CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT SYNTHESIS

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT SYNTHESIS

 Education is on the frontline of the battle for the Philippine’s future competitiveness. With the help of a good curriculum there will be a productive education. The organization of schooling and further education has long been associated with the idea of a curriculum.  But what actually is curriculum, and how might it be conceptualized?  

As I go on with my master’s class on curriculum development subject. I now understand it’s significant and effect on the product of education. So what is curriculum by the way some say that :

 1. Curriculum is  a body of knowledge to be transmitted.

2. Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students - product.

3. Curriculum as process.

4. Curriculum  is a body of knowledge-content and/or subjects.

Many people still equate a curriculum with a syllabus. Basically it means a concise statement or table of the heads of a discourse, the contents of a treatise, the subjects of a series of lectures. A syllabus will not generally indicate the relative importance of its topics or the order in which they are to be studied.  In the form that many of us will have been familiar with it is connected with courses leading to .What we can see in such documents is a series of headings with some additional notes which set out the areas that may be examined. 

 We have a good syllables but the questions is how this syllables is imparted to the teaching skills?..here then comes the role of a teacher to implement what is in the curriculum.

Education in this sense, is the process by which these are transmitted or 'delivered' to students by the most effective methods that can be devised .

In making the curriculum there should be a curriculum leader as what my classmates discussed during the report. The principal as the curriculum leader  in which the principal preparation initiatives rightfully focus attention upon instructional leadership skills. He/she elevates curriculum leadership skills to a new status and principals need support to assume the mantle of curriculum leadership called for today.

 CURRICULUM AS PRODUCT

The dominant modes of describing and managing education are today couched in the productive form.  Education is most often seen as a technical exercise.  Objectives are set, a plan drawn up, then applied, and the outcomes (products) measured. 

It is the work of two American writers Franklin Bobbitt (1918; 1928) and Ralph W. Tyler (1949) that dominate theory and practice within this tradition.  In The Curriculum Bobbitt writes as follows:

The central theory [of curriculum] is simple.  Human life, however varied, consists in the performance of specific activities.  Education that prepares for life is one that prepares definitely and adequately for these specific activities.  However numerous and diverse they may be for any social class they can be discovered.  This requires only that one go out into the world of affairs and discover the particulars of which their affairs consist.  These will show the abilities, attitudes, habits, appreciations and forms of knowledge that men need.  These will be the objectives of the curriculum.  They will be numerous, definite and particularized.  The curriculum will then be that series of experiences which children and youth must have by way of obtaining those objectives.  (1918: 42)

 With the concept of theories of the curriculum theorist and their models  has able to understand more about curriculum .

 The idea of curriculum is hardly new - but the way we understand and theorize it has altered over the years . Several factors affect all curriculum development in meeting the needs of 21st century learners in both organized academic settings and corporation learning center. Blueprinting curriculum development requires selecting learning goals, designing knowledge delivery models while creating assessment methods for individual and group progress.

Factors affecting curriculum development include government norms, which in turn brings other factors into the process. Valid curriculum development requires awareness of the diversity of the target community socially, financially and psychologically.

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENE CURRICULUM TODAY

1. Political
Politics affect curriculum development in numerous ways.
How politics influences curriculum design and development starts with funding. Both private and public educational institutions rely on funding for hiring personnel, building and maintaining facilities and equipment. All aspects of curriculum depend on local, state and national political standards. From defining goals, interpreting curricular materials to approving examination systems, politics affects curriculum development.

2. Economic

Curriculum developed for in house training in corporations focuses on educating employees for promotions that bring better returns in profits. Nations financing education expect an economic return from educated students contributing to the country's economy with global competition abilities in technical fields. Curriculum content influences learner goals, standards for academic achievement with an underlying influence of the nation's economy.

3. Technological
Technology driven curriculum development is the norm of the 21st century.
The computer technology of the 21st century influences curriculum development at every level of learning. Learning centers and classrooms increasingly provide computers as requisite interaction for studies among students. Technological multimedia use influences educational goals and learning experiences among students. Undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer technology are in increase in popularity.

4. Diversity
Curriculum development affect from diversity opens learning opportunities.
Social diversity including religion, culture and social groupings affects curriculum development because these characteristics influence the types of topics and methods for teaching information. Developing relevant curriculum takes into account society's expectations, accommodating group traditions and promoting equality.


6. Environment
Environment issues affect curriculum development.
World awareness and action toward reversing and ending pollution continues affecting curriculum development. Typical elementary classrooms teach recycling and healthy environmental practices. Higher education in the sciences offers environmentally-focused degrees.

SO WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CURRICULUM CHANGE AND CURRICULUM INNOVATION?

With curriculum innovation, you would be teaching the subject in a new way, perhaps connected with other activities. For example, if you are teaching about a certain book, like To Kill A Mockingbird, you might have the students learn about the 1950s, about lifestyles of blacks and whites in that particular town, what was going on during that time in the government. If it hasn't been done before, it might be useful to include an simulation of some experience, bring in someone who lived in those times--an experience that will transform the knowledge that the students have. 

A change in curriculum will affect the subjects being taught. An alternative book, like A Time To Kill would be required reading instead. To Kill A Mockingbird might be moved to a reading list for juniors from the freshman year or to the curriculum of another class, such as history.

And curriculum change and curriculum innovation is observed and practice in school institution for additional knowledge. Ad it’s a great way of learning .