CHAPTER 1:

CURRICULU
M
ESSENTIALS
 Lesson 1.2: The Teacher as Curricularist

Desired Learning Outcomes

 Enhance understanding of the role of
the teacher as a curricularist in the
classroom and school.
 Think of a word that
will best describe the
teacher as curricularist
 Curricularist in the past, are referred
only to those who developed curriculum
theories.

 According to the study conducted by

Sandra Hayes (1991), the most
influential curricularist in America
include John Dewey, Ralph Tyler, Hilda
Taba and Franklin Bobbit.
 Curricularist
 is a professional who is a curriculum
specialist (Hayes, 1991; Ornstein &
Hunkins, 2004; Hewitt, 2006).

 A person who is involved in curriculum

knowing, writing, planning,
implementing, evaluating, innovating,
and initiating.
 A teacher’s role is broader and inclusive
of other functions and so a teacher is a
curricularist. The classroom is the first place
of curricular engagement. The first school
experience sets the tone to understand the
meaning of schooling through the
interactions of learners and teachers that
will lead to learning. Hence, curriculum is at
the heart of schooling.
Teacher as a Curricularist…
1. knows the curriculum (KNOWER).

Learning begins with knowing. The

teacher as a learner starts with knowing about the
curriculum, the subject matter or the content. As a
teacher, one has to master what are included in the
curriculum. It is acquiring academic knowledge both
formal (disciplines, logic) or informal (derived from
experiences, vicarious, and unintended). It is the
mastery of the subject matter.
2. writes the curriculum (WRITER).

A classroom teacher takes record of

knowledge concepts, subject matter or content.
These need to be written or preserved. The
teacher writes books, modules, laboratory
manuals, instructional guides, and reference
materials in paper or electronic media as a
curriculum writer or reviewer.
3. plans the curriculum (PLANNER).

A good curriculum has to be planned. It is the

role of the teacher to make a yearly, monthly or daily
plan of the curriculum. This will serve as a guide in
the implementation of the curriculum. The teacher
takes into consideration several factors in planning a
curriculum. These factors include the learners, the
support material, time, subject matter or content, the
desired outcomes, the context of the learners among
others. By doing this, the teacher becomes a
curriculum planner.
4. Initiates the curriculum (INITIATOR).
In cases where the curriculum is recommended to
the schools from DepEd, CHED, TESDA, UNESCO,
UNICEF or other educational agencies for
improvement of quality education, the teacher is
obliged to implement it. Implementation of a new
curriculum requires the open-mindedness of the
teacher, and the full belief that the curriculum will
enhance learning. There will be many constraints and
difficulties in doing things first or leading however, a
transformative teacher will never hesitate to try
something novel and relevant.
4. Initiates the curriculum (INITIATOR).
In cases where the curriculum is recommended to
the schools from DepEd, CHED, TESDA, UNESCO,
UNICEF or other educational agencies for
improvement of quality education, the teacher is
obliged to implement it. Implementation of a new
curriculum requires the open-mindedness of the
teacher, and the full belief that the curriculum will
enhance learning. There will be many constraints and
difficulties in doing things first or leading however, a
transformative teacher will never hesitate to try
something novel and relevant.
5. innovates the curriculum (INNOVATOR).
Creativity and innovation are hallmarks of an
excellent teacher. A curriculum is always dynamic, hence
it keeps on changing. From the content, strategies,ways
of doing, blocks of time, ways of evaluating, kinds of
students and skills of teachers, one cannot find a single
eternal curriculum that would perpetually fit. A good
teacher, therefore, innovates the curriculum and thus
becomes a curriculum innovator.
6. implements the curriculum (IMPLEMENTOR).
The curriculum that remains recommended or
written will never serve its purpose. Somebody has to
implement it. An implementor gives life to the curriculum
plan.
The teacher is at the height of an engagement with
the learners, with support materials in order to achieve the
desired outcome. It is where teaching, guiding, facilitating
skills of the teacher are expected to the highest level. It is
where teaching as a science and as an art will be observed.
It is here where all the elements of the curriculum will
come into play. The success of the recommended, well
written and planned curriculum depends on the
implementation.
7. evaluates the curriculum (EVALUATOR).
How can one determine if the desired learning
outcomes have been achieved? Is the curriculum working?
Does it bring the desired results? What do outcomes
reveal? Are the learners achieving? Are there some
practices that should be modified, terminated or
continued? These are some few questions that need the
help of a curriculum evaluator. That person is the teacher.
 Teachers play the seven different roles and
doing these multi-faceted work qualifies them to
be a currucularist.

As a curricularist, a teacher will be knowing,

writing, implementing, innovating, initiating and
evaluating the curriculum in the school and
classrooms just like the role models and advocates
in curriculum and curriculum development who
have shown the way.
Differentiate…

Teacher Curricularist