AXIOMS:

AXIOMS and TRUTHS

Curriculum Development is a decision making process. It is a process that gives rise to
controversy. When dealing with curriculum development or even problems with curriculum it is
useful to have a set of principles that can serve as guidelines for deciding what is good, right, and
reasonable. According to Oliva (2002, p. 29), “curriculum principles are derived from 1)
empirical data, 2) experimental data, 3) the folklore of curriculum, and 4) common sense.”
Principles based on science alone can be rigid and restrictive. Use of common sense in making
curricular decision can be distrusted. However, whereas science may help us find solutions to
some problems, not all problems of the day can be solved this way. Judgment and common
sense are necessary in making curricular decisions. Whenever judgment is brought into play
however, the potential for controversy arises. Differing values and philosophical orientations of
the people involved in curriculum development give rise to controversy. So does the lark of hard
data for making decisions about curriculum development.
One of the features of curriculum development that make it such an interesting field of study is
that curriculum is at the same time both alive and dead. (more on that from McNeil)

Oliva (2005) states that curriculum principles may be viewed as whole truths, partial truths, or
hypotheses.

Whole Truths: are either obvious facts or concepts proved through experimentation, and are
usually accepted with out challenge. (Prerequisite skills are necessary for mastery of an advanced
body of content) This truth leads to pre-assessment of entry skills and sequencing of content.

Partial Truths: are based on limited data and can apply to some, many, or most situations, but
they are not always universal (the practice of homogeneous or ability grouping may be
successful with some groups but not with others). Partial truths are not “half-truths,” containing
falsehoods, but they do not tell the whole story.

Hypotheses: are tentative working assumptions. Curriculum workers base these ideas on their
best judgments, folklore, and common sense. (e. g. The magic teacher student ratio of 1:25)

While the practice based on whole truths is wanted and needed, the use of partial truths and the
application of hypotheses contribute to the development of the field.

Instead of talking in terms of whole truths and partial truths, we might be more accurate if we
speak of “axioms.” Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines an axiom as 1. a maxim
widely accepted on its intrinsic merit, 2: a statement accepted as true as the basis for argument or
inference, POSTULATE, 3: an established rule or principle of a self-evident truth.” Axiom could
be replaced with “Theorem”

Oliva (2005) offers several generally accepted axioms that provide a frame of reference for
curriculum developers seeking ways improve curriculum and solve curriculum problems. You
should become familiar with these axioms how they relate to the curriculum you plan to
implement.
Axiom 1: Change is both inevitable and necessary, for it is through change that life forms grow
and develop. (Change in the form of responses to contemporary problems must be foremost in
the minds of curriculum developers.)
Think for a moment of some of the problems your particular school faces, and ask yourself what
types of changes in curriculum would benefit the students in your classrooms as well as the
larger community.

Axiom 2: A school curriculum not only reflects but is a product of its time.
Something happens then something else happens. Things happen. Events overlap. Societies
change. People move. Scientific innovations, pandemics, war, and the media change the way we
perceive the world. Consider the changes in technology, the environment and population shifts
that have occurred in your lifetime. Ask yourself how these changes created changes in the
school curriculum.

Axiom 3: Curriculum changes made at an earlier period of time can exist concurrently with
newer curriculum changes at a later period of time.
You’re probably familiar educational reform being likened to a pendulum. School curriculum
swings from one extreme to another; from learning basic skills in math to “new math” concepts
and back, from emphasis on content learned to classrooms that are student centered and back,
from phonics to whole language and back. Ideas fall out of favor at some point in time and then
later are embraced as exactly what is needed. No doubt you have been aware of some of the
back and forth swing of curricular ideas in your own history of schooling. Ask you grandparents
or parents what curriculum was important when they went to school.

Axiom 4: Curriculum change results from changes in people.

Alice Miel (1946) wrote:
To change the curriculum of the school is to change the factors interacting to
shape that curriculum. In each instance this means bringing about changes in
people—in their desires, beliefs, and attitudes, in their knowledge and skill. . . .
the nature of curriculum change should be seen for what it really is—a type of
social change, change in people, not mere change on paper.

Anyone involved in creating changes in curriculum, must themselves change.

Axiom 5: Curriculum change is effected as a result of cooperative endeavor on the part of

groups. Teachers, professional planners, and curriculum developers must work together to effect
positive curricular change. Significant curriculum improvement comes about through group
activity.

Axiom 6: Curriculum development is basically a decision-making process.

Choices have to be made; what content should be included or excluded, what curriculum best
serves the needs of the local society. Choices of instructional methods need to be made. (How
did you learn to read?) The types of programs that will exist in the school must be decided.
How will classes and grade levels be organized? How will the teachers work to assure that all
students have an equal opportunity to learn?
Axiom 7: Curriculum development is a never-ending process.
Once you’ve got it the way you want it, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Curriculum
planners must constantly monitor the curriculum they have developed to make sure it is fulfilling
its original promise and is not creating unforeseen problems.

Axiom 8: Curriculum development is a comprehensive process.

Curriculum planning should not be piecemeal, patching, cutting, adding, plugging in, shortening
lengthening, or troubleshooting. One aspect of the curriculum out of whack and the whole
curriculum can be a disaster. Every aspect of the curriculum must be taken into consideration—
Oliva advises curriculum planners to be aware of the impact of curriculum development not only
on the students, teachers, and parents directly concerned with a programmatic change but also
on the innocent bystanders, those not directly involved in the curriculum planning but affected in
some way by the results of planning.

Axiom 9: Systematic curriculum development is more effective than trial and error.
The whole picture should be apparent from the beginning. A set of procedures should be
carefully followed. (We’ll learn about these procedures when we look at models of curriculum
development.)

Axiom 10: The curriculum planner starts from where the curriculum is just as the teacher starts
from where the students are.
What has come before should not be carelessly tossed aside. Think about beginning the
curriculum development process as a “reorganization” preexisting ideas and modes of delivery.
You might find yourself doing this when you develop the curriculum for your final project for this
course.

Oliva, P. F. (2005). Developing the curriculum, 4th Ed. New York: Harper Collins
Publishers.
Miel, A. (1946). Changing the curriculum: A social process. New York: Appleton-
Century.

Five Simple Truths about Curriculum According to Quinn

1. Teachers rule when it comes to curriculum (Effective teachers make decisions about what
and how to teach.)
2. Curriculum is nothing without instruction
3. The textbook is not the curriculum
4. Curriculum and Assessment should also coexist (peaceably).
5. Contextualized curriculum is a live curriculum.