The concept

“curriculum”
References:
Barrow, R. and Woods,R. (2006) An introduction to philosophy of education, 4th Edition. Taylor & Francis e-
Library
Noddings, N. (2018). Philosophy of education 4th edition. New York, NY; Routledge
Park, J. (1974). Selected readings in the philosophy of education. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc.
Scofield, H. (1977). The philosophy of education: an introduction. Norfolk, Great Britain: George Allen & Unwin
Ltd.
Curriculum implies…

Content
Aims
Training
Worthwhileness
Culture
Curriculum is “content”
Variously defined as
“subjects”,
“projects”,
“areas of study
 Specific curricula

Imply specific content, specific bodies of

knowledge

Larger concept curriculum implies the

general fundamental principles which
underly all the specific curricula and help to
determine their content, and each specific
curriculum can be said to have its own
philosophy
Curriculum is a concept closely connected with
knowledge and values
and with their transmission

Specific curricula may be said to be

the interpretation by different individuals or by
different bodies of
what is worthwhile and
what must, therefore be passed on from one
generation to the next
 Criteria for curriculum—three broad
headings (James)

1. That an area of study may

contain information which is essential
to the business of living
2. That an area of study may
inculcate valuable skills
3. That an area of study may
contribute to the spiritual
development of the individual
 The word “spiritual”
• Is one of the vaguest terms in
education
• It has a religious as well as a
philosophical connotation
• and connected with the difficult
concept of “soul”
The word “spiritual” may be used
to refer to such emotional aspects
as aesthetic appreciation

---the areas of art and music

Spiritual values are often said to

come from the humanities, or from
literature and the arts
 JAMES’S CURRICULUM CRITERIA,

O’CONNOR’S AIMS OF EDUCATION,

AND PETERS’ THREE CRITERIA

COMPARED
James: That an area of study may convey information which is essential to the
business of livinghat

O’connor (Aim 1): To provide men and women with a minimum of the
skills necessary for them to take their place in society and to seek further knowledge

Peters: That education must involve knowledge and understanding and some kind
of cognitive perspective, which are not inert
James: That an area of study may inculcate valuable skills

O’connor: To provide men and women with a vocational training that will
enable them to be self-supporting

Peters: (No direct equivalent from the three criteria)

James: That an area of study may contribute to the spiritual development
of the individual

O’connor: To put men and women in touch with culture and train
them to appreciate the cultural and moral achievements of (hu)mankind

Peters: That education implies the transmission of what is worthwhile to

those who become committed to it
 James says that ideally
whatever makes up the
content of the curriculum
ought to match up to all
three criteria:
1. information which is essential
to the business of living

2. may inculcate valuable skills

3. contribute to the spiritual

development of the individual
James concludes that the subject most likely
to satisfy all three criteria at the present time
is the mother tongue

The mother tongue is a “tool subject” or

what should be called one of the three R’s

It conveys information necessary for the

business of living, because all information is
conveyed to the natives of any country
through the mother tongue
 Consequently, immigrant groups are
underprivileged, or culturally deprived since
they receive their information through a
language which is foreign to them

The mother tongue measures up to James’

third criterion (spiritual development),
because it helps through literature to cater
for the highest intellectual, moral, and
aesthetic capacities of a person
 Curriculum content and method

There is a connection within specific

curricula between content and
method, between what is taught and
how it is taught
• People from time to time seek new
methods of teaching
• There is a belief that by altering the
method of teaching all wrong things
will be eliminated, but that’s not
always the case.
• There is a very real danger that there
will be such concentration on
method that content is ignored
• To consider one without the other
makes no sense
 Curriculum and culture

James: “The primary question to ask

is this:
for an individual of a given age and
intelligence, what is the equipment of
knowledge and the attributes of mind
and character that we believe should be
possessed?”
 It suggests that in deciding that
curriculum,
the individual is considered because he or
she possesses a certain level of
intelligence
and has certain needs within
that the curriculum must fulfill.

On the other hand, the individual cannot

alone be the criterion which determines
the content of the curriculum
 The person leaves the school,
he or she has to become a member of
society
which will make demands of him or her
according to his or age and ability

The curriculum therefore must ensure

that the person is equipped to meet
societal demands
 The curriculum, while making adaptations
to meet contemporary demands, has also to
provide an anchor holding to the past

If there is no such anchor, changes in the

curriculum will become purely arbitrary

By attempting to meet every demand made

by progress and change, there is a chance
that none of these demands may be met
Within education there are many
problems, but only few easy and
obvious ready-made solutions

It is necessary to clarify every

problem and to ask what exactly
is being attempted to solve
• When debates about curriculum
reform occur, there are so many
vested interests involved that the
problem is often observed

• According to Wiseman, “in spite

of our professed desires for
change, education is largely
conservative”
• It is easy to criticize the content of
the curriculum at any stage of the
educational system
• Everybody has the right to make
demands of education, but it is not
always easy to convince people either
that theirs is not the only demand
being made and that, if their demand
is met, something must be excluded
to accommodate it
• The greater the number of demands
made on the curriculum, the more
difficult it becomes to decide what it
ought to transmit and achieve
ACADEMIC VERSUS PRACTICAL CURRICULUM:
THE PROBLEM OF EXCELLENCE AND CURRICULUM
 Many of the areas of
knowledge which is taught in
the secondary school are not
directly applicable to a
situation
 James argues that the so-called
theoretical or academic areas in the
curriculum are not less useful than the
applied areas

He argues that the larger issues of life

are those for which preparation comes
through the academic and the
theoretical

The academic and theoretical, rather

than the obviously practical and useful,
are the areas which give cognitive
perspective
One of the fallacies
of the so-called
egalitarian
argument is the
assumption that if
a common
curriculum is
established, equality
is achieved
 What does this argument mean?

It may mean that by subjecting all

children to the same subjects of
study, some children are prevented
from excelling academically

The psychological concept of

individual differences tells us that
certain people have greater ability
than others
Wiseman makes it very clear that one
of the reasons why curriculum causes
so much difficulty is that
education must go on.

Education must continue while

curriculum reforms are being
considered
 Wiseman further says that
the curriculum can be
sensibly reappraised only
in the light of the changing
aims of education
 Curriculum no longer a sacred
inheritance

Monroe: any consideration of

curriculum must begin from the
present
“The curriculum is a
compromise between tradition
and current needs”
The present curriculum must offer
the child, the present life in its
idealized form

The curriculum must confront the

child with present social activities,
present ethical aspirations, and
present appreciation of the
culture of the past
What subjects must go in the
curriculum?

When the curriculum was

established by authority, the
items were clearly and rigidly
prescribed, and it is against this
rigid prescription that the
present age protests
 In the present day, there is
probably more freedom than
ever before to determine the
curriculum,
and for this reason there is less
unanimity about the content
 Newsom approach
- there is a need to stress basic skills in
every part of the curriculum

- cognitive perspective will come only

with much more effort

- a greater need for direct teaching to

bring about desired development in
the case of the less than average child

- Advocates a non-academic
curriculum
The bright child may be able
to take part in a learned
discussion on
morals and morality

He or she may gain the

knowledge necessary for such
discussion from life itself, and
from English, Latin, and
French literature
Newsom suggests that religious
teaching should begin with the
personal and social problems
experienced by the individual

Gradually, the teacher can work

outwards from some present
problem to the more general
principles of religion
 Musgrove:

In the last resort, the

curriculum must be judged
by its end-products
 Owen:

Stressed the
interrelatedness of
content and people
 Newstrom:

“ A universal, fixed, curriculum ought to be ruled

out, if only because of the wide range of
capacities and of tastes among the pupils with
whom we are concerned”
 “Just as there appears to be no easy
solution to the legal problem, so there
appears to be no instant solution to
the problem of the curriculum.” –
Scofield, 1977