, including educators equate
curriculum with the syllabus (Do you agree?) while
a few regard curriculum as all the teaching-learning experiences a student encounters
while in school. Since the early 20th century when Franklin Bobbitt dubbed the Father of

3
Curriculum wrote his book The Curriculum in 1918, various theoreticians and
practitioners have proposed definitions of curriculum.

 Tanner (1980) defined curriculum as “the

Summary of Various planned and guided learning experiences
Interpretations of and intended outcomes, formulated
Curriculum through the systematic reconstruction of
Curriculum is: knowledge and experiences under the
 that which is taught in school auspices of the school, for the learners‟
 a set of subjects continuous and wilful growth in personal
 content social competence” (p.13).
 a programme of studies
 a set of materials  Schubert (1987) defines curriculum as the
 sequence of courses contents of a subject, concepts and tasks
 a set of performance objectives to be acquired, planned activities, the
 a course of study desired learning outcomes and
 everything that goes on within a
experiences, product of culture and an
school
 everything that is planned by agenda to reform society.
school personnel
 that which is taught both inside  Pratt (1980) defines curriculum as a
and outside of school directed by written document that systematically
the school describes goals planned, objectives,
 a series of experiences content, learning activities, evaluation
undergone by learners in school procedures and so forth.
 that which an individual learner
experiences as a result of
 Goodlad and Su (1992) define curriculum
schooling
as a plan that consists of learning
opportunities for a specific time frame and
[Source: Peter F. Oliva, Developing the place, a tool that aims to bring about
Curriculum. Boston: Little, Brown & behaviour changes in students as a result
Company. 1982. p. 5] of planned activities and includes all
learning experiences received by students
with the guidance of the school.

 Cronbleth (1992) defines curriculum as answering three questions: what knowledge,

skills and values are most worthwhile? Why are they most worthwhile? How should
the young acquire them?

 Grundy (1987) defines curriculum as a programme of activities (by teachers and

pupils) designed so that pupils will attain so far as possible certain educational and
other schooling ends or objectives.

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 Hass (1987) provides a broader definition, stating that a curriculum includes “all of
the experiences that individual learners have in a program of education whose
purpose is to achieve broad goals and related specific objectives, which is planned in
terms of a framework of theory and research or past and present professional
practice” (p.5).

SELF-TEST 1.1
a) Identify
1. Identifythe
theFIVE
FIVEcommon
commonfeatures
featuresof
ofaacurriculum
curriculummentioned
mentionedinin
most of the definitions given by scholars in the field (exclude
Peter Oliva)
b) Select SIX interpretations of the curriculum summarised by Peter
2.
Oliva which you think provides
gives a comprehensive
a comprehensivedefinition
definition
of of
curriculum.

Are you confused with the different definitions? Well, don‟t be! It is not
necessarily a bad thing having numerous definitions of curriculum. The variety of
definitions demonstrates the dynamism of the field because it reflects the philosophical
beliefs, conceptions of human learning, pedagogical strategies, political experiences and
cultural background of the society the curriculum is planned for (Ornstein and Hunkins,
1998). Though much time may be spent on defining curriculum, it may be time well
spent because it encourages exploration of many possibilities. One should be aware that if
a curriculum is too narrowly defined there is the tendency and likelihood to omit, ignore
or miss relevant factors related to teaching and learning because they are not part of the
written plan. On the other hand, if they are too broadly defined, it would difficult to
implement because it may be open to different interpretations. This will make the task of
evaluating achievement of the goals and objectives of the programme more difficult.
Despite varying definitions of curriculum, there seems to be a consensus that it is
a statement
 of what students should know (knowledge or content),
 be able to do (skills),
 how it is taught (instruction),
 how it is measured (assessment),
 and how the educational system is organized (context).

It is a structured plan of intended learning outcomes, involving knowledge, skills,

behaviour and associated learning experiences organised as a sequence of events that a
student acquires through education and training. How we conceive of the curriculum is
important because our conceptions and ways of reasoning about curriculum reflect how

5
we think, study and act on the education made available to students. In short, how we
define the curriculum reflects our assumptions about the world (Cornbleth, 1990).

1.2 THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM

You may have heard of the phrase „hidden curriculum‟. What is it? The phrase
hidden curriculum was coined by the sociologist Philip Jackson in his book Life in
Classrooms written in 1968. He drew attention to the idea that schools did more than
simply transmit knowledge from one generation to another. Students learn things that are
not actually taught in the formal curriculum. It could be viewed as the entire range of
educational experiences promoted by schools and teachers through practices that are not
necessarily written down.
As pointed out by Doll (1992), “every school has a planned, formal acknowledged
curriculum, but there is also has an unplanned informal and hidden one that must be
considered” (p.5). The planned, formal curriculum focuses on goals, objectives, subject
matter and organisation of instruction. The unplanned, informal curriculum deals with
socio-psychological interaction among students, teachers and administrators, especially in
relation to their feelings, attitudes and behaviours
If we only consider the planned curriculum, the official curriculum stated in a
written document, we ignore both the numerous positive and negative consequences that
can result from the planned curriculum. Oftentimes, we fail to realise the power of the
hidden curriculum, which may not be written but will certainly be learned by students.
For example, they learn even without being formally taught:
 about „the rules of the game‟ in the school canteen, in the playground, in the
corridors of the school and so forth.
 the specific relationships between senior and junior students, between male and
female students, cliques of students
 how order is created and maintained in the classroom, the way individual teachers
interpret the behaviour of students
 the way teachers and principals or headmaster have different expectations of
students based on interpretations of behaviour in class

The hidden curriculum involves learning such things as how to respond to and cope with
authority, how to get on with others, how to pass the time, how deal with boredom, how
to establish priorities and how to conform to the expectations of teachers and their peers.

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 SELF-TEST 1.2
1. What is the hidden curriculum?
2. Why is the hidden curriculum important in education?
3. Give examples of the hidden curriculum other than those stated in
the text

1.3 CURRICULUM APPROACHES

If you examine the definitions provided by the experts in the field, there are three
ways of approaching a curriculum (see Figure 1.1). First is to approach it as content or a
body of knowledge to be transmitted. Second is to approach it as a product or the
learning outcomes desired of learners. Third, is to approach it as a process or what
actually happens in the classroom when the curriculum is practiced.

1.3.1 Curriculum as Content

It is quite common for people to equate a curriculum with the syllabus which is a
concise document listing the topics of a subject. If you have experience in preparing
students for national examinations, you will be familiar with such documents. What do
they contain? Perhaps, a list of topics, the concepts to be mastered and some suggestions
on how the topics are to be taught. For example, a primary school mathematics
curriculum will consist of topics on addition, multiplication, subtraction, division,
distance, weight and so forth. A syllabus will not generally indicate the relative
importance of the topics or the order in which they are to be studied. But, there is
tendency for teachers to follow the sequence prescribed in the syllabus. In most cases
teachers follow the logical structure of selected textbooks simply because the textbooks
have been written to match closely the syllabus. For example, in secondary school
geography involving the study of countries or regions, textbooks tend to begin with
physical geography such as relief, climate, vegetation followed by economic activities
such as agriculture, mining, industries, urbanization and so forth.
It has been suggested that if one adopts the content approach to curriculum, focus
will be on the syllabus and the body of knowledge to be transmitted or 'delivered' to
students using appropriate teaching methods. When curriculum is equated with content,
there is the likelihood to limit instruction to the acquisition of facts, concepts and
principles of the subject matter transmitted.

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 Content Product

CURRICULUM as:

Process

Figure 1.1 Approaches to Curriculum

SELF-TEST 1.3
1. What do you mean when curriculum is approached as content?
2. Why is it a common approach of viewing curriculum?

1.3.2 Curriculum as Product

Besides viewing curriculum as content that is to be transmitted, it has also been
viewed as a product. In other words, what is it that is desired of students having been
taught using a curriculum. Franklin Bobbitt (1918) in his book The Curriculum, stated
that;

Human life, however varied, consists in the performance of specific

activities. Education that prepares for life is one that prepares
definitely and adequately for these specific activities. However
numerous and diverse they may be for any social class they can be
discovered. This requires only that one go out into the world of affairs
and discover the particulars of which their affairs consist. These will
show the abilities, attitudes, habits, appreciations and forms of
knowledge that men need. These will be the objectives of the
curriculum. They will be numerous, definite and particularised. The
curriculum will then be that series of experiences which children and
youth must have by way of obtaining those objectives. (p: 42).

8
 According to Bobbitt, education should prepare people for life with detailed
attention to what people need to know in order to work and live their lives. Go out into
the world and see for yourselves what society needs (“the abilities, attitudes, habits,
appreciations and forms of knowledge that men [women] need” according to Bobbitt).
Curriculum should not to be the result of 'armchair speculation' but the result of
systematic study of society. The product from the curriculum is a student equipped with
the knowledge, skills and values to function effectively and efficiently. Ralph Tyler
(1949) shares Bobbitt‟s approach to curriculum when he said that the real purpose of
education is to bring about significant changes in students' pattern of behaviour [We will
examine Tyler‟s view in more detail in Chapter 5]. It is important that any statement of
objectives of the school should be a statement of changes to take place in the students.
The attraction of this way of approaching curriculum is that it is systematic and has
considerable organising power. Central to the approach is the formulation of behavioural
objectives which provide a clear notion of outcomes or desired products so that content
and teaching methods may be organised and the results evaluated.
In order to measure, things have to be broken down into smaller and smaller units
(“numerous, definite and particularise…series of experiences which children and youth
must have ” according to Bobbitt). The result, as many of you will have experienced, can
be long lists of often trivial skills or competencies. This can lead to a focus on the parts
rather than the whole; on the trivial, rather than the significant. It can lead to an approach
to education and assessment which resembles a shopping list. When all the items are
ticked, the person has passed the course or has learnt something. The role of overall
judgment is somehow sidelined.

SELF-TEST 1.4
1. How is curriculum as product different from curriculum as
content?
2. What should be the overall purpose of a curriculum according
to Bobbitt and Tyler?
3. How are these objectives to be derived?

9
 ACTIVITY 1.2

Criticisms of the ‘Curriculum as Product’ Approach

There are a number of disagreements with the Curriculum as product

approach. The first is that the curriculum can become too technical and
sequential. The tendency is for the curriculum to exist prior to and outside the
learning experiences which takes much away from learners and end up with
little or no voice. They are told what they must learn and how they will do
it. The success or failure of a curriculum is judged on the basis of whether
pre-specified changes occur in the behaviour of learners. If the curriculum is
closely followed it might limit creativity and turn educators into technicians.
Also, since the approach emphasises measurability, it implies that
behaviour can be objectively, mechanistically measured. There are obvious
dangers here; there always has to be some uncertainty about what is being
measured. It is often very difficult to judge what the impact of particular
experiences has been. Sometimes it is years after the event that we come to
appreciate something of what has happened.

[Source: Smith, M. K. (1996, 2000) Curriculum theory and practice, The

Encyclopaedia of Informal Education. www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm.]

1.To what extent do you agree with the criticisms of the curriculum
as product approach?
2) What are some advantages of this approach?

1.3.3 Curriculum as Process

We have seen that the curriculum as content approach emphasises the content to
be transmitted while curriculum as product approach is focussed on the setting of
instructional or behavioural objectives. Another way of looking at curriculum is via
process. Here, curriculum is not seen as a physical thing, but rather the interaction of
teachers, students and knowledge. It is what actually happens in the classroom such as
the questions asked by the teacher, the learning activities students engage in and so forth.
It is an active process with emphasis on the context in which the processes occurs.
Stenhouse (1975), used the analogy of the a recipe in a cookbook which teachers translate

10
into practice in the classroom. Like a recipe it can be varied according to taste. So can a
curriculum.
According to the process approach curriculum is seen as a scheme about the
practice of teaching. It is not a package of materials or a syllabus of content to be
covered. The classroom is seen as a laboratory in which the teacher is like a scientist
who tests the ideas stated in the curriculum. The teacher translates an educational idea
into a hypothesis that is tested in the classroom. It involves critical testing rather than
acceptance. The focus is on finding out those processes which enhance (if it is successful)
or hinder (if it goes wrong) a person‟s learning. So, the curriculum is not a finished
product but rather the proposed educational ideas that have to been verified in the
classroom by teachers. So, you may not know what you are going to get and may differ
from what has been specified in the curriculum document [„Life is like a box of
chocolates, you never know what you‟re gonna to get‟ – Forest Gump]. This differs from
the product approach where the desired behaviours have been pre-determined or more or
less fixed and applies to all learners.
The process approach to curriculum treats the learners are not as objects to be
acted upon. They have a say in what is going on in the teaching-learning sessions. The
focus is on interaction and attention shifts from teaching to learning. On the other hand,
the product model, by having a pre-specified plan or programme, tends to direct attention
to teaching. A process approach to curriculum theory and practice, as argued by Grundy
(1987), tends towards making the process of learning the central concern of the teacher
with emphasis on thinking and meaning-making.

1.4 FOUNDATIONS OF CURRICULUM

Debate is still continuing as to the definition of curriculum. Despite this lack of

consensus, it has not hindered institutions, school districts, states and nations continually
developing and improving curriculum in schools, colleges, universities and training
organisations. Imagine what would have happened if we had to wait for an agreed upon
definition of curriculum. The design and development of curriculum is a team effort
involving curriculum planners, curriculum developers, teachers, academicians, education
officers, administrators, community members and may others. They decide the goals of
the curriculum, what content to include, how it should be organised, suggest how it
should be taught and how to determine whether efforts have been successful. To help
them make these decisions, they have turned to philosophy, psychology, sociology and
history. These have been accepted as the foundations of a curriculum [We shall discuss
the influence of these disciplines in detail in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 respectively].
These disciplines have produced a vast amount of knowledge that provide
guidelines for people interested in developing curriculum. For example, from philosophy
has evolved numerous beliefs as on how people should be educated and what knowledge

11
 ACTIVITY 1.3
Problems with the ‘Curriculum as Process Approach’

 Teachers who want uniformity in what is taught will find this

approach problematic because the focus is on the learner. So there
will be different content and methods of delivery to cater to
individual needs.
 Examinations would be difficult to conduct because learners would
be learning different things and at a different pace. It would not be
fair to have one examination as you might not be assessing the real
ability of a learner.
 Examinations do not pay attention to the context in which learning
takes place and so some students might be disadvantaged.
 Teachers implementing a curriculum using the process approach
have to believe that learning is the making of meaning and
construction of knowledge. If teachers are not convinced this
should be the aim of education, then the process approach will not
succeed.

1) To what extent do you agree with the problems with the

„Curriculum as Process Approach‟?
2) Do you think the curriculum as process approach would be
easier to implement if there were no centrally controlled or
national examinations?
3) What is the main difference between the curriculum as product
and curriculum as process approach‟?

[Source: Smith, M. K. (1996, 2000) Curriculum theory and practice, The

Encyclopaedia of Informal Education. www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm.]

is worthwhile. These beliefs have provided curriculum developers with guidelines on

how they should go about designing curriculum. From psychology, various perspectives
on how humans learn have been proposed. This knowledge is of great significance since
a curriculum is a plan on what individuals are supposed to learn. Decades of research
have provided insight into the human psyche which curriculum developers have tapped
into to guide decisions on how a body of content is to be taught and acquired at different
levels of human development. The disciplines of sociology, economics, culture, and
politics provide an insight into society. A curriculum is a reflection of societal values and

12
beliefs it serves. It is usually a response to what society wants and desires. [Refer to the
newspaper headlines listed at the beginning of the chapter]. The community plays an
important role in influencing what is taught in the classroom. Finally, many curriculum
plans are an evolution from earlier times and curriculum developers refer to historical
events to better understand the decisions made at different points of time. It provides a
background for better understanding present day curriculum development efforts [We will
examine the curriculum of early American and Japan in Chapter 4 to understand how
and why curriculum changes with the evolution of society].

1.5 CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

Curriculum development is a process involving many different people and

procedures. Thus, it is usually linear and follows a logical step-by-step fashion involving
the following phases: curriculum planning, curriculum design, curriculum
implementation and curriculum evaluation. [We will discuss each phase in detail in
Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8. If you were to specialise in curriculum, then each of these phases
would be taught as a separate course by itself]. The phases of the process provide us with
guideposts
URRICULUM and structure to clarify our thinking. The phases can be graphically or
DEVELOPMENT
pictorially illustrated and are conceived in technical terms – with the assumption that one
must be knowledgeable of the process to fully appreciate and understand. Don‟t worry!
By the end of Chapter 8, you will fully understand the technical terms associated with
each of these phases of curriculum development.
Many curriculum development models have been proposed. Generally, most
models involve four phases. First is, curriculum planning which involves decisions about
the philosophy of education and the aims of education. Having decided on the
philosophical beliefs, curriculum goals and objectives are derived which are later
translated into the classroom as desired learning outcomes among students taught. The
second phase is curriculum design which refers to the way curriculum is conceptualised
and involves the selection and organisation of content, and the selection and organisation
of learning experiences or activities. Among the issues that have to be resolved is
deciding „what knowledge is of most worth‟, „how should the content be organised to
maximise learning‟. The third phase is curriculum implementation in the classroom
setting. It involves getting people to practice the ideas in the curriculum, providing them
with the necessary resources, training and encouragement. The fourth phase is curriculum
evaluation which is determining the extent to which the efforts in implementing the ideas
of the curriculum have been successful. It involves identification of factors that have
hindered implementation as well as success stories; and most important whether students
have benefited from the programme.

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 1.6 CURRICULUM AS A DISCIPLINE

Can curriculum be considered a discipline just like sociology, economics, biology

or political science? Graduate students have been taking courses in curriculum planning,
curriculum evaluation, primary school curriculum and so forth in various universities.
Many graduate schools of education offer doctoral specialisations in curriculum and
instruction, better known as „C&I‟. To arrive at a decision as to whether an area of study
is a discipline, one must first ask the question, „What are the characteristics of a
discipline?‟ If we know the characteristics of a discipline, than maybe we can decide if
„curriculum‟ is a discipline. According to Oliva (1982), a discipline has the following
characteristics:

 A discipline should have an organised set of theoretical principles

 A discipline encompasses a body of knowledge and skills pertinent to that
discipline
 A discipline has its theoreticians and its practitioners

The field of curriculum has its set of principles. For example the term
„curriculum‟ itself is a concept describing very complex ideas. In curriculum planning
there are principles such as educational philosophy, curriculum goals and learning
objectives which are applied in developing programmes for school, universities and
training centres. In curriculum design, the principles of scope, sequence and balance are
used in the organisation of content to be taught. The field of curriculum has its own body
of knowledge and skills, though much of it has been borrowed from a number of pure
disciplines. For example, in the selection of content (What to teach?), curriculum has
relied on the principles, knowledge and skills from psychology, philosophy and
sociology. In the organisation of content, curriculum has drawn from the fields of
management and organisational theory. In the implementation of curriculum, various
ideas from systems theory, organisational behaviour and communication theory have
been used to enhance effectiveness. For example, research in organisational behaviour
has been used to bring about change among teachers, educational administrators and the
community. Has the field of curriculum its own body of knowledge and skills? Applying
the ideas drawn from the different disciplines and through experimentation it has
generated its own body of knowledge and skills, or at least, new interpretations of
principles as applied in the educational setting.
The field of curriculum has its list of theoreticians and practitioners and they
include curriculum planners, professors of curriculum, curriculum developers and so
forth who are termed as curriculum specialists. These specialists are well-versed in areas

relating to curriculum, such as the history and origin of a curriculum (to know of earlier
successes or failure), curriculum planning and how a particular curriculum is to be

14
implemented in schools successfully. The specialist is well-informed about how students
learn, how teachers react to change and obstacles to improvement. The curriculum
specialist generates new knowledge by recombining existing programmes, adapting
approaches and constructing new curriculum. [Perhaps, after completing this course you
might be more convinced that curriculum meets the requirement of a discipline or maybe
not!]

SELF-TEST 1.5
1. Why do curriculum developers rely on the knowledge and skills
of other discipline?
2. How would you justify the field of curriculum to be a discipline?

1.7 CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION

Now that you have an idea of what is a curriculum; what is the relationship
between curriculum and instruction? Simply put, curriculum is what to be taught while
instruction is how it is taught. The relationship between curriculum and instruction is a
partnership. We may think of the curriculum as a plan stipulating the content to be taught
along with the learning experiences to be included. Instruction may be thought of as
methodology, the teaching act and assessing of achievement. In other words, it is putting
into practice what has been planned.
Oliva (1982) described curriculum and instruction as two entities. You could have
a situation in which the two entities are apart, called the dualistic model (see Figure 1.2a).
What takes place in the classroom under the direction of the teacher has little relationship
to what is stated in the curriculum plan. Planners ignore what teachers are doing and vice-
versa. The curriculum or the instructional process may change without affecting one
another. This separation will do serious harm to each other. On other occasions,
curriculum and instruction are mutually interdependent as shown in the concentric model
(see Figure 1.2b). In this model curriculum assumes the superordinate position while
instruction is subordinate; that is, instruction is a subsystem of curriculum which is itself
a subsystem of the whole system of education. This model implies a system that is
hierarchical, with curriculum dominating instruction. Instruction is not a separate entity
but a very dependent portion of the curriculum entity. In other situations, curriculum and
instruction may be separate entities with a continuing circular relationship, called the
circular model (see Figure 1.2c). Curriculum makes a continuous impact on instruction

and similarly instruction impacts on curriculum. This model assumes that instructional
decisions are made after curriculum decisions are made. But, these curriculum decisions
are later modified when they have been implemented and evaluated in the classroom.
This process is continues, repeated and never-ending.

15
 (a) Dualistic model

Curriculum Instruction

Curriculum

(b) Concentric model

Instruction

(c) Cyclical model

Curriculum Instruction

Figure 1.2 Curriculum and Instruction Relationship

[Source: Peter Oliva, Developing the curriculum. 1982. Boston: Little Brown & Co. pp.12-13]

Of all the models, the cyclical model seems to the best alternative as it emphasises
the need for a close working relationship between implementers and planners. Though
curriculum and instruction may be different entities they are interdependent and cannot
function in isolation. It is impossible to plan everything that happens in the classroom in
the curriculum document. It should be accepted that what is planned on paper may not
work exactly because the numerous factors operating in the classroom are impossible to
predetermine. The constant feedback from the classroom as to what works and what does
not work has to be recycled to curriculum developers so necessary adjustments and

16
modifications can be made to the curriculum plan. This may explain the need for pilot-
testing a curriculum before it is widely implemented.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) Write down your definition of curriculum.
a) What does your definition of curriculum include? Does it include a
process? . . a product? . . materials for teaching? . . . an approach to
education and methods of instruction that fosters certain values and
attitudes?
b) Compare your definition with the definitions given by scholars in the
field. How similar or different is yours?
2) “The curriculum on paper and the curriculum in action”. What do you
understand by this statement?
3) “The curriculum is too examination-oriented and children are deprived of
their childhood”. Discuss
4) “An over-loaded curriculum is a concern of many teachers. Increasingly,
teachers are feeling that there is not enough time to cover all the traditional
material being put into the curriculum”.
a) To what extent do you agree?
b) Suggest solutions to overcome the problem.

REFERENCES

 Alistair, R. (200). Curriculum: Construction and Critique. London: Falmer Press.

Chapter 1: What is the curriculum? [available at eBrary].

 Woods, R.N. (1989). Introduction to philosophy of education. London: outledge.

Chapter 3: Curriculum theory [available at eBrary]

 Ornstein, A. and Hunkins, F. Curriculum: Foundations, principle and issues.

(1998). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Chapter 1: The field of curriculum.

 Sowell, E. (2000). Curriculum: An integrative introduction. Upper Saddle River,

NJ: Prentice-Hall. Chapter 1: Overview of curriculum processes and products.

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