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Learning Unit 4-Part 1

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18 views2 pages

Learning Unit 4-Part 1

Uploaded by

sisamkelemango
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Chapter 4: The teacher as curriculum interpreter, designer and implementer

Part 1
There are many definitions of what curriculum is and what it is not.
It is important to note that, the definition of the curriculum depends on the views, the
background and experience of each person before we come to what we consider to
be the definition of a curriculum.
The struggle over definition of curriculum is a matter of social and political priorities
as well as intellectual discourse (Goodman, 1988)
Let us look at what teachers to know and do for effective teaching to take place.
Teachers need to:
• understand the influence of different approaches on curriculum development,
• be able to interpret curricula, choose appropriate teaching strategies,
• consider policies prescribed by the Department of Basic Education.
Origins of the word curriculum: Latin word “currere” meaning to run: run a course
According to the Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development ( SLO) (2009) , a
curriculum can be briefly be defines as a “plan for learning”.
Some other definitions of curriculum
Eisner (1985) defines a curriculum as a series of planned events that are intended to
have educational consequences for one or more learners,
whereas Fraser (1993) has a much wider interpretation of curriculum as the inter-related
totality of aims, learning content, evaluation procedures and teaching-learning activities,
opportunities and experiences that guide and implement didactic activities in a planned
and justified manner.
National Education Policy Initiative ( NEPI) “Curriculum refers to the teaching and
learning activities and experiences which are provided by schools.”
The definition includes:
• the aims and objectives of the education system and the specific goals of the
school
• the selection of content to be taught, how it is arranged into subjects and what
skills and processes are included
• ways of teaching and learning, and relationships between teachers and learners
• forms of assessment and evaluation used.

Open Rubric
The definition also includes the consideration of the following:
Actual classroom practice and experiences: It refers to curriculum in use. Dependent
on the many factors such as resources, materials, subject knowledge, teaching skills,
morale of teachers)
The perspective of teachers’ work: It refers to improving teacher’s knowledge and
skills as part of the curriculum
Implementation of the curriculum policy: It refers to the teachers following the
curriculum (CAPS)

Different aspects to the curriculum


Official, explicit intended curriculum: This is a prescribed curriculum, it is also
described as the blueprint for teaching. It is the plan or intentions of, for instance, the
DBE. A single plan can be used for different learners, but it can be used differently in
different contexts.
Enacted curriculum as practice: This is curriculum as experienced. It is also referred
to as the non-official, implicit curriculum as implemented by an educator, it is what is
taught and learned.
Covert curriculum: This is a teaching that is implicit (not spelled out) but deliberate on
the part of the educator or school e.g., the play in early childhood schooling.
Hidden curriculum: This is learning that is hidden from educators as well as
learners. It is another form of implicit learners, which the educators did not intend and
are probably not even aware of.
Assessed curriculum: This refers to the knowledge and skills that are measured to
determine learner achievement or what objectives or learning outcomes are attained.

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