Republic of the Philippines

DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY

MID-LA UNION CAMPUS
COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
City of San Fernando 2500, La Union
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Designing change!------------------

NAME: CRISTETA L. RAMOLETE

SUBJECT: Philo 306
TOPIC: Curriculum Theory and Practice
DATE: February 8, 2023 
PROFESSOR: DR. MA. TERASA ACANTILADO

Curriculum Theory
and Practice
CURRICULUM AS BODY OF KNOWLEDGE TO BE TRANSMITTED
Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted is outlining what needs to
be transmitted to be able to begin learning. The relative importance of each topic is
indicated by this model, which may or may not be taught in a particular order. It's critical
for students to comprehend what will work best for them and how to inform others so
that they can plan.
The body of knowledge that will be taught to students using the right teaching
techniques will be the main focus. The likelihood of teaching will be restricted to learning
the relevant facts, concepts, and principles, but the content can also be viewed as a
means to an end.

BASIC Principles of Curriculum Content (Palma, 1952)

Balance – Content should be fairly distributed in depth and in breadth.
Articulation –
As the content complexities progresses with the education
levels, bridging should be provided.
Sequencing - The logical arrangement of the content refers to the
sequence
or order.
Integration - Content in the curriculum does not stand alone or in
isolation.
It has relatedness to other contents.
Continuity - Curriculum should continuously flow as it was before, to
where
it is now, and where it will be in the future.
 Republic of the Philippines
DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY
MID-LA UNION CAMPUS
COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
City of San Fernando 2500, La Union
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Designing change!------------------

Ways of Presenting the Content in the Curriculum:

Topical Approach – much content is based on knowledge, and
experiences are included.
Concept Approach – fewer topics in clusters among major and sub-
concepts and their interaction, with relatedness emphasized.
Thematic Approach – combination of concepts that develop conceptual
structures.
Modular Approach – leads to complete units of instruction

Criteria in Selection of Content (Scheffer, 1970 in Bilbao, et al 2009)

Significance
Content should contribute to the ideas, concepts, principles and
generalization that should attain the overall purpose of the curriculum.
Content becomes the means of developing cognitive, affective or
psychomotor skills of the learners.
Validity
Authenticity of the subject matter forms its validity. There is a need
for validity check and verification at a regular interval because content
may not continue to be valid.
Utility
Usefulness of the content in the curriculum is relative to the
learners who are going to use this. Can be relative to time - Useful in the
past, may not be useful now or in the future.
Learnability
The complexity of the content must be within the range of the
learners.
Feasibility
Can the subject be learned within the time allotted, resources
available, expertise of the teachers and the nature of the learners.
Are the contents of learning can be learned beyond the formal
teaching-learning engagement?
Are there opportunities to learn this?
Interest
Interest is one of the driving force of the students to learn.
Will the learners take interest in the content? What value will the
contents have in present and future life of the learners?

Guide in the selection of the Content in the Curriculum

Content is commonly used in the daily life.
Content is appropriate to the maturity levels and abilities of the learners.
Content is valuable in meeting the needs and competencies of the future
 Republic of the Philippines
DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY
MID-LA UNION CAMPUS
COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
City of San Fernando 2500, La Union
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Designing change!------------------

career.
Content is related to other subject fields or discipline for complementation
and integration.
Content is important in the transfer of learning in other disciplines.

CURRICULUM AS PRODUCT
Today's prevalent descriptions and management techniques for education are
couched in the productive form. Most frequently, education is viewed as a technical
endeavor. Goals are established, a plan is created, implemented, and the results
(products) are assessed.

The creation of behavioral objectives that are stated as intended learning

outcomes is at the heart of the strategy. The person who has meaningful experiences in
the curriculum exhibits these learned or achieved learning outcomes. The true goal of
education is to fundamentally alter students' behavior patterns. The curriculum's output
takes the form of what are referred to as the learned outcomes.

As a finished product, the curriculum should consist of a number of defining

documents that outline the skills that each student should possess upon entering and
leaving the course. They should also outline the related topics that students will
experience during the course as well as the desired results or outcomes. This product
should also include the structure's requirements, such as the amount of time spent
working, studying, and conducting research, as well as the books, materials, services
that are available, etc.

Making assessments of curriculum effectiveness is part of the process of viewing

curriculum as a product. When the lesson or course is over and we get the results. A
teacher determines that the curriculum's success is based on this outcome. Experts
created the curriculum to accomplish the set of goals. Therefore, a teacher continues to
assess their students to ensure that they are on the right track even after the course has
ended or is due. The output that we get from assessing their students is referred to as
the product. In order to assess how well the curriculum is performing, information must
be gathered, and judgments or decisions must be made based on that information.

We can see how these concerns translate into a nicely-ordered procedure: one
that is very similar to the technical or productive thinking set out below.

Step 1: Diagnosis of need

Step 2: Formulation of objectives
 Republic of the Philippines
DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY
MID-LA UNION CAMPUS
COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
City of San Fernando 2500, La Union
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Designing change!------------------

Step 3: Selection of content

Step 4: Organization of content
Step 5: Selection of learning experiences
Step 6: Organization of learning experiences
Step 7: Determination of what to evaluate and of the ways and means of doing it.
(Taba 1962)
The attraction of this way of approaching curriculum theory and practice is that it
is systematic and has considerable organizing power. Central to the approach is the
formulation of behavioural objectives – providing a clear notion of outcome so that
content and method may be organized, and the results evaluated.

There are a number of issues with this approach to curriculum theory and
practice. The first is that the plan or programmed assumes great importance. Second,
there are questions around the nature of objectives. Third, there is a real problem when
we come to examine what educators actually do in the classroom. Fourth, there is the
problem of unanticipated results.

CURRICULLUM AS PROCESS
Curriculum as process heavily dependent on the natural setting of behaviour
objectives through the interaction of teachers and students. This refers to the
curriculum, what actually occurs in the classroom, and planning and preparation for
teachers. This benefits teachers, parents, and the community by encouraging students
to behave better both inside and outside of the classroom. It is essential for everyone to
understand and put good behavior skills into practice.
The process of curriculum is about behavior. Both inside and outside of the
classroom, behavior is crucial. Students are likely to behave similarly if the teacher is
animated. Knowing your students and learning about their personal situations is
important because it can help teachers better understand their behavior. Teachers have
consistently set a positive example for students by participating in extracurricular
activities.
Curriculum as a process is seen as a scheme about the practice of teaching. The
process of teaching and learning becomes the central concern of teacher to emphasize
critical thinking, thinking meaning-making and heads-on, hands-on doing and many
other.
The Pedagogical Content Knowledge, or PCK, is the point where process and
content meet. If you have this content, how will you teach it? will be answered. The
procedure is crucial to teachers. The terms "instruction," "implementation," and
"teaching" all refer to curriculum processes.
Curriculum connects to the content as a process. While the content supplies the
teaching resources, the process offers lesson plans on how to deliver the content.
When completed, the process will give the students a variety of curriculum experiences.
 Republic of the Philippines
DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY
MID-LA UNION CAMPUS
COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
City of San Fernando 2500, La Union
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Designing change!------------------

Guiding Principles:

Curriculum process in the form of teaching methods or strategies are

means to to achieve the end.
There is no single best process in method.
Curriculum should stimulate the learners’ desire to develop the cognitive,
affective, psychomotor, domain in each individual.
In the choice of methods, learning and teaching styles should be
considered.
Every method or process should result to learning outcomes which can be
described as cognitive, affective and psychomotor.
Flexibility in the use of the process or methods should be considered.
Both teaching and learning are the two important processes in the
implementation of the curriculum.

CURRICULUM AS PRAXIS

Curriculum as praxis is a set of plans to be activated, through planning, acting

and evaluating. This plays an important role by allowing students following the
instructions and shows their attention and understanding their work and allows students
to ask questions.
Curriculum as praxis (Grundy, 1987) is a conceptualization of curriculum derived
from an orientation towards human well-being and which makes an explicit commitment
to emancipation of the human spirit. Hence, it moves the teaching and learning process
to critical pedagogy as Grundy describes—“a process which takes the experiences of
both the learner and the teacher and, through dialogue and negotiation, recognizes
them both as problematic” (p. 103). Grundy notes that critical pedagogy “places control
of knowledge (that is, both the production and application of knowledge) with the
learning group rather than elsewhere” (p. 104). Students and teachers are encouraged
to confront real problems together. They are encouraged to think and reflect critically
and develop these skills further. In working together, they develop an understanding of
their respective pedagogical roles and what others expect of them in the learning
process. As a learning group, they need to work out an action proposal for essential
“content” and for outcomes of the educational encounter. The learning process and
outcomes are continually evaluated based on the dynamic interaction of the learning
group. Hence, the curriculum itself develops with the learning process. As Grundy puts
it, “the curriculum is not simply a set of plans to be implemented, but rather is
constituted through an active process in which planning, acting and evaluating are all
reciprocally related and integrated into the process”. As such, praxis takes place in the
 Republic of the Philippines
DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY
MID-LA UNION CAMPUS
COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
City of San Fernando 2500, La Union
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Designing change!------------------

real world and at the center of praxis is informed and committed action. The key
concern here is for students to make sense of the concepts and theories as well as find
meaning and connection to real world applications of knowledge in their learning
journey.
Teachers are needed to aid in nurturing the habits and consciousness necessary
to create a society where everyone feels valued and respected regardless of cultural
context. For this to happen, however, teachers need to be properly prepared.
CURRICULUM IN CONTEXT
Conceptual Integration
Curriculum construction is an on going social activity shaped by various
contextual influences within and beyond the classroom and accomplished interactively,
primarily by teachers and students. The actual, daily interactions of students, teachers,
knowledge, and milieu constitute curriculum rather than a tangible product. The
curriculum in use is what other people have referred to as the curriculum. The
conventional view sees curriculum as a product or object as one aspect of the context
that influences curriculum in use. This modified native conception changes the focus
from plan to practice and from intention to realization. The emphasis is on the actual
knowledge and educational opportunities provided to students, their creation, and the
values they uphold. Critical philosophical, social, and political issues regarding what is
taught, how it is taught, and to whom are explicitly recognized when curriculum is
viewed as a contextualized social process. This perspective does more than simply
praise practice.
Subject matter and social organization, as a contextualized social process, were
included in the curriculum. A setting for academic activities that can either expand or
limit students' learning opportunities is provided by social organization, which includes
teacher and student roles (and their rights and obligations) and patterns of interaction.
Activities like recitation, for instance, highlight the superior and inferior positions that
teachers and students hold in the classroom as well as the often-limited communication
styles present. The recitation structure limits the learning opportunities by discouraging
students from exploring concepts, posing inquiries, or sharing firsthand experiences.
Academic and social activities also convey normative messages, such as what it means
to be knowledgeable, in charge, responsible, hardworking, and successful.
Structural and Sociocultural Contextualization
 Republic of the Philippines
DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY
MID-LA UNION CAMPUS
COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
City of San Fernando 2500, La Union
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Designing change!------------------

The alternative conception of curriculum and its construction that was just
presented are contextualized by their very nature. Curriculum is situated in and shaped
by context, so altering a curriculum also involves altering its context. The specifics of
pertinent contextual settings and influences still need to be described. I proceed with
caution because I am aware that context is widely acknowledged but largely unexplored
territory, similar to the "new world" depicted on European maps from the fifteenth
century. Context is difficult to define and link empirically to a specific curriculum due to
its complexity and elusiveness. Therefore, what follows is only a rough draft; these
outlines still need to be developed theoretically and empirically.
Part of the effort to manage context is to distinguish between sociocultural and
societal contexts and structural or systematic contexts. Additionally, the distinction
draws attention to the curriculum's educational system context, which is something we
frequently ignore in discussions of curriculum and assume to be true in actual
curriculum implementation. For instance, critical theoretical work frequently treats
curriculum in relation to more general sociocultural dynamics, like those involving
gender and the economy, while ignoring its more immediate context, effectively skipping
over the intervening structural context of curriculums. Education systems are more than
just mirrors that replicate larger societal patterns. The structural context is crucial
because it creates curriculum experience while also mediating extrasystemic socio-
cultural influences.
Another feature of the relevant curriculum context is its variability or fluidity. It
varied over time and with the curriculum of interest and the local situation within the
national milieu. Variability can be seen in the presence of particular context factors, their
relative strength or intensity and their inter-action (e.g., aggregation, conflict).
Therefore, the relevant structural and sociocultural contexts of curriculum are
multifaceted and fluid. While nested one whith another, they also overlap and interact.
So no generic curriculum context, no fixed set of parameter or invariant grid, exists that
can be imposed on any curriculum. Instead, potential aspects of curriculum context can
be identified and their relevance to a particular curriculum can be illustrated.
Sociocultural Context
The extrasystemic demographic, social, political, and economic conditions, as
well as customs and ideologies, and occasions that have an impact on curriculum and
curriculum change, make up the pertinent sociocultural context of curriculum. Direct or
indirect influence is possible, and indirect influence may use the educational system as
a middleman.
 Republic of the Philippines
DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY
MID-LA UNION CAMPUS
COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
City of San Fernando 2500, La Union
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Designing change!------------------

Frequently, the sociocultural context serves as the catalyst for curriculum change
(e.g., computer literacy). At times, educational systems appear to be less responsive to
participant needs than to sociocultural expectations and demands (e.g., students,
teachers).
References:
Grundy, S. (1987). Curriculum: Product or praxis?. London: The Falmer Press.
Carmel’s Education Journey: Curriculum Theory and Practice Reading Response,
September 13, 2019

John Arist Curay, Three Ways of Approaching Curriculum

Junila Tejada, Approaches to School Curriculum

Student at University of Mindanao, Curriculum-Product or Process, September 2007

Target B.Ed, Curriculum as a Product – Knowledge and Curriculum
http://infed.org/mobi/curriculum-theory-and-practice