PRINCIPLES OF FRAMING CURRICULUM

 

PRINCIPLES OF FRAMING CURRICULUM

1. Principle of child-centeredness: curriculum should be framed according to the actual needs, interests, and capacities of the child. That means a curriculum should be child-centric as the modern education system is child-centered.

2. Principles of civic and social needs: man is a social being. He/she lives in a society. Modern Education aims at both development, of the individual and society.

3. Principle of integration: the curriculum should not be split up into watertight academic subjects. Various subjects included in the curriculum at a particular stage of education should be integrated and correlated with many others subjects as well as with the real-life experience of the students.

4. Principles of flexibility: in order to serve the varying needs of the individual on the one hand and society on the other curriculum should follow the principle of flexibility and dynamism.  it should allow desirable change and modification of its content from time to time in order to keep it up to date.

5. Principles of creativeness: Education not only conserves the past experiences of humanity but also helps an individual to develop his innate potential. This aspect should be taken care of during the framing of the curriculum.

6. Principle of utility: at the time of curriculum construction utility instead of special knowledge or logical sequence should be the base. Only that which is useful for society should be included in the curriculum, and that which is not useful should be excluded, however, important matter it may be.

7. Principle of relating to community life: our curriculum should be original, and related to community life. It should allow the student to come into close contact with the life around him.

8. Principle of conservation: Man has conserved experiences very carefully for better adaptability. Education is regarded as a means of deserving the cultural heritage of humanity. The school serves two-fold functions in this regard- preservation of past experiences and transmission of experiences.

9. Principle of individual difference: the curriculum should be framed in such a way that every individual can have the opportunity for self-expression and development. The curriculum should be based on the psychology of individual differences, which can meet the complexities of a modern democratic society.

10. Principle of activity: curriculum must be based on the principle of learning by doing. It should involve the students in different types of mental and physical activities.
11. Principle of vision: a society can never be static in any way. it has to go ahead with time. While constructing a curriculum for children, the future needs of society must also be taken into account.

12. Principle of utilization of leisure: a variety of subjects such as games and sports, fine arts, music, etc. are to be introduced in the school program to utilize leisure time.

13. Principle of forward-looking: The aim of life-centered education is not limited to the present life situations in the family and society. Hence, education must prepare the child of shouldering future responsibilities. So in framing the curriculum we must take into consideration the future needs of the child as well as the needs of society.

14. Principle of preparation for living: The children should know the various activities of the environment around them and how these activities are enabling people to meet their basic needs of food, shelter, clothing, recreation, health, and education.

15. Principle of preparation for the world of work/vocation: The community needs skilled workers and professionals in different professions and occupational fields. So the curriculum should be framed in accordance with this need. The curriculum should able to guide and prepare the students for the future world of work.

 

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.

 

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.

Micro-teaching

 

A brief overview of Micro-teaching  In cricket, a batsman can play various kinds of shots. But for becoming skilled in those shots he or she has to practice a lot to become skilled. We can take the example of great batsman Sachin Tendulkar. He once was attacked on the leg side by left-hand spinners. Hence he practiced a particular short known as the pedal sweep in net practice for long hours. The result was he able to overcome the barrier he was facing against the left-armed spinner. The same is true for teaching. Teaching is not an easy job. A teacher has to do many things simultaneously while teaching in the classroom. He has to draw a diagram on the blackboard. At the same time, he has to make his students attentive toward him, and also at the same time he has to reinforce them as per the requirement. So we can say teaching is a complex job various skills have to be performed together. What if we practice those skills separately in a controlled situation? Like Sachin Tendulkar practiced that particular short for long hours. That we basically do in micro-teaching. Here we separate those skills which are an integral part of classroom teaching and practice separately in a controlled environment. If someone wants to learn to swim she may not go for Ocean but rather prefers a swimming pool that is not so deep. What is the reason behind it? The simple reason is to reduce the difficulty, risk associated, and complexity. The same is true for micro-teaching. It reduces the complexity of teaching. The term micro-teaching was first coined by D. W. Allen in 1963 at Stanford University. It was invented during an experimental project on the identification of teachers' skills in the progress.  It is a teacher training technique for acquiring teaching skills. It is also one of the most contemporary innovations in a teacher education program which aim to modify teachers’ behavior according to specific objectives. Here the emphasis is given to a specific teaching skill. It is known that each teaching skill is a set of related teaching behavior. It is worth mentioning that the development of such teaching skills further will facilitate students learning.  Therefore a teacher should be trained in all teaching skills for developing the ability to effectively teach. Micro-teaching is giving the opportunity for training this skill one by one as it is scaled down technique in terms of skill, content, number of students to be taught, and time. Micro-teaching allows practicing any skill independently and interacting with other skills in a familiar environment. The effectiveness of teachers could be increased by providing them training to be skilled in those specific skills one by one and integrating all skills systematically. Micro-teaching can be termed as the laboratory technique in which the complexity of classroom teaching is simplified. In micro-teaching, the main focus is on making the prospective teachers skilled in that particular skill, say, blackboard writing skill. Here the focus is not on the learning of the learners. The learners could be thought of as the experimental group of an experiment. One question may arise: what is the need for micro-teaching? First of all, teaching is an act. A teacher performs where the classroom can be thought of as the stage. So for making this performance better a teacher needs to practice the skills. This will make him a good performer i.e. an effective teacher. All of us are not teachers by birth. Actually, the number of such teachers is very less. But we need a huge number of teachers who need to take care of the future citizen of this country as well as this world. So we have to make teachers. And for that micro teaching is the finest tool in teacher education. Definition of Micro-teaching: Allen, D.W (1966): Micro-teaching is a scaled-down teaching encounter in class size and class time. Allen, D.W. and Eve, A.W. (1968): Micro-teaching is defined as a system of controlled practice that makes it possible to concentrate on specified teaching behavior and to practice teaching under controlled conditions. Passi, B. K.(1976): Microteaching is a training technique that requires student-teachers to teach a single concept using specified teaching skills to a small number of pupils in a short duration of time. From the above-mentioned definitions, the following characteristics of micro-teaching can be derived. These are, Characteristics of Micro-teaching: ·         It is a teacher training technique and not a method of teaching. ·         it is micro in the sense that it scales down the complexities of real teaching- 1. Small portion of content/single concept at a time is taken 2. Only one skill at a time is practiced. 3. Number of students is 5 to 6. 4. Duration of each micro-lesson is 5-7 minutes ·         Feedback is provided to the teacher immediately after the completion of the teaching ·         Videotape and CCTV can be used- makes the observation more objective ·         It is a highly individualized training technique ·         High degree of control in practicing a skill ·         It involves  teaching the real lessons to real students ·         There is provision for improvement through re-planning,re-teach, and re-evaluation Components of Micro-teaching The definition and characteristics may further help us to identify the components of micro-teaching. These are as follows, ·         The student-teacher- The student who gets the training of teaching skills is known as student- teacher ·         The pupils: They are part of the techniques. They are being taught the micro-lesson by the student-teacher. They may be real or peers can act as (simulated micro-teaching). ·         The micro lesson: the short content or one concept is taken for micro-teaching ·         Teaching skills: the specific skill identified for micro-teaching like the ‘skill of introducing the lesson.’ ·         Time: time is an important component in micro-teaching. It needs to be short i.e. about 5-7 minutes and not more than that. ·         Feedback devices- Providing feedback is essential to bring changes in the behavior of the students. Feedback can be provided through videotape or feedback questionnaires   Phases of Micro-teaching Generally, micro-teaching is structured in three phases. These are, 1.      Knowledge Acquisition Phase 2.      Skill Acquisition phase 3.      Transfer Phase   §  Knowledge Acquisition Phase      Here student-teacher tries to get the knowledge of the skill to be practiced. He reads relevant literature concerning the skill (theoretical knowledge), and observes a   demonstration lesson given by the teacher-educator (practical knowledge). §  Skill Acquisition Phase             It is also known as the practicing phase. Student-teacher is given opportunities in real classroom situations, but scaled down, to practice the same behavior or skill. §  Transfer Phase             Here the student-teacher integrates the different skills. Instead of the artificial situation, he/she teaches in a real classroom for 30-35 minutes to 30-40 students.   The procedure adopted in Micro-teaching (steps) 1.   General discussion about micro-teaching:student-teacher reads related literature. The teacher educator explains the different teaching skills involved to student-teachers. 2.   Selection of skill: Out of various teaching skills, one skill for mastery purpose is selected. Full details of that skill are given to student-teachers. 3.   Demonstration of skill: Teacher-educator demonstrates a micro-lesson on that particular skill. 4.   Demonstration lesson is followed by a discussion: in which the student-teacher discusses it and seeks all types of clarifications. 5.   Preparation of micro-lesson: The student-teacher prepares a micro lesson plan on that skill selected, by consulting his/her supervisor. 6.   Execution of micro-lesson: The student-teacher teaches the lesson to a small group of students. The lesson is observed by the supervisor (teacher educator); if possible video recording could be done. 7.   Feedback: Immediately after the lesson, feedback is provided for improvement. 8.   Re-planning: On the basis of the feedback, the student-teacher re-plans the lesson under the guidance of a supervisor. 9.   Re-teaching: The re-planned lesson is re-taught to another small group of students. 10.  Re-feedback: After the completion of the lesson, again feedback is given and thus improvement in teaching is made. The above discussion help to derive the following diagram which is known as the micro-teaching cycle.  Hence it can be seen that the teaching time is 6 minutes followed by the feedback and discussion with the teacher-educator 6 minutes. Further 12 minutes could be given for re-planning and hence 6 minutes for re-teaching. Again teacher-educator will provide his/her feedback for 6 minutes approximately. Now if the teacher-educator feels that the student-teacher can achieve the mastery over the teaching skill the process is closed else the cycle will continue. The following flowchart will help to understand it.  The difference between micro-teaching and classroom/traditional teaching   Micro-teaching Classroom/traditional teaching Class size the class comprises small groups students of 5-10 numbers the class comprises 30-40 students Teaching skill One specific teaching skill is taken for teaching. All the teaching skills are used in an integrated way. Duration The duration of teaching time is 5-10 minutes The duration of teaching time is 40-50 minutes Feedback Student-teacher gets immediate feedback for the supervisor There is no such scope for getting immediate feedback Controlling Teaching is performed under controlled situation There are no such controlling situations that exist in traditional teaching. Difficulty level It is a comparatively simple process as it is scaled down technique in terms of skills, content, time, and class size. It is a comparatively more complex process than micro-teaching. Role of supervisor The supervisor role is very crucial in micro-teaching The supervisor role is vague in traditional teaching.   Conclusion: Though it is time-consuming and required proper infrastructure it is one of the best ways to make teacher-students skilled in teaching skills and hence become effective teacher.