Critical Review no.

1 Rachel Seager (a1606818)

What is a Curriculum?
From: Becoming a Teacher, Knowledge, Skills and Issues Chapter 6.
By Colin Marsh
There are numerous definitions of the term curriculum in this article, some of which are
perhaps not considered enough by teachers. The definition that curriculum is, "that which
an individual learner experiences as a result of schooling," suggests that the teacher plays a
crucial role in how they interpret and integrate the curriculum into their classroom and how
it can affect the student. A study that appeared in the teacher and teaching education
journal said, It is concerning that some teachers continue to develop, while others do little
to advance their professional skills in spite of teaching the same curriculum.
1
This supports
the idea that curriculum is what a learner experiences from school and how important is for
the teacher to be constantly up skilling.
There are some interpretations that curriculum is that which the student constructs from
working with the computer and its various networks such as the Internet, is something that
up until recent times would not have been considered. There are definite positive effects
that come from the integration of computers and the internet in the classroom and more
specifically the use social media to network with teachers and other students. A study on
the benefit of IT integration in teaching said In the environment of network, students could
connect with teacher or other students at any time and any place. This study way advanced
the discussion between teacher and students, or among students,
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thus, supporting the
integration of IT in the classroom.
Another key point of this article is the ambiguity of curriculum documents especially at a
primary level. The article says, primary school teachers have considerable freedom in
planning their teaching, this suggests the documents are there as a guideline but not
mandatory. This idea is enforced by the examples given. Each example has what skills and
Knowledge will result from teaching the curriculum but the way it is interpreted could be
very different from school to school.


1
Saad. F. Shawer, "Classroom-level curriculum development: EFL teachers as curriculum-developers,
curriculum-makers and curriculum-transmitters," Teacher and teaching education, no. 26 (2011):
173.
2
Multimedia Technology (ICMT), 2010 International Conference on, Issue Date: 29-31 Oct. 2010,
Written by: Tan ZhuWen