Republic of the Philippines

Cebu Normal University

Osmeña Blvd. Cebu City, 6000 Philippines

College of Teacher Education

Center of Training (COT) | Center of Excellence (COE) | Level IV Accredited (AACCUP)
Telephone No.: (032) 231 8044
Email: cte@cnu.edu.ph
Website: www.cnu.edu.ph

THE TEACHER AND THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM

Unit 2: Teacher as Curriculum Designer

Lesson 2.2. Designing a Curriculum

Phases and Process of Curriculum Designing

Curriculum Involves Planning

Success begins with a well-though plan of action. A good understanding of collaborative curriculum
planning is essential for good teaching. Curriculum planning is a formal process during which the advance
arrangement of learning opportunities for a particular group of learners is created. Since the curriculum
constitute what a school or educational system prescribes for a specific group, the need for ‘exactness and
particularity’ in making decisions about ends and means demands scientific curriculum planning.
The purpose of curriculum planning and programming (an ongoing process) in a school is to improve
student learning experiences and outcomes by facilitating well-coordinated quality teaching, learning and
assessment programs which builds the learners’ knowledge, skills and attitudes. Planning can take place on
five levels: classroom, team/grade/department, individual school, school district/division, and state- the
national level.

Participants in Curriculum Development Process

Key Participants and Agencies Nature of Activities
Education Officials formality, regulation requirements
(curriculum director, head of instruction, specialist expertise in deficient areas technical advice,
and officers, superintendents, program enrollment in courses, invitations to visit schools
supervisors)
Professional Agencies and Specialists informal discussions, enrollment in courses liaison,
(professors, authors, professional national and associations, advice, funding technical services
testing agencies, educational laboratories)
Community Agencies materials, guest speakers, funding
(service organizations, news media, special-interest disseminating information
group commercial organizations)
Internal Personnel support and approval, leadership, advice heads,
(deans, principals department curriculum librarian, support with administrative details
specialists, teachers, students and parents) provision of materials, consultations, informal
discussions, liaison

Source: Teacher as Curriculum Designer

UNIT 2: Dr. Remedio Bacus
 The key participants have various roles to play in curriculum planning. They represent individuals
or institutions that are interested in school curriculum. They also shape the school curriculum implementation.
However, Bjorklund-Young (2016) accentuated that there are numerous unseen factors that might potentially
cause a school to choose a certain curriculum and also to increase student learning outcomes: school quality,
school leadership, kind of teacher, parents’ support, for example.

Curriculum Designing

Every teacher must be inspired with the quotation of David Bayles “For the artisan, craft is an end in
itself. For you, the artist, craft is the vehicle for expressing your vision. Craft is the visible edge of art.” As a
teacher or administrator, we craft or design a curriculum ready for use by the teachers and school
administrators in the delivery of everyone’s academic pursuit. After the crafting, the lesson is conveyed to
the end users for proper implementation. No one can say its perfectness if assessment is not conducted.
Therefore, these three (3) functions are important in the work of a curricularist. To emphasize the importance
of this lesson the following terms are defined:

Crafting - a skill, a design, an occupation or trade requiring (manual) dexterity or artistic skill to gain an
end. When administrators conceive a school curriculum, the types and approaches of curriculum are their
foreground. Government directives, school’s VMG, owners’ thrusts or ideologies, the learners they serve and
more importantly the community that they serve. Once these are crafted the next step is implementation.
Implementing - it is a tool or device used in the performance of a task. It is a means of expression.
This serves as an instrument where goals are carried out. The hero or heroine in carrying out the curriculum
is a teacher. Teachers process the discussion. Teachers strategize methods for the sake of learners’ level of
understanding. Teachers facilitate learning that can develop the students creative and critical minds.
Teachers have made a pledge on their profession that the learners are their first priority.
Evaluating - to determine the significance, worth, or condition or imply a careful appraisal and study. In
the course study ASL, students learned or will learn that evaluation is a springboard to determine the
effectiveness of a school program. In a classroom setting, teachers can make decisions whether re-teaching
is appropriate or not. For administrators, decisions to terminate, revisit or redefine school program is crucial.

With these definitions, we are all ready for a jumpstart on the basis of crafting the curriculum.

According to Hilda Taba (1962) curriculum design is a statement which identifies the elements of a
curriculum, states what their relationships are to each other, and indicates the principles of organization and
requirement of that organization for the administrative conditions under which it is to operate. It clearly defines
the direction of what the school envisions.

In the research paper of Bonus and Hasegawa, they cited the two types of curriculum organization
as discussed by Reyes (2000) that a curriculum designer should ensure that sequence, continuity, and
articulation (vertical integration) while the arrangement of topics, themes, or courses offered at the same
point in time (grade level/semester or trimester). Therefore, a vertical organization refers to the longitudinal
arrangement of content as reflected in the presence of sequence, continuity, and vertical articulation in the
curriculum while the horizontal organization refers to the arrangement of content, skills, and processes from

Source: Teacher as Curriculum Designer

UNIT 2: Dr. Remedio Bacus
the viewpoints of scope and horizontal integration (Reyes, 2000) Horizontal and vertical organizations are
two necessary dimensions of any curriculum design. Vertical, its sequence and continuity, deals with the
longitudinal arrangement of the design components, while in the horizontal, scope and integration, deals with
the side-by-side arrangement of the component in the curriculum design. Therefore, horizontal and vertical
are the widening and deepening of knowledge, respectively.

Curriculum Designs

Common Curriculum Designs

Type Purpose Activity
Critical/ Creative Thinking Construction of new knowledge Model- building
and forms Free Imagination
Problem- Solving Issues Analysis Current event
Skills Application Futurism
Cooperative Learning Social skill development Cooperative activity
Interdisciplinary Shared decision making Group work
Conceptual learning Connecting information Organizing, ordering
Inquiry Approach Understanding awareness Big ideas, familiarity
Skill-Based Instruction Interest Manipulation, patterns Practice, ordering
Content-Based Knowledge Acquisition Facts, representatives
Source: Adapted from Michele Keating, Jon Wiles and Mary Piazza, Learning Web: Curriculum Journal on the Internet (Columbus, Ohio: Merrill Publishing, 2002).

A more useful approach to institutional design is the construction of a curriculum framework on

details the curriculum according to its purpose.

In designing a curriculum, the following structures are recommended:

1. Subject -Centered Design-
This model is different from the others as the curricularist does not focus into the needs and interests
of the learners. Teachers are essentialists; they teach the essentials of the lesson. They are dependent on
the textbooks prepared by experts with content knowledge. This is the most common type of curriculum
model. Educators teaching courses with licensure examination based their skills on the structure of
knowledge. These are the teachers whose core of education is focused with facts, ideas and skills; their
learning activities are planned; and their methods are discussions, explanations, lectures and questions.
Teachers who consider subject-centered model encourage memorization and repetition of informative facts
and ideas.
According to Plate (2012) as cited in the paper of Russell Rodrigo (2017) subject -centered teachers
who possess in-depth knowledge of the subject matter have the greatest potential to engage students and
inspire learning. Because they know the subject matter too well, they are able to demonstrate flexibility in
bringing the topic to the realities of life making learning more meaningful. Similarly, outstanding teachers
make difficult topics taught in a simplified manner that helps students convey the concepts clearly and provide
aids in their difficulties.
In the same paper of Rodrigo, as claimed by Palmer (2010) subject-centered model creates a real,
vivid, and so vocal leading to both teacher and students alike accountable in teaching and learning.
Furthermore, Rowland (2008) pointed out that the relationship between the learner and subject matter well

Source: Teacher as Curriculum Designer

UNIT 2: Dr. Remedio Bacus
as teacher and subject matter can create an intellectual love. This intellectual love encourages participation
and conversation of topics.

Subject-centered curriculum is classified according to:

1.1. Subject design or integrated curriculum
It includes the various subject matter disciplines (science, mathematics, social science, arts, literature)
in common related activities or projects rather than as separate branches of knowledge. This allows the child
to function fully using all domains while pursuing topics of interest and using knowledge and skills acquired
within a meaningful context. This curriculum must be paired with creative curriculum where in teachers must
use a variety of strategies to meet children’s emotional, social, physical, and cognitive and language
developmental needs. Meeting these needs allow teachers to assess children’s needs, interests and abilities
in relation of specific developmental goals and to plan meaningful learning experiences that build children’s
interest and knowledge (Gestwicki, 2011).
1.2 Discipline design - Posner (1992) gave the structure of the discipline curriculum which are characterized
as follows:
- confined to a single discipline within a single subject
- focuses on a small set of fundamental conceptual themes
- requires extensive use of primary source materials or manipulative, e.g. lab
- utilizes written test emphasizing problem solving
- requires a teacher who models inquiry in the discipline rather than acts as a source of
information.
Personal factors are also critical. Teachers typically need a substantial amount of special training both in the
discipline and in the inquiry method of teaching. Students need a high degree of literacy and ability to
manipulate abstract ideas and intrinsic motivation to drive their inquiry. Thus, these curricula are suited for
more academically oriented students and for teachers whose education has prepared them to be members
of a scholarly community.

1.3 Correlation design- correlation design is similar to broad-field design whose focus is on integration. The
difference is that correlation design combines only two subjects while the other combines several subjects.
Therefore, correlation is simpler. Schools or universities who aim to develop the expertise of its graduates
uses this design. This fills the gap within the curriculum of two subjects and students who are able to see the
connections.

1.4 Broad field design or interdisciplinary design- this design avoids classification and integration of
contents. It prevents compartmentalization of subjects and integrates the contents that are related to each
other. Example, Language Arts curriculum combines related subjects such as reading, spelling, speaking
and composition. This is commonly found in elementary and middle grades. The intention of
this design is to achieve a greater integration of learning experiences.

2. Learner- Centered Design

This design focuses on student interests and integration of content from any subject field. The emphasis
of learning in this design is active, dynamic, and interactive process. Learners are encouraged to use
problem-solving skills and methods to set their own tasks. Students are given the freedom to design,
conceptualize, and articulate their thoughts in congruence with the lesson objectives. When this design is

Source: Teacher as Curriculum Designer

UNIT 2: Dr. Remedio Bacus
utilized by the teacher, the learners’ creativity in doing things will emerge. Activities become the major vehicle
for “delivery” of the curriculum.

2.1 Child-centered design- In this design - the heart - has been felt to be the distinctive element primary
education. It has kept the focus on the child with a particular emphasis on how the child learns. Its emphasis
moves increasingly to how teachers teach and how children are taught. Learning is a partnership which
involves a number of different individuals and bodies. Curriculum education brings about change in the
classroom, however, it requires teachers with inside knowledge of the children’s locality, culture, and
environment (Johnston, 2002)
The emergence of elementary education concentrated on the 3R’s (Reading, Riting, wRithmetic) is a
universal educational provision. Later a strong framework of a fourth R, Religion, to ensure schools literacy,
and numeracy were provided with a clear moral code. Traditional philosophers Jean Jacques Rosseau
believed that the child would flourish if provided with appropriate educational setting. (Wyse, etal 2013) They
believe that curriculum must be taught in terms of activity and experience rather than of knowledge to be
acquired and facts to be stored. Lessons must be taught through topics rather than traditional subjects. The
need to respond to children’s individual development must appear in a “personalized learning” concept and
associate with differentiation practices.
The main purpose of school curriculum is to support children and young people’s learning and
development. Pupils themselves should have a direct influence on the nature of the curriculum. Passion for
learning, understand human activity, critical understanding, collaborate with others, encourage choices over
learning and preparation for a “good life” achieves pupil ownership over the curriculum

2.2 Experience-centered design- schools are more aware of the need for the responsiveness to prepare
students for life in a period of continuous social, economic and cultural change. This has accentuated
awareness of the need for more flexible and responsive learning strategies. Ferguson (2008) points to what
is called “the emergent paradigm for learning” which is more concerned with an active learning kindled in the
mind of the individual (Glover, 2002). The old paradigm is concerned with content, rigid learning structures,
rationality and imparting of knowledge. The new paradigm is characterized by learning as a shared journey
of flexibility, intuitive approaches, and concern for wholeness. Ferguson stated, as society changes, the
needs of learners change.

2.3 Humanistic design- Caine and Caine (1997) describe the brain as a complex system that functions by
searching for patterns in experience so that our lives have meaning. If this is accepted then the it is possible
to acquire that learning developmental and can be enhanced through appropriate thinking exercises.
Maslow’s popular hierarchy of needs describe man’s cognition as an ordered sequence of human needs.
When each one is met, the person may move to a higher level of motivation, ultimately reaching the highest
level (self-actualization). This level describes some cognitive elements more explicitly through accurate
perception, creativity and peak experiences. It connotes the full potential of human being.
While Carl Rogers purports the concept, process purposes that higher levels of development of people
become more spontaneous in their discovery and accepting aspects of themselves and their feelings. They
fully functioning person is open to experience, receptive to the subjective and objective happenings of life.
He suggested person-centered approach for education. It has a relationship between teacher and student
and the content of education. It nurtures the personal as well as the professional development of unique
individuals. Traditionally, the teachers decide what should be learned and students are treated as though

Source: Teacher as Curriculum Designer

UNIT 2: Dr. Remedio Bacus
they would do nothing productive if not motivated by external demands and threats. Rogers believed that an
ideal educational system would trust students to develop their own programs of learning, either in cooperative
with other students or alone. (Cloninger, 2008)

3. Problem-Centered Design
It is a learning design that incorporates specific instructional pre-planned activities focused on a relevant
learner problem and allows the flexibility of the situation and the learners in the classroom. This design will
help students relate with social problems, life situations and other current issues encountered the workplace.
It also allows students to develop skills on how to look at a problem and provide possible solutions to the
problem. In our, teacher education program the subject Field Study is a very good example. Many studies
were made about this design and results have enumerated advantages and disadvantages.

3.1 Life situation design- this design uses the past and present experiences of learners as a means to
analyze the basic areas of living. Herbert Spencer’s legacy requires expertise in all fields. Based on his study,
curriculum writing emphasizes on activities that sustain life and enhance life in rearing children, maintain
individual’s social and political relation, and enhance leisure, tasks and feelings. The connection of subject
matter to real life situations increases the relevance of the curriculum. Ideally, teacher must relate his/her
lesson to real life situations.

3.2 Core design- this design is focused on the general education with a common set of knowledge, skills
and abilities based on common human activities of the learners’ needs, problems and concerns outside the
classroom. These student experiences are essential for the learners to function effectively in the society.
However, the selection of content may be difficult as it does not provide essential material and student’s
assessment affect their performance. Since it is focused on general education the teacher must be very
specific on what should be included or excluded, how large should the core be and is the subject or learning
required by them?

Source: Teacher as Curriculum Designer

UNIT 2: Dr. Remedio Bacus