MODULE 5

Models in Curriculum Development

INTRODUCTION

Curriculum development is concerned with the drawing up of plans for teaching

and learning activities in classroom situations that will bring about positive changes in
the lives of the learners. It is based on the school’s mission and goals and identifies
ways of translating these into a coherent and coordinated program of meaningful
experiences and conditions eliciting responses that will lead to the transformation of the
learners into authentic, warm and sensitive human beings (Palma, 1992). Moreover, the
all-important process of curriculum development has only one function, and that is, the
formation of the “Ideal Graduate.” This becomes the ultimate measure of the success or
failure of the total school enterprise. It should be pointed out, however, that the
conception of the “Ideal Graduate” will vary since it depends on the school’s peculiar
clientele, ecology and thrusts.

General Objective.

To know the different models of curriculum evaluation.

Specific Objectives. After reading this module, you should be able to:

1. Know and understand what is curriculum development.

2. Identify the different models in curriculum development
3. Know and understand the steps in curriculum development.
4. Answer the questions given at the last page of this module.

1. The Michaelis Model

The Michaelis model for curriculum development has been named after the
principal author of the book New Designs for Elementary Curriculum and Instruction (2 nd
ed., 1975), by John U. Michaelis. His co-authors were Ruth H. Grossman and Lloyd F.
Scott. Although their book is oriented to the elementary level, this model for curriculum
development may be adapted to the secondary and tertiary levels.

The Michaelis model includes the components generally recognized as essential

to curriculum development. It is designed for use in two ways. First, it may serve as a
guide to the development or revision of the curriculum. Second, the model may serve as
a guide for the review and analysis of the curriculum (Aquino, 1986).
Components of the Michaelis Model:

(a) Foundations of curriculum development

 There are five major sources of ideas that serve as the foundations for
curriculum planning. The historical foundations are useful in identifying the problem
issues, and perspective. An examination of the historical foundations of the curriculum
points up threads of continuity as well as instances of rejection of precedents and
illustrates the way in which the curriculum, at any point in time, is also a production that
time. The philosophical foundations may be drawn upon to develop a framework of
values and beliefs related to the goals, the selection and use knowledge and means
and methods and other dimensions of education. The social foundations are sources
of informations and societal values, changes, problems, pressures and forces that merit
consideration in curriculum planning, the Psychological foundation contains ideas
about child growth, development and learning on which the program may be based. The
disciplinary foundations serve as sources of information about concepts,
generalizations, supporting data and modes, methods, and processes of inquiry that
may be used in developing the curriculum and planning instruction.

(b) Goals and objectives

Related to the analysis of the foundations of curriculum development are the

major goals of education that gives direction to planning at all levels and in all areas of
the curriculum, the objectives must be consistent with, but more specific than goals so
that immediate direction is obtained for intuitional planning ad evaluation. The general
goals should be cooperatively developed by school personnel and lay persons and be
generally acceptable to the community, the objectives should be defended by school
personnel with assistance from experts in areas of the curriculum, evaluation, and
formulation of objectives so that they will be optimally useful in planning and appraisal
activities.

Each area of the curriculum should be analyzed to identify its specific

contributions to the major goals. This step is helpful in developing a coherent curriculum
in which all areas or fields of study are viewed as contributing to the common goals.
This step is helpful in identifying the unique contributing that each area can make to the
goals and thus makes possible the design of a complete and balanced program of
instruction that incorporates aesthetic and others.

The objectives of each area may be viewed as a detailed elaboration of

contributions to the major goals. Their function is to provide specific direction to program
planning. The four sets of interrelated objectives that include the cognitive, affective,
and psychomotor domains are as follows: skill objectives, and affective objectives.
Special categories may be used to highlight the contribution of some areas such as, for
example visual/tactile objectives, creative expression objectives and aesthetic judgment
objectives, objectives in art education within such special categories, however, one may
find conceptual, process, skill, and affective in behavioral or performance terms is done
to facilitate unit and lesson planning and to evaluate instructional out comes.
(c) Organization of the curriculum

Decisions must be made about the organization of the curriculum, the units within
particular areas of curriculum, unit organization, and unit planning procedures, the
scope or breadth of the curriculum must be determined and special attention must be
given to learning sequences that provide for cumulative learning and the integration of
learning. Other decision must be made about curriculum development procedures,
broad fields or other patens or organization the roles of curriculum personnel, and the
design of curriculum guides.

(d) Organization and extension of the learning environment

The school organization must be considered in terms both the movement of

students from level (vertical organization) and of the grouping of students and the
placement of teachers at the various levels (horizontal organization). Attention also
needs to be given to individualized and personalized instruction organizing and
sequencing of group work, and interaction analysis. Variety of ways of extending the
learning environment merits consideration, ranging from open education to time and
spatial extensions, and the use of the community as a laboratory for learning.

Instructional media should be analyzed because of their fundamental importance

as key ingredients in the learning environment. The full range of educational technology,
including hardware such as equipment and software or courseware such as
instructional materials, should be examined and selected in terms of multiple criteria.
Provision should be made for instructional media that are useful in all areas of
instruction and for special media needed in particular area. A variety of printed
materials, audio-visual materials, community resources, learning packages, multi-media
sets of materials and multi-level materials should be considered.

(e) Instructional support services

The implementation of new or revised programs of instruction requires a variety

of support services, the quality of leadership essential to sound curriculum development
is also essential to implementation. Consultant and supervisory services are needed to
help solve general problem and problems related to areas of instruction, other needed
services include those related to instructional medial, special education programs the
diagnosis and correction of learning difficulties, evaluation, and the in-service education
and the instructional staff.

(f) Teaching strategies

A variety of teaching strategies should be selected or designed for us in the

instructional program. There is a need for inductive strategies that include moves from
the particular to the general and deductive strategies that include moves from general to
the particular. Discovery strategies in which the students themselves find out on their
own and teacher-directed strategies in which the students are guided systematically to
in stated objectives are needed, along with strategies the call for varying degrees of
teacher guidance, combinations of the preceding strategies may be used to be develop
and apply concepts, clarify values, and attain other objectives as various media are
used in different areas of the curriculum. In additions, construction should be given to
the guidelines or principles of instruction for each area of the curriculum.

(g) Evaluation and accountability

Diagnostic, formative and summative evaluations are needed to determine the

needs of students assess progress towards objectives during instruction and appraised
the outcomes of instruction at the end of given periods. A brad and comprehensive
program of evaluation is needed in which a variety of instruments and techniques are
used to evaluate the conceptual, process, skill, and effective outcomes of instruction.

2. The Tyler Model

One of the best known models for curriculum development with special attention
to the planning phases is Ralph W. Tyler’s in his classic little book, Basic Principles of
Curriculum and Instruction, “The Tyler Rationale”, a process for selecting educational
objectives, is widely known and practiced in curriculum circles. Although Tyler proposed
a rather comprehensive model for curriculum development, the first part of his model,
the selection of objectives, received the greatest attention from other educators.

Tyler recommended that curriculum planners identify general objectives by

gathering data from three sources: the learner, contemporary life outside the school,
and the subject matter. After identifying numerous general objectives, the planners
refine these by filtering them through two screens: the educational and social
philosophy of the school and the psychology of learning. The general objectives that
successfully pass through the two screens become specific instructional objectives. In
describing general objectives, Tyler referred to them as “goals”, “educational
objectives”, and “educational purposes”.

The curriculum developer begins his or her search for educational objectives by
gathering and analyzing data relevant to student needs and interests. The total range
of educational needs, social, occupational, physical, psychological, and recreational is
studied. Tyler recommended observations by teachers, interviews with students, interviews with
parents, questionnaires, and tests as techniques for collecting data about students. By
examining the needs and interest of students, the curriculum developer identifies a set of
potential objectives.

Analysis of contemporary life in both the local community and in society at large
is the next step in the process of formulating general objectives. Tyler suggested that curriculum
planners develop a classification scheme that divides life into various aspects such as health,
family, recreation, vocation, religion, consumption, and civic roles. From the needs of society
flow many potential educational objectives. It is apparent that the curriculum worker must “be
somewhat of a sociologist to make an intelligent analysis of needs of social institutions. After
considering this second source, the curriculum worker has lengthened his/her set of objectives.

For a third source, the curriculum planner turns to the subject matter, the disciplines
themselves. It should be remembered that many of the curricular innovations of the 1950s the
new math, audio-lingual foreign languages, and the plethora of science programs came from the
subject matter specialists. From the three aforementioned sources, curriculum planners derived
a multiplicity of general or broad objectives which lack precision and which one would prefer to
call instructional goals. These goals may be pertinent to specific disciplines or may cut across
disciplines.

Tyler’s model emphasized the use of educational and social philosophy as the first
screen for the goals. He urged the teachers to outline their values and illustrate this task by
emphasizing four (4) democratic goals: (a) the recognition of the importance of every individual
human being regardless of his race, national, social or economic status, (b) opportunity for wide
participation in all phases of activities in the social groups in the society, (c) encouragement of
variability rather than demanding a single type of personality, and (d) faith in intelligence as a
method of dealing with important problems rather than depending upon the authority of an
autocratic or aristocratic group.

The application of the psychological screen is the next step in the Tyler model. To
apply this, teachers must clarify the principles of learning that they believe to be sound. “A
psychology of learning,” Tyler said, “not only includes specific and definite findings but it also
involves a unified formulation of a theory of learning which helps to outline the nature of the
learning process, how it takes place, under what conditions, what sort of mechanisms operate
and the like.” Effective application of this screen presupposes adequate training in educational
psychology and in human growth and development by those charged with the task of curriculum
development.

After the curriculum planner has applied this second screen, his/her list of general
objectives will be reduced, leaving those that are most significant and feasible. Care is then
taken to state the objectives in behavioral terms, which turns them into instructional and
classroom objectives.

After the selection of educational objectives, the Tyler’s model goes beyond this process
to describe three more steps in curriculum planning: selection, organization, and
evaluation of learning experiences. He defined learning experiences as “the interaction
between the learner and the external conditions in the environment to which he can react.

Tyler posited four basic questions for the school, namely:

1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?
2. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes?
3. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?
4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained or not?

By addressing the assessment of curriculum development systematically, Tyler

introduced the concept of a structural cycle whereby evaluation can lead to a reconsideration of
purpose. Such a cycle reduces the somewhat cumbersome process of planning and makes it
possible to treat curriculum-making in a systematic manner.
 The three fundamental elements include: (a) purpose which indicates the goals and
directions the school should take, (b) means which suggest the learning experiences and
resources that are to be selected, organized, and implemented in pursuit of the purpose, and (c)
assessment of outcomes, which measures the degree to which purposes have been met.

The following model (Figure 1) shows the systematic view of the curriculum in graphic
form:

PURPOS
E

IDEAL
GRAUAT
E

MEANS ASSESSMEN
T

Figure 1. System view of curriculum

The three subsystems – Purpose, Means, and Assessment - are enclosed in a

circle suggesting that they constitute the totality of curriculum. The circle is also
indicative of the continuous process of curriculum development. Curriculum is far from
being static. We can never speak of a “finished curriculum.” Curriculum is always
“tentative” and is meant to undergo a process of development to bring it to ever higher
levels of effectiveness. The concurrent process of planning and implementing,
evaluating and revising the curriculum goes on in a never-ending cycle always taking
into consideration the constantly shifting needs of the learners, the emerging thrusts of
the school and its sponsors, the changing expectations of the larger society, and the
exigencies of the times.

The two-way arrows indicate the dynamic interaction and relationships that
should exist among the subsystems if the system is to function well. The arrowheads in
the outer circle going counter-clockwise indicate the normal sequence in the process of
curriculum planning and development. Logically, the first step should be the
determination of purpose and objectives. However, in curriculum development it is
possible that one can start with any step. One might even begin with the assessment or
evaluation phase. Using the result of this evaluation or assessment, we can examine
and make adjustments in the purpose and the means of attaining this purpose.

The all-important process of curriculum development is the formation of the “Ideal

Graduate.”

3. The Stufflebeam CIPP Evaluation Model

According to Stufflebeam, evaluation is undertaken for the purpose of acquiring

fundamental knowledge about the [program, making decisions or judgments, getting
data or information as the basis of the program planning intervention. Furthermore,
evaluation helps one understand the factors which make which make for success or
failure with a view of finding out how the program can be improved (Posner, 1995).

The Phi Delta Kappa National Study Committee on Evaluation, chaired by Daniel
L. Stufflebeam, produced and disseminated a widely cited model of evaluation known
as CIPP (Context, Input, Process, Product) model.

Comprehensive in nature, the model reveals types of evaluation, of decision

setting of decisions, and of change. In shaping their model, Stufflebeam and his
associates defined evaluation in the following way: “Evaluation is the process of
delineating, obtaining, and providing useful information for judging decision alternative”.
Stufflebeam clarified what was meant by each of the parts of the definition as follows:

1. Process. A particular, continuing and cyclical activity subsuming many methods

and in using a number of steps or operations.
2. Delineating. Focusing information requirement to be served by evaluation
through such steps as specifying, and explicating.
3. Obtaining. Making available through such processes as collecting, organizing,
and analyzing, and through such formal means as statistics and measurement.
4. Providing. Fitting together into systems or subsystems that best serve the needs
or purposes of the evaluation.
5. Useful. Appropriate to predetermined criteria evolved through the interaction of
the evaluator and client.
6. Information. Descriptive or interpretive data about entities (tangible or
intangible) and their relationships.
7. Judging. Assigning weights in accordance with a specified value framework,
criteria derived there from, and information which relates criteria to each entity
being judged.
8. Decision Alternatives. A set of optional responses to a specified decision
question.
 The evaluation process, said Stufflebeam, includes the three main steps of
delineating, obtaining, and providing. These steps provide the basis for a methodology
of evaluation. In the flow chart form the model which consists of rectangles (with small
loops attached), hexagons, ovals, a circle, a fancy E, solid and broken lines with arrows
and three types of shading. Crosshatched, the hexagons show types of decisions,
hatched, the ovals, the circle, and the big E depict activities performance; and mottled,
the rectangle stands four types of evaluation (Figure 4).

Four types of evaluation. The Phi Delta Kappa National Committee pointed to
four types of evaluation: Context, Input, Process, and Product, hence the name of the
model, CIPP.

Context evaluation is the most basic kind of evaluation. Its purpose is to provide
a rationale for determination of objectives. At this point in the model, curriculum planner-
evaluators define the environment of the curriculum, and determine unmet needs and
reasons why needs are not being met. Goals and objectives are specified on the basis
of context evaluation. Input evaluation is that evaluation of the purpose of which is “to
provide information for determining how to utilize resources to achieve project
objectives”. The resources of the school and various designs for carrying out the
curriculum are considered. At this stage, the planner-evaluators decide on procedures
to be used. Process evaluation is the provision of periodic feedback while the
curriculum is being implemented. It has three main objectives – the first is to detect or
predict defects in the procedural design or its implementation stages. The second is to
provide information for programmed decisions, and the third is to maintain a record of
the procedure as it occurs. Product evaluation the final type, has as its purpose “to
measure and interpret attainments not only at the end of a project cycle, but often as
necessary during the project term”. The general method of project evaluation includes
devising operational definitions of objectives, measuring criteria associated with the
objective of the activity, comparing these measurements with predetermined absolute or
relative standards, and making rational interpretations of the outcomes using the
recorded context, input and process information.

Four types of decision. The hexagons represent four types of decision:

Planning, Structuring, Implementing, and Recycling. Note that planning decisions follow
context evaluation; structuring decision follow input evaluation; implementing decisions
follow process evaluation; and recycling decision follow product evaluation.

Three types of changes. In these setting, three types of changes may results:
neomobilistic, incremental, and homeostatic. Neomobilistic change occurs in a setting
in which a large change is sought on the basis of low information. These changes are
innovative solutions based on little evidence. Incremental changes are a series of
small changes based on low information is so rare that it is not shown in the CIPP
model. Homeostatic change goes back to structuring decisions.
 The model plots the sequence of evaluation and making from context evaluation
to recycling decisions. The committee has touched up the model with small loops that
lock like bulbs on the evaluation blocks to indicate that the general process of
delineating, obtaining, and providing information is cyclical and applies to each type of
evaluation. The ovals, the circle, and the E in the model represent types of activities,
types of change, and adjustment as a result of the evaluations made and decision
taken. The CIPP model presents a comprehensive view of evaluation process. Said the
Phi Delta Kappa Committee: “To maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of
evaluation, evaluation itself should be evaluated…the criteria for this include internal
validity, expervasiveness, timeliness, and efficiency”.

5. The Taba Model

Taba took what is known as a grass-roots approach to curriculum development.

She believed that the curriculum should be designed by the teachers rather than
handed down by higher authority. Further, she felt that teachers should begin the
process by creating specific teaching-learning units for their students in their schools
rather than by engaging initially in creating a general curriculum design. Taba, therefore,
advocated an inductive approach to curriculum development, starting with specifics and
building up to a general design as opposed to the more traditional deductive approach
of starting with the general design and working down to the specifics.

To improve and refine the Tyler model, Hilda Taba listed a five-step sequence
for accomplishing curriculum change, as follows:

1. Production by teachers of pilot teaching-learning units representative of the

grade level or subject area. Taba saw this step as linking theory and practice.
She proposed the following eight-step sequence for curriculum developers who
are producing pilot units:
(a) Diagnosis of needs. The curriculum developer begins by determining the
needs of the students for whom the curriculum is being planned. Taba
directs the curriculum worker to diagnose the “gaps, deficiencies, and
variations in students’ backgrounds.”
(b) Formulation of objectives. After students’ needs have been diagnosed,
the curriculum planner specifies objectives to be accomplished.
Interestingly, Taba uses the terms “goals” and “objectives”.
(c) Selection of content. The subject matter or topics to be studied stem
directly from the objectives Taba pointed out not only must the objectives
be considered in selecting content but also the “validity and significance”
of the content chosen.
(d) Organization of content. With the selection of content goes the task of
deciding at what levels and in what sequences the subject matter will be
placed. Maturity of learners, their readiness to confront the subject matter,
and their levels of academic achievement are factors to be considered in
the appropriate placement of content.
 (e) Selection of learning experiences. The methodologies or strategies by
which the learners are involved with the content must be chosen by the
curriculum planners. Pupils internalize the content through the learning
activities selected by the planner-teacher.
(f) Organization of learning activities. The teacher decides how to package
the learning activities and in what combinations and sequences they will
be utilized. At this stage, the teacher adapts the strategies to the particular
students for whom he or she has responsibility.
(g) Determination of what to evaluate and of the ways and means of
doing it. The planner must decide whether objectives have been
accomplished. The instructor selects from a variety of techniques and
appropriate means for assessing achievement of students and for
determining whether the objectives of the curriculum have been met.
(h) Checking for balance and sequence. Taba counseled curriculum
workers to look for consistency among the various parts of the teaching-
learning units for proper flow of the learning experiences, and for balance
in the types of learning and forms of expression.

2. Testing experimental units. Since the goal of this process is to create a

curriculum encompassing one or more grade levels or subject areas and since
teachers have written their pilot units with their own classrooms in mind, the units
must now be tested “to establish their validity and teach-ability and to set their
upper and lower limits of required abilities.
3. Revising and consolidating. The units are modified to conform to variations in
student needs and abilities, available resources, and different styles of teaching
so that the curriculum may suit all types of classrooms. Taba would charge
supervisors, the coordinators of curricula, and the curriculum specialists with the
task of “stating the principles and theoretical considerations on which the
structure of the units and the selection of content and learning activities are
based and suggesting the limits within which modifications in the classroom can
take place.” Taba recommended that such considerations and suggestions might
be assembled in a handbook explaining the use of the units.
4. Developing a framework. After a number of units have been constructed, the
curriculum planners must examine them as to adequacy of scope and
appropriateness of sequence. The curriculum specialist would assume the
responsibility of drafting a rationale for the curriculum which has been developed
through this process.
5. Installing and disseminating new units. So that the teachers may effectively put
the teaching-learning units into operation in their classrooms, Taba called on
administrators to arrange appropriate in-service training.

Taba’s inductive model may not appeal to curriculum developers who prefer to
consider the more global aspects of the curriculum before proceeding to specifics.
Some planners might wish to see a more comprehensive model that includes steps both
in diagnosing the needs of society and culture and in deriving needs from subject
matter, philosophy, and learning theory. Taba elaborates on these points in her final
text.

6. Palma’s Linear Model of Curriculum Development

Using Tyler’s Rationale and Taba’s paradigm, Palma (1992) formulated the following
linear model including four subsystems (Figure 2).

Curriculum Component Instruction

Components

Subsystem Subsystem Subsystem Subsystem

1 2 3 4

Learning Learning Learning Evaluation

Objectives Content Experience Of Learning
Outcomes
s

Feedback loop

Figure 2. A Linear Model of Curriculum

The curriculum model above suggests end-means integration. This model clearly
shows that curriculum and instruction are not separate independent components but
contiguous parts of a continuum or system. They are two-sides of the same coin, you
cannot have one without the other.
 The curriculum component represents the thought plan aspect of curriculum
development which includes the selection and organization phases while the instruction
component is the means-action part consisting of the implementation and evaluation
phases.

Subsystem I indicates the direction and intention of the educational effort. This
includes the School Vision or the set of unifying beliefs and values according to which
the school personnel behave and perform their roles individually and collectively. This is
eventually translated into the Mission Statement and further delineated in the school-
wide and level goals and finally translated into learning objectives contained in the units
of instruction and individual lessons.

Subsystem 2 is the learning content. The learning goals are fleshed out in a
continuum or scope and sequence of learning content in terms of knowledge and
understanding, skills and competencies, attitudes and values which become the basis of
subject matter for instruction and mastery. As one student puts it matter-of-factly, this is
the “stuff that kids must learn in school.” The school expects every student to master
these basic requirements of school learning content which define the standards against
which every prospective graduate will be measured.

Subsystem 3 is made up of learning experiences, activities and resources which

constitute the where-withal for attaining the learning objectives. Working on the principle
that “he who wants the end, wants the means,” the school employs the most relevant
and effective strategies and resources that will ensure mastery of learning content. All
these are indicated in a plan of instruction, both on the unit and the lesson level, to be
carried out in the classroom.

Subsystem 4 has to do with measurement and evaluation of learning outcomes.

The evaluation reveals whether the objectives are being attained or not and at what
level. And more importantly, if objectives are not being met according to acceptable
levels or standards, why these are not being met and what should be done about it. This
is indicated by the feedback loop.

Curriculum Development for Higher Education in the Philippine Setting

The Rogelio V. Cuyno observed that life is by itself a curriculum. The small day-
to-day experiences add up to a total experience which make us what we are. We learn
from them. We become somebody because of these experiences. A curriculum is like
life. The only difference is that an educational is purposive, designed by specialist and
educators.

The day-to-day events and activities in our lives are largely shaped by random
forces which are beyond our control. Learning comes out of the necessity to survive and
to adapt to the demands and contingencies of the external environment.
 Such is not the case in a university environment. The experiences that students
are made up to undergo are not random but carefully structured and planned towards
meeting a goal, guided by theories and by tested principles.

A faculty curriculum design will reveal itself in performance of graduates in the

job market or world of work and in adult social life. Designing a curriculum for higher
education of the tertiary level in the educational hierarchy is hereby presented. This unit
is intended for university teachers, administrators and those in the non-formal system of
education who is or will be reviewing and revising a specific course within a college
curriculum or preparing a new curriculum.

The UP Mindanao Campus Experience

The aim of curriculum developers is to produce graduates who will behave as the
curriculum aimed them for, who will be relevant to the world of work, who will be efficient
and who will have flexibility and plasticity to withstand a shifting job market and
environment realities.

Specifically, this unit aims to make the participants:

1. Identify and discuss concepts in curriculum planning;

2. Cite and explain elements in a curriculum;
3. Formulate educational objectives following norms and practices in education;
4. Identify and discuss the different factors to consider in curriculum planning;
and;
5. Outline and discuss the procedures in curriculum development.

Content

A. Concepts

1. Definition of curriculum planning

A curriculum is a series of planned experiences that a learner is made to undergo
in a given period to achieve a given goal. It involves direct teaching where the teacher
gives structured technical inputs on a face to face basis or through assigned tasks.
There are also educational experiences which are meant not to impart a professional
stock of knowledge and skills of a craft but to mold the character, internalize universal
moral values, hone social and organizational skills, or appreciate the finer things in life.
This is often called extra-curriculum activities or those activities outside the formal
courses. Even this is programmed and deliberate rather than accidental or a product of
afterthought.
 Planning the curriculum involves determining the aim of education; identifying
the students to whom the system will be geared; deciding what to teach and how these
are sequenced; providing organizational and logistical support so that the teaching
process can be managed efficiently; and, insuring that the curricular and extra-curricular
component are interrelated.

2. Tripodal source of influence

The structured of a curriculum is formed in response to three sources of
influences: the learner’s systems; the teacher and knowledge system; and society or the
market for the products of the curriculum (Figure 3). For the learner system, we need to
know the entry level of the learners in terms of their preparation in the prior educational
level. A curriculum may be too difficult resulting in failures if the curriculum of the
previous lower school system where students came from is deficient. On the other
hand, the higher education curriculum might be boring because the courses are too
easy and familiar to students who have covered the subjects sufficiently in the
secondary level.

Learner System

Teacher- The Market

Knowledge and Society

System

Figure 1. Tripodal Influence in Curricular Design

The teacher-knowledge system refers to the stock of knowledge, tools and skills
in the discipline that an incoming professional is expected to posses. Due to advances
in research and practice of the profession and the changes in educational objective, the
present curriculum would be more updated than the previous one.

Finally, due to changing technology being used at the world of work and the new
demands of employers, the market require that the curriculum be realigned to these
new realities. For example, nowadays, students need to be computer literate because
employers are requiring the skills. New medical curricula for community practice have
now to be more of a general practitioner type than before. Those studying agriculture
today have learn about environmental sustainability, farming systems, food systems,
agribusiness and political economy, because society expects them to be enlightened on
these issues.

Learning Activity

With a colleague, discuss the issue of “how far should the

curriculum designer accommodate the demands of the market”.

3. Economy and Self-Sufficiency

The curriculum must be designed to enable the learner to assimilate the subject
sufficiently and as economically as possible. Scheffler (1958) wrote about three types of
economy:

 teaching effort and resources

 learners effort and resources; and
 economy of subject matter

The last type needs further explanation. Economy of subject matter refers to
maximum generalizability or transfer value. To be economical in this sense is to learn
subjects to facilitate other learning. For example, math and physics should facilitate
learning chemistry and genetics. Not only that, content should “enable the learner to
take responsible personal and moral decisions”.

Learning Activity

Figure out another example of “economy of subject

matter” as explained above.

4. Integration of Subjects
Whitehead (Frankena, 1965) enunciated two commandments in curriculum
planning “Do not teach too many subjects” and “What you teach, teach thoroughly”.

Teaching many subjects which are disconnected is fatal to further learning. It

could lead to passive reception of ideas and confuse the learners.
 Thorough teaching could lead students to discern relationships and application
and the connection of the present to the past and the future. The thorough learning of
the scientific method, for example, could lead to discovery of an inner logic which
applies to problem-solving and decision making in the field of management.

Learning Activity

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

“It’s better to load students with more subjects otherwise too
much free time will make them more lax in their studies.

5. Principle of Option
Most young people go to college without really knowing what they would want to
become later in life. Hence, besides the General Education subjects outside the major
field. Such subject may comprise what is known as the minor or cognate or electives
and which we shall term as option subjects.

The other function of option subjects is that the students can pursue fields which
are personally interesting and fulfilling and in the process develop certain natural talents
and inclinations.

The implication of all these in curriculum development is that it is better to

emphasize teaching of tools, collecting, organizing and processing information rather
than memorizing of facts and defining things.

6. Aim of Education
A curriculum is a means to achieve an educational goal. In the normative
theory of education, the content, activities and process of instruction must serve the end
goal. This will lead to us to the study of philosophy of education.

To Dewey (Frankena, 1995), the aim of education is to promote growth.

According to him, growth is dependent on increased control by the self. It refers to
“having an end” instead of “being the end”. Possession of intellectual ability and the
knowledge of how to learn empower an individual to pursue personal growth. Learning
here is viewed as a lifelong process. Dewey defines education as a continuous
“reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to the deepening of
meaning of experience, and which increases ability to direct the course of
subsequent experience”.

Whitehead (Frankena, 1965) viewed the aim of education as “producing men and
women who posses both culture (including philosophy and art) and expert knowledge in
some special direction”. Whitehead believed that the learner should be helped and
made to experience the joy of discovery for that is what life is all about. Whitehead was
an exponent of problem focused learning. He believed that the mind is an instrument
that need to be sharpened and that it is never passive but active in perpetuity, receptive
and responsive to stimuli. The mind can not be told “learn this now, you will need it
later”. The implication in curriculum design is that theory and practice and the mental
and physical components should be integrated.

Because education is “life in all its manifestations”, Whitehead advocate

wholeness in education which assumes that behind all living things is interconnections.

Another educational philosopher worth noting for his thoughts on the goal of
education is Maratain (Frankena, 1965). He said that the aim of education is to guide
the learner to shape himself as “a human person-armed with knowledge, strength of
judgment, and moral virtues-while at the same time conveying to him the spiritual
heritage of the nation and civilization”.

Learning Activity

Figure out an answer to this question: For an

undergraduate education, which is better, a curriculum that
produces specialists or one that turns out generalist? Why?

B. Elements of a Curriculum

A curriculum has a structure which is made up of elements. For the structure to

take shape the elements must have harmony and internal consistency. Otherwise, it will
appear disjointed and discordant just like when musical notes do not blend.

The elements of the curricular structure are:

 Objectives;
 Content;
 Method of procedure;
 Requirement; and
 Extra curricular activities.

1. Objective
In contrast to educational aim or goal, the objective element of the curriculum is
more operational and observable. The objective can be found in the analysis of the
courses and in the various teaching units. At the end of the teaching procedure, the
teacher or any external evaluator can refer back to the objective to determine if the
procedure was effective. Objective is the learning destination toward which the
teacher tries to bring the learner to:
 Educators use ABCD as guide on how to formulate a learning objective stated
from the side of the learner:

A = Stands for audience or the students. There is a need to direct or target the
objective towards a known participant, e.g., “For all the first year students to . . . . . . .”
B = Stands for Behavior or an overt/visible activity the students should be doing if
learning indeed has taken place. If stated in an overt behavioral terms, it is easy to
measure if change had taken place. E.g., “For first year students to enter a statement
in the computer . . . . . “
C = For condition or the assumption and parameters that have to be provided by the
teacher so that the students will feel the experience. E.g., given a working PC, all first
year students should be able to enter a statement in it.
D = For degree of visible achievement. This is commonly referred to as quantifiable
indicator of learning. E.g., Given a working PC, all first year students must be able to
enter a statement in the computer allowing 5% error.

2. Content
Content in a curriculum is the body of knowledge, tools, skills, (psychomotor,
manual and mental) and attitude that the teacher intends to pass on to the students or
wants the students to develop. Put concisely, content is what is intended to be learned.
A good curriculum is one which allows students to explore and learned content beyond
what is prescribed. As discussed earlier in the section on philosophy of education, a
course not only prepares a student for a profession or job but to become complete
human being and citizen of the country. The choice of content should follow the aim of
the curriculum.

Universities perform research to expand the knowledge-base of the profession or

widen the general state of the art, science and technology that will catalyze and become
the cutting edge of the economy. Such outputs of research should also be channeled to
and enrich content thus making the curriculum more dynamic and up-to-date.

3. Method and Activities

Method is how the content element should be taught or how the experience
should structure so that the student will acquire and discover the content. It is the
procedure of instruction that can take place not only in school but also outside-in the
industry, society, community and at home.

Many educational philosophers, among them, Dewey and Whitehead, believed

that application of theory and principle should not be delayed to a much later time but
should be experienced here and now. They also believed that activities must be
relevant to the real world. The teaching procedure in a curriculum should attempt to
bridge academe with industry and society, theory with practice. Thus there should be a
reinforcement, supplementation and complementation among the different methods of
instruction such as; lecture, discussion, apprenticeship, library work, independent study,
individual and group work.
 Learning Activity

Figure this out- Given the choice, would you rather hire
teacher who is long in content but poor in method or vice versa-
long in method but short in content?
4. Integrative Requirements
The final requirements of a curriculum are usually in the form of thesis, special
project, internship, practicum, rural service and volunteer work. The purposes of such
requirement are: to provide opportunity for integration, for deepening of knowledge and
application, exposure to the real world or to facilitate one’s induction to a profession.

5. Extra Curricular Activities

In our previous discussion, we referred to extra-curricular activities as outside the
curricular structure. But in terms of the principle of total learning experience in higher
education which we favor here, here is important to consider extracurricular work as
part of curriculum. Being a variable, extra curricular activities influence attainment of the
educational aim as they tend to reinforce and strengthen teaching of content and
values.

C. Factors in Curriculum Design

Earlier we cited and discussed the elements of a curriculum. This time there is a
need to identify the factors that influence how the elements will be structured.

1. Industry
Young people to challenge because they eventually want earn and make a
living-either working for an employer or for themselves. In any case, after college, they’ll
have to belong to an industry. Industry is the market for college graduates. Naturally, if
the graduates have to fit the requirement of industry, they have to be prepared for it
through the courses in the curriculum that they enroll in. If the needs of industry are for
more practical skills, the curriculum will pay more attention to practical skills; the
curriculum will pay more attention to practical skills. It is a simple case of demand and
supply.

Learning Activity

What is the best way to be in tune with industry?

2. Economy
Industry and economy are closely linked. The economy has a direct way of
attracting certain skills and it creates expectations, hopes and aspirations. If the
economy is on the rise due to contribution of a certain sector, people would move
towards that sector. Economy provides ambience to a profession. Hence the curriculum
developers could not and should not ignore it. As an example, there is a proliferation of
computer schools, computer-related courses and the field of information science
because of the large contribution of this field of information science of the large
contribution of this field to the country’s economy.

3. Competition
Competition has a way of extracting the best from the system. If curriculum “A” is
drawing students’ attention at the expense of curriculum “B”, curriculum B has no choice
but to shape up. Otherwise that curriculum will have nothing but empty chairs and the
school will go under. Schools go into self-improvement or externally induced-
improvement through curricular reviews. Administrators than use the recommendation
of the review group as leverage to change or reform the curriculum.

4. Government Policy
In many countries, the Philippines included, some courses are required to be
part of the curriculum through legislation or force of law. Recently the
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) which oversees higher education in
the country received severe criticism from leaders in culture a history including
newspaper columnists. It was because of perceived non-implementation or lack
of heart to implement the teaching of “Rizal and His Works” in the tertiary level of
education.

5. Previous Level and Students Capability

The quality and the structure of the secondary level curriculum have an impact
on the tertiary level curriculum. If most of the in-coming freshman is deficient in certain
subjects like Mathematics or English or Science, the college curriculum has to be
adjusted to correct the deficiency. This can be done through remedial courses or adding
more subjects. Students with advanced proficiency in Mathematics, science or English,
on the other hand, are accelerated to higher courses.

6. Culture
Education in a generic sense refers to the total social process by which the
individual acquire beliefs, acceptable behavior, standards and values, and a way of
living in society. Only a small portion of how one is educated actually is due to the
school system. Schools being one of the teaching institutions in society have an
obligation to help preserve, promote and enhance the culture of a particular society
which constitutes the bedrock of national identity and the moral foundation of the
people.

As pointed out earlier, a curriculum must have a common universal

content that has to be taught as part of the socialization process and a
means for social control. This must embrace the most crucial and
significant ideas and major themes in the national consciousness.
 A curriculum exists within a culture. The two, curriculum and culture,
therefore are interwoven. As culture undergoes transformation in time, so
must the curriculum. In this way, a curriculum exists in the service of the
nation and of society.

D. Professional, General and Post-Graduate Education

Many years back, educators and philosophers debated over whether college
education should be more for professional development or for liberal education. The two
aims of education were thought of as being on opposite poles. That is, if the curriculum
is slanted to general education, there is less professional training and vice versa. If
there is a bias for professional education, something is taken away from general
education.

At the University of the Philippines this was resolved with the institution of
General Education courses. General Education (GE) makes the individual a whole
person, able to cope with multi-dimensional aspects of life-relationship with the natural
environment, social life, economic well-being, cultural roots and identity, developments
and advances in science and technology, relationships with political-legal institutions
and contributing to political maturity and responsiveness.

Moreover, GE trains the person to be a life-long learner and equips the person
with analytical and explanatory tools as well as methods of observing, organizing of
observations and then making decision and judgments. In other words, the student
learns to identify and solve problems and scientific way.

In the University of the Philippines Mindanao, where the author is the Dean, we
review our curricula as somewhere in the middle of the continuum of general and
professional education. Our aims are to prepare a person to be a professional with
continuing proficiency in his/her craft, and able to induce productivity and growth of the
enterprise. At the same time, the person should be aware and must internalize social
and political responsibility, conservation and sustainability of natural endowment and
feel his cultural heritage. He must not neglected to appreciate the finer things in life-the
“good and the beautiful” and must contribute to make his surroundings a decent place to
live in.

In the teaching of the craft or the tools, knowledge and skills in the profession, we
believe that the teacher must not only teach content but must inculcate a liberal attitude
to his craft. That is, being open minded, creative, a problem-solver and change agent.

E. Procedures in Curriculum Development

 As pointed out earlier, curriculum, culture, science and technology, industry and
the economy and legal-political reality are interwoven. The curriculum, therefore, has to
be dynamic. There must be a formal mechanism for internal and external reviews.

Internally, the university/college must be sensitive to any discontinuity in society.

Globally it must be sensitive to new opportunities in the environment. All these changes
have to be watched, anticipated and even enhanced. A senior official of the university
must be made responsible for this function. Logically, this task will fall on the Office of
Academic Affairs or of Planning and Development Office. A system wide
recommendatory committee is usual appointed to do a fact to environmental changes
and opportunities.

External reviews need more time to prepare. In addition to representatives from

faculty, non-academic staff and students, representatives from industry, government,
NGO, and the professions as well as parents compose this committee. The
recommendation is usually validated in a forum with invited reactors.

Curriculum Planning

What is curriculum planning? Objectives #4, under section 4, “declaration of

objectives” of the Education Act of 1982 that the educational system aims to respond
effectively to changing need and conditions of the nation through a system of education
planning and evolution”. Bernard M. Reyes (1974) explains the nature and scope of
educational planning as follows:

Education planning is an instrument for providing the needed coordination and

direction of the different components of an education system and ensures that widely
accepted long-term goals, such as universal primary education, are approached more
objectively. It provides realistic appraisal of the country’s resources (material human
and institutional) which is and important factor in the successful implementation of the
plan. Though education planning, a country indicates its willingness to effect an orderly
change or reforming its education system by bringing into focus the shortcoming or
needs that hitherto had been ignored or unknown and so that appropriate action can be
affected coupled with the proper allocation of energies and resource to their sector.

Educational planning takes into account the past and present realities of the
country’s education and training programs. It is commonly preceded by survey of the
educational situation and needs. Well-organized statistics services are necessary to
provide essential and reliable data.

To ensure the full acceptance and implementation of the plan, person who is to
implant the plan, such as school administrators, supervisors, teachers, other personnel,
should participate in the formulation of the plan (Reyes, 1974).
 Reyes attributes to Boquiren (1965) certain accepted principles on which
educational planning is based, among which are first, that planning is a high-level staff
function professional guidance of the authorities in the determination of educational
goals and the evolving of the educational goals and evolving of educational policies and
their execution; (2) that education planning involves all levels of education of both public
and private sector and the related economic and financial agencies of the nation; (3)
education planning must be a comprehensive and continuous process and must be
periodically evaluated (Reyes, see Manuel, Guerrero, and Sutaria, 1974).

According to Reyes, the essential elements of educational planning are:

1. Quantitative planning. This covers all questions involved in the expansion of

educational facilities based on pedagogical, demographic, geographical,
economic, and social factors. Quantitative planning makes references to
school population (enrollment, drop out, and promotion) the recruitment of
teachers and supervisors, and the provision of classrooms and equipment
(furniture, laboratories, etc.).

2. Qualitative planning. This covers aims, content, and methods of education,

curricular planning (the levels and branches), teacher training, educational
guidance, research, and textbooks and other teaching aids.

3. Administrative planning. This is concerned with the needs and assets,

costs, sources or finance or distribution or expenditures (recurrent
expenditures and capital investment), grants, and loans.

In education planning, two approaches are: involved the macro

approach and the minor approach. The macro approach refers to the
over-all planning which is primarily concerned with the aggregates in
the education system; e.g., new enrollment at the various level,
numbers of schools to be constructed, etc. the macro approach, on the
other hand, lays emphasis on the individual component which go to
make up the educational system.

The essential steps in the planning process are: 1) statement of objectives; 2)

diagnosis of the present situation; 3) formulation of the plan; 4) implementation; and 5)
evaluation.

Varied terms used in the literature

There are varied terms used in the literature in connection with the curriculum
planning process. Among such terms are curriculum developing, curriculum
improvement, curriculum study, curriculum making, and of course curriculum
planning.
 As far as the term curriculum development is concerned many authors have
used, and continue to use, this term. Bernardino and Fresnoza (1963), for example,
state that curriculum development involves three kinds of activities: 1) planning the
experiences to be utilized, 2) reorganizing them in program, and 3) evaluating the
curriculum thus developed. In doing all of these, they explain further, attention is given
to the ultimate purposes of education, to the more immediate objectives, to the various
aspects of child and to the other factors associated with teaching (Bernardino and
Fresnoza, 1963).

To Agoncillo (1977), curriculum development should be regarded as “a practical

inquiry” the outcome of which is to specify the means for carrying out and educational
intent or purpose. Such an inquiry should focus attention on purposes, goals, and
objectives on a continuum from levels of generality to specify: on materials, media and
resources to be employed on plans of action at various levels and various educational
situations; and finally, on the evaluative measures for various specific purposes
(Agoncillo, 1977).

By the very nature of the curriculum, its development is a decision-

making process for many people. It affects a number of people, the
pupil or learner, who is the focal point of the entire endeavor, the
teacher, who is the primary implementer, the parents who after all will
foot the educational bill; the administrator/supervisor, who is
responsible for the leadership; and society in general, which will be the
ultimate recipient of the educational output (Socrates, 1977).

According to Socrates, there are many principles underlying curriculum

development, but one basic principle stands out namely that the curriculum should be
planned. In his own words: “there is simply no substitute to planning-systematic
planning” (p. 3). Consequently, Socrates adds, if systematic planning undertaken, there
are other principles which answer four basic questions: 1) who plans the curriculum?
(principle of cooperation); 2) When is the curriculum planned? (principle of continuity);
3) What are planned? (principle of comprehensiveness); and 4) How is the curriculum
planned? (the principle of systematic approach).

In addition Socrates states that curriculum development has certain stages or

phases (a) identifying objectives; (b) structuring learning experience; (c) deciding on
content; (d) organization; and (e) evaluation.

Stratemeyer et al. (1957) state that there are at least three facets to curriculum
improvement: first, continuous appraisal of the existing program in terms of emerging
needs; second, changes where evaluation indicates they are required; and third, the
operation of and effective ongoing educational program while making changes.
Conceived in this manner, curriculum improvement is a ceaseless process, flourishing
in a dynamic, flexible educational environment in which security and stability exist
without complacency or crystallization. To these writers, curriculum improvement is a
process which suggests a continuous study of programs.
 Aquino presents the following as part of the considerations in curriculum planning
and organization:

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Available monies Teacher style & Student:

(budget) technique Achievement

Facilities

Characteristics of Administration Style Attitudes

Students (Prior & technique
learning experience)

Community Need- Program operation Behavior

Programs

Besides, in developing a curriculum consideration must be given to the factors

that should determine the nature of the education to be provided to the children and
youth in the schools. Next the educator faces the responsibility of actually developing a
curriculum. What kind of experience shall be planned for pupils? How these units for
experiences shall is organized? What kind of curriculum should the school provide so
that pupils may attain the objectives of education it has defined?

These decisions become the curriculum plan. Such plan defines the nature of the
educational experiences to be provided pupils, the methods of selecting and organizing
the elements of the curriculum into coherence and unified program of education, and
the place in the education of the child and the sequential arrangement in which the
elements of the curriculum are to be developed. A plan for the curriculum is essential
efficiently to the attainment of the outcomes sought for the pupils.

The curriculum of the school is encompassed within the following aspects of

educational program:

1. The class programs of the school, which utilize bodies of contend selected
and organized on some predetermined structure.

2. Extra classroom activities.

3. Services provide by the school, such as guidance, health, library, food, and
transportation services, and special services fro exceptional children.
 4. The social life of the school and the interpersonal relationships among pupils
and teachers.

5. Organizational policies and procedures for providing the instructional

program.

Organization of learning content

Curriculum design refers to how the curriculum content is organized and laid for
purposes of instruction; this is intended to accomplish orderly and meaningful coverage
of content so as to bring about the cumulative effect of education in terms of residual or
habitual leaning. This also ensures economy through optimum use of time and effort,
efficiency through and orderly and systematic progression of learning and affectivity in
obtaining the desired learning outcomes. In organizing curriculum content we are
usually guided by the following complementary basic principles:

1. Balance. This refers to the equitable and fair distribution of content among
the different level of instruction to ensure that no level is unduly overburdened
or under burdened.

2. Articulation. This refers to provisions for establishing the vertical from level
to level. This way we can avoid the glaring “gaps” and wasteful “overlaps” in
subject matter and ensure and unbroken chain of learning. Proper articulation
promotes team work among the instructional staff and will prevent the
perennial “blaming syndrome” so prevalent in schools where this principle is
not observed.

3. Sequence. This term is used to describe the sequential and graded

arrangement of subject matter. It refers to a deepening and broadening of
content as it is taking up on the higher levels. The term Spiraling has been
used to denote this idea of sequence. For instance, a senior high school class
will take up paragraph writing but at a more sophisticated and advanced level
than a first year class.

4. Integration. This denotes the horizontal link or content in related subjects’

areas. There is integration where an individual is able to connect what he is
learning in a subject area to a related content in another subject area. Thus
concepts and skill learned in Math (e.g. geometric in science). The quality of
schooling improves as learners are able to integrate their learning instead of
acquiring isolated fragments of information. Ruing isolated fragments of
information. Integration helps a person to get a unified view of reality and to
use it to improve his total behavior pattern and outlook in life.

5. Continuity. This refers to a constant and consistent repetition, review and

reinforcement of major learning elements to bring about mastery or “executive
control” of subject matter. Learning is not a one-shot activity and requires
 continuing application for the new knowledge, skill or attitude or value to
endure habitual use in daily living.

Conclusion: Thus, it is useful for leaders to consider the need of curriculum

development incorporated with, planning, articulating and developing, implementing as
pointed above.

Questions to Answer

1. Having taken a course in curriculum- instruction, you are now task to enrich
the existing curriculum/program of the school/agency where you are
employed, how do you go about it? Enumerate the steps and discuss on how
you are going to work on this task.

2. Due to changes taking place in the society in what considerations would you
provide in the curriculum to meet the needs of the day and why?

3. Explain why in organizing the curriculum content, we should be guided with

the basic principles in organizing curriculum content and if not considered
what is likely going to happen?