STAGES OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

KIE follows are the nine stages of curriculum development. These stages
are similar to the stages of Oluoch (1980). They are as follows;
1. Needs assessment
It involves gathering information and doing a situation analysis of the
existing curriculum in order to decide whether there is a need to change
the curriculum or not.
Information is collected from the following parties;
a) Education stakeholders e.g. K.N.E.C, T.S.C, QASO
b) Religious organisations
c) Learners
d) Community
e) Industry
f) Teachers
2. Policy formulation
A policy is drafted based on the gathered information i.e. if there is need
to review or change the curriculum.
This stage involves the following areas;
 Clear statement of the problems identified during the needs
assessment which the new curriculum hopes to address.
 Statement of;
General objectives of education
Objectives to be achieved in different levels of education
system e.g. preschool, primary, secondary.
 Identification of skill areas i.e. subjects to be done in all education
levels
 Developing a work plan. This is a time table to show activities to
carry out at different times during curriculum development
process.
 Staff requirement. This involves the number and the type of staff
required for carrying out the curriculum development process and
why these are required.
 Budget.
 Facilities and materials.
 3. Curriculum design/Planning
This stage involves;
 Identification of the content, skills and topic objectives to be
covered in every subject area at every educational level.
 Development of the scope and sequence charts showing what will
be covered in every subject area and how the content will be
sequenced from one class or grade to another and also from one
level of education to another.
 Holding writing workshops to compile systematically the content,
skills, objectives, scope and sequence charts.
 Holding subject panels to scrutinize the content, skills, objectives,
scope and sequence charts for different subjects in different levels.
4. Syllabus Development
This involves the development of syllabi in all agreed subject areas.
During this stage the following activities take place;
 Writing workshops for subject specialists in different subjects in
different levels to outline objectives, the content, skills, attitudes,
materials for different classes in every educational level.
 Holding subject panel meeting, to scrutinize the syllabuses in every
class in different levels. The subject panels will either approve the
syllabuses or recommend corrections.
 Holding course panel meetings. Once the materials are approved
by the subject panels, they are taken to the course panel for further
scrutiny.
 Academic board. Once the syllabuses have been approved by the
course panels, they are forwarded to the final stage of scrutiny
which is the KICD Academic Board Meeting.
 Printing and Production of Syllabuses. Once the syllabuses are
approved by the KICD Academic Board, they are forwarded to the
publishers for printing. The government has two publishing houses
who print the syllabuses and these are Jomo Kenyatta Foundation
(JKF) and Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB).
5. Development of curriculum support materials
This involves;
  Production of non-print materials like radio programs
 Vetting of books. Once the syllabuses are printed, various
publishers takes them and write text books for teachers and pupils.
They forward the books to a vetting committee constituted by the
Ministry of Education.
 Procurement and distribution of materials to schools-after the
vetting committee approves the books, the publishers whose books
are selected produce enough books for use in schools. The schools
organize to buy the text books from the publishers with advice
from the QASOs.

6. Teacher’s preparation/Preparation of curriculum
implementers
This involves two stages;
 Developing of training syllabuses/manuals for use in all teacher
training institutions. The syllabus developed is used by the college
tutors to train the pre-service teacher trainees on the new
curriculum.
 In-servicing of all serving teachers and education field officers.
The subject specialists in KIE together with the officers from the
Directorate of Quality Assurance organize in service courses for all
field based QASOs, AEOs, TAC tutors, teachers and teacher
trainers.
7. Piloting/phasing in/Try out
Before the new curriculum is implemented in all schools, the new
curriculum materials and equipment are introduced in a few selected
schools to be put in a trial or to be piloted. This provides opportunities
for the curriculum developers to find out;
 The major strengths of the new curriculum
 The major weaknesses and gaps in the new curriculum
The curriculum is hence strengthened because the major errors identified
are corrected and gaps filled.
 8. National implementation
The national implementation means that the new curriculum is taken to
all schools in the country. The new curriculum is used in classrooms
with the learners. The following are the main activities carried out in
order to ensure the implementation process is a success.
 Persuading people, especially policy makers, teachers, parents and
professionals to accept the new curriculum.
 Awareness creation about the new curriculum through print media,
radios, personal contacts, seminars and workshops.
 Posting the required personnel in their respective stations in order
to carry out the process.
 Ensuring that the required materials are available in all educational
institutions. These include for example syllabuses, textbooks,
equipment and facilities.
 Putting in place appropriate assessment and monitoring procedures
such as continuous monitoring of the implementation process
through supervision by QASOs, testing of learners by teachers.
 Providing the continuous support to the schools and other
education institutions, the teachers and field education officers and
QASOs.
9. Curriculum evaluation
Evaluation is done by putting in place appropriate evaluation system and
procedures. The curriculum implemented in schools and other
institutions is evaluated through;
 Tests and examinations given by teachers and teacher trainers in
their institutions to assess the achievement of the learners.
 Examinations given by the Kenya National Examinations Council.
 Project evaluations organized by KICD to collect systematic data
on the new curriculum, to find out the achievements, successes,
weaknesses and challenges of the new curriculum.
The results of the evaluation are used to correct errors and strengthen the
new curriculum.
Social mobilization