AY 2023-2024

College of Teacher Education

LEARNING EPISODE 8: Close encounter with the school curriculum

Formal education begins in school. Schools are institutions established to design total learning
activities appropriate for each learner in each grade level. Thus schools have recommended
curriculum which is the enhanced K to 12 curriculum. The recommended curriculum was translated
into a written curriculum like books, modules, teachers' guides and lesson plans which are the basis of
the taught curriculum. A teacher who implements the curricula needs support materials (support
curriculum) to enhance teaching and learning so that the written and the taught curricula can be
assessed (assessed curriculum) in order to determine if learning took place (learned curriculum).
However, there are so many activities that happen in schools but are not deliberately planned. This
refers to the hidden curriculum.

A classroom teacher plans, implements and evaluates school learning activities by preparing a
miniscule curriculum called a lesson plan or a learning plan. The teacher then puts life to a lesson plan
by using it as a guide in the teaching-learning process where different strategies can be used to
achieve the learning objectives or outcomes. There are many styles of writing a lesson plan, but the
necessary parts or elements such as (a) Learning Outcomes (b) Subject Matter (c) Teaching-Learning
Strategies, and (d) Evaluation or Assessment should always be included. All of these elements should
be aligned so that at the end of the teaching-learning episode, learning will be achieved with the
classroom teacher as a guide.

INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this episode, you must be able to:
● identify the different curricula that prevail in the school setting;
● describe how the teacher manages the school curriculum by planning, and implementing
lessons through different strategies and assessment of learning outcomes, and
● analyze if the teacher aligns the objectives to the subject matter, to teaching strategies and
assessment.

REVISIT the Learning Essentials

School Curriculum: What is this about? From a broad perspective, curriculum is defined as the total
learning process and outcomes as in lifelong learning. However, school curriculum in this course
limits such definition of total learning outcomes to confine to a specific learning space called school.
Schools are formal institutions of learning where the two major stakeholders are the learners and the
teachers.

Basic education in the Philippines is under the Department of Education or DepEd and the
recommended curriculum is the K-12 or Enhanced Basic Education Curricula of 2013. All basic
education schools offering kindergarten (K) elementary (Grades to 6) and Secondary (Grades 7-10,
Junior High School and Grades 11 to 12, Senior High School) adhere to this national curriculum as a
guide in the implementation of the formal education for K to 12 What are the salient features of the K
to 12 Curriculum? Here are the features. It is a curriculum that:

1. strengthens the early childhood education with the use of the mother tongue.
2. makes the curriculum relevant to the learners. The use of contextualized lessons and addition of
issues like disaster preparedness, climate change and information and communication technology
(ICT) are included in the curriculum. Thus, in-depth knowledge, skills and values, attitude through
continuity and consistency across every level and subject.
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College of Teacher Education
3. builds skills in literacy. With the use of Mother Tongue as the main language in studying and
learning tools from K to Grade 3, learners will become ready for higher level skills.
4. ensures unified and seamless learning. The curriculum is designed in a spiral progression where the
students learn first the basic concepts, while they study the complex ones in the next grade level. The
progression of topics matches with the developmental and cognitive skills. This process strengthens
the mastery and retention.
5. gears up for the future. It is expected that those who finish basic education in Grade 12 will be
ready for college or tech voc careers. Their choice of careers will be defined when they go to Grade
11 and 12.
6. nurtures a fully developed youth. Beyond the K to 12 graduate the learner will be ready to embark
on different career paths for a lifetime. You will recall that a school curriculum is of many types for
the Kindergarten to Grade 12 in the country.

● The enhanced curriculum K to 12 curriculum is the Recommended Curriculum. It is to be

used nationwide as mandated by Republic Act 10533

● When the curriculum writers began to write the content and competency standards of the K to
12 Curriculum it became a Written Curriculum. It reflects the substance of RA 10533 or the
Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013. In the teacher's class it is the lesson plan. A lesson
plan is a written curriculum in miniscule.

● What has been written in a lesson plan has to be implemented. It is putting life to the written
curriculum, which is referred to as the Taught Curriculum. The guidance of the teacher is very
crucial.

● A curriculum that has been planned, and taught needs materials, objects, gadgets, laboratory
and many more that will help the teacher implement the curriculum. This referred to as the
Supported Curriculum.

● In order to find out if the teacher has succeeded in implementing the lesson plan an
assessment shall be made. It can be done in the middle or end of the lesson. The curriculum is
now called the Assessed Curriculum.

● The result of the assessment when successful is termed as Learned Curriculum, Learned
curriculum whether small or big indicates accomplishment of learning outcomes.

● However, there is unplanned curriculum in schools. These are not written, nor deliberately
taught but they influence learning. These include peer influence, the media, school
environment, the culture and tradition, natural calamities and many more. This curriculum is
called Hidden Curriculum or Implicit Curriculum.

So what will be the roles and responsibilities of the teacher in the relation to the school curriculum,
specifically in the K to 12 or the enhanced curriculum for basic education? Teachers then should be
multi-talented professionals who:

● know and understand the curriculum as enumerated above;

● write the curriculum to be taught,
● plan the curriculum to be implemented; initiate the curriculum which is being introduced,
● innovate the curriculum to make it current and updated, implement the curriculum that has
been written and planned; and evaluate the written, planned and learned curriculum
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College of Teacher Education
OBSERVE

1. Locate where you can find the following curriculum in the school setting. Secure a copy,
make an observation of the process and record your information in the matrix below. Describe
your observation.

Type of curriculum Where to be found Description

1. Recommended School, Policy, Memorandum, It specifies the skills, concepts,

Curriculum Curriculum Guide, Lesson Plan and content that will be
stressed during the course of
the learning process.

2. Written Curriculum Instruction, Activities, It is a lesson plan or written

Assessment syllabus

3. Taught Curriculum During the instruction, -also known as the operational

teachers’ discussion, students’ curriculum
activities, and assessment -teachers are the ones who
procedures deliver the lesson

4. Supported Curriculum Library, Students’ Books, This is where the written

Classroom curriculum is implemented

5. Assessed Curriculum Formative (quizzes) and This curriculum reflects on the

summative (periodical exam) evaluation or assessment of the
Assessments students

6. Learned Curriculum Students’ outputs, Learners reflect on the

accomplished tasks, exams, interaction of the teacher like
projects, or performance skills, knowledge, and
values(attitude, behavior, and
manner)

7. Hidden Curriculum School, Community, Learning The knowledge that is not

Materials, Activities explicitly taught in school that
is written in the curriculum like
honesty, friendship, positive
relationships, and cultural
differences

ANALYZE

1. Which of the seven types of curriculum in the school setting is easy to find? Which is difficult
to observe? Why?

Taught Curriculum is the most common sort of curriculum in schools. The taught curriculum is
visible in a single observation in the classroom. It is the primary activity in the classroom and the
reason why students attend school and teachers educate.
The Hidden Curriculum is the most difficult to monitor because it is implemented implicitly in the
classroom and may not be visible in every class topic. They are, however, important aspects that
influence learning even when they are not explicitly planned in the curriculum.
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College of Teacher Education

2. Are these all found in the school setting? How do curricula relate to one another?

All of these curricula can be found in a classroom setting. They are the essential components of the
school procedures. These are the procedures that the teacher should follow to effectively instruct
the students. This means that a teacher cannot begin a new curriculum without first considering the
one that came before it. They influence one another and should be viewed as interconnected
elements that influence learning.

3. Draw a diagram to show the relationship of one curriculum to the other

Recom
mended
Curricu Written
Curriculum

lum
Supported Taught Hidden
Curriculum Curriculum Curriculum

Assesed Learned
Curriculum Curriculum

Student’s
Learning
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College of Teacher Education

REFLECT

Make a reflection on the diagram that you have drawn

Based on the diagram above, all the curriculum is connected in a way that; the recommended
curriculum is the center of all curriculum, the Department of Education's K-12 Guidelines must be
followed while designing the curriculum or lesson plan (LP). The lesson plan must adhere to the
DepEd's recommendations. This will be crucial in carrying out the plan on the actual teaching.
Whatever is written in the lesson plan will be taken into account in the Taught Curriculum. The real
process of instructors' pedagogy should adhere to the plan that the teacher has created. This
includes materials (Supported Curriculum), assessment tools or activities (Assessed Curriculum),
products or outputs that students should produce/achieve at the end of the lesson (Learned
Curriculum), and other factors that contribute to learning, such as media and community (Hidden
Curriculum).
That’s when students gain their knowledge of learning by following all the right curriculum.

OBSERVE

Using the diagram below, fill up the parts of a lesson plan. Borrow a lesson plan from your resource
teacher.

I. Title of the lesson: Numbers and Number Sense

II. Subject area: Mathematics
III. Grade level: Grade 6

Outcomes Teaching Method Assessment

Pre-reading activities Let us recap what we

The learner Reviewing previous have learned:
demonstrates lesson or presenting Percentage is part
understanding of the new lesson of a whole.
order of operations, (Show a basket with Base is the whole
ratio and proportion, fruits and vegetables. or total
percent, exponents, Let each learner pick Rate is the number
and integers a fruit or vegetable with the percent
The learner is able to they want and let (%) sign or
apply knowledge of them answer the symbol.
order of operations, question behind each When solving for
ratio and proportion, fruit.) the percentage,
percent, exponents, always remember
and integers in Establishing a to follow steps or
mathematical purpose for the the formula P = B x
problems and real- lesson (Present a R
life situations. story problem Step 1: Change the
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College of Teacher Education

through video. percent to decimal

Integration in Health, Step 2: Multiply the
Integration in Esp, decimal (rate) and
and Integration in the base
Gad) Step 3: Write the
answer with label
Presenting the new (if needed)
lesson If you need to find
the Base, use the
formula B = P/R
Discussing new and for the Rate, R
concepts and = P/B x 100
practicing new skills For rate, don’t
#1 forget to put the
percent % in your
Discussing new answer.
concepts and
practicing new skills Always remember the
#2 (Integration in steps in solving a
Araling Panlipunan) problem: Understand,
Plan, Solve, Check

Developing mastery
(Leads to Formative
Assessment 3)
(Integration of ICT)

Finding practical
application of
concepts and skills in
daily living
(Integration in
Comprehensive
Sexuality Education)

Making
generalizations and
abstractions about
the lesson

Evaluating learning

Additional activities
for application or
remediation

ANALYZE
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College of Teacher Education

1. Are the three components constructively aligned? explain

The two components from the previous page of the diagram are constructively aligned. The
learning outcomes influenced the assessment and the teaching process. The two outcomes indicate
what the students should have accomplished or attained by the end of the lesson

2. Will the outcomes be achieved with the teaching methods used? why?

Positively, the specified outcomes will be reached well through the application of teaching
methods. The instructional approaches were adequately and carefully prepared to respond well to
the learning objectives.

3. What component would tell if the outcomes have been achieved?

We should look at the assessments that were utilized to see if the outcomes were met. For example,
in the lesson plan on the previous page, the final goal demands students to be able to write a
character analysis of the narrative; then, the assessment section reflects the final aim, which may
assist them in achieving the end.

REFLECT

What lessons have you learned in developing or writing a lesson plan?

What value will it give to the teacher if the above three components are aligned?

Takeaways
1. Preparation is essential. The instructor must ensure that everything he or she will need in the class,
including the topic, tactics and procedures, materials, assessment or evaluation, is thoroughly
arranged.
2. Select the best materials and processes. Materials will be utilized to assist the instructor and
students in learning/discussing the lesson; the teacher must choose materials that are relevant to the
topic. Similarly, teachers should be imaginative in carrying out the strategy. The approaches he/she
will utilize must respond to the pupils' needs while adhering to the curriculum rules.

3. Each component of the lesson plan must be constructively connected with the lesson plan. If all of
the components are aligned, the lesson will be orderly and may reduce student misunderstanding.
Teachers will be able to grade pupils based on the results, and students will be able to acquire lessons
based on the curricular rules.