UNIT -1 CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT 205

 UNIT -1     CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

1.     Meaning –Definition-foundation

2.     Curriculum Planning-Phases

3.     Curriculum and Syllabus

4.      Principles of Curriculum Development

1.1. CURRICULUM :MEANING –DEFINITION-FOUNDATION

Curriculum is the crux of the whole educational process.

Derived from Latin word ‘currere’ which means ‘run’ and curriculum signifies ‘a runaway or a course which one runs to reach a goal ’

DEFINITIONS

Carter. V. Good : “Curriculum is a general overall plan of the content or specific materials of instruction that the school offer the student, by way of qualifying him for graduation or certification for entrance into professional or vocational field.”                       

Cunningham : “Curriculum is a tool in the hands of the artist (the teacher), to mould his materials (the pupils), according to his ideals (the objectives) in his studio (the school). The material is highly self_active and responds consciously.”

H.H.Horne :  “Curriculum is representative of the motor as well as the sensory elements in the nervous system of the side of society, it is representative of what the race has done in its contact with its world.”

FOUNDATIONS OF CURRICULUM

Foundations are the forces that influence the minds of curriculum developers. In this way they affect the content and structure of the curriculum. The curriculum reflects the society and culture of a country and this is the desire of a society that their children should learn the habits, ideas, attitudes and skills of the adult society and culture and educational institutional are the proper way to impart these skill. This duty of teacher and school to discipline the young of the society and provide them the set of experiences in the form of curriculum. The needs, knowledge and information of the society provide foundation in the formation of curriculum.

       I.            Philosophical/ ideological foundation

It is concerned with beliefs.

What is real --- ONTOLOGY

What is true --- EPISTEMOLOGY

What is good – AXIOLOGY                                                       

Philosophy means the love of wisdom, it search for truth, not simple truth, It search for eternal truth, reality and general principles of life. Curriculum help in the practical use of knowledge in real life situations and understanding realities and ideas of life and this world that why curriculum is called the dynamic side of philosophy. Curriculum is used for the modification of the behavior of the students and philosophy help in the process of finding new ways and basis for teachers and curriculum planner to modify their behavior.

Philosophy also helps in the exploring new methods of teaching and how to apply in the classroom situation for better achievement of the teaching learning process. It also provides new ways and methods for the evaluation of student’s achievement and evaluation of curriculum.

Plato presented a curriculum in his book “republic” at that times and it is still the core of the curriculum of today. Knowledge is given the high role in human life.

Philosophy and ideology has direct effect in curriculum planning because it guides the curriculum planner in the selection of the objectives. Learning experiences and content of the curriculum, and how to evaluate the curriculum, learning experiences and achievements of the students.

   II.            Psychological foundations

Psychological foundation is based on the individual differences, every student has its own unique personality and they have differences in their leering and skills. They are different in nature so they can’t be treated alike in teaching learning process, some may be fast learner while other slow. Therefore the curriculum should be based on the above facts, and it should be design to support the capacity and potentialities of all the students.

Psychology play a vital role in the teaching learning process it is the foundation for all type of educational related programmed. The methods of teaching, the selection of content of subject and the methods and theories of learning, the overall development of the students and to inculcate the norms of the society in the students. Psychology helps in all the processes above in the development process of the curriculum.

Today psychology is the core and foundation element of all the learning processes; curriculum development, Child mental development, teaching methods, learning theories, administration of education system and planning, character building of the students,  attitude of students and teacher, the society, the use of different technologies.

III.            Socio Cultural Foundation

The society and culture exercise massive powers on the formation curriculum and the reason behind that it was society who created schooling to safeguard the survival of their cultural heritage, and survival of their species.

Sociological factors have highest impact on the content of curriculum and that is the reason that curriculum developers and planner both reflect and transfer their own culture in curriculum. Therefore a curriculum without the reflection of culture is not possible for that reason one should consider what characteristic of the culture should be the part of curriculum and what not.

The social and cultural inspirations that affect curriculum designers consciously and unconsciously are apparent from the curriculum and their influence is deep. Because curriculum developers are the part of the society therefore they indirectly effected by the society and culture.  Their cultural standards, attitudes and beliefs leave deep impact on the individuals because the curriculum designers influence the selection of objectives, subject matter, teaching learning methods and the process of evaluation.

on the other hand, may be curriculum developers are well aware of society needs and they have planned intention to incorporate all those things in the curricula which the society need in the curriculum but the question is that the curriculum should student centered or society. Curriculum should be a tool for guiding the student’s potentialities in directions or to develop those potentialities without any restrictions.

Some Social values, changes and conditions are included into some extent in some of the curriculum projects in the context of current social issues and problems, such as rapid growth of population, democratic values, urbanization, and management problems could be found in proposed program. Some vital problems and topics are considered in relation to concepts and key ideas drawn from the disciplines.

Educational aims are based on the study of sociological and political condition of the society and the main purpose of the curriculum is preservation and advancement of the that society

IV.            Historical Foundations

It includes

1.     Role of the History of curriculum in the development of curriculum

History of the curriculum plays a very important role in the development of the nation. It takes long and tedious time to formulate a good curriculum which represents the need of the society and the experiences of the past. The history of the curriculum tell the curriculum planner how to develop and modify the curriculum, what to teach and what should be the core material of the subjects, what objectives they want to achieve through the curriculum. History also tell them how the teacher should teach, what are the best practices they need to incorporate in curriculum teaching andwhat kind of teaching need to be avoid.                                                                        

The history of the curriculum also explains the teacher psychology at different time and how to improve their teaching styles. The history also provides a detail about the learner behavior at different times. It also provides information about the psychology of the students, how they learn and what they want to learn. In times curriculum changed its shapes and patterns from teacher center curriculum to learner center curriculum due to the long history of the curriculum development process from Plato to modern curriculum. the history of the curriculum also changed the teaching methods, now every researcher are finding new ways to teach and it is also becoming the part of curriculum an history.

Today majority of the develop countries are those countries who have a long history of freedom and proper education system. They achieved their successes through education and implementation of time needed curriculum. They modified their curriculum according to the need of time. Some of newly born countries also achieved that status because they adopted successful model of other developed countries and modified according to their own needs and culture.

2.     History Guides future plans

The history of the curriculum guides the future plans because curriculum is always based on the future demands of the country and the lesson learned through history, tell the curriculum developer not to repeat the mistake of the past and develop a curriculum which is based on the future need of the society and international demands. History is the profile of past successes and failures. 

3.     History helps in the eliminations of useless traditions

The history of education tells the curriculum developer what not to include in the curriculum. What of lessons can bring no good to the curriculum and what type of contents material are good for the teaching learning process, so history of the curriculum eliminate all those useless traditions from the modern curriculum and help the developer to incorporate what is needed for the curriculum.

    V.            Economical Foundations

It focuses on:

•        Job or market oriented curriculum

•        Skill learning

The economical foundation of curriculum gives importance to the vocational aspect of the curriculum. The economic  condition of a nation or a society guide the curriculum of the country, because the stakeholder of the education wants to employ such a curriculum which help them to build their economy and the people have better jobs when they finish their schooling. In this kind of situations the curriculum become job or market oriented. In this curriculum the curriculum developer gives importance to skills acquisition which is the demands of the time. Undeveloped nations try to prepare skill work force and send it to other countries for jobs

Here are some economical factor which influence the curriculum development process

Economic Factors

1.                 Allocation of funds

 The financial condition of a country reflects its curriculum because without proper funding one can’t achieve the outcome of a good curriculum. It is the financial aspect of a country which guide them to adopt which type of curriculum, for example activity base or learner center curriculum need more money in the process of the implementation of the curriculum then subject matter curriculum.             

Because activity base and learner center curriculum need more space and money then subject matter, for that reason in Pakistan we adopted subject base curriculum because we have shortage of schools, classrooms in schools, trained teachers. In economical sound countries they have implemented all kind of curriculums in their schools according to the need of the school and that society. Without proper funding once can’t implement a good curriculum in the country and achieve the benefits of that curriculum.

Lack of resources due to finical constrains effect the developing and planning of the curriculum. What type of a curriculum should have to support it through proper funding? There are different factor in curriculum development, planning and implementation process which need financial support e.g.

Schools lack physical facilities including buildings, classrooms, furniture, Hostel, Play grounds, mats and even very basic necessities like blackboard, chalk, and charts.

Lack of other resources water, Fan, Electricity

  Lack of skilled manpower

The lack of skilled manpower due to financial restrains, without proper financial support it is hard to train the people to support the teaching learning process. Only through proper funding and the establishment of training institutions for teachers and support staff. Teachers are the core of education system and without proper training one can’t implement a curriculum and to support the curriculum one need to train the entire teacher on that style of curriculum. So the skills of the teachers also guide the direction of the curriculum, and to develop these skills in the teachers need funds.

Lack of labs due to financial problems

The lack of labs and libraries also affect the curriculum development process because without proper computer labs in cities and villages one can’t implement computer education curriculum all over the country. In the same way without proper libraries in all school one can’t implement a curriculum which needs supporting or reference books.

Also without proper health care system in the schools lot of activities can’t part of the curriculum due to the risk factor to the health of the students and teachers.

The overburden of the population is also one of the factors that affect the financial support of the curriculum development, lack of facilities and implementation of the curriculum in the country.

In short we can say that economic play a vital role in the curriculum development and implementation process in the country and it is the foundation of the successful curriculum, without a good economic background a country can’t afford a curriculum which needs huge financial support.

                            

Foundations Of Curriculum Development Curriculum development should take into consideration all the 5 criteria given below : 1.The philosophy of the nation 2. The psychological principles 3.The sociological needs 4.Needs and interest of the student 5.Nature of the subject matter.

Philosophical Foundation :Include best of the four important philosophies

1.Idealism 2.Naturalism 3.Pragmatism4. Realism (Existentialism)

Psychological Foundations:  Consider the psychology of learner .For this there are several Psychological theories like Mental faculty theory(Mind consist of certain independent faculties such as attention, memory,imagination, reasoning, exercising of muscles) Theories about the transfer of training and theories of learning process

      

Some maxims about TL process are: known to    unknown, concrete to abstract, simple to          complex, easy to difficult, empirical to rational, specific to general, definite         to indefinite, part to whole, near to far.

Sociological Foundations :Consider the following points while developing a curriculum. Society always have an effect on the education. Different countries have to develop different type of curriculum. In India through education we have to change the unwanted social culture, poverty and superstitions

Importance of agriculture and better health. Critical Thinking  The scientific knowledge doubles itself every decade. Update curriculum with constant research and review. Several commissions have been organized for this purpose

CURRICULUM PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT, IMPLEMENTATION AND QUALITY PROMOTION 

Three curriculum phases of the restructured Programme. 

1. Planning phase:  developing the Curriculum Blueprint and ensuring that the Blueprint was in alignment with international trends in best education practice, the needs of the country, the requirements of the Professions Council, National Higher Education Policy and the Faculty's Strategic Plan. Upon endorsement of the Blueprint by the Faculty Board, the process moved to the development phase. 

2. Development phase:  This phase consisted of several processes: 

2.1. Formulating the Exit-Level Outcomes

2.2. Establishing Curriculum Design Teams for the various phases of the Programme to develop the 

i. the syllabus, educational and assessment methods that are consistent with the Curriculum Blueprint and Exit-level Outcomes submitted to QA

 ii. curriculum sequencing necessary for an outcomes-based educational programme (conceptual and cognitive levels within and between the various courses that make up the 2-year Programme)

 iii. curriculum organization essential for promoting integration between disciplines to enhance learning and increase social responsiveness. 

The particular roles of staff members  were 

i.                    chairing and facilitation of the various committees and design teams 

ii.                 the provision of educational resources (articles and people - locally and internationally) that would enable staff to make the shift to new educational and assessment methodologies: some examples are Problem-based Learning (PBL), the use of Reflective Journals for formative assessment, Extended Matching Items for case-based assessments, the integration of Information Technology, Information Literacy, Academic Literacy and Numeracy into credit-bearing courses; 

iii.               provision of training for facilitators

iv.                organizing workshops related to assessment methods and alignment with curricular outcomes 

v.                 recruiting and orienting staff, particularly in the early years, in collaboration with the Portfolio Manager 'Undergraduate Education' and Heads of Department 

2.2.3 The conceptualization and design of the Intervention Programme This entailed establishing a dedicated Task Team to develop an innovative model that was educationally sound and able to provide effective academic support for students from educationally under-resourced backgrounds. 

2.3. Resource Planning Various  staff were involved in the committees and working groups established to identify physical infrastructure and equipment resource needs as well as contributing to the preparation of documentation for procuring resources, for example, planning the Student Learning Centre, including the Computer Lab, the Video-Conference Facility and the development of community-based education sites. These examples entailed working with among others the University Architects, the UCT Development Office, the Faculty's own Fund-raising Officer, meeting with the Fundraising Office and potential donors. 

2.4. Programme Governance Structure Some EDU staff contributed to the conceptualization of the original Programme Governance Structure and related functions, as well as its subsequent revision. 

All EDU academic staff participates in one or other committee within the Governance Structure. 

3. Implementation phase:  Each of the EDU staff contributed to various aspects of the Programme in the implementation phase, from direct engagement with students to management- and resource planning: 

i. facilitating sessions in the early semesters

 ii. participating with members of the design teams in the review of students' course evaluations and planning the refinements

 iii. reviewing staffing needs and recruitment strategies in collaboration with the Faculty's Senior Management Team

 iv. giving input on the drafting of a Faculty Teaching Policy 

v. contributing to the costing of undergraduate education programmes.  

 QUALITY PROMOTION 

Assisting the Faculty to meet Quality Assurance requirements as specified by the Higher Education Quality Assurance Committee, a sub-committee of the National Committee on Higher Education by means of 

i.                    workshops with division or departments on request relating to educational and/or assessment methods

ii.                  collaboration with the  Task Team on Course Evaluation in developing a standardized course evaluation instrument for use School-wide 

iii.                providing a more systematic approach to professional development in education for Faculty staff through the development and implementation of the teacher  Educators' Short Course 

iv.                preparing proposals for formal review processes and participating in the reviews of the Programme

v.                 conceptualizing and organizing, in collaboration to develop a tradition within the Faculty to listen to each other's papers on innovative educational practice, educational research as well as the opportunity to engage the Faculty and University leadership on a relevant and substantial theme pertaining to education.

CURRICULUM AND SYLLABUS

SYLLABUS : A syllabus is an outline and summary of topics to be covered in an education or training course. A syllabus is a specification of the work of a particular class in a department of a school, college or university. It is a document of administrative convenience, specifying what is to be taught.   Syllabus is time bound and specifies a straining  point and  an ultimate goal. Syllabus is negotiable and adjustable .  A language teaching syllabus involves integration of subject matter, and linguistic matter. A language syllabus decides what gets taught in what order.

Types of Syllabus:  1.Analytical Syllabus 2.Synthetic  Syllabus3.Situational Syllabus  4.Notional Syllabus 5.Product oriented Syllabus 6.Process oriented Syllabus 7.Skill based Syllabus

Differences between Curriculum and Syllabus

Curriculum	Syllabus
It is not verbal, book oriented & theoretical	It is verbal, book oriented & theoretical
The scope of curriculum is much broader and deeper.	The scope of syllabus is limited and specific
Includes both curricular and co-curricular activities	Includes only curricular or academic details
Includes all learning experiences that would lead the learner to the anticipated goal	It places more stress on the specific learning materials to be internalized

MAJOR PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION

There are mainly 11 major principles the development of curriculum. They are 1.The principle of child-centeredness 2.The principle of community-centeredness 3.The principle of activity-centeredness 4.The principle of integration 5.The Conservative principle 6.The Creative principle 7.The Forward looking principle 8.The Principle of preparation of life 9.The Principle of elasticity and variety 10.The principle of totality of experiences 11.The principle of Utility.

The Principle of Child Centredness : Based on the needs, requirements, and circumstances of the child. Child needs more experience than instruction. Meaningful activities to promote co-operation, social responsibility. Should be framed in accordance with the child’s developmental characteristics as well as his capabilities and needs at the stage

The Principle of  Community Centredness :To become active member of the community. Goals formulated by the school depend upon the purpose of the society-determine the nature of the curriculum

The Principle of Activity Centredness : Action is the design of life. Curriculum should provide variety of physical and mental activities. Learning by doing. Elementary stage-activities of hand head and heart. Primary-project. Secondary-creative and constructive activities

The Principle of Integration: Child’s needs and the needs of democratic society. Subjects-Functional unity with the environment To safeguard the general, liberal and vocational aspects of education

Forward looking principle :Effective adult life-future of the child To meet the challenges of life

Conservative Principle: Tradition and culture

Renewal Principle: Culture to suit the requirements of the changing World

Creative Principle: Encourage creative power to modify environment. according to changing needs of the society

Motivation Principle: To actively participate in the learning process

Maturity Principle: Suited to the mental and physical maturity of the child

The principle of preparation for life

The principle of Elasticity and flexibility

The principle of comprehensiveness: Broad based to include a wide variety of subjects

The principle of balance:Between Direct and indirect experiences, liberal and professional education, individual and social aims, compulsory and optional subjects

The principle of Utility: Should be of practical use to the pupils

APPROACHES IN ORGANISING   ENGLISH CURRICULUM

The Spiral Approach: Fosters continuous , unbroken learning of the subject matter through various stages of education (eg. Freedom Struggle)Merits: Generates immediate and real interest. Suitable for average pupilbasis of correlating phenomenaLimitations: Causes monotony and lack of interest due to repetition of information-if the content not expanded properly. Initial stage –difficult to provide detailed information considering its totality. Difficult to develop sense of time and space in pupils

Concentric Approach: A general treatment of almost all the topics are attempted at the beginning and it is developed in successive years according to the mental development of the pupils Follows maxims of teaching-simple to complex, whole to part, easy to difficult etc.

Topical Approach: Selected topics of study suitable for the age, ability and interest of the child are included. Each topic is considered as an entity and all the topics are linked together by the teacher with the help of link lessons (eg-lower class-family, food, shelter etc., middle class-history of institutions and govt., secondary- ideologies like communism, socialismMerits: Vast material can be dealt with rational and logical way. Can be adapted according to age, ability, interest of the child. Imparts sense of purpose –total perception attempted. Enables teacher to control the subject matter and adapt it to varying needs of the childrenLimitations: Destroys the continuity of the subject matter. A complete study of the topic will not be psychologically desirable

Unit Approach: Predominates in practice. The grouping of related lessons into about 10 or 20 or major units to be divided into an average of 6,7 or 8 lessons each provides a feasible course of action both in planning instruction and in comprehending the scope of the course

Advantages: Suited for the devt. of skills abilities, democratic outlook, ideals and process.  Facilitates the ability to formulate significant concept, relationships and processes. Enable teachers to adapt instruction to suit individual differences of children. Needs of the learner can be given top priority. Logically sound division will make comprehension easy

Limitation: If not well planned, with a wholistic approach they will become mere groups of isolated facts

Chronological Approach: Examining facts and events one after another and in the sequence of their occurrence. Study of dates or year of events in the sequence in which they happened. Related to the modern concept of historicity which indicates the importance time, space and other socio-economic background of the historical event. Useful in organising the content in History and the devt. of the curriculum  for the study of the evolution of earth, man etc.

Merits: Gives more precise and comprehensive idea of the content in the context concerned (history of freedom struggle-1919-1947). Cause-course and effect relationship can be established. No major aspect will be omitted

Concept of Issue based curriculum   and  Discourse Oriented Pedagogy

Issue based Curriculum : Communicative approach, Interactive approach , Constructive approach, Cognitive interactionist method

Discourse Oriented Pedagogy: Discourse as the learning materials and Discourse used for language teaching learning process.

Curriculum  Construction  In  English

Aim:   Study  and  use English language  and literature.

  Area Of  English  Curriculum

Language development consists of :1)learning language – control of the  basic skills (LSRW ) 2)Learning through language-study skills & literary skills 3)Learning about language –Vocabulary, structure, communication skills.

Language Curriculum Principles: 1)The language strands (LSRW skills) are interrelated , interdependent and reciprocal. 2)Integrated language curriculum for a balance of experience in all the language skills. 3)Provides opportunity for using language in purposeful and meaningful situation. 4)Ability to use multiple cueing systems like: a)pragmatic cueing system-socio-linguistic competence.b)textual cueing system-organizational competence c)syntactical cueing system–word order d)semantic cueing system-meaning  e)grapho phonic cueing system-sound letter association 5)develops linguistic competence –grammatical rules , conventions, mechanics of language skills and usage 6) Scope for active and strategic responses to language tasks- construction , evaluation, direct,  and guided instruction and independent activities.7) assessment and evaluation  as natural , integral and ongoing part of teaching learning process. 8)Be sensitive to the needs and developmental levels of the learner.9)exposure to new culture. 10) develop the  use of English for : a) social interaction b) academic achievement c)  cultural enrichment

-Content based integrated teaching –learning approach spiral curriculum for English.

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY

Critically analyse any English Course book of Kerala syllabus at secondary level.

***

PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION

Curriculum organization is a scientific process which involves basic principles on which its credibility exists. It is not just collection of topics, because it reflects ethos (philosophy / culture) of the society: themes of the subject and learning variability.

 1. Principle of Child-Centeredness

Curriculum is mainly for the students. So, the age, interest, capability, capacity,aspiration, needs and psychology of the learner should be taken in to an account.

2.Principle of Community-Centeredness

The social needs and the local needs of the learner should be taken in toaccount while we construct the curriculum. It should be reflect the values of democracy,ethos and main concerns of the country.

3. Principle of Balance / Integration

(Child = Community)It is also called principle of Integration. The curriculum should integrate:

1. Cognitive, affective and psychomotor objectives and abilities

2. Knowledge and experience

3. Objectives and content

4. Child’s activity and needs with the society needs and activity.

It should be related to the social environment of the students. Here the equal/balance importance should be given to the need of the Child and need of the Community.

4. Principle of Need

Curriculum helps in fulfilling the various needs of the learner. Each learner has his needs which are generally related to physical, emotional and social development.

A wellplanned curriculum provides all such opportunities through many

 fold activities which satisfies the need of the learner. It should not be merely the academic but it should include all other equally important activities too.

5. Principle of Utility

One of the purposes of education is to prepare the child for living and learning. This is the most important consideration, so that the child can live a fruitful and self-fulfilling life. Curriculum should provide rich experiences, both academic and social to the students. The content, activities and experience of the curriculum at a particular stage / grade are useful to the learner for the further/higher studies.

6. Principle of Creativity

It should place the pupil in the place of the discoverer and provision should be made the creative type of activities.

7.Principle of Preservation/Conservation

It should help in the preservation /conservation and transmitting the knowledge, traditions, standards of conduct on which the culture and civilization depend.

8. Principle of Variety

In a classroom there are different types of the students on the basis of intelligence, ability, aptitude and attitude. The curriculum should satisfy the variety of knowledge, varying interest, needs of the students.

9. Principle of Elasticity / Flexibility

Flexibility is an important parting curriculum development. It should givenenough time and sufficient chance to the students, to search their own examples and experience from the surroundings.

10. Principle of Contemporary Knowledge

Curriculum should give the modern or current knowledge and theories to the students. That will give the knowledge of utilization of local resources (salt, plants, soil) to the students. While organizing the curriculum the following principles also should be followed:

11. Principle of Sequencing

12. Principle of Continuity

13. Principle of Accuracy

14. Principle of Adequacy

15. Principle of Interest

16. Principle of Readiness

17. Principle of Meaningfulness

18. Principle of Continuous Evaluation

The curriculum is the totality of experiences that the child gains through the multifarious activities in the school. The review of the present curriculum is reveal that it is subject oriented, examination ridden, not in conformity with the aims and objective of the teaching science, rigid and outfits the different age group. So, it is imperative that the present curriculum should be reorganized in the light of the principles mentioned above

UNIT -2

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN ENGLISH

CONTENTS

         

5.     CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT-GENERAL PRINCIPLES-PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIOLOGICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, NEED AND INTEREST OF THE LEARNER, NATURE OF SUBJECT MATTER AND PHILOSOPHY OF NATION

6.     DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO CURRICULUM ORGANIZATION –SPIRAL, TOPICAL AND CONCENTRIC APPROACH.

.

.

INTRODUCTION

l  CURRICULUM :A CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS

l  Curriculum is the crux of the whole educational process.

l  Derived from Latin word ‘currere’ which means ‘run’ and curriculum signifies ‘a runaway or a course which one runs to reach a goal ’

l  DEFINITIONS

l  Carter. V. Good : “Curriculum is a general overall plan of the content or specific materials of instruction that the school offer the student, by way of qualifying him for graduation or certification for entrance into professional or vocational field.”                         

l  Cunningham : “Curriculum is a tool in the hands of the artist (the teacher), to mould his materials (the pupils), according to his ideals (the objectives) in his studio (the school). The material is highly self_active and responds consciously.”

l  H.H.Horne :  “Curriculum is representative of the motor as well as the sensory elements in the nervous system of the side of society, it is representative of what the race has done in its contact with its world.”

                            

l  FOUNDATIONS OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

l  Curriculum development should take into consideration all the 5 criteria given below :

l  The philosophy of the nation

l  The psychological principles

l  The sociological needs

l  Needs and interest of the student

l  Nature of the subject matter.

l  Philosophical Foundation

l  Include best of the four important philosophies

l  Idealism

l  Naturalism

l  Pragmatism

l  Realism (Existentialism)

l  Psychological Foundations

l  Consider the psychology of learner

l  For this there are several Psychological theories like

l  Mental faculty theory

l            Mind consist of certain independent faculties such as attention, memory, imagination, reasoning, exercising of muscles

l  Theories about the transfer of training and theories of learning process

l             

l  Some maxims about TL process are:

l           

l                     known         to      unknown

l                     concrete      to      abstract

l                     simple         to      complex

l                     easy             to      difficult

l                     empirical     to      rational

l                     specific        to      general

l                     definite        to      indefinite

l                     part              to     whole

l                     near              to     far    

l  Sociological Foundations

l  Consider the following points while developing a curriculum

l  Society always have an effect on the education

l  Different countries have to develop different type of curriculum

l  In India through education we have to change the unwanted social culture, poverty and superstitions

l  Importance of agriculture and better health.

l  Critical Thinking

l  The scientific knowledge doubles itself every decade

l  Update curriculum with constant research and review

l  Several commissions have been organized for this purpose

l  MAJOR PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION

l    There are mainly 11 major principles the development of curriculum.

l  The principle of child-centeredness

l  The principle of community-centeredness

l  The principle of activity-centeredness

l  The principle of integration

l  The Conservative principle

l  The Creative principle

l  The Forward looking principle

l  The Principle of preparation of life

l  The Principle of elasticity and variety

l  The principle of totality of experiences

l  The principle of Utility.

l  The Principle of Child Centredness

–       Based on the needs, requirements, and circumstances of the child

–       Child needs more experience than instruction

–       Meaningful activities to promote co-operation, social responsibility

–       Should be framed in accordance with the child’s developmental characteristics as well as his capabilities and needs at the stage

l  The Principle of  Community Centredness

l  To become active member of the community

l  Goals formulated by the school

l  depend upon the purpose of the society-determine the nature of the curriculum

l  The Principle of Activity Centredness

l  Action is the design of life

l  Curriculum should provide variety of physical and mental activities

l  Learning by doing

l  Elementary stage-activities of hand head and heart

l  Primary-project

l  Secondary-creative and constructive activities

l  The Principle of Integration

–       Child’s needs and the needs of democratic society

–       Subjects

–       Functional unity with the environment

–       To safeguard the general, liberal and vocational aspects of education

l  Forward looking principle

–       Effective adult life-future of the child

–       To meet the challenges of life

l  Conservative Principle

–       Tradition and culture

l  Renewal Principle

–       Culture to suit the requirements of the changing World

l  Creative Principle

–       Encourage creative power to modify envt. according to changing needs of the society

l  Motivation Principle

–       To actively participate in the learning process

l  Maturity Principle

–       Suited to the mental and physical maturity of the child

l  The principle of preparation for life

l  The principle of Elasticity and flexibility

l  The principle of comprehensiveness

–       Broad based to include a wide variety of subjects

The principle of balance

Between Direct and indirect experiences, liberal and professional education, individual and social aims, compulsory and optional subjects

The principle of Utility

Should be of practical use to the pupils

•         Concept of Issue based curriculum   AND  Discourse Oriented Pedagogy

Issue based Curriculum

ü Communicative approach

ü Interactive approach

ü Constructive approach

ü Cognitive interactionist method

Discourse Oriented Pedagogy

ü Discourse as the learning materials

ü Discourse used for language teaching learning process.

l  CURRICULUM  CONSTRUCTION  IN  ENGLISH

l    AREA    OF  ENGLISH      CURRICULUM

l  Aim:   Study  and  use English language  and literature.

l  Language development consists of :

l  1)learning language – control of the  basic skills (LSRW )

l  2)Learning through language-study skills & literary skills

l  3)Learning about language –Vocabulary, structure, communication skills.

l  Language Curriculum Principles

l  1)The language strands (LSRW skills) are interrelated , interdependent and reciprocal.

l  2)Integrated language curriculum for a balance of experience in all the language skills.

l  3)Provides opportunity for using language in purposeful and meaningful situation.

l  Language Curriculum Principles

l  4)Ability to use multiple cueing systems like:

l  a)pragmatic cueing system-socio-linguistic competence.

l  b)textual cueing system-organizational competence

l  c)syntactical cueing system–word order

l  d)semantic cueing system-meaning

l  e)grapho phonic cueing system-sound letter association

l  Language Curriculum Principles

l  5)develops linguistic competence –grammatical rules , conventions, mechanics of language skills and usage

l  6) Scope for active and strategic responses to language tasks- construction , evaluation, direct,  and guided instruction and independent activities.

l  7) assessment and evaluation  as natural , integral and ongoing part of teaching learning process.

l  Language Curriculum Principles

l  8)Be sensitive to the needs and developmental levels of the learner.

l  9)exposure to new culture.

l  10) develop the  use of English for :

l  a) social interaction

l  b) academic achievement

l  c)  cultural enrichment

l  -Content based integrated teaching –learning approach spiral curriculum for English.

FOLLOW UP ACTIVITY

}  . Critically analyse any English Course book of Kerala syllabus at secondary level.

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Unit test

 UNIT- 2 : CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN ENGLISH

Total  Weightage : 10

Time : 45 minutes

Write a short note on:

1.Psychological foundation of curriculum

2.Philosophical  foundation of curriculum

3.Sociological foundation of curriculum

Answer the following(wt.4)

4.What are the major principles of curriculum construction?

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Unit test

 UNIT- 2 : CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN ENGLISH

Total  Weightage : 10

Time : 45 minutes

Write a short note on:

1.Psychological foundation of curriculum

2.Philosophical  foundation of curriculum

3.Sociological foundation of curriculum

Answer the following(wt.4)

4.What are the major principles of curriculum construction?

***