HPGD1103

CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT DR ROSINAH BT MAHMOOD
Objectives of the course:

• Various definitions of curriculum.

• Explain how philosophy, psychology, history and society impact
curriculum.
• Four phases of the curriculum development process: planning,
design, implementation and evaluation related to teaching and
learning.
• Evaluate the issues of curriculum development.
• Apply curriculum concepts, principles, and theories to the teaching
and learning environment.
Learning outcomes:

• Define what is curriculum.

• Compare the various definitions of curriculum proposed by different
schools.
• Explain what is hidden curriculum.
• the three approaches to curriculum.
• Identify the foundations of curriculum.
• Discuss the connection between curriculum and instructions.
• Describe the curriculum development process.
• Argue whether curriculum is a discipline.
What is a curriculum?
Plan
• “a plan for achieving goals” (Tyler, 1949)
• “a plan for learning” (Taba, 1962)
• “a plan for providing sets of learning opportunities for persons to be
educated” (Saylor, 1981)
• “an organized set of formal education and/or training intentions”
(Pratt, 1984)
• “a four-step plan involving purpose, design, implementation and
assessment” (Wiles & Bondi, 2011)
 Learner’s experiences

• “all the experiences children have under the guidance of

teachers” (Dewey, 1938; Caswell & Campbell, 1935)
• “ongoing experiences of children under the guidance of school”
(William & Shepherd, 1971)
• “experiences in the classroom [that are] planned an enacted”
(Marsh & Willis, 2003)

(cited in Ornstein & Hunkins, 2014)

System

• A system for dealing with people.

• It can be linear or nonlinear.
• A linear system plots out the means to a desired end.
• A nonlinear system permits the curriculum specialist to enter at
various point of the model, skip parts, reverse order, and work on
more than one component at a time.

(David, 2003; Ronald, 1996; Peter, 2009)

A field of study

• It is a field of study with its own foundation, knowledge domains,

research, theory, principles land specialist.
• It is more theoretical than practical.

(William, 1999)
Subject matter or content

• Subject matter: Math, Science, English, History, etc.

• Content: the way we organize and assimilate information
• Also refers to grade levels

(Ornstein & Hunskins, 2014)

Curriculum vs a programme?

Curriculum is an educational program with four basic elements which

include (Oliver, 1977):
a) The program of studies
b) The program of experiences
c) The program of services
d) The hidden curriculum

Curriculum encompasses (Gagne, 1967):

a) Subject matter (content)
b) Statement of ends (end objectives)
c) The sequencing of content
d) Pre-assessment of entry skills
Curriculum

Curriculum is all of the experiences that individual learners

have in a program of education whose purpose is to achieve
broad goals and related specific objectives, which is planned in
terms of a framework of theory and research or past and
present professional practice (Hass, 1977)

Curriculum is all the learning which is planned and guided by

the school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually,
inside or outside the school (Kerr, 2007)
UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education considers three
interrelated dimensions of the curriculum:
• The intended or official curriculum that specify what students are
expected to learn and should be able to do;
• The implemented curriculum that is actually taught in the classroom,
including how it is delivered and who teaches it; and
• The attained curriculum that represents what students have actually
learned.

Challenges? - Ensuring coherence and congruence between curriculum

policy documents, actual pedagogical process and learning outcomes.
Types of curriculum
Hidden curriculum:
oIt refers to outcomes of
education which are not
explicitly stated.
oIt can be found in any activities,
programmes, rules (rituals,
protocols, regulations,
assemblies, arrangement for co-
curricular activities etc.) of a
school have positive impact on
learning in terms of:
• Inculcating positive values and
attitudes
• Love for school, nations
• Respect for teachers, elders
• Sense of justice, right and wrong
• Autonomy, democracy
• inculcating good social behavior
• Cleanliness, tidiness, punctuality,
obedience, discipline
Other names for hidden curriculum
• Unstudied curriculum • Tacit knowledge
• Implicit curriculum • Informal
• Invisible curriculum
• Unwritten curriculum
• Covert curriculum
• Latent curriculum
• Silent curriculum
• The by-products of schooling
• What schooling does to people
Different lenses on the curriculum
The Ministry enlisted the help of UNESCO and
UKM to assess different aspects of curriculum
development and implementation.
The Malaysian curriculum was analysed from 3
dimensions (Exhibit 4-1):
1. What is written in the curricula (Written
Curriculum):
The knowledge, skills, and values that
form the content, outlining what is to
be taught by teachers.
2. What is taught in the classroom or the
(Taught Curriculum):
The knowledge acquired, skills
developed, and values inculcated in
students.
3. What is examined (Examined
Curriculum):
• Students’ knowledge, skills, and values that
are tested, either in summative national
eaminations such as the UPSR, PMR, and
SPM, or through formative and/or summative
PBS that guide teaching
(Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2012, p. 103)
3 dimensions of curriculum
• The Written Curriculum should articulate a
holistic education of international standard.
Both the Taught and Examined Curricula
should be closely aligned with the Written
Curriculum. In other words, the curriculum
that is taught in the class and examined at the
national level should match the intent of the
written curriculum.
• The curricula currently in place are the KBSR
and KBSM. In 2011, the MoE started rolling
out the new KSSR in stages, starting from Year
1. By 2016, the KSSR will be in place for all
primary school years. A comparable standard-
based reform of the KSSM will be ready to
rollout to Form 1 students in 2017. A revised
version of the KSSR will also be rolled out in
2017.
(Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2012, p.103)
Relationship between curriculum, syllabus, course and
programme
Curriculum can be defined, as an educational program which states:
a) “The educational purpose of the programme (the ends)
b) The content teaching procedures and learning experience is
necessary to achieve this purpose (the means)
c) Some means for assessing whether or not the educational ends have
been achieved.”
(Richards, Platt & Platt, 1993)
Difference between curriculum and syllabus
Curriculum
A set of subjects of courses including their
content which are being offered by the
school, college or university to the students in
different programmes.
an aggregate of all the courses which are to
be studied by the students in a particular
programme.
Syllabus
A description outline and synopsis of topics in
a course which are meant to be covered
during an educational prgramme in a school,
college, university or any other institution.
a brief statement or an outline of the main
topics of a course which the lecturer or
instructor will cover during all his lectures.
Relationship between curriculum, syllabus, course and
programme

• A course is “an integrated series if teaching-learning experiences,

whose ultimate aim is to lead the learners to a particular state of
knowledge (Hutchinson & Waters, 1996)
• A programme consists of different degree or diploma courses
available in various streams of study such as engineering, law,
medicine and MBA etc.
Specific Models of Curriculum

• Ralph W. Tyler Model -1949

• Hilda Taba Model - 1962
• Nicholls Model - 1978
• Lawton Model - 1983
• John Kerr Model - 1968
• UNESCO Model - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization.
• NCTB Model - National Curriculum Textbook Board
Basic elements of curriculum

(Adapted from Tyler, 1949)

Activity: Questions for you as teachers
Do you see yourself as … a curriculum delivery OR … a professional designer of learning?
technician …
Curriculum approaches
 What do we mean by effective
learning?
Your own experience of learning?
Highly
Ineffective effective

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Unengaging; Inspiring;
teacher-led; teacher / group /
monotonous; paired / student-led;
unquestioned varied; debatable
facts; What part does interpretations;
task-oriented; learning-oriented;
unmemorable; an outstanding very memorable;
summative formative
assessment; alien curriculum play? assessment; relevant
/ unconnected / personalised