Goals and

Objective
The Pros and cons
of curriculum
Objectives
Curriculum
 began as a Latin word which means “a
race”or a “the course of a race”(which in
turns derives from the verb currere meaning
“to run/to proceed”
 broadly defined as the totality of student
experiences that occur in the educational
process.The term often refers specifically to
a planned sequence of instruction, or to a
view of the student's experiences in terms of
the educator's or school's instructional goals.
Curriculum Objectives
• statements about students outcomes

• should be measurable with an assessment tool

• can be worded in broad statements but should

indicate what kind of specific behaviors are to
be attained
• utilize verbs from taxonomies of learning
• utilize objects from subject matter
Importance of curriculum objectives:
1.Define the direction of educational development.
2.Determine the number of levels for the program.
3.Inform the students of the standards and
expectations of the course.
4.Help select content and desirable learning
experience.
5. Form one of the major bases for evaluation and
provide the framework for clinical evaluation tool.
6.Serve as an implicit contract between teacher and
students,setting up a basis for accountability.
7.Drive the curriculum planning.
8.Demonstrate progression.
Pros of standard and National Curriculum
 Need to know what needs to be taught
 Practical-provides a framework from which teachers
can work
 Agreement on broad common principles
 Provides for equality of educational opportunity
assess to knowledge for all students
 goal is to ensure vocational and economic success for
individual and nation
 teacher as a facilitator
 curicculum objectives focus on basic skills
 teach to the test
 focuses on observable behaviors,artifacts and
objective results
 easy to assess
 Cons
 Student achievement based solely on external test
 focus on product instead of process( lack of
critical,problem solving)
 focus on social needs as compared to individual
 focus on goals and objective without critical conversation
as to relevant authentic purpose
 Less professional freedom and judgment-teacher
autonomy,teacher as a technocrat
 enforced by non-educators
Advantages of curriculum objectives (Malcolm
Skilbeck)
1.One way in which we can begin to think
clearly and critically about the educational
process and our own particular contribution to
it.
2.The formulation of curriculum objectives,
casting them into some order of importance,
and perceived their interrelationship are means
of selecting a practical,defensible learning tasks
from the very wide range of content,source
materials and forms of treatment available for
use.
3.Helps teachers to take decisions about the
sequence in which material is presented,a point
which is particularly important when time for
teaching is extremely limited,as in day-
release,sandwich and evening courses.
4.Very significant to student who is entitled to
know, in advance, at least the general outlines
of what he is expected to do to perform
adequately.The existince of clear and detailed
objectives helps both the students and teachers
in udging progress towards attainment of the
goal.
5.Enables the teachers in the classroom to pick
out of the lightly structured teaching-learning
situations which are now
common,(projects,visits,case studies,discussions,
etc.)elements of potential significance.
Disadvantages
1.Global aims in education are misleading
because they imply irrelevant means-end model
of behavior: behavior where we have an end and
adopt appropriate means of reaching it,like
welding steel to make a bridge.Global aims
enter education not as agreed ends to be
pursued but as principles of procedure(Peters)
 Curriculum objectives aren't very clear or
meaningful until translated into action terms.
2.The taxonomic classification of objectives has
the appearance of a closed system
 existing objectives will be shortened or
stretched to fit and genuine novelty will be
assimilated to a prior frame of reference.
 If novel responses and creative acts are what
the teachers want,then as an effecient
organiser of learning he/she should be
thinking how best to promote these responses
and creative performances.Teachers must have
a criteria by which he/she can judge them to
be novel or creative
3.Teaching needs flexibility of approach which
enables teachers to respond appropriately to the
continuing growth,the unexpected experiences of
the students.(Dewey and Eisner)
Example of objectives in three domains:
Goal:Students will be able to identify and use
American slang terms and phrases
Cognitive:Students will choose three of the most
offensie slang terms from a list developed by the entire
class
Physical:Students will create expressive gesture to go
with their favorite slang terms
Thank you for listening
and happy new year!!!