DEFINITION, CURRICULUM DETERMINANTS, PROCESS & STEPS OF

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT, CURRICULUM MODELS, TYPES &

FRAMEWORK
INTRODUCTION

Curriculum is the crux of the whole educational process. Without curriculum, we cannot conceive
any educational Endeavour. The curriculum in a literal sense, a pathway towards a goal. Curriculum is
actually what happens during a course i.e., lecture, demonstrations, field visits, the work with the client
and so on.
Curriculum also means a written description of what happens.
Curriculum is an important element of education. Aims of education are reflected in the curriculum.
In other words, the curriculum is determined by the aims of life and society. Aims of life and society are
subject to constant change.
The term curriculum has been derived from a Latin word „Currere‟ which means a „race course‟ or a
runway on which one runs to reach a goal. If the teacher is the guide, the curriculum is the path.
Curriculum is the total structure of ideas and activities.
DEFINITION
“A course, especially the course of study in a university”
- Dictionary
“All the experiences of pupil which has undertaken in the guidance of the school”
-blond‟s encyclopedia(1969).
”All educational ideas must find expression in curricula before we can tell whether they are day
dreams or contributions to practice. Many educational ideas are not found wanting because they cannot
be found at all." -Stenhouse (1980)
"A curriculum is an attempt to communicate the essential principles and features of an educational
proposal in such a form that it is open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective translation into
practice."
“All the learning activites which are planned and guided by the school ,whether they are carried out
in groups or individually ,inside and outside the school‟ -kerr (1968).
MEANING AND CONCEPT OF CURRICULUM

THE FOUR C’s OF CURRICULUM

i. Co-operative
ii. Continuous
iii. Comprehensive
iv. Concrete

NATURE OF CURRICULUM
a. Curriculum objectives
b. Curriculum evaluation
c. Curriculum administration
d. Curriculum development
PURPOSES OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

i. Brings desirable behavioral change in learner.

ii. Helps to & handle life situations realistically rationally.
iii. Help in development at all levels.
iv. Planned curriculum helps to realize the educational objectives.
v. To guide teacher and learner
vi. To maintain the standard of service, education, and research
vii. To fulfill the need of the people
viii. To protect society from harm
FUNCTIONS OF CURRICULUM

Development of individuals
Producing responsible citizens
To develop basic skills
Preservation and transmission of cultural heritage

General Education :It is that part of the curriculum that is designed to provide for a common
universe of discourse, understanding, and competence for the purpose of developing thinking, socially
responsible citizens of a free society. it provides a foundation for advancement into a major field of
specialization
Specialized Education : It is that aspect of the curriculum designed for the major field or
professional program of studies.

Exploratory Education: This function provides knowledge beyond those general specialized
education. This comes in the form of electives, cognates, minor, or allied subjects.

At elementary level, exploratory function is met through a range of activities and projects
extending from within the common core of studies.

Enrichment Education: This part of curriculum is intended to supplement and deepen one’s
educative experience beyond those connected with general education, specialized education, and
exploratory education.
NEED FOR CURRICULUM

 National development
 Developing democratic life
 Raising standard of living
 National integration
 Modernizing the society
 Personal development
 Education of whole man
COMPONENTS OF CURRICULUM

 Objectives of the course/programme

 Course contents
 Methods
 Materials
 Time and place
 Methods of assessment

CURRICULUM PLANNING
The term curriculum is derived from the latin word “currere” which means ‘run’. Thus, curriculum is
a runway for attaining the goals of education. Curriculum may be considered as the blueprint of an
educational programme. It is the base of education on which the teaching-learning process is planned
and implemented.
The four C’ s of curriculum planning

Cooperative: A programme prepared jointly by group of persons.

Continuous: Preparation of programme and its revision should be continuous.
Comprehensive: All the components of the programme should be included.
Concrete: Concrete professional tasks must constitute the essential structure of a relevant programme.
LEVELS OF CURRICULUM PLANNING
Goodland names curriculum in 3 levels.
· Societal
· Institutional
· Instructional
Societal curriculum
This curriculum which is planned for a large group or class of students, e.g BSc(N) It is planned by groups
outside of an educational institution, e.g. National league for nursing. They are more immediately
concerned with
- General characteristics of curriculum content
- Sequence
- Implementation
There is significant relationship between curriculum and nature of society. According to the needs of the
society curriculum will be changed.
The institutional curriculum
· It is planned by faculty or teacher for a clearly identified group of students who will spend a specified
period in a particular institution.
· Cooperative planning through curriculum committee of the particular institution.
· More active participation of each teachers generally brings about change and improvement.
The instructional curriculum
It consists of the content (subject matter and learning activities) planned day by day and week by week
by a particular teacher for a particular group of students.
FACTORS INFLUENCING CURRICULUM PLANNING
 What skill and content should be covered?
 Do I have a balance of learning activities that support all developmental domains?
 Have I considered all learning styles?
 Field- sensitive
 Field- independent
 Visual learners
 Auditory learners
 Have I considered all learning characteristics?
 Slow/ fast workers
 Attentive/ ADHD
MAJOR FACTORS OF THE DEVELOPMENT
 Philosophy of nursing education
 Natural bonds
 Social bonds
 Cultural bonds
 Human bonds
 Religious bonds
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Educational psychology is nothing but one of the branch of applied psychology.

It is an attempt to apply the knowledge of psychology to the field of education. • In other words ,
educational psychology is the study of the experience and behavior of the learner in relation to
educational environment.
Crow and Crow put it as: “Educational Psychology describes and explains the learning experience of
an individual from birth through old age”.(1973)
According to Peel: “Educational Psychology is the science of education.(1956)
KNOWLEDGE

Knowledge is a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as facts,

information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through experience or education by perceiving,
discovering, or learning.

NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE
 DESCRIPTIVE KNOWLEDGE
 NORMATIVE KNOWLEDGE
DETERMINANTS OF CURRICULUM
 HISTORICAL DETERMINANTS
 Traditional Education: The culture, traditions and practices of the people are passed on from one
generation to the next.
 Ancient Education: Greek, the Roman, the Hebrew and the Christian periods education which
has influenced the current world systems of education. The main aim of their education was
Good citizenship respect tradition; and highlighted the value of practical skills.
 Christian Education was focused on moral education and character building.
 PHILOSOPHICAL DETERMINANTS
 Philosophy of nation
 Philosophy of life
 Philosophy of nursing education :For example: Inc it determines the objectives, content, teaching
methods of educational programme.
Indian Nursing Council Philosophy for M.Sc (N) programme & INC believes that: prepare nurses to
improve the quality of nursing education and practice in India. Development of Research skills.
Prepares nurses for leadership. Encourages accountability and commitment to life long learning which
fosters improvement of quality care.
 SOCIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS
 Family life disintegration rural-urban migration Media explosion
 Crime, Delinquency and Security issues Faith, beliefs, attitudes of the people. Core values&
needs of Indian society. Life styles of families & society. Urbanization& industrialization. Type of
society, social needs of patients. Health Issues: Health challenges include HIV/Aids, Drug abuse,
pollution and other environmental issues etc.

POLITICAL DETERMINANTS
 As government is responsible for allocation of resources that are necessary to support a curriculum.
politics would influence decision making process in curriculum matters. In the hiring of personnel.
Funding (both private & public educational institutions). Building, maintaing facilities & equipment.
Examination system

TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS
 computer technology
 Technological multimedia
  Online web based
 PSYCHOLOGICALDETERMINANTS
 It is a science which provides knowledge about learning & its problems. Knowledge about
psychology & its application in nursing education helps in selection & organization, evaluation of
learning experiences in the curriculum.
 For example: Of special importance to be given for those with disabilities such as mental
retardation, specially gifted children, emotionally disturbed children. Psychology & learning
problems among these children will greatly influence curriculum development.
 KNOWLEDGE
 It includes facts, laws, rules, theories, principles, norms, standards & moral choices. Ways of acquiring
knowledge in curriculum: Onlookers: person who needs sufficient back ground knowledge.
Participant: would be the scholars who needs much more mastery of the field.
 LIFE ACTIVITIES Characterized by,
 Professional
 Family
 Civic
 Leisure & spiritual
Nursing curriculum should help the students to become more fully prepared to participate in these
activities to become better person/ citizen as well as good nurse.

 CULTURAL DETERMINANTS

 Student interest
 Motivation
 Participation
 Student reaction
 Student,Teacher relationships
 Emotional tensions and anxieties
 Guidance and counseling to assists the students to overcome any difficulties

Considering the above determinants/ factors in curriculum development the nursing students will
poses sound judgment intellectually & morally enlightened, professionally equipped so that they are
capable of caring for the sick functionally & effectively in health programmes and there by contributing
to health & welfare of the society. Hence according to the changing needs of the society the curriculum
also has to be modified.

PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM
 Principle of correlation
 Principle of activity-centeredness
 Principle for the use of leisure
 Principle of inter-relation of subject
 Principle of development of culture and civilization
 Principles of Curriculum
 Principle of need based activity
 Principle of value-orientedness
 Conservative principles
 Principle of creative training
 Principle of harmony

STAGES OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

DIRECTIVE
STAGE

EVALUATION FORMATIVE
STAGES
STAGE STAGE

FUNCTIONAL
STAGE

I.Directive stage :

a) It lays foundation of all the other stages.

b) Identify beliefs, knowledge and concepts.
c) Formulation of theoretical framework in selection & sequence of the content.

ii. Formative stage :

a) Philosophy of educational institution
b) Objectives
c) Nature/ content of nursing

iii. Functional stage :

a) Practical form of curriculum
b) Planned teaching & learning experiences

iv. Evaluation stage :

a) Input evaluation
b) Throughput evaluation
c) Output evaluation
d) Evaluation for curriculum revision.
CURRICULUM PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
STEPS

Planning/Formulation of educational objectives

Development/Selection of teaching learning experiences
 Implementation/Organization of teaching – learning experiences

Evaluation of learning objectives/ outcomes

i. Planning/Formulation of educational objectives : Formulation Of Educational Objectives Educational

objectives formulated for a given course of study will depend upon the intended learning outcomes.
In formulating educational objections, it is best to use words or phrases.
(eg. to identify, to differentiate, to evaluate, to perform a particular task or procedure, to elicit a response
from) that describe, as precisely as possible, measurable or observable learning outcomes. Phrases like ‘to
know’, ‘to understand’, and ‘to appreciate’, which are not precise enough for this purpose, may however be
used in statements that describe the general goals of a course/programme.
Educational objectives will provide useful guidelines for teachers to adopt a more systematic approach in
designing and planning instructional strategies, particularly with respect to:
What to teach
How to teach
How to assess
What to evaluate ii. Development/Selection of teaching learning experiences : Learning experience is
defined as deliberately planned experiences in selected situations where students actively participate,
interact & which result in desirable changes of behavior in the students. In nursing education, selection of
learning experience is concerned with the decision about the content of subject matter & clinical,
community & laboratory practice.
Criteria for the selection of Learning Experiences:
 Consistent with the philosophy
 Varied & flexible enough
 Give the students an opportunity to practice
 Provide chance for the development of independent thinking
 Adapted to the needs of the student Provide continuity, correlation & integration
 Planned & evaluated co-operatively by the teacher & the student
 Selected & arranged to give appropriate emphasis & weight age according to the relative importance of
the various L.Es & contents.
 Should allow the student to learn by doing should create motivation & interest among students
 Selected should bring out multiple outcomes in students
 All learning experiences which are planned & selected should be helpful to the student in attaining the
educational objectives.
iii. Implementation/Organization of teaching – learning experiences It
has to be done carefully, systematically & sequentially.
Acc to Tyler, primary aim of organization of learning experiences in the curriculum is to bring & relate
various learning experiences together to produce the maximum.
Continuity, sequence & integration has to be followed
Learning experiences have to be vertically & horizontally organized In vertical organization, the L.E
planned for the entire curriculum have to be arranged in such a way that the learning progresses
week by week, month by month, semester to semester & year to year. In horizontal, all the learning
takes place in different times & are automatically related to learning of another situation or subject.
iv. Evaluation of learning objectives/outcomes :
Curriculum evaluation involves an assessment of the philosophy of the institution, programme goals,
nursing content taught in each course, course objectives, teaching – learning methods, course evaluation
methods & the relationship of non- nursing courses to the overall plan of study. Evaluation of a curriculum
should be efficient & effective.
Five M’s of curriculum evaluation
 Men & other personnel involved
 Money
 Materials
 Methods
 Minutes

LIMITATIONS
• Lack of equipment

• Lack of variety

• Lack of pupil participation

• Defective Organization of the Time Schedule

• Lack of Adequate Staff

• Over-emphasis on Academic Work

• Over-emphasis on Activities
 High Work-load of the Staff

MODELS OF CURRICULUM
i. PRODUCT MODEL
The Product Model

Also referred to as the behavioural objectives model.

Became apparent in the late 1960s due to:

- The vagueness of many syllabuses

- The need to specify practical skills more precisely

- The need to make assessment techniques more precise

- The influence of the ideas of behaviourism

However, this was also developed by Tyler (1949), he shared his emphasis on rationality and relative
simplicity.

His theory was based on 4 fundamental questions:

1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?

2. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes?

3. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?

4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained?

It used to be that there were certain skills to master and facts to know. Knowledge was seen as
something similar to a product that is manufactured. Generally, one starts knowing nothing, is taught,
and one transmits that knowledge to action. For the most part, this point of view worked for quite some
time, as it organized learning quite neatly.

There were a series of steps leading to the product, and curriculum could be designed accordingly.

Those steps were:

Step 1: Diagnosis of need

Step 2: Formulation of objectives

Step 3: Selection of content

Step 4: Organization of content

Step 5: Selection of learning experiences

Step 6: Organization of learning experiences

Step 7: Determination of what to evaluate, and the ways and means of doing it. Summary

The curriculum as product model id heavily dependant on the setting of behavioural objectives.

Therefore, the curriculum is essentially a set of documents for implementation.

In other words curriculum is what actually happens in the classroom and what people do to prepare and
evaluate.

ii. THE PRODUCT MODEL OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

The product model has its origins in the writings of Ralph Tyler. Tyler’s Basic Principles of Curriculum
Instruction (1949) greatly influenced curriculum development in America. This model is also known as an
objectives curriculum model and looks at curriculum as a technical exercise. Key features of this model
include:

High level of lecturer/teacher planning

Emphasis on defining/setting appropriate learning objectives

Use of behavioural language

Precise assessment instruments

Emphasis plans and intentions – selecting and organising of learning experiences

The curriculum, essentially, is a set of documents for implementation: one-size- fits-all

package of learning

Outcomes (product) are measured – evaluation.

- Avoidance of vague, general statements of intent

- Making assessment more precise

- Helping to select and structure content

If this model is tightly adhered to there can be limited opportunities for educators to make use of the
interactions that occur. It can also de-skill the educators!

Therefore, it turns educators into technicians.

iii. PROCESS MODEL

Conversely, this process model focuses on how things happen in the learning and is more open-ended.
Curriculum focusing on the process model emphasizes how students are learning, what their thinking is,
and how it will impact future learning.
ADVANTAGES OF PROCESS MODEL
-Emphasis on active roles of teachers and learners
-Emphasis on learning skills
-Emphasis on certain activities as important in themselves and for “life”

DISADVANTAGES OFPROCESS MODEL

-Neglect of considerations of appropriate content
-Difficulty in applying approach in some areas

iv. CULTURAL ANALYSIS MODEL

Lawton offers a five stage model for this analysis:
 CULTURAL INVARIANTS: This examines all the aspects that human societies have in
common, such as economic & morel aspects, beliefs & other systems.
 CULTURAL VARIABLES:- involves analyzing the difference between cultures in each of
the systems.
 SELECTION FROM THE CULTURE:- this stage consists of comparing the cultural analysis
of the systems with the existing school curriculum.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL QUESTIONS & THEORIES: it is an important consideration for any
curriculum development.
 CURRICULUM ORGANIZATION:- In this final stage , the curriculum can now be planned
on the basis of the cultural analysis carried out in the previous stages, bearing in mind
the important psychological question & theories that influence learning & instruction.

CONCLUSION
Curriculum is considered as the blueprint of an educational program. We need to consider how to
design the curriculum that would work in the globalized world and for globalization, how to design the
curriculum that accommodates diversity and differences, how to design the curriculum that is
meaningful to the students, and how to design the curriculum that reflects to the concepts of the
profession. Nursing curriculum is the learning opportunities and the learning activities that the faculty
plans and implement in various settings for a particular group of students, for a specified period of time
in order to attain the objectives.