Considerations in Designing

A Curriculum

PERSONNEL
& MATERIAL
SELECTION
Aimi, Yanlin, Hadi, Nina
Personnel • Curriculum planners
• Teacher
• Technical staff
• Administrative staff
 POLICY • Pay more attention to teachers
• Change the perception that curriculum
MAKERS implementation does not translate

/CURRICU directly into classroom reality.

• Identify, analyse and address any
LUM differences between teachers opinion and

PLANNER
ideas offered for curriculum innovation
• Analyse more on the culture of the school
by both experts and educators externally
and internally – understand the traditions,
roles and responsibilities of individual in
the school system
Teachers • Active participants in classroom –
responsible for introducing
curriculum in the classroom
• Work directly with students –
teachers know students best
– Provide insight into types of
materials, activities & specific skills
– Identify skills students need at each
level – to prepare students to
advance to the next grade level
Teachers • Argue whether an activity will fit into a
specified time frame and engage
students
• Be allowed to provide input during
creation stage – providing them the
ownership in the product – feel more
confident about the curriculum
• Be more flexible – make minor
changes, add personalized
components
• Implement reflection of the curriculum
– to find weaknesses
Technical • Technical staff in the school are the
librarians, the science and ICT
Staff technicians, the sports technicians, the
food technicians, guards and other
important roles in the school
compound.
• Also known as the school helpers as
they have their own important scope of
work in the school.
• Are as important as teachers in taking
care of the students’ welfare in the
school.
Technical • Work indirectly with the students – ensures
the students’ safety and comfort.
Staff – Ensures clean school compound
– Provide healthy food
– Takes care of the traffic
– Checks on the laboratory and PE equipment
– Vendors of stationeries in the school
compound
– Makes sure the ICT equipment are in good
condition
 • The role of administration is to serve

Administra the process in which a curriculum is

developed and implemented.
tive staff • Provide effective communication
procedures and channels.
- Guides should be developed as
communication channels for the
teachers, students and administration
bodies.
- These guides are revised, updated and
improved annually to keep up with
new developments in the institute, or
to better administration procedures.
Material • 6 important factors
selection – Learners itself
– Curriculum and the context
– Resources and facilities
– Personal confidence and
competence
– Copyright compliance
– Time
Learners • Knows your learners well
• Begin with a need analysis – to
reveal learning needs & individual
students’ learning preferences
• Important to consider students
experiences – their life and
educational background – first
language, level of literacy, their
interest, individual differences
Curriculum • Teachers are responsible to ensure
goals and objectives are at the top of
and context the list when designing materials
• For example, a primary-level
mainstream, English-speaking setting,
with a set curriculum and access to
native speakers may require materials
that facilitate interaction about subject
content, and develop cognitive
academic language proficiency.
Curriculum • However, adults may need teaching
materials that focus on meeting
and context immediate survival needs and gaining
employment.
• Books, journals and multimedia
resources
- List of core textbooks for each part of
the subject and other resources
including reference text.
- The library will be the main support
structure for these resources but may
also be delivered through Internet.
Resources • Be realistic within the limitations of
available resources and facilities.
and • Ensure fully functioning resources –
facilities computers (with or without Internet), a
video player, TV, radio, cassette, etc.
• Teaching rooms, office space, social
and study space
• Finances –will require adequate
funding to sustain its activities.
 Personal • This will determine an individual
teacher’s willingness to embark on
confidence materials development.
and • Rather than creating materials from
competence scratch, teachers can;
– Add activities to those already suggested
– Leave out activities that do no meet your
learners’ needs
– Replace or adapt materials
– Change the way you conduct the activities
– make it a pair, group, or small groups
 Copyright • Be aware of the restrictions of copyright laws
when copying
compliance authentic/published/downloadable materials
from the Internet
• Example; creating a worksheet that uses a
picture or exercise from a commercial text,
alongside teacher-created activities.
• While an idea cannot be copyright, the
expression of the idea can be and
teachers need to be mindful of this
Time • Manage time to design materials
effectively
– Share materials with other teachers
– Work in teams to take turns to
design and produce materials
– Organise central storage so
materials are available to everyone