Curriculum Development and Design

Murray Print

• Editorial: Routledge
• Año: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000256727
• Edición: 2
• Categoría: Bildung
• Categoría: Lehrpläne

This book has been written to provide a current, practical, Australian-based approach to designing and developing curriculum. The demands of schools and educational systems today are such that teachers with practical curriculum skills are highly valued and this book provides a vital source for teachers who wish to build their skills in the field of curriculum design and development.The book addresses the needs of curriculum developers by examining the nature of the curriculum process and how it can be applied in schools. A particular strength is the way in which the chapters are structured around a model of curriculum development. As the model unfolds the reader is familiarised with the various elements of curriculum including situational analysis, intent, content, learning activities and evaluation.Teachers will appreciate the value of understanding these elements and in so doing will acquire valuable skills of curriculum design and development.A feature of this book is that it addresses the issues of curriculum implementation and curriculum change. To devise a curriculum document in these times is tough enough. Those who wish to see their curricula succeed must be involved with implementing that curriculum and the curriculum change that results.This important new book is particularly appropriate to classroom teachers, system developers and student teachers studying curriculum.

1 Introducing curriculum

. . . knowledge of curriculum is, by definition, central to. . . the professional teacher and an essential orientation for all ‘professionally responsible beginners’. (Karen Zumwalt, 1989: 174)

Curriculum is an area of vital importance to the professional teacher. Over the past two decades the study of curriculum has become an established part of teacher education programs in Australia and all pre-service teachers have become familiar with the concepts of curriculum in some way. Similarly, teachers undertaking postgraduate studies and professional development activities have been exposed to the concepts associated with curriculum. And in more recent years the term has become quite frequently used in the media and the community in general.

Such a development is highly appropriate for professional teachers. Curriculum is, after all, the very substance of schooling and the raison d’être for teachers in schools. Therefore teachers need to be knowledgeable about curriculum and understand the processes by which curricula may be developed. When teachers consider curriculum issues, for example, they tackle the substantive matter of schooling which may be expressed in terms of the fundamental questions of curriculum, namely:

• What to teach?
• How to teach?
• When to teach?
• What is the impact of teaching?

And from these general questions come a flood of well-recognised curriculum-directed questions for the teacher and curriculum developer to answer, such as:

• What knowledge is of most worth to learners?
• What activities are most effective in enabling learners to acquire this knowledge (information, facts, skills, values, attitudes, etc.)?
• What is the most appropriate way to organise these activities?
• How do I know if learners have acquired this knowledge?

These questions, and many others, will be addressed in subsequent chapters as we examine the processes involved with curriculum design and development. And underlying this examination will rest a fundamental premise—that the person best equipped to answer and implement the above questions is the professional teacher. To that end, the following chapters will hopefully assist the educational professional act more effectively with the curriculum. Karen Zumwalt has stated, in the context of ensuring that our teachers are professionals, that initial knowledge of curriculum should include an understanding of:

1. different views of curriculum and ensuing consequences for the role of teacher;
2. some conception of a curricular planning process and the knowledge necessary to carry it out;
3. the realities of curricular decision-making. . . (Zumwalt 1989: 174)

This book strongly supports Zumwalt’s contentions and the ensuing chapters reflect that position.

The first chapter introduces you to important concepts associated with curriculum and, in so doing, will cover the nature of curriculum, definitions of curriculum, the hidden curriculum, curriculum as a manipulative strategy, school-level curriculum decision-making, school-based curriculum development and an introduction to curriculum development. In the process, numerous curriculum terms will be employed and it is recommended that you consult the glossary for definitions.

Finally, it is recommended that those involved with curriculum development consider the process of curriculum as a form of problem-solving activity. If the questions of what, when, how and so what of teaching are fundamental to schooling, then curriculum can be considered as providing answers to those ‘problems’. Thus those teachers who design, develop and adapt curricula in schools are the frontline problem-solvers of schooling. As we shall see in later chapters this process requires one to take into account many aspects of teaching in resolving these ‘problems’.

Smith and Lovat (1991) summarised this situation well when they characterised the curriculum process as:

. . . a problem-solving process, in which the teacher processes a complex variety of stimuli and information and uses this to make decisions and solve problems: the teacher’s key roles in this are those of information processor, manager, decision-maker and problem-solver (1991:xiv)(their emphasis)

In taking this position this book acknowledges the fundamental role that teachers play in the application of the curriculum process in their classrooms. Whether teachers are directly responsible for curriculum development, or whether they interpret, implement, modify existing curriculum documents, they require a sound, substantive understanding of the curriculum process with a consequential understanding of how it may affect them and their students.

The nature of curriculum

Many people find the term ‘curriculum’ rather confusing. After all, they contend, it is used in many different ways. For example, a common use of the term refers to ‘the school curriculum’. This incorporates all the planned learnings offered by the school. However, an equally accepted use of the term is to talk about the ‘lower-school curriculum’ or the ‘K10 curriculum’. One can also refer to the ‘history curriculum’, the ‘maths curriculum’ or the ‘home economics curriculum’. The above are examples of the term ‘curriculum’ in practice and they can be placed in one of the following categories:

1. a systemic curriculum, for example, the Tasmanian primary school curriculum, New South Wales secondary school curriculum;
2. a subject curriculum, for example, the K10 social studies curriculum;
3. a school/institution curriculum, for example, the Kapinara Primary School curriculum; Neutral Bay Public School curriculum.

One could similarly refer to the flight-attendant curriculum, the realestate-agent curriculum, the accounting curriculum and so forth. Indeed, any institution that offers an educational program to learners employs a curriculum of some form. For our purposes, however, we shall concentrate upon the use of curriculum in Australian schools.

Another way of conceptualising curriculum is to view it in terms of the perceptions people have of curricula. Different people perceive a school’s curriculum in different ways and sometimes in multiple ways depending upon the context in which the concept is used. To complicate matters further, someone may perceive the curriculum in a particular way and use the term ‘curriculum’ to describe what they mean, while another uses the same term but means something different.

For example, a teacher may refer to the school curriculum and really mean the ‘intended’ or ‘written’ curriculum, while a parent may refer to the school curriculum and mean the ‘entitlement’ curriculum or the ‘achieved’ curriculum. Similarly a systemic curriculum developer may refer to the school curriculum and mean the ‘ideal’ or perhaps the ‘intended’ curriculum. Consequently it is important for us to be clear what perception we have of curriculum when we communicate with others. The most common perceptions of curriculum, expanded substantially from the types suggested by Glatthorn (1987), may be described as:

• The ideal or recommended curriculum: what is proposed by scholars as a solution to meet a need and consequently perceived as the most appropriate curriculum for learners.
• The entitlement curriculum: what society believes learners should expect to be exposed to as part of their learning to become effective members of that society.
• The intended or written curriculum: what organisations develop for the learners in their educational systems and what should be taught by the teachers in that system. This is often referred to as the syllabus by such organisations and systems.
• The available or supported curriculum: that curriculum which can be taught in schools through the provision of appropriate resources, both human and material.
• The implemented curriculum: what is actually taught by teachers in their classrooms as they and their students interact with the intended and available curricula.
• The achieved curriculum: what students actually learnt as a result of their interaction with the implemented curriculum.
• The attained curriculum: the measurement of student learning (usually through a testing process) which reveals those learnings acquired by students. Measurement is usually based upon the intended curriculum, particularly at systemic levels, though it may be based on the implemented curriculum at classroom level.

Thus in schools it is possible to talk about the intended modern history curriculum, Sydney Girls’ High School’s implemented curriculum, the attained physics curriculum and so forth. Similarly a university may refer to its achieved medical curriculum, its available teacher-education curriculum or its ideal architectural curriculum. In practice these different ways of conceptualising curriculum are usually blended into one term—‘the curriculum’, though when we discuss what we mean we invariably expose the subtle (and sometime not too subtle) variations as described above.

In professional parlance, therefore, the term ‘curriculum’ may be used in various situations to describe different, if related, things. While this may appear confusing, there is nevertheless widespread acceptance of these differing interpretations. The essential features common to curricula, however, are that all forms of curricula incorporate the following:

1. A formalised course of study designed for learners.
2. Conscious planning that attempts to determine learning outcomes.
3. Some form of structure to facilitate that learning.

In the following chapters we’ll draw our examples of curriculum from the school environment although it is important to note that the same principles apply to any non-school institutions providing educational programs.

Characterisations of curriculum

William Schubert (1986) refers to many different images or characterisations of curriculum. He prefers these terms to that of ‘definition’ because ‘. . . they denote a broader conceptualisation than the label for a thing’. (1986:26) However, an image or characterisation can also mean a way of perceiving or viewing the concept concerned and hence facilitating understanding. I have chosen to examine a number of characterisations as a way of depicting the richness and comprehensiveness of the concept and as a means of understanding that breadth and depth of meaning. Further reading on this matter may be obtained from Schubert (1986), Gress & Purpel (1988), Saylor, Alexander & Lewis (1981), Marsh & Stafford (1988), Smith & Lovat (1991) and other references indicated in the reference list. Such characterisations may also facilitate an understanding of differing definitions. A selection of these characterisations includes:

Curriculum as subject matter: This is the most traditional image of curriculum which depicts it as the combining of subject matter to form a body of content to be taught. Such content is the product of accumulated wisdom, particularly acquired through the traditional academic disciplines. As a result of this content, one can predetermine the curriculum for learners. Most teachers, when asked to describe their school’s curriculum, provide a litany of subjects or subject matter taught to students.

In earlier times this characterisation of curriculum saw students encounter the seven liberal arts, usually divided into the trivium (grammar, rhetoric and dialectic) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music). Today most school curricula in Australia have been developed as subjects (chapter 4) or from a subject base (see broad fields design, chapter 4). This characterisation of curriculum has become so deeply ingrained in people’s understanding of curriculum that it has become axiomatic with the term itself.

Curriculum as experience: A more recent image sees curriculum as the set of experiences learners encounter in educational contexts. Most of these experiences have been purposively planned by means of the written curriculum but many more experiences are encountered by learners in educational contexts. Through experiencing the hidden curriculum learners acquire many forms of learning that were not planned yet which are usually highly significant (for more on the hidden curriculum see later in this chapter).

Experience is also seen from the perspective argued by John Dewey (1916), namely that in experiencing a curriculum one also reflects upon that experience and one consequently strives to monitor one’s thoughts and actions in that curriculum context. In this characterisation of curriculum the teacher acts more as a facilitator to enhance the learner’s personal growth.

Curriculum as intention: Early efforts to address curriculum planning saw educators make use of intentional strategies through the vehicles of aims, goals and objectives. This characterisation of curriculum argues that a comprehensive planning of learning experiences for students, predetermined before they commence that curriculum, is the best way to address learner needs.

This view of curriculum as a plan has two variations, first, curriculum consisting of a plan of predetermined statements of intent (aims, goals and objectives—what students should learn); and second, curriculum as statements of intended learning outcomes (what learners must acquire). The former argues for intention statements planned for students commencing a curriculum, while the latter emphasises statements of behaviour for students exiting the curriculum.

Curriculum as cultural reproduction: One characterisation of curriculum that receives support is the view that curriculum should reflect the culture of a particular society. The role of the school, it is argued, and hence the curriculum, is to pass on the salient knowledge and values used by one generation to the succeeding generation. The curriculum, particularly through the selection of learning experiences, provides a vehicle for that reproduction process.

However there is by no means consensus as to what knowledge and values are indeed worthwhile to be passed on from one generation to the next. Uncritical cultural reproduction has not occurred in our society and consequently this characterisation remains contentious.

Curriculum as ‘currere’: A more recent characterisation of curriculum views it as a process of providing continuous personal meaning to individuals. Coming from the Latin, currere may be interpreted not as a ‘racecourse’ but rather as the ‘running of the race’ (Pinar, 1975; Smith & Lovat, 1991). This emphasises the individual’s capa...

Índice

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Abbreviations
• Tables and figures
• Preface to first edition
• Preface to second edition
• Glossary of terms
• 1 Introducing curriculum
• 2 Curriculum presage
• 3 The curriculum process
• 4 Curriculum design
• 5 Situational analysis
• 6 Curriculum intent
• 7 Curriculum content
• 8 Learning activities
• 9 Evaluation and assessment
• 10 Curriculum application and change
• Appendix
• References
• Index