Curriculum Foundations

and Principles
Definitions

The definitions of curriculum

1.A plan for achieving goals-Tyler &
Taba
- Involves a sequence of steps-agreed
by behavioral.managerial & systems
people egs.
a plan for providing sets of learning
opportunities for persons to be
educated -J.Galen Saylor
Curriculum is an organized set of
education and/or training intentions-

cont..
Curriculum is a four-step plan involving
purpose,design,implementation ans
assessment-Jon Wiles and Joseph Bondi.
2. Defined broadly as dealing with the
learners experiences.
Rooted in Deweys definition of experience.
Others-Hollis Caswell & Doak Campbell-all
the experiences children have under the
guidance of teachers

cont
Humanistics curricularists & elementary school
curricularists subscribes to this definition.
The curriculum consists of the ongoing
experiences of children under the guidance of
the school. It representsa special
environment..for helping children achieve selfrealization through active participation within
the school.-Gene Shepherd and William
Ragan.
..a program that a school offers to the
students,

cont..
experiences in the classroom [that are]planned
and enacted.However. They note a difference
between what the school plans and what the
teacher enacts.-Marsh & Willis.
3. Curriculum is a system for dealing with people.
Less popular
Linear or non-linear system
A linear system plots out the means to a desired
ends, whereas a nonlinear systems permits the
curriculum specialist to enter at various points of
the models,skip parts,reverse order & work on
more than one component at a time.

cont..
4. Curriculum can be defined in terms
of subject matter
(math,science,English,history etc.) or
content (the way we organize and
assimilate information.
Grade levels
Emphasize the facts and concepts

The challenges of
definitions
Every school has a planned and
unplanned,informal,hidden curriculum.Ronald Doll
Planned formal curriculum focuses on
goals,objectives,subject matter &
organization of instruction. Unplanned
,informal curriculum deals with
sociopsychological instructions.
Emphasis on testing,which makes the
curriculum narrow and bland

Foundations of curriculum
Set the boundaries of the knowledge of
curriculum and define what constitutes
valid sources from which to derive the
fields theories,principles and ideas.
Curriculums commonly accepted
foundations are:
Philosophical, historical, psychological
and social(include cultural,political and
economical foundations)

Curriculum domains
Defines the fields external boundaries- the
accepted knowledge within the field
presented in published articles and books.
Many disagreements on curriculums
knowledge domains eg. Beauchamp divided
curriculum knowledge into:
Planning, implementation and evaluation.
Fenwich English viewed curriculum in terms of
ideological (philosophical-scientific), technical
(design) and operational (managerial)issues.

cont..
Edmund Short listed curriculums domain as
policy making,development,evaluation,change
decision making,activities or fields of study,&
forms and language of inquiry.
Linda Behar established an emphirical format
for identifying curri.domains- fr.influential
textbooks over 20-yr.period.
49 curri.practices grouped into 9
curri.doamins:c..research,c.philosophy,c.theor
y,c.design,c.evaluation.development,c.policy,c
.as afield of study.

cont..

Allan Glatthorn describes 7 types of curriculum:

1. recommended curriculum-scholars &
professional organizations
2. Written curriculum-state & district documents
3.Taught curriculum- teachers attempt to
implement.
4.Supported curriculum eg.textbooks & computers
5.Assessed curriculum-tested & evaluated
6.Learned curriculum-students actually learn
7.Hidden curriculum-unintended curriculum

Cont
Lack of consenses, impt to establish
a framework for conceptualizing the
domains of curriculum.

Curriculum Development
How curriculum is planned,
implements and evaluated as well as
what people,processes and
procedures are involved in
constructing the curriculum.