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Analysis of the Benefits and Drawbacks of a Thematic Approach to Designing an

Innovative Curriculum

Preprint · August 2020

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 Analysis of the Benefits and Drawbacks of a
Thematic Approach to Designing an Innovative
Curriculum

Name: Thameur CHERNI

Date:16th August 2020
Contents
1. Introduction ____________________________________________________________________________2
2. The Thematic Approach to Curriculum Design _________________________________________________4
2.1. Advantages to Innovative Curriculum ___________________________________________________4
2.2. Disadvantages to Innovative Curriculum _________________________________________________6
3. The Thematic Approach to Learning _________________________________________________________9
3.1. Advantages to Learning ______________________________________________________________9
3.2. Disadvantages to Learning __________________________________________________________ 10
4. The Thematic Approach to Teaching _______________________________________________________ 12
4.1. Advantages to Teaching ____________________________________________________________ 12
4.2. Disadvantages to Teaching __________________________________________________________ 13
5. Personal Point of View _________________________________________________________________ 16
6. Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________ 17
7. References ___________________________________________________________________________ 20
8. Appendices __________________________________________________________________________ 22

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 1.Introduction

Curriculum design is an expression used to describe the organization of a curriculum in

any given class. That is, it is a strategy used by teachers to organize their instructions in a way
that should be respected by learners to attain educational goals. “… all teachers and
facilitators exercise their right to take the work in directions that suit the needs and learning
styles of their students” (Lewis and Rainer, 2005, p33). So, the curriculum is designed by
teachers with a specific educational purpose in mind. This design should build on students’
previous knowledge and level of education. If the design does not respect previous educational
knowledge of learners, it may result negatively on them. Therefore, curriculum innovation is
one way to prevent this negative impact from happening as it presented a number of priorities
that should be respected while designing curricula such as: the manners of learning, the
material used, and the role of the learners.

It has always been said that it is necessary to respect the National Curriculum while
teaching to respect and meet the targeted skills. Some of the teaching strategies requires
instructors to follow a lesson plan of one hour or two that needs to be taught at a scheduled
date. Nowadays, instructors are no longer obliged to follow these strategies while teaching
because it is possible to connect and link lessons and subjects together under one theme of
study. This theme can be taught along a long period of time. It is natural and authentic, and it
boosts the achievement of the necessary educational skills. This is made possible thanks to
the use of such an approach called the thematic approach. “Thematic Approach is a way of
teaching and learning, whereby many areas of the curriculum are connected together and
integrated within a theme” (Ashokan, 2014, p49).

The thematic approach helps learners to acquire real-life skills. “…thematic learning is
an approach that is suitable for learners’ development in the 21st century… enable teachers to
provide students with challenges in order for them to reflect on a theme” (Retnawati et al.,
2017, p202). This outcome is realized by learning from the content by linking several subjects

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together under one theme. This will improve the educational level of students because they are
integrating information among several subjects instead of just one subject.

Whereas schools are free to select what teaching method better suits them whether a
strictly hour or flexible schedule. Some schools will focus on one theme as one method toward
implementing an innovative curriculum within their school. With this approach the school
community will enjoy several advantages to develop learning. The thematic approach is used
in the foundation phase where learners acquire knowledge interactively while selecting a
specific topic for a predefined period. This depends on the presented material and how many
subjects will be regrouped under this approach. This method of teaching is innovative to
designing curricula and this paper will analyse the positive and negative of this method in
details.

The presented paper will be divided in four sections. First, this paper will analyse the
advantages and disadvantages of the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum.
Second, it will discuss the benefits as well as the drawbacks of the thematic approach on
learners and learning. Third, the negative and the positive impacts of this method on
instructors and teaching. Finally, a personal point of view concerning this innovative approach
with few recommendations for a better implementation.

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 2. The Thematic Approach to Curriculum Design
2.1. Advantages to Innovative Curriculum

The support of the thematic approach to designing an innovative curriculum are various.
This support is responsible for the curriculum advancement and this section will analyse some
of them.

One of these advantages is the integration of technology smoothly and consistently in

the classroom as one part of the innovative curriculum. Thanks to technology integration, the
curriculum will be contemporary and changeable to meet the instructors’ as well as the
learners’ needs to attain educational goals. “… these software tools are important for building
more knowledge in learning environments.” (Frei, Gammill, and Irons, 2009, p58). Moreover, a
thematic approach demands planned technology to support broader curricular and learning
goals. Classrooms are nowadays a hub of technology: portable devices, laptops and even
cellphones are used to enable the great task of learning.

One example of technologies that supports the thematic approach is the integration of
word processing skills into creative activities designed for an innovative curriculum. “Word
processing programs allow students to develop higher-level thinking skills by focusing on
composing creating and communicating.” (Frei, Gammill, and Irons, 2009, p58-59). Thanks to
word processors such as Microsoft Word, students can organize and share their thoughts
around just one theme of study. “…composing a book is an excellent way to develop reading,
writing, and creative-thinking skills.” (Frei, Gammill, and Irons, 2009, p60). This book will
regroup different skills and subjects at the same time, and this is beneficial for an innovative
curriculum based on a thematic approach. (Appendice A).

Another example of technologies that supports the thematic approach is the integration
of spreadsheet programs skills into creative activities designed for an innovative curriculum.
“When students use spreadsheet programs to manipulate data related to classroom studies,
they build analytical skills, mathematical skills, interpretive skills and, of course, technical skills”
(Frei, Gammill, and Irons, 2009, p71). The use of spreadsheet programs is thematically
beneficial to reach the educational goals of an innovative curriculum not only for learners but

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also for instructors to keep students’ grades and maintain classroom budgets. According to
Frei, Gammill, and Irons (2009) in such projects using spreadsheet programs, one can cite
‘How healthy is fast food’ the students compare and evaluate the nutritional information of
different fast foods while using different skills from different subjects. (Appendice: B)

The use of mobile phones inside the classroom is still another example that supports
the thematic approach. Students can use their mobile devices to work together and use their
prior knowledge without knowing that they are playing a role designing innovative curricula “…
the knowledge, skills, and attitudes represented within the disciplines.” (Freeman and Sokoloff,
1995, p14) to produce a poem. “The resulting poem would be fairly successful and, of course,
all of this requires no teacher…” (Shea and Stockford, 2015, p40). Students will look up how to
write a poem and use their prior knowledge in multimedia and literacy to design their outcome.
This is encouraging for instructors to “… consider how much of their curriculum teaching can
be transferred to the mobile device and how much can remain in the classroom” (Shea and
Stockford, 2015, p40). This is innovation, too, in terms of both curriculum design and
implementation. To sum up, technology integration is beneficial when it comes to designing
innovative curriculum.

Another advantages of the thematic approach to designing an innovative curriculum is

the curriculum compacting technique that saves time teaching several subjects at once. This
technique is used by instructors to differentiate their instructions so that they can meet the
learners’ needs. “Curriculum Compacting is an instructional technique that is specifically
designed to make appropriate curricular adjustments for students in any curricular area and at
any grade level’’ (Reis & Renzulli, University of Connecticut). In fact, the thematic approach
supports this technique while designing an innovative curriculum because it saves time as it
allows the teaching of multiple subjects at one time and under one topic. That is, thanks to the
thematic approach different subjects of the curriculum are grouped together and integrated
under one theme for a predefined period. This is beneficial as it encourages natural learning
which differs from what you and I have learned. That is subject-based learning. It follows the
curriculum will differ from the traditional one where children will master only one skill per
course as it is divided into several subjects. Moreover, the thematic approach is beneficial to
designing innovative curriculum as it will make the curriculum more connected and identical to

5
the real-world connection. “Thematic instruction is based on the idea that people acquire
knowledge, best when learned in the context of a coherent whole and when they can connect
what they are learning to the real world” (Okoro and Okoro, 2016, p65). The innovative
curriculum will reflect all the learners’ linked interests within one school area, and this is
inventive and encouraging to explore as several different activities are connected together by
their content. For example, in the content of pets:

In thematic units, topics are examined from multiple disciplinary perspectives. For
example, in the case of pets, children study the life cycle of the animal, its natural
habitat, and its habitat as a pet. They also explore the ways in which it is
represented in art, literature, music, television, and advertising. They examine
the relationship between the animal and its human owner looking at both what
the pet gets from the human and what the human gets from the relationship with
the pet (Freeman and Sokoloff, 1995, p10) (Appendice: C)

Furthermore, the thematic approach will encourage different teaching strategies under
one theme such as: critical thinking, brainstorming, compare and contrast, reading for
meaning, and learning for writing. “… a better understanding of mathematics skills, greater
problem-solving skills, better critical thinking skills, and more confidence...” (Frei, Gammill, and
Irons, 2009, p87). All these teaching strategies are essential to designing an innovative
curriculum. In short, the thematic approach is beneficial to designing innovative curriculum
because it compresses different subject areas, makes the curriculum more connected, and
encourages different teaching strategies at the same time.

2.2. Disadvantages to Innovative Curriculum

However, the thematic approach to designing an innovative curriculum has some

drawbacks. These drawbacks are the following:

One major disadvantage with the thematic approach to designing an innovative

curriculum is the content issue. In fact, it would be hard with this approach to find and collect
enough information and resources to cover all aspects of the theme and in case the resources

6
are there it would be hard to connect the basis of the theme and trace them to one major topic.
“One of the problems is that many teachers complained of the difficulty in combining multiple
lessons into a single theme” (Retnawati et al., 2017, p209). It follows, as an innovative
designer, you would miss some content that is significant to the meaning of the theme because
this theory is not a grounded approach like any other. “Thematic analysis is a poorly
demarcated, rarely-acknowledged, yet widely-used qualitative analytic method.” (Braun and
Clarke, 2006, p.2). Moreover, with this approach learners are in danger because if they miss
one day, they will miss the connection between meaning and content. That is why, it is
important to attend all sessions of the theme so that you do not lose connections easily.
Furthermore, with the thematic approach it would be hard to concentrate upon a standard
based content because the thematic content is based upon life experience only. It follows,
learners would miss out content outside the target theme inside the classroom and hence
students would lose the identity of the subject whether math subject or science subject, etc. In
short, the thematic approach to designing an innovative curriculum has negative effects on the
classroom content.

The classroom culture is still another disadvantage of the thematic approach to

designing an innovative curriculum. Indeed, with the thematic approach the culture of the
classroom will change upside down. You will find students not willing to participate and engage
in meaningful discussions because the choice of the topic was their second choice. “Another
important criticism of the thematic approach is that the identified themes are subjective…”
(Turan, 2020, p211). As a result, the students’ choices will represent one barrier to the success
of this approach. Moreover, the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum is
inaccessible to some students because of cultural and ability differences. Culture differences
concerns itself with experience. Some students do not have prior experience with some topics.
This will prevent some students from making meaningful connections while constructing their
knowledge. Ability differences that differ from one learner to another represents another barrier
to the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum. Students’ abilities will be limited
under this approach. In fact, learners will use only the abilities related to the theme. Some
abilities will not be used at all because they have no relationship with the content. It follows the
constructed knowledge of the learner will be missing enough practice. In short, the

7
disadvantages of the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum are the content
issue and the classroom culture.

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 3.The Thematic Approach to Learning
3.1. Advantages to Learning

The benefits of the thematic approach do not concern only designing an innovative
curriculum, but also enhancing learning in educational settings, too. These benefits are
essential to the development of learners and the following section will discuss some of these
benefits and their drawbacks on the learner:

On the one hand, it has always been proved via researching that learning is a process
based “… around the principles of continuity and integration.” (Freeman and Sokoloff, 1995,
p03). In fact, meaning is added to the curriculum, when students notice that facts and ideas
are interconnected with other subjects. As soon as learners start communicating this meaning,
learning is reinforced and hence the importance of theme-based learning. “… it allows learning
to be more natural than then fragmented nature of the school activities.” (Okoro and Okoro,
2016, p65) also as it reduces learning loss.

One of the benefits of the thematic approach to learning is higher intelligence levels.
Thanks to this approach, learners learn to make connections constantly. Advocates claim “…
that people gain knowledge best when learning in the context of a coherent “whole,” making
connections to real-world situations.” (John, 2015, p172). It follows, they develop a much
deeper level of understanding such as critical thinking. The integrated curriculum can “…help
students develop flexibility of mind, initiative, adaptability, creativity, communication skills,
competence in problem-solving, multi-skills, ability to collaborate and work in a team situation,
etc.” (Boyle and Charles, 2016, p32). These skills are not developed, not only through
exploration and researching of ideas, but also through comparison and evaluation of different
viewpoints from different angels. “Essential questions search for deeper meaning and promote
the development of critical thinking skills” (John, 2015, p175). Moreover, the thematic
approach is more challenging to the learners than other methods. Learning in context helps the
learners to discover the complexity of real life. In other words, learners need to find solutions to
provided real-life problems and not simply prescribed for them like in textbooks, quizzes, and
lectures. It follows with the thematic approach learning is more challenging than traditional
methods as the level of complexity is high.

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 Another benefit of the thematic approach to learning is knowledge retention. Indeed,
when students study via a theme, they are learning in context which helps them to understand
what they are learning because they are attaching ideas and skills to context. As a result, they
remember what they are learning and hence their long-term memory is activated. “Teaching
with themes chosen from among the common concepts and events that students encounter in
daily life could increase the probability of remembering new information” (Turan, 2020, p207).
Take the example of project-based learning and how students use their transferable skills and
ideas to invent and create projects leading to better memory retention. As opposed to
traditional subject learning, where students forget most of what they learn, learners with this
approach would retain more information and remember most of what they have learned in
elementary and high schools. “Students are able to retain more information when it is not
presented as isolated facts, but rather as part of a whole.” (Brogdon, 2020). In short, the
thematic approach is beneficial to memory retention.

Fun is still another benefit of the thematic approach because learning is done correctly.
In fact, theme-based learning is fun for children because they are learning about their interest
topics which are meaningful to their personal lives. The “… use of thematic, integrative
approach made learning enjoyable.” (John, 2015, p184). In other words, children learn
because they want to learn and not, they simply have to learn. Moreover, the thematic
approach is an active approach because it “… improve pupils’ motivation and engagement.”
(Ofsted, 2008, p06) as they like what they are learning. Indeed, children become fascinated
with a topic for a defined period and investigate this topic from different angels which reduces
levels of cheating. In short, if we want our children to be happy and engaged, theme-based
learning is the right solution making “… learning both fun and enjoyable.” (John, 2015, p185).

3.2. Disadvantages to Learning

On the other hand, the drawbacks of a thematic approach on learning and learners
need to be considered as follow. Some learners may lack interest in the theme or subject they
are studying under the thematic approach. Using one theme for a period of time whether one
day, some weeks, or one month may become boring, repetitive and the children’s motivation to
learn will diminish. Hence learners may lose interest and become inattentive because fun is

10
absent from the theme in hand. The learners may also dislike their instructor’s choice of the
theme. It follows, learners may withdraw from classroom activities, discussions, and
participations. They become inactive learners, and this stands against the thematic approach
objectives. “It was stated that students have difficulty in keeping important dates in mind and
putting events in their order…” (Turan, 2020, p211). Moreover, with the thematic approach it
may be uneasy for the lower level students to engage and collaborate actively in constructing
their individual knowledge. Consequently, learners will struggle in knowledge construction
because they have difficulties with the theme concepts. Furthermore, the stress levels of the
learners may increase because they are expected to connect with the tasks in hand. This will
be difficult for some leaners because they are aware of their limited or lower capabilities
comparing to their peers inside the class. “They entered the school with low levels of literacy,
often feeling that education was irrelevant to them.” (Ofsted, 2008, p17). To sum up, the
thematic approach has some drawbacks that decrease learners’ interest, motivation,
engagement, and capabilities.

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 4.The Thematic Approach to Teaching
4.1. Advantages to Teaching
The benefits of the thematic approach do not concern only designing an innovative
curriculum, but also enhancing teaching in educational settings, too. These benefits are
significant to the development of the instructors in their academic tasks and the coming section
will discuss some of these benefits and their drawbacks for the instructor:

One major benefit of the thematic approach to teaching is creativity. With the thematic
approach instructors can integrate several subjects under one theme. This approach
“empowered them to integrate all subjects and use literacy and numeracy across the
curriculum.” (John, 2015, p184). This is an opportunity for them to be creative, original, and
authentic while designing and selecting their classroom subjects. “It helped them to
demonstrate their content knowledge, and it enabled them to be more creative with the
curriculum.” (John, 2015, p185). Moreover, this approach is used “to encourage every teacher
to use the materials in ways she felt would work with her students and in her organizational
context” (Freeman and Sokoloff, 1995, p11). In fact, following the thematic approach,
instructors can adapt their lesson plan meeting the different learners’ levels and needs. This
can be realized by modifying projects, lessons, and activities. For example, instructors can
think of interdisciplinary ways to present old topics such as teaching numbers through finger
painting. Instructors with the thematic approach can create activities that require students to
discover and explore. This type of activities will raise their personal levels of excitement and
interest while teaching and scaffolding their target learners’ skills, which will encourage
meaningful learning . Furthermore, creativity as one major benefit of the thematic approach
can expand the instructors’ assessment strategies. With the thematic approach, instructors can
assess their learners differently with different evaluation grids that differs from one activity to
another. Such assessment grids can give instructors an idea about the different levels of their
learners. Of course, the preparation of the assessment grid necessitates creativity and
innovation to meet the learners needs when it comes to assessing. To sum up, the thematic
approach to designing innovative curriculum is beneficial for instructors because it boosts
creativity not only on designing classroom activities but also on preparing assessment grids.

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 Another major benefit of the thematic approach to teaching is group work. Learners as
well as instructors can learn not only from the theme but also from each other inside the
classroom. “Exploring themes gives teachers and students a framework for understanding
interrelationships among different levels of idea” (Freeman and Sokoloff, 1995, p06). The
thematic approach is beneficial for instructors as they learn from their students. In fact,
students can help their instructors in designing classroom activities meeting their needs and
learning styles by providing constructive feedback. “The schools often used questionnaires to
gather the views of pupils, teachers, middle managers, parents and carers” (Ofsted, 2008,
p18). With classroom discussions and projects, learners can assist their instructors to
construct knowledge and to update their personal information regularly. According to Freeman
and Sokoloff (1995) the curriculum that engages instructors and students together as learners.
So, “they quickly discovered that they could not answer the topic question without becoming
immersed in the theme.” (Freeman and Sokoloff, 1995, p12). As a result, both learners and
instructors feel engaged and excited working in an innovative curriculum based on a thematic
approach. Moreover, with the thematic approach facilitators found themselves seeking help
from other instructors inside the educational setting where they can exchange ideas and build
on one another experience. Designed specific, innovative curriculum by instructors is the
output of the whole community of one educational setting. In other words, instructors
collaborate with principals and parents to come up with an innovative curriculum based upon a
thematic approach. In short, the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum is
beneficial for the educational community. “Innovation stemmed from the school’s need to
create a curriculum that would engage them and help their personal growth, in an atmosphere
of respect and trust.” (Ofsted, 2008, p17).

4.2. Disadvantages to Teaching

However, the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum cannot be seen to

be advantageous for teaching. Instructors should be aware of the pitfalls of this approach to
curriculum innovation.

First, the thematic approach can be time-consuming and necessitates a lot of planning.
Indeed, with this approach instructors are supposed to strongly understand the themes so that

13
they can implement them successfully. They need also strong interest in the topics they are
teaching and their assessment standards. “Another difficulty was that the teachers were not
accustomed to presenting scores in a descriptive way, clearly and briefly.” (Retnawati et al.,
2017, p207). All this is time consuming for instructors as they need also to identify how
subjects are interrelated with the covered topic. Moreover, the thematic approach requires
selecting various activity types and resources to meet the different levels of learners. These
resources should be well selected so that learners do not waste their time inside the
classroom. According to Chen (2012) instructors should have powerful materials and should
know how to teach concepts to their students. Furthermore, with this approach there is an
equality issue that may waste students’ learning time. Generally, instructors may spend a lot of
time choosing themes that do not meet low-level students. So, it is hard for the facilitator to
hand in tasks that meets children’s needs and learning styles. “Teachers are required to be
more creative in order that the learning process can run well according to the curriculum
requirements.” (Retnawati et al., 2017, p206). This is unequal as quieter students will spend a
lot of time on task. To sum up, the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum
requires a lot of extra time.

Second, the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum requires a lot of

professional training. In fact, this type of teaching requires years of experience and practicing
even expert instructors require careful planning of their themes. Most instructors have no idea
about this method of teaching and designing innovative curriculum. “It has become even worse
because training is still oriented toward theoretical matters. In addition, teachers also complain
of the short training period” (Retnawati et al., 2017, p208). Moreover, instructors are generally
reluctant to put extra effort to change their ways of teaching or to implement a new method of
teaching that does not guarantee extraordinary results. “The obstacle in changing the teachers’
understanding of the curriculum was the teachers’ negative stigma and individual factors, such
as that they still had not opened their minds to the change …” (Retnawati et al., 2017, p205).
As a result, implementing this approach to designing innovative curriculum necessitates a lot of
encouragement and support to convince instructors through training sessions to adopt this
method which is not an easy task at all. In short, the thematic approach success is based upon
the believe of doing some change.

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 Finally, the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum lacks in the
instructors’ collaboration. In fact, a successful integrative curriculum requires input and support
from instructors of various disciplines such as math, social studies, theatre, and science. All
instructors within one educational building should collaborate to better implement this
approach, which is hard to achieve. Moreover, coordinating schedules and agreeing on the
ideas of several instructors is not that easy at all. The school principal may play a major role in
here “The data showed that an elementary school whose principal was attentive had good
administration and more professional teachers” (Retnawati et al., 2017, p210).

15
 5.Personal Point of View

With the thematic approach, learners are provided with a valuable opportunity to better
learn about themselves and to improve their knowledge of the real-world problems when
faced. Thanks to this approach learners become independent learners and goal achievers
which cannot be realized by direct teaching methods. Therefore, the thematic approach is so
original and unique, and it is an opportunity for students to learn from their own experiences
and the experience of people around them. In fact, with the thematic approach learners
become confident and learn values from their peers. Moreover, developing skills under the
thematic approach is possible if learners are provided with opportunities not only to interact
with objects they cannot encounter in their daily lives but also to play as one significant part of
the innovative curriculum to better enjoy learning actively. I cite the Rumbold Report (1990) as
a good example supporting active playing. According to Rumbold (1990), active educational
play plays a major role in children’s learning. Such a believe helps children to develop more
their own personal skills. Overall, I believe that the thematic approach is a good approach
developing children’s learning in educational settings, but there are several points that the
ministry of education in any country should now consider: First, the importance of professional
development in the use of the thematic curriculum is needed. This type of training should not
be shallow. “Training should not be just surface deep, but should be more systematic, explicit
and interactive.” (John, 2015, p186). Second, with the thematic approach, instructors need to
learn to use authentic assessment and to design rubrics to control students’ progress. Third, all
school administrators should learn how to provide teachers with valuable resources that can
be used inside and outside the school. In other words, the school administrators should be that
“… the necessary resources and ongoing support can be provided to the teachers.” (John,
2015, p186). In addition, teaching with this reform according to John (2015) requires the
present of a national reform that can be used as a guider prepare, certify and assess teachers
in their endeavor implementing innovative curricula. Finally, the mixture between more than
one approach of designing innovative curriculum is beneficial for the students’ development.
“Using a chronological approach while doing group work and project assignments on thematic
issues.” (Turan, 2020, p213).

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 6.Conclusion

In conclusion, the thematic approach has both advantages and disadvantages that may
impact strongly not only the designing of an innovative curriculum, but also learning and
teaching in any educational setting. These advantages and disadvantages have been
analysed in this paper as follow:

The advantages of the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum has been
analysed in the following order. First, the thematic approach facilitates the integration of
technology in classroom activities to better reach educational goals. “It has an important part to
play in the design and development of the curriculum …” (Qualifications and Curriculum
Development Agency). Such technologies like word processing, spreadsheet programs, and
mobile phones inside the classroom. Second, the thematic approach saves time teaching
several subjects at once with the curriculum compacting technique. This technique helps
instructors to regroup several subjects under one theme. This will make the innovative
curriculum natural and connected as well as identical to the real-world connection where
students are invited to solve real-life problems. Finally, the thematic approach encourages
different teaching strategies such as: critical thinking, brainstorming, compare and contrast,
reading for meaning, and learning for writing.

The disadvantages of the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum has

been analysed as follow: First, the content issue represents one major drawback of this
approach. In fact, covering all aspects of the theme with enough resources and information is
hard to reach. Learners are also encouraged to attend regularly so that they do not lose the
link between meaning and content. Moreover, the thematic approach to designing innovative
curriculum can prevent learners from focusing upon a standard based content. Second, the
thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum can negatively impact the regular
classroom culture by demotivating students from taking part in classroom discussions due to
two major factors: previous culture and students’ abilities. In short, this method of teaching is
poorly acknowledged because it has some issues with the content, attendance, subject
identity, and classroom culture.

17
 As far as learning is concerned, the thematic approach enhances learning because it
helps learners to make connections to real world situations. “… the thematic approach allows
students to see the interconnections between events” (Turan, 2020, p210). In fact, with the
thematic approach, learners develop high order thinking skills such as critical thinking, problem
solving and creativity. The thematic approach is challenging to learners too as it boosts them
to find solutions to real-life problems. Moreover, knowledge retention is still another benefit of
the thematic approach to designing innovative curriculum. With this approach learners learn to
remember what they are learning actively. Furthermore, learning via this approach is a real fun
for learners as it encourages them to be more engaged and interested in the themes they are
learning about. “… and has the potential to give learners an enjoyable, engaging, challenging,
and motivating experience of learning, raising achievement and improving learning outcomes.”
(Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency).

However, this approach has some drawbacks on learning such as lack of interest.
Learners may become bored and uninterested in the theme because it lacks some fun or
simply because it was the choice of their instructor. As a result, they may withdraw from
classroom discussions and hence they become inactive learners. Moreover, with the thematic
approach it may be hard for the lower level students to collaborate actively as they have some
difficulties with the theme. This will increase the stress level of the learners because they lack
self-confidence while constructing knowledge.

Concerning teaching, the thematic approach is beneficial to instructors in educational

settings. One major advantage to teaching is creativity. With this approach instructors learn to
be creative while designing their activities to meet different student’s levels. Thanks to
creativity, instructors will feel engaged and knee not only on teaching but also on assessing
their students’ outputs while using predefined grids. Group work is another major benefit of the
thematic approach. With this approach instructors and learners work together constructing one
another knowledge. It is a cycle of give and take between facilitators and students. The
success of this group work may encourage instructors to seek help not only from learners, but
also colleagues, principals, and parents for the best of the educational community locally and
globally. “… they need to work in collaboration with families and the local community in
seeking to achieve aims.” (Boyle and Charles, 2016, p33).

18
 However, the thematic approach has some negative impacts on teaching. First, this
approach is time consuming. Instructors should spend a lot of time and concentration while
preparing themes and selecting topics to meet the learners’ needs. Instructors should also pay
attention to low-level students which will make their job overwhelming due to the problem of
inequality. Moreover, this approach requires a lot of professional training and endeavor.
However, most instructors have no idea about designing and implementing innovative
curriculum and generally against any kind of change. Finally, this approach lacks in
collaboration that is hard to achieve between instructors, learners, and principals. In short, this
method of designing innovative curriculum has a lot of difficulties that impede its
implementation.

19
 7.References
Ashokan, V., (2014), ‘Thematic Approach for effective communication in ECCE’, International
Journal of Education and Psychological Research (IJEPR), 3(3), pp.49-51

Chen, Y. (2012). ‘The effect of thematic video-based instruction on learning and motivation in
e-learning’. International Journal of Physical Sciences, 7 (6), pp.957–965.

Boyle, B., and Charles, M., (2016), Curriculum Development: A Guide for Educators, Los
Angeles: Sage

Braun, V., and, Victoria, C. (2006) ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative
Research in Psychology’, 3(2). pp. 77-101.

Brogdon, R., (2020), Available at: https://classroom.synonym.com/what-educational-

evaluation-5006257.html (Accessed: 08 August 2020)

Education in England: the history of our schools. Available at:

http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/rumbold/rumbold1990.html (no date)
(Accessed: 15 August 2020)

Frei, S., Gammill, A., and Irons, S. (2016) Integrating Technology Into the Curriculu. USA: Sell
Eduction

Freeman, C. and Sokoloff, H. (1995) ‘Toward a Theory of Thematic Curricula: Constructing

New Learning Environments for Teachers & Learners’, Education Policy Analysis Archives – A
peer-reviewed scholarly electronic journal, 14(4), pp. 01-18.

John, Y., (2015), ‘A “New” Thematic, Integrated Curriculum for Primary Schools of Trinidad
and Tobago: A Paradigm Shift’, International Journal of Higher Education, 3(4), pp. 172-187

Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, Using technology to support curriculum

development, Available at: https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/11432/7/QCDA-10-4811_Redacted.pdf (no
date) (Accessed: 16 August 2020)

Lewis, M. and Rainer, J. (2005), Teaching Classroom Drama and Theatre: Practical projects for
secondary schools, London and New York: Routledge

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Okoro, C.O. (Ph.D) and Okoro, C.U. (2016), ‘Teachers’ Understanding and Use of Thematic
Approach in Teaching and Learning of Social Studies in Rivers State’, International Journal of
Education, Learning and Development, 3(4), pp.64-69.

Ofsted, (2008), Curriculum innovation in schools, London: Alexandra House

Retnawati, H., Munadi, S., Arlinwibowo, J., Wulandari, N., and Sulistyaningsih, E. (2017),
‘Teachers’ Difficulties in Implementing Thematic Teaching and Learning in Elementary
Schools’, The New Educational Review, 48(2), pp. 201-212

Shea, J., & Stockford, A. (2015) Inspiring the Secondary Curriculum with Technology: Let the
students do the work! London and New York: Routledge

Turan, I., (2020), ‘Thematic vs Chronological History Teaching Debate: A Social Media
Research’, Journal of Education and Learning, 9(1), pp. 205

University of Connecticut. Available at: https://gifted.uconn.edu/schoolwide-enrichment-

model/curriculum_compacting/# (no date) (Accessed: 02 August 2020)

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8.Appendices
Appendix A

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Appendix B

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Appendix C

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 25

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