Thank you for visiting the Education section of the World web site.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Curriculum Development Process

An effective educational program can only be successful if it is prepared appropriately.
Curriculum is the backbone of educational program which needs proper designing.
The curriculum process consists mostly of five elements or phases.
1 Situational analyses.
2 Formulation of objectives.
3 Selection of content/Scope and sequence.
4 Methods/ Strategies/Actives.
5 Evaluation.
Situational analyses
In order to develop a procedure of Curriculum Organization, one must keep in mind the realities of the situation. The curriculum is the mirror of the traditions, environment and ideas of the concern society. The main purpose of education system to prepare a curriculum to the actual needs of the society. The main functions of curriculum is to preserve and transmit the cultural heritage to next generation.  Language, social needs of the society, political and religious situation must be considered while developing curriculum.
The identification of the areas mentioned here help the planner in curriculum development and the selection of objectives, learning material (learning) and appropriate evaluation procedure.
Important aspects of existing situation are as follows:
Ø  Geographical condition of the country.
Ø  National and international trends.
Ø  Cultural and social needs.
Ø  System of examinations etc.
Ø  Economical conditions.
Ø  Age, level and interests of the learners.
Ø  Pattern of curriculum to be followed.
Ø  Religious condition
Ø  Teacher training programmes.
Determination and formulation of learning outcomes-sources of learning outcome
Formulation of Objectives Validation of Educational Objectives:
The work of the curriculum planners to identify such Goals and objectives which fulfill the desires of the society and according the need of national and international demands. In order to reach these goals the curriculum planners clearly state the aims which are related to various fields of studies or subject areas and even related to classroom management and teaching.
Teachers and learner are the first who have the responsibility to achieve the initial targets in class-room. The achievement of these objectives ultimately leads the learner to-wards various categories of life activities, such as:
Continued learning: motivation toward Learning and create thinking skills in learner
Citizenship: Prepare a good citizen who contribute in the economic, local, national, and international level,
Vocational effectiveness: To help the individual on the vocational aspect and made him an economic assets of society
Home responsibilities: Inculcate the sense of responsibility in the Learner to help each other, respect people, and take care of elders and other related experiences, such as food, social and individual activity.
Validation of Educational Objectives
General principles for stating valid objectives for curriculum.
1.            Consistency with the ideology of a nation.
2.            Consistency and non-contradiction of    educational objectives.
3.            Behavioristic interpretation.
4.            Consistency with social condition.
5.            Democratic ideals/relationship.
  1.     Fulfillment of basic human needs.
                                                (Reman.M, 2000)
Consistency with the ideology of a Nation
Every nation has certain beliefs and the philosophy of Pakistan is based upon Islam therefore the objectives of our educational system must be regarding the teaching of Islam. The validity and foundation of educational objectives in Pakistan depends upon Quran and Sunnah.
                Fulfillment of basic human needs
Man Need the fulfillment of basic needs in life to maintain equilibrium. The objective must help in the attainment of these needs. E.g. Among the basic needs that have been identified are food, clothing, shelter etc...
Consistency and non-contradiction of education objectives:
Educational objectives must not be contradictory to each other. There should be consistency in the objectives at all levels. The objectives must inculcate certain Islamic value and skill in the individual to help him in the real life situation.
Behavioristic interpretation:
Objectives expressed in terms of student behavior are called as behavioral objectives. To create valid, clear and achievable objectives, the curriculum planners have to articulate these objectives for the development and integration of the personalities, economic efficiency, self realization, critical thinking, problem solving ability, understanding of rights.
The objectives that are not put in terms of human behavior are invalid.
Consistency with social conditions:
The objectives of an educational programme are always related to social and culture realities of a nation. In a develop society that is undergoing little or no change, objectives usually are closely related to conditions  of that time (updated) , And when a society ideas and progress is slow in adopting new ways of doing things, because of the repaid advancements in the field of science and technology and inability  of a society to cope with time. 
The fact is that Mass media of communication has grown and Computers are replacing the manpower which is new social realities of life. The old objectives formulated on the basis of old realties now need a revisit and need modification according to the new social and scientific conditions.
Curriculum planners sometimes avoid the new conditions and they feel no need to improve educational objectives with changing time resulting put the development of a society in danger. Hence the curriculum developers have to formulate such type of objectives which are valid with respect to changing needs and the aspects of past culture which they feel essential to preserve as heritage.
Democratic ideals relationship:
Only the democratic ideology fulfills the basic needs of a society and this is the only one that can be used in validating educational objectives in Pakistan.
To apply the democratic values in a society the curriculum planners must relate the objectives and keep in view democratic values and principles.
As the principles of democracy are very difficult so no summarized statement of these can be used successfully in the justification of educational objectives.
But if the objectives are directly related to democratic principles based upon reasoning and critical thinking then they are also called valid.
Selection and organizing of Learning experiences   (Content)
Selection of course content for a subject to teach. The subject should encompass all the possible experiences a learner need at that level. All the material which was taught in past and now should be the part of the subject. With the expansion in knowledge new topics emerged with time, they must be incorporated into each subject. With the expansion of knowledge the principle of complete coverage was replace with the principle of representative content because the attainment of total coverage became difficult.
The principles of subject matter selection
1. The course content must be significant in the same field of knowledge:
This is principle for program of studies consisting of specialized courses, with each course being followed by a more advanced course (from simple to complex).
 2. The subject matter selected must possess the principle of survival:
The subject matter should have the ability to survive. Those subjects content survived for long which inspire people and benefit mankind, to fulfill the need of the society in spite of continues change in society and culture
3. The subject matter must have the principle of interest:
Keep in view the principle of interest to motivate the learners to learn more.
4. The content or subject matter must be utilized:
(The Principle of Utility)
The Principle of Utility means that the knowledge presented must be helpful in real life situation and the society well benefit from the outcome of the subject content.
5. The course content should contribute to the development of an Islamic society:
The content selected should helpful in the development of character of Muslims. It should inculcate the ideology and values of a true Muslim. It should inculcate the required skills which is beneficial for an Islamic society. There should be no such content which contradict Islamic values
Some common Considerations for the curriculum organizers
       Subject matter should consist of physical and mental activities.
       the subject Content should be helpful in the development of creative abilities in individual
        logical sequence from simple to complex
       the subject Content Help in the attaining of the objectives of the relevant course
       incorporate the best information from all sources in Subject matter
Procedure of Content Selection:
Different procedures for content selection.
The judgmental procedure
The analytical procedure
The consensual procedure
The experimental procedure
The judgmental procedure:
This procedure is all about the vision of the curriculum planner, the success or failure depends upon the curriculum planner. The curriculum planner should have the vision of past, present and future to see the potentialities of all three dimensions. It is very hard that the judgment of curriculum planner will lead to the best selection of subject matter, for that the curriculum planner must be objective in the selection of content and have knowledge for the benefit of others.
The analytical procedure:
The analytical method is the most commonly used method of content selection. It consists of various techniques to collect information regarding subject matter selection:
  1. Conducting interviews
  2. Collecting information through questionnaires
  3. Gathering information through documentary analysis.
  4. Observing the performance of people.
The consensual procedures:
It is the opinion of the people in society who reached to some level of expertise in a field; excellent in the fields of business, industry, agriculture and Experts as teachers, physicians, engineers, and artists etc. these are the people who represent the society.
The experimental procedure
In this method the content is selected after applying different test;
1. Selection of content matter against some standard criterion (say interest).
2. Hypothesis is formulated that the selected content matter meets the criterion (interest)
3. Hypothesis is tested after gathering information from students and teachers and tested with instrument.
Teaching Methods/Strategies
Teaching Methods/Strategies
Teaching method play a very important role in the process of curriculum development, this element of curriculum development process help in the attainment of desired objectives. It is the dynamic side of the curriculum because without proper teaching methods one can’t think of achieving the targets goal of education planner, it’s largely depends upon the methods adopted in the classroom for teaching learning process. This process includes:
Teacher’s activities.
Student’s activities.
This is also the work of curriculum planners to suggest proper teaching methods for the suggested curriculum because during planning curriculum they have to keep the methodology in mind, one can’t include such topics in curriculum which are difficult to teach and for such curriculum, and the curriculum planner must have some proper method in mind.
There are various methods of teaching  but the curriculum have to  keep financial restraint in mind so for that reason they have to suggest such methods which are applicable in classroom . There are methods as lecture, lecture demonstration, problem solving, project, programmed learning etc.  For achieving the aims and objectives of the curriculum the curriculum planner must suggest and impose the innovative and active approaches of teaching and learning to initiate the interest of students and teacher as well as the parents.
Bases for Selecting Instructional Methods:
As discuss earlier there are multiple methods of teaching/ instruction, teacher always face the problem of to adopt which method for different lessons. Therefore it is the work of curriculum planner to suggest such methods in advance so the teacher has no problem to search for it.
Guidelines for the selection of teaching / instructional methods:
Achievement of objectives:
For the teacher to adopt a method for teaching learning he must keep in mind the objective of the curriculum, how to get that objective, instructional objectives is the first consideration in planning for teaching. Such a general objective could be achieved through multiple ways, but specific objectives like the student will be able to write an easy on a given topic narrow the choices considerably.
Principles of learning
The teacher should have the knowledge of individual differences, principles and theories of learning while selecting a teaching method for instruction. It would help him in the adaptation of proper method for teaching learning process in the classroom for a larger number of students with different IQs.
Individual learning styles:
Researchers believes that the most effective learning takes place when the teacher used interactive  techniques in teaching learning process, the method that suited to the individual student keeping in view the individual differences of the students and impart knowledge to the learner according to his mental ability. “Optimal for one person is not optimal for another”.                                      Cont….
The Rand Corporation Study (1971) supports these findings by stating that “teacher, student, instructional method, and perhaps, other aspects of the educational process interact with each other. Thus a teacher who works well (is effective) with one type of student using one method, he might be ineffective when working with another method. The effectiveness of a teacher, or method, or whatever varies from one situation to another”.
Self-fulfilling processes and educational stratification
The teachers know about the potentialities of the students in classroom  and the fact that every child differ from other in the learning process , keeping in view this, the teacher adopt such methods which help all the students in their own way  of learning . B.F Skinner stated “we need to find practices which permit all teachers to teach well and under which all students learn as efficiently as their talents permit”
The teacher should try to develop the potentialities of students which they already have and give them opportunities to develop those potentialities to the utmost level.
Facilities, equipment and resources
The teacher know what he has in hand in the form of equipment, audio-visual aids, resources and facilities, therefore he should plan Instructional planning In the light of available resources. It is the ability of a teacher to use minimum resources, equipments of school and achieve maximum outcome, using methods and activities that involve student in a highly active role with the minimum resources.
Accountability
Accountability is also very important factor in the curriculum development process, Teachers, administrators and others who has the responsibility of the education held responsible for the quality of education
The process of accountability means that someone has to justify his work and responsibility to someone else, so it is the circle of accountability where everybody is answerable to other. It involves continued evaluation, review of the people in the process.
It demands results, costs of producing these results. All the stockholders observe and judge the  school,  the teachers, the administrators and the supervisors  whether  the  students gain certain skills and knowledge  for which  curriculum are developed, and what methods are they adopting for imparting knowledge  of different subjects to students.
Some professionals consider pupil behaviors as the source of methods
 According to Shepherd and Regan (1982; p 127) “Methods are content free and not derived from organized subject matter.
It has been argued that methods are derived from an analysis and application of learning theories. The actions, procedures and manipulations of the teacher are not different during instruction or reading or teaching mathematics. Method is like a vehicle, which is empty but can carry a variety of subject matter. This vehicle is created and constructed from generalizations, principles and assumptions”.
Some, professionals feel that every teacher has its own unique method of teaching which represent a form of his personality. Teachers used those methods which they found easy, as It evident  from the everyday practice of teachers, even some teacher create their own methods in the classroom to teach, keeping in view the behavior of the students and the situation of that time
Assessment:
Assessment is very important process of the curriculum development. Assessment of student’s academic achievement for the purpose of evaluation of the overall progress of education. Evaluation gives curriculum planner the tools, techniques and processes for defining, gathering and interpreting data relevant to the goals and objectives of the curriculum.
Evaluation helps on all aspects of curriculum planning, administrating and evaluation of the curriculum. it tells, to what extent the curriculum is good and what are the weaknesses of the curriculum and implementing the  curriculum, what need to be done to improve the curriculum development process , the administrating process and the teaching methods of the teacher and where system lack the resources .
Share:

0 comments:

Post a Comment

All copyright reserved by Khondoker Hafizur Rahman. Powered by Blogger.

Total Pageviews

Search This Blog

My Blog List

Blogger news

About

Popular Posts

Pages