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Showing posts with label curriculum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label curriculum. Show all posts

Thursday, March 16, 2023

NECESSITY OF CURRICULUM

 

NECESSITY OF CURRICULUM

1. Curriculum provides a solid frame or a structure to an education system or course and has an end goal that teachers/curriculum planners set for their students to reach.

2. Curriculum provides a boundary about what to teach and what not to teach in a school for a specific stage and specific grade.

3. It defines the method and techniques to be used by the teacher for the student's holistic development.                                                                                                         

4. It describes the various evaluation processes to be followed for assessment.

5. It is a guideline for the students, teacher, and the other stakeholders related to the school by following which the education system of a school can run successfully.

6. A well-built curriculum can act as a reagent for developing a positive attitude towards other religions, castes, gender, etc.

7. It can also act as a means for developing moral and ethical values among the students to make them good citizens.

8. Curriculum helps to organize the subject matter in a logical and psychological sequence as per the child's demands and needs.

9. A good curriculum is a reflection of that nation and society.

10. Good curriculum organizes the selected content in simple to complex hence making the education system systematic.

11. It provides work experience and vocational education to the students. Thus making them skilled for the future work environment.

12. It ideally serves as a time management and organizational tool as well; by setting an agenda ahead of time. Teachers and students have the opportunity to prepare for future reading and assignments.

SCOPE OF CURRICULUM

 

SCOPE OF CURRICULUM

The scope of the curriculum includes the knowledge, skills and values, and students' experiences needed to achieve the set educational goals. It consists of the experience or subject matter or content to which the learners are exposed. The content of every field of learning is so vast and is expanding at such a rate that it is impossible to cover any field in its entirety. Some hard decisions must be made as to what content should be selected for inclusion in the curriculum and what limitations will be placed on that curriculum.
The matter on the basis of which the scope of the curriculum is framed:

A. Socio-economic condition of the nation:

It is one of the dominant components for framing curriculum. The policy of education and its objective depends on the social and economic condition of that nation. The economic and social logical structure drives the framework of the curriculum. For example, the Indian education curriculum is a reflection of the democratic nature of the nation.

B. Socio-cultural element:

The culture of any nation is the bearer and carrier of that nation’s heritage. That is why sociocultural elements are given immense importance during defining the scope of the curriculum. It should reflect in the curricular and co-curricular activities.

C. Social needs:

It is the responsibility of the nation to fulfill the social needs of its citizen. The nation includes those needs in its education system through the curriculum. Hence these needs are given value during deciding the scope of the curriculum.


D. Peoples's religious consciousness and beliefs:

The religious consciousness and beliefs of the people have a great impact on the education system of a nation. Their religious consciousness and beliefs should be taken care of during defining the scope of the curriculum.

E. In and out of school experience:

School is the miniature of society and society frames some objectives for its citizens. One of the main goals of education is to implement those objectives through the education system in school. While defining the scope of the curriculum a balance should be made between the lives of a student in and out of the school. The students must able to relate the school experience with that of their daily life.

F. Dynamic Education system:

The curriculum should be changed and developed and new content or subject can be incorporated keeping in mind the changing society and its needs.

G. Use of human resources:

During preparing the scope of the curriculum one should keep in mind the availability of human resources related to education. Human resources available should be utilized at the optimum level for the benefit of the learners.

H. Physical/material resources:

The curriculum should be designed on the basis of the other resources available. The state should inform the curriculum developer about the availability of the resources.

I. Budget/financial resource:

Money is one of the important aspects of designing and framing a curriculum. It also serves as an important scope. Someone could not plan a curriculum without knowing how much money she could manage to run that particular curriculum.

J. Variety of the school:

All schools' structures are not the same. Their ideologies are different. Even the contexts are different in many cases. Hence while designing the curriculum the schools' requirements and other aspects like the position of the school, school type, ideology, etc. are needed to be taken care of.

 

Friday, March 10, 2023

TYPES OF CURRICULUM

 

TYPES OF CURRICULUM
(On the basis of characteristics of the curriculum)


1. Overt/explicit/written: it is simply a written document as part of formal instruction of schooling experience. It may refer to a curriculum document along with text and supportive teaching material that is overtly chosen to support the intentional instructional agenda of a school.  the overt curriculum is usually confined to those written understandings and directions formally designated and reviewed by administrators, curriculum directors, and teachers, often collectively.


2. Societal curriculum: it is taught outside the school forming social knowledge of the world. Families, peer groups, neighborhoods, media, and other socializing forces that educate all of us throughout our lives are the agents of the societal curriculum. This type of curriculum can now be expanded to include the powerful effects of social media for example Facebook and how it actively helps to create new perspectives and can help to shape both individual and public opinion.


3. Hidden or covert curriculum: it is derived from the nature and organization of schools. It is what children learn from the administrative structure of schools and the attitude of teachers and administrators. Examples of the hidden curriculum: standing in line, raising hands to be called on, and discipline in the classroom. It may include both positive and negative messages depending on the environment provided and the perspective of the learner or the observer.


4. Null Curriculum: it is any subject matter that is not taught in school which can give students the impression that these materials are less important. For example, in the American school, the culture and history of many known Western people are often covered slightly or sometimes not at all. Physically it is not possible to teach everything in schools, many topics and subject areas must be intentionally excluded from the written curriculum.



TYPES OF CURRICULUM
(On the basis of the objective of the curriculum)

Curriculum can be framed on the basis of its aims and objectives subject matter of teaching and the method adopted curriculum may be classified into different types as follows:


1. Subject centered
2. Child centered
3. Activity centered
4. Integrated curriculum


SUBJECT-CENTRED CURRICULUM:
the subject-centered curriculum emphasizes oral discourse and extensive explanation. It expects teachers to plan instruction before teaching begins and to organize it around the content and it assumes that certain content should be taught to all students. The subject-centered curriculum usually consists of a study of pacific facts and ideas. The teaching method usually includes direct strategies like lectures, discussion, and questioning.
The most widely used subject-centered curriculum is the separate subject curriculum. The separated subject curriculum is divided into discrete areas of study like history, chemistry literature, etc.



CHILD-CENTRED CURRICULUM:

The curriculum is to be varied and elastic, meeting individual differences and adapting to individual needs and requirements. Satisfaction with the child's nature is one of the important objectives of education. Unsuitable subjects of study lead to frustration among the children and often hinder their normal development. School and subject are meant to be for the child and not the child for the school. The child is not to be victimized in the name of cultural heritage, or mental discipline. The curriculum is to be child-centered where the subjects of study fall in line with the child's nature. When the interest and needs of the learner are incorporated in the curriculum, motivation tends to become intrinsic rather than extrinsic.
Some important characteristics of child-centered curriculum:
A. It is centered on learners
B. Emphasis on promoting the all-around development of learners.
C. Subject matter selected and organized cooperatively by learners during learning.
D. Controlled and directed cooperatively by learners in the learning situation.
E. It emphasizes meaning immediate to improving living.
F. Emphasis is also given to habit and skill as an integral part of larger experiences.
G. Emphasis is also given to understanding and improving through the process of learning.
H. Emphasis on variability in exposure to learning and in results expected.
I. Education adds each child to build a socially creative individuality.
J. Education is considered a continuous intelligent process of growth.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUBJECT-CENTRED AND CHILD-CENTRED CURRICULUM

SUBJECT CENTRED

CHILD-CENTERED

1. Centered on subject

1. Centered on learners.

2. Emphasize upon teaching subject matter

2. Promoting the all-round growth and development of the learners.

3. Subject matter selected and organized before the teaching situation.

3. Subject matter selected and organized cooperatively by all learners during the learning situation.

4. Emphasize upon teaching facts and imparting information to the students.

4. Emphasis upon meanings that will function immediately in improving living.

5. Motivation is mostly extrinsic.

5. Motivation is intrinsic.

6. Emphasis upon teaching specific habits and skills as separate and isolated aspect of learning

6. Emphasis upon building habits and skills as an integral part of larger experiences.



ACTIVITY CENTRED CURRICULUM
In its purest form activity centered curriculum operates with the child as the sole center of learning. Since education is life and life is ever-changing the activity-centered curriculum expects to change continually. In this approach, the psychology of learning is based on the emotional involvement of the learner. If a child develops an interest in something and becomes emotionally involved with it, Hindi learning will enhance according to the proponents of an activity-centered curriculum. This curriculum is never fixed and completely crosses subject-matter lines. Completely flexible, emphasis is placed on observation, play, stories, and handcraft.

The activity-centered curriculum has not been acceptable to the public as the subject-centered curriculum. When used it has been most successful at the elementary level. Although it has never secured a foothold in secondary school, the activity-centered curriculum has had some influence on the High school program. The lack of full acceptance in high school may be partly due to the subject orientation that secondary teachers and administrators have. Also, the public seems to prefer the traditional organization and methodology of the subject-centered curriculum.
Characteristics of activity-centered curriculum:
1. The interest and purposes of children determine the educational program.
2. Common learning comes about as a result of individual interest.
3. The curriculum is not planned in advance, but guidelines are established to help the students to choose alternatives as they progress through the program.
4. Solving problems becomes the principle teaching method.
5. The teacher, in preparing to teach in the activity-centered curriculum needs all the prerequisites of the core teacher and even more.

6. Because the activity-centered curriculum is flexible, the need for variety and scheduling arrangements is important.
7. Schedules using a large block of time are necessary to afford the program to its maximum potential.

Integrated curriculum:
Integrated curriculum transaction has come about in an attempt to decrease the number of separate subjects that have been gradually brought into the subject-centered curriculum. In place of separated and isolated classes in reading writing spelling grammar and literature the integrated curriculum combines these subjects under English or any other language. The integrated approach provides teachers and students more latitude within the broad subject area. The integrated social studies course encompasses history geography economics political science psychology sociology and anthropology. Integrated science program combines chemistry botany zoology physics geology. Mathematics gets integrated with arithmetic geometry and algebra.
Advantages of integrated curriculum:
a. This approach establishes logical an useful organization for presenting knowledge.
b. In integrated curriculum knowledge is presented to the students in a comprehensive manner.
c. Students can learn with understanding and appreciation.
d. Basic principles and generalizations necessary for critical thinking are emphasized more than isolated facts.
Disadvantages of integrated curriculum:
A. Composition of several subjects into one does not guarantee integration in all cases.
B. With the emphasis on generalization rather than specifics, learning tends to be too abstract. 

Friday, March 3, 2023

Characteristics of a Good Curriculum

 Characteristics of a Good Curriculum

1. Flexible: It should not be narrowly conceived but dynamic and forward-looking.

2. Cultivation of democracy: It should foster the development of attitudes and skills required for maintaining a planned social order of a democratic type. To put it more concretely, it should contribute towards democratic living.

3. Child-centered: needs and interests of the children should be taken care of

4. Activities: channelizing the energy of the children in well-planned and organized learning activities in and outside classroom activities

5.  Day-to-day planning: the whole academic calendar, with well-defined goals, should be prepared and shared with the stakeholders, making them aware of the plan and role.

6. Inclusive: no one should leave out or be left behind

7. Psychologically sound: should be psychological sound. It should take into account the theories of learning relevant to teaching, at the par mental capacity of the student

8.CCE: assessment of all the aspects, in a different way, not only bookish knowledge

9.Balance between practical and theoretical knowledge:

10. Contextual: should be prepared at par the local context and needs of the society keeping in mind the diversity of the learners.

11.Linking with school experience with outside school experience: bringing the community into the school and going to the community

12.  Uniformity (one nation one curriculum): but keeping in mind the diversity, 30:70= local: national

13.  Technology/ ICT: scope for adapting the latest technology and making the stakeholders aware of the same.

14.  Input from the research: tested and improved through research

15.  Learning without burden: should not be overloaded with content and other activities; core correlation among the subjects is necessary which in NCF2005 is named as "softening the boundaries'' and in NEP as no hard separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extra-curricular activities, between vocational and academic streams, etc. in order to eliminate harmful hierarchies among, and silos between different areas of learning;

16.  Fulfilling the requirement of the New Education Policy: see page 5 of NEP 2020

Monday, April 12, 2021

Determinants of Curriculum Development

Curriculum development is defined as a planned, purposeful, progressive, and systematic process to create positive educational systems improvements.

Curriculum development needs to address the following points during organizing: Objective, Content, Students, and Pedagogy.

Curriculum development itself is a broad term. It is catering to society's, the learners', the school's, and the nations' needs and requirements. So what kind of curriculum we provide our students has to be planned. It has to have some purpose. It has to reflect progression. It has to show that the future of our country is going towards something more productive and fruitful. Of course, it has to be systematic. We should keep in mind the children's mental and physical abilities during the development of the curriculum. The developed curriculum should be at par with their level of understanding. 

Similarly, curriculum development is essential because it preserves its national identity and builds the knowledge economy. The curriculum should relate the inside classroom/school knowledge with the outside school activities and learners' experience. 

And the last point here is that it should ensure innovative ways to meet society's changing demands and international needs. We are in a technologically advancing world, and every minute, some innovations are there. So curriculum development should also ensure that there are innovative ways addressed in the curriculum so that the teacher can adapt to the children's changing demands of this current century. 

Determinants of Curriculum Development:

Determinants are the foundation of curriculum development. It suggests ways to meet individual, society, and nation's needs through the construction of knowledge.

We all are part of society. We as individuals have our philosophical thoughts and, of course, a psychological setup. We also cannot ignore scientific advancement and its effect on our life. So, these four components together determine how should a curriculum be developed. These four, philosophical basis, sociological basis, psychological basis and scientific basis can be related to the organization, to a child, to society and the country.

Philosophical Determinant/basis of Curriculum Development: Each society has its own fundamental beliefs. We are a part of a society, and we have our own beliefs, customs, and setups. We would want that in the coming generations, our children also learn the same beliefs and same customs and traditions. So our curriculum should be the reflection of this guiding philosophy of the nation. That is why our curriculum in all streams of education and discipline reflects what we want. Our country should be a democratic, secular country respecting all the religions, regions, and all the leading philosophies of the world. With time, various philosophies have evolved: idealism, realism pragmatism, existentialism, constructivism, humanism, etc. The basis of the Indian system of education is idealism. Still, with the change of need of the society, many other philosophies need to be cater.

So that means the curriculum has to understand the need of the hour, the philosophy being followed. E.g. the belief and view of the nation and its people just after independence and now are not the same. Hence philosophy behind the development of curriculum also has changed. At present, we more concentrate on constructivism as reflected by the documents like NCF-2005, NCFTE-2009, RTE Act-2009, NEP 2020 etc. So that means, with changing times, changing philosophies, the curriculum also has to change. Hence, philosophical determinants play a major role in curriculum development. 

Sociological Determinant/basis of curriculum development: Society is a part of a student's life. Nobody can live in isolation. We are a social animal. So, students have to be taught how to adapt: adapt to their environment, adapts to their families, adapt to their friends, adapt to their school environments. The curriculum should incorporate topics and learning experiences that build a good social personality of the child.

Social issues, which are coming up these days, or those that have gone by, have to be addressed. The student is aware of the social demands of him as a citizen of the country. Students are a very important human resource. They are future leaders of society. It can be academic leader, political leader, religious leader, and so on. Hence the school's role becomes very important. And this is where the curriculum role comes into play. The school encourages the child to learn many more things than just living in a family. The child learns how to discipline himself, and the child learns how to interact with others. The child also learns how to share things with others; the child learns how to wait for his turn. In short, the child learns disciplines, rules, norms and values.

All these things are happening when the child has in the school's actual formal education system. Hence, the curriculum has to reflect all the aspects we want in a socially sound individual, and the curriculum serves not only the child or the student but also society. The curriculum also needs to make her learn the desired skills required for vocation. It should include the changing needs of the society and nation. For example, subject like data science, artificial intelligence is the demand of the present time.

There are many social forces, which affect curriculum development. Like, Governmental forces: what kind of governmental provision are being made, just like the Right to Education. Right to education has given more importance to providing education to all. So, the government makes many policies and changes. Government initiates many efforts so that the students and the children of the country can get a good education.

The second aspect here is that, Quasi-legal. Quasi-legal is the voluntary organization that necessarily does not have to be legally constructed or constructed by a government or under any legal processes. It can be any voluntary organization like NGOs, Parent-Teacher associations, and teacher associations, which can give their feedback, affecting the designing of a curriculum and contributing towards a stronger curriculum. 

The third one is professional organizations, just like for teacher education, NCTE. NCTE can take out norms and standards, which can further develop into what we want the curriculum of a new teacher training programs. Similarly, the role of NCERT in the evaluation of existing curriculum and bringing changes accordingly to the evaluation is very crucial.

The fourth one is Special groups in society. When we say special groups, we are talking of special regional groups, special religious groups which have their religions, their faith, their philosophies, and they can also impact the development of curriculum.

The fifth one is Family structure: what kind of family are the students coming from. What kind of a family structure do we want to cater to? Are we talking about rural or are we talking about urban areas? These days most of the students are belong to a nuclear family. So that needs to cater during the development of curriculum. 

Similarly, the occupational structure (the sixth one) also affect the curriculum development process. What kind of occupation is more prevalent in the coming times, or with what kind of occupation is more desired by the parents? The curriculum has to again cater to those demands of the society (e.g. Coding, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Cryptography, etc.)

And the last one here is that of the changing role of women. Women have been contributing immensely over the past few decades in various aspects of life, whether professional or personal. We need to bring curriculum changes to reflect the significance and the changing role of women in our country. Education is the best weapon to change the attitude towards women and their rights. The curriculum should play a crucial role to bring the changes.

Psychological determinants/basis of the curriculum development: in this, the first and foremost is realizing the child that he is worth something, enabling the child to reach his self-actualization, helping him gaining self-confidence.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs will help us to understand the psychological determinants. At the bottom of the pyramid, it says that physiological conditions have to be catered to first. The child has to then have suitable safety needs. The child should be secure; she should feel that she's safe. And the child should have love and belonging of family, the trust of the teacher, the confidence of the organization so that she can make, she can have good self-esteem. Once he reaches good self-esteem, she moves towards self-actualization. From the viewpoint of psychological determinant, the curriculum's construction should be such that the topics used or chosen should help the child in self-actualization and self-disciplining of her for her self. The curriculum should ensure the basic needs of the child in the school. She should be loved and feel safe. The needs theory is critical because if he is emotionally sound, the child will work well. The child will contribute productively to the country. The child will produce good results in terms of both individual and professional results. So the psychological determinant of need theory should be kept in mind while developing the curriculum.

There are various other developmental tasks, which take place at different phases of his life. In early childhood, middle, adolescence, the demands are different.

In early childhood, he is learning to talk right, so we have activities of those kinds. In middle childhood, he's building his image. He's constructing a social image; he's learning how to talk to others. He's learning how to develop his confidence. He's already fighting with so many other factors at the adolescent stage, both psychological and physical. So how is the curriculum helping all the children at different levels? What kind of tasks we are taking is another aspect that the curriculum planners must keep in mind.

Fully functional personality: how does the child think of himself or herself, is he thinking well of himself, is he thinking enough himself. The emotional lapse of the children has to be detected. Once that is seen, whatever our mistakes, whatever values he has taken up and mistakenly, they have to be addressed. They have to be worked upon; the child should feel that he is respected is loved, and there is no other way to live life than without his values and customs.

The curriculum should have activities, and content may be in the form of languages or stories, which will address the need of the children.

There are various aspects of child psychology that we need to keep in mind during curriculum development. Like, from the angle of Behavioral psychology, we need to think about the child's behavioural development. Which kind of conditioning (classical or operant) is more effective in which context the developers need to decide? 

Cognitive development, moral development, development of intelligence and emotional intelligence are the crucial factors. The attitude, aptitude, personality, maturation, motivation, creativity, etc., of the child, are also essential factors for curriculum development and making any change in the curriculum. The curriculum developer's decision on these will further help decide the methodology of curriculum transaction, teaching methods, pedagogy, and content's design. It will also help to determine the objectives of education and the process of evaluation. In short, psychology influences the content, goals and objectives, pedagogy and assessment. So it clearly shows how integral psychology is as the determinants of curriculum development. 

Scientific basis/determinant of Curriculum Development: Scientific advancement is the demand of the progressive society. It is an important parameter to judge the development of a country. No one can deny the importance of science and technology, their influence in every aspect of life. Hence, there is no doubt the reason for having science and scientific advancement as one determinant of curriculum development. The use of scientific approaches like constructivist approach, experimental learning, discovery learning, problem-solving approach, project-based learning for transacting the curriculum is essential to develop scientific temperament, technological advancement, thinking ability, creative skills, the reflective and analytical power of the students, the future citizen of India. 

-by Dr. Ritendra Roy