Posted: June 27th, 2015

Curriculum Development

Curriculum Development

Introduction

Curriculum is a concept that has attracted a lot of discussion in the way it can be appropriately defined. According UNESCO and IIEP (2006), there is no single definition of curriculum. Most of the definitions focus on the syllabi and learning materials. The broader definitions look at curriculum as including other factors within and outside the school systems that may impact on the curriculum itself.

Traditionally, curriculum was defined as a set of courses and their contents offered at school or university. It may be defined as prescribed course of studies that requires to be fulfilled by students before passing a given educational level. As the world continues to modernize its education systems, various definitions have also come up. Tawil and Harley (2004) define curriculum as the organization of sequences of learning outcomes. The sequences are entrenched in the education system of the concerned country to meet the wider goals of achieving quality education.

The schools and colleges have considered having curriculums designed to enable students to come out of colleges when competent in given fields. This is aimed at meeting various professional requirements in the ever-changing modern world. Therefore, this has contributed to curriculum development in education systems worldwide.

Curriculum development has been described as the careful planning regarding the aspects that are taught in an educational institution. This should be in line with the courses of study and programs adopted by the schools (Hedden, 2012). The aim is to develop a curriculum that ensures educational sustainability in the long run achieving the purposes of national development. Curriculum development usually focuses on major and minor topics and courses that will ultimately contribute to the students’ career development. Curriculum development refers to a wide range of discussions by different professions and organizations that make decisions concerning learning experiences. Such decisions need to be integrated in a national, regional, or provincial education system to ensure sustainable development (Braslavsky, n.d.).

Curriculum development varies from country to country. The process can be controlled from a national level by the ministry of education or individual states as the case in some federal countries (Braslavsky, n.d.). Centralized countries usually follow a top-down approach in the development of their curriculum. In this regard, the curriculum is presented to teachers who, once they adopt it, they must make the learners assimilate it. Eventually, the curriculum is evaluated by parties concerned.

According to Braslavsky (n.d.), the society and parents can also drive curriculum development. This is referred to as the bottom-up curriculum development. The responses collected by teachers and other education officials are evaluated, and then, standards are set for further curriculum development. This system is mostly used by decentralized governments.

Professional organizations that influence curriculum decisions

The curriculum being developed must effectively address the issues of relevance, sequence, and integration in a given community’s set up (Stabback, 2007). Therefore, the process is bound to be influenced by various professional organizations that are out to ensure that the curriculum meets the diverse, fundamental, national, economic, social, communal and personal objectives without any form discrimination. The organizations are usually consisted of individual of a common profession or specialization. These organizations have over the years actively participated in curriculum development to ensure sustainability of their objectives. This is done with the aim of expanding the knowledge and skills in their profession (Hedden, 2012). Some of the organizations that can influence curriculum development include: Accountants Association, Professional Engineering organizations, and the National Councils of Teachers.

Name Links Purpose
American Accounting Association-AAA http://commons.aaahq.org/files/0b14318188/Pathways_Commission_Final_Report_Complete.pdf ·         Integrate professional oriented faculty more fully into significant aspects of accounting education, programs, and research
Professional Accreditation of Engineering programs http://ec.europa.eu/education/higher-education/doc/business/forum09/birch_en.pdf ·         Assurance that academic programs adequately underpin professional registration
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=5844&page=9 ·         To provide vision and leadership in improving the teaching and learning of mathematics so that every student is ensured an equitable Standards-based mathematics education and every teacher of mathematics is ensured the opportunity to grow professionally.

Curriculum design and development

Curriculum development process involves the design and development of integrated plans for learning, how the plans implement and evaluate the plans, and checking the outcome (Flinders University: A curriculum development process). Designing the curriculum involves critical analysis of teaching and learning framework. The purpose of the design stage is to elucidate certain action plans for achieving the curriculum objectives. The process is done professionally and technically to avoid any overlap between the topics and the course. This results in the development of syllabuses that focus on certain areas or subjects. The ultimate result of the process is usually a coherent flow of topics regarding the course in question. Fundamentally, curriculum development ensures that students receive integrated and coherent learning experience that contributes toward their personal, academic, and professional learning experience (Stabback, 2007).

Various steps are involved in the process. These steps are majorly followed when a new curriculum is required, or curriculum reforms are indispensable. Curriculum development involves step by step contextual scan and research of relevant best practices. Consultations with various stakeholders followed by development of a curriculum framework are conducted before syllabuses are agreed and the subjects written. The agreed plans are then implemented, and proper monitoring established to check whether everything is in line. The review and amendment of the contents is thus necessary for the whole process to succeed.

Usually, the process is systematic and with a clear focus on sub-systems to avoid disastrous outcomes and waste of resources. Systematic process in the development the curriculum enables to eliminate any potential loopholes and at the same time articulating the international standards benchmarks (Stabback, 2007). These sub-systems have been articulated as:

Curriculum, assessment and certification documents, which prescribe curriculum-related standards and policies, Textbook and teaching resources, Human resources – workforce planning, pre-service teacher training and continuing professional development, School facilities and equipment and Educational leadership and management (Stabback, 2007, p.5).

The role of technology in curriculum development

Technology continues to play a great role in curriculum development around the modern world. Over the years, technology has gained a significant role in the world education curriculums. This has been viewed as the greatest improvements that curriculum development has ever witnessed. Computers have become a means of information delivery where web curricula and online modules are the common technologies that have positively transformed curriculum development (Imran, 2008).

Technology has supplemented the delivery of learning resources due to the growing number of publication and technological breakthroughs in research. Technological advancement is now offering standardized instructions and learning environment that is familiar and that can be accessed from anywhere. This has resulted in greater satisfaction amongst learners since they can share and access common resources. Technology has also reduced time for curriculum development considerably as compared to the previous ways of curriculum development. Efficiency has also been achieved in the development of the curriculum as compared to traditional methods that required a lot of time (Imran, 2008).
School-wide Curriculum development initiative

The Ministry of Education is charged with a responsibility of undertaking extensive curriculum research with an objective of collecting relevant responses of what is to be changed, introduced, or done away with to improve the curriculum. This involves consultation from parents, teachers, education officials and administrators, and professional bodies among other stakeholders. The findings are then submitted to the special curriculum review committee that analyzes the process before agreeing on the areas and subjects that need to be addressed. Proper measures are established to ensure that the plans are implemented, and proper checks instituted to evaluate the progress of the plans (Braslavsky, n.d.). The close monitoring of the process facilitates further amendments to the curriculum.

The major challenges faced during curriculum development can be classified into three categories. This includes internal, social, and external challenges. With regard to internal challenges, the curriculum development is usually faced with the challenge to conform to the requirements by the ministry. These requirements are important to the schools in question. Socially, the culture usually tries to impact on the process demanding raft of changes that recognize its values and norms. External forces may also prevail in curriculum development to ensure the proposed curriculum addresses issues of international concern like health, science, and human rights (Stabback, 2007).
Conclusion

Curriculum development is a complex process that requires commitment of the organization responsible and the various stakeholders. The process should be conducted transparently and systematically so that the outcomes of the whole process are credible enough. The curriculum developed should embrace modern developments in technology. It should also measure to the internationally accepted standard of an efficient curriculum for proper integration of the education system of the given country.

 

Reference List

Braslavsky, C n.d., The Curriculum, viewed 07 August 2012. <http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/archive/AIDS/doc/cecilia_e.pdf>

Hedden, HB 2012, Professional and trade organizations, viewed 07 August 2012. <http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Per-Pro/Professional-and-Trade-Organizations.html>

Scholl, FJ 2001, ‘Case studies: Using Technology to Improve Curriculum Development’, The Technology Source Archives The Technology Source Archives at the University of North Carolina, viewed 7 August 2012, <http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1034>.

Stabback, P 2007, Guidelines for Constructing a Curriculum Framework for Basic Education. Presented at the Regional Workshop “What basic education for Africa?” Kigali, Rwanda – 25-28 September 2007 UNESCO-IBE, viewed 07 August 2012. <http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/COPs/News_documents/2007/0709Kigali/Curriculum_Framework_Guidelines.pdf>

UNESCO and IIEP 2006, Guidebook for planning education in emergencies and reconstruction, International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris.

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