ACTIVITY 3: self-reflect

1.Is it necessary for teachers to learn about school curriculum? Why ?

Yes. It is necessary for teachers to learn about school curriculum to learn the
different fields in where the most of the students will need to focus on. The curriculum
identifies the learning outcomes, standards and core competencies that students must
demonstrate before advancing to the next level. Teachers play a key role in developing,
implementing, assessing and modifying the curriculum. An evidenced-based curriculum
acts as a road map for teachers and students to follow on the path to academic
success.

It is a contested and often misunderstood concept. At a simple level, the curriculum

simply means a course of study. The word is derived from the Latin word meaning
racecourse or race, and has come to mean a general course, conveying the notion of
going somewhere in a predefined direction. Indeed, this simple definition is one that is
current in many schools, where the curriculum is seen largely as the glossy booklets
that contain the content to be taught.

However, such a conception of curriculum is clearly inadequate for understanding the

complex processes of schooling in today’s society. A more sophisticated definition is
required, and there have been many attempts to provide one.

Curriculum policy is sometimes referred to as the prescribed curriculum. This is the

written curriculum, embodied in a school’s documents, curriculum guides, and
programmed of studies booklets. It is the ‘official’ curriculum. In most cases, the written
curriculum is an instrument of control. Written curricula are essential, but they do not
always reflect what is taught. At the level of practice the terms described curriculum,
enacted curriculum and received curriculum are sometimes used. The first two terms
comprise the taught curriculum – what teachers say they teach, and what they are
actually observed to teach. The received curriculum is the ‘bottom line’ curriculum, in
other words what the students actually an learn. It is the most important curriculum of
all; but it is also the one which is most difficult to quantify, and the one over which we
have the least control. The described, enacted and received curricula can be very
different to the prescribed curriculum, as teachers actively adapt official policy to meet
local circumstances, and as learners assimilate and understand what is being taught in
very different ways. As can be seen, curriculum is an inexact art form rather than a
precise science.