Curriculum Development Argumentative

Curriculum
A curriculum is a set of courses or a plan for a particular area of study. Curriculum Curriculum is an organized program of learning, usually segregated by subject area, composed of four main categories: content, instruction, assessment, and context. Curriculum content can be understood as the information and skills students should learn and eventually know by studying the material. The instruction of curriculum refers to the way the course content is taught to students, perhaps through lectures amd class discussions, for example. Assessment is an important element of curriculum because it establishes how students will be measured on performance.

Curriculum Planning
A curriculum planning is an advance arrangement of learning opportunities for a particular population of learners. Curriculum planning is the process whereby theirs arrangements of curriculum plans or learning opportunities are created. It occurs when school faculties plan to fit new programs into existing ones and as the teacher’s responsible work together and individuality to arrange specific learning situations for the pupils they teach. Curriculum planning is the process of preparing for the duties of teaching, deciding upon goals and emphases, determining curriculum content ,selecting learning resource and classroom procedures, evaluating progress, and looking toward next steps.

Curriculum Development
Curriculum development is defined is the process of selecting, organizing, executing and evaluating learning experience on the basis of the needs, abilities, and interest of the learners and the nature of the society or community. It takes into consideration the following factors: 1). Nature of society which includes the cultural heritage, the needs and demands as well as the economic , social, political, cultural, moral and other problems of the people 2). The interest, the needs, previous experience and problems of the learners, and 3). The educational and psychological and psychological principles based on the finding of scientific studies and experimentation

It is also a continuous process since we can never exhaust the possibilities of improving the teaching learning situation.

Curriculum Evaluation
Evaluation of curriculum presents the final stage inside cyclic process of improvement and development of curriculum. Without evaluation procedure it would be hard to imagine monitoring of institution progress toward desired needs. This process is necessary to provide the evidences that institution made a step in the right direction, as well as useful information to stakeholders. It helps in the process of identification of problems inside curriculum and institution, solving of problems and redesigning of certain aspects of curriculum. Evaluation can be performed as short-term and long-term evaluation. Short-term evaluation has a role of “friendly” criticism, while the long term evaluation is a crucial one, with much deeper impact. Department for quality assurance is usually in charge for conducting of such procedures and it is up to them to decide about many aspects of this process. Evaluation of curriculum can be made through evaluation of many different aspects as:

* Psychological and interpersonal skill
* Continuing learning
* Professional satisfaction
* Practice behavior
* Educational achievement and cognitive development
* Institutional issues
* Student passing rates
* Making of clinical mistakes
* Clinical problem solving
* Educational cost per student
* Cost efficiency of graduates as practitioners

It is very important to carefully define the appropriate time for evaluation for each of these areas as well as the methods for its measuring. Evaluation will only have full meaning if it is followed by action in order to improve areas which are estimated as weak points of curriculum. This action is obligatory for relevant bodies and management structures and should be described precisely inside document policy agreement.

B. THE PLANNED & HIDDEN CURICULA
Formal or Official Curriculum – This includes the activities accommodated in the regular hours of school. The timetable of the school allocates specific periods of teaching time for different areas of the formal curriculum.

Informal Curriculum – Activities that occur outside of regular school hours, during breaks of lunch time, after school and sometimes on weekends, are also sources of learning and constitute the informal curriculum. These are sometimes referred to as extra-curriculum or co-curriculum activities and are therefore treated in a different way from the activities of the formal curriculum.

Hidden Curriculum According to Kelly (1989, p. 11). Educationists speak of the ‘hidden curriculum’ by which they mean those things which pupils learn at school because of the way in which the of the school is planned and organized but which are not in themselves overly included in the planning or even in the consciousness of those responsible for school arrangements. C. PURPOSES OF CURRICULUM

Its purpose is to simplify and strengthen the development and implementation of the qualification development and implementation. It specifies the inputs required in relation to the occupational profile, will be used as the basis for accreditation of providers and approval of workplaces for the work experience. It will also ensure that commonalities across qualifications are recognized and so providers will no long have to be accredited for every single unit standards in each qualification they contribute to. The curriculum will also provide guidance to the various role players on: * Access requirements

* Linkages to other related occupations
* Articulation with other learning pathways such as vocational
qualifications obtained in education institutions
* Content (scope and depth)
* Learning activities
* Development of learning materials and lesson plans
* Assessment requirements
E. CURRICULUM PLANNIG

Basic considerations in curriculum planning
The Curriculum Considerations section provides information on actual lesson plans and units, approaches to multicultural education, a multicultural calendar, multicultural planning questions, cooperative learning, multicultural goals and strategies, evaluating children’s books for bias, and cultural responsiveness. The example lessons are structured in a before and after format. The reader can view a lesson before multicultural restructuring and after multicultural restructuring in order to gain an understanding of how one’s own lessons can be modified. Planning questions are provided to guide a teacher in forming multicultural lesson plans. The goals of multicultural education and strategies are given in order to aid in the construction of one’s own planning questions. One multicultural strategy is the use of cooperative learning. This section provides a link to information about using cooperative learning in the classroom. Information about cultural responsiveness informs the teacher of his/her roles and responsibilities and how to utilize culturally responsive caring and teaching. All of the information provided in this section guides the teacher in practical applications of multicultural education.

Participants in curriculum planning
Persons Involved in Curriculum Design
The persons involved in curriculum design are teachers, students,administration, DepEd/CHED, alumni, parents, professionals, organizations, and business organizations. These are the persons who support and give life to the curriculum. 1.Internal- means inside

a.Teachers- are the developers and implementers of the curriculum. They arethe curriculum maker. The one who prepares activities for the students todo. b. Students- are the center of the curriculum. They are the reason why acurriculum is developed. They are the primary stakeholder in thecurriculum. They are the ones who make the curriculum alive. c.Administration-They are the ones who provide optimum educationalopportunities for all the children in school, like equipment, supplies ,finance, curriculum faculty and other personnel. They are the one who prepare the school budget and assist in curriculum construction. d. DepEd/CHED- this are the two agencies that has mandatory and regulatory powers over the implementation of any curricula, because all schools in the country are under the regulation of the national government as provided in the Philippine Constitution, then the government has a great stake incurriculum implementation. 2. External-means outside

a. Alumni- These are the graduate students, the one who are alreadyexperienced, and benefited the effectiveness of the curriculum. b.Parents- They are the supporters of the curriculum, because they are theones paying for their child’s’ education. They are willing to pay the cost of educating their child for as long as their children get the best learning or schooling experiences. They follow up the lessons of their childrenespecially in basic education. They provide curriculum materials that arenot provided in school. They provide permission for their children to participate in various activities outside the school campus. c. Professionals- They are engaged in an occupation as a paid job rather than as a hobby, showing a high degree of competence. They are being asked by curriculum specialists to contribute in curriculum review because they have a voice in licensure examinations, curriculum enhancement and many more. d.Organizations- A group of people identified by shared interests or purpose. This also refers to the group of students in school. e.Business Organization- They are the company or other organization that buys and sells goods, makes products or provide services for a course of study at a university, college and other education that teaches the basic principles of business and business practices

F. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
Different curriculum design
Approaches to Curriculum Design
There are three commonly used approaches to curriculum design. Theseapproaches are subject-centered, curriculum, learner-centered curriculum,and problem-centered. Each of these approaches has several specificexamples. I. Subject-Centered Curriculum

This model focuses on the content of the curriculum. This correspondsmostly to the textbook, written for the specific subject. Henry Morrison and William Harris-are the few curricularists who werefirm believers of this design. a. Subject Design- is the oldest and so far the most familiar design for teachers, parents and layman. b. Discipline Design- focuses on the academic disciplines.

c. Correlation Design- This comes from a core, correlated curriculumdesign that links, separate subject designs in order to reducefragmentation. d. Broad-Field Design/Interdisciplinary- is a variation of the subject-centered design. II. Learner-Centered Curriculum

The philosophy underlying in this curriculum design is that the child is the center of the educational process and the curriculum should be build upon his interest, abilities, purposes and needs. a. Child-Centered Design- This design is often attributed to the influence of John Dewey, Rouseau, Pestallozi, and Froebel. Learners interact with the teacher and environment. b. Experience-Centered Design- believes that the interest of learners cannot be pre-planned. c. Humanistic Design- the development of self is the ultimate objective of learning. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers- are the key lead personalities in this curriculum design. II. Problem-Centered Curriculum

This design draws on social needs, problem, interest and abilities of the learners. d. Life-Situations Design- The contents are organized in ways that allow students to clearly view problem areas clearly. . e. Core Design- It is centered on general education and the problems are based on common human activities

Selection and Organization of content and learning experience
Curriculum Organization – is the systematic arrangement of content and educational learning experiences for the effective employment of human and material resources for the attainment of educational objectives.-refers to the structure and form of the curriculum. Types of Curriculum Organization

1. Traditional Curriculum Patterns
a. Subject curriculum – is an organization in which the school subjects constitute the basis for organizing the school experiences of learners. b. Correlated curriculum – is one that articulates and establishes relationships between two or more subjects on the basis of a topic or a theme, or teaching similar topics on two or more subjects simultaneously In an effort to help students gain a better understanding of such topics. c. Broad Fields Curriculum – is essentially an effort to overcome the compartmentalization and atomization of the curriculum by combining several specific areas into larger fields.

2. Integrative Curriculum Patterns
Integrative Curriculum – entirely eliminates school subject division and broad fields of subject matter and organizes the learning experiences of the work of the school around the learner’s needs, interests, abilities, major functions of social life, and normal activities of learners. a. Learner-Centered Curriculum – is one that organizes its learning experiences and content around normal child activities such as exploring, listening, storytelling, playing and listening. b. Experience Curriculum is one that places emphasis on the immediate felt needs of learners and not on the anticipated needs and interest. c. Core Curriculum – is also called the social functions or Areas of Living Curriculum.

G. CURRICULUM EVALUATION
The importance of curriculum evaluation
Curriculum Evaluation-Every activity that has objectives needs corresponding evaluation that will determine the extent to which goals are being achieved. Evaluation therefore, is important for it serves as a way of making conclusions of the effectiveness of the activity being conducted. Curriculum evaluation refers to a systematic process of judging the value, effectiveness, and adequacy of a curriculum: its process, product and setting. Curriculum evaluation models

1 Context, Input, Process, Product Model (CIPP Model)
Daniel L. Stufflebeam (1971), introduced a widely cited model of evaluation known as the CIPP (context, input, process and product) model. The approach when applied to education aims to determine if a particular educational effort has resulted in a positive change in school, college, university or training organisation. A major aspect of the Stufflebeam’s model is centred on decision making or an act of making up one’s mind about the programme introduced.

For evaluations to be done correctly and aid in the decision making process, curriculum evaluators have to: * first delineate what is to be evaluated and determine what information that has to be collected (eg. how effective has the new science programme has been in enhancing the scientific thinking skills of children in the primary grades) * second is to obtain or collect the information using selected techniques and methods (eg. interview teachers, collect test scores of students); * third is to provide or make available the information (in the form of tables, graphs) to interested parties. To decide whether to maintain, modify or eliminate the new curriculum or programme, information is obtained by conducting the following 4 types of evaluation: context, input, process and product.

Stufflebeam’s model of evaluation relies on both formative and summative evaluation to determine the overall effectiveness a curriculum programme (see Figure 7.1). Evaluation is required at all levels of the programme implemented.

Context
Input
Process
+
Context
Input
Process
+

FORMATIVE

Product
Product

SUMMATIVE

Figure 7.1 Formative and summative evaluation in the CIPP Model

7.3.2 Eisner’s Connoisseurship Model
He proposed the Connoisseurship Model in which he claimed that a knowledgeable evaluator can determine whether a curriculum programme has been successful, using a combination of skills and experience. The word ‘connoisseurship’ comes from the Latin word cognoscere, meaning to know. For example, to be a connoisseur of food, paintings or films, you must have knowledge about and experience with different types of food, paintings or films before you are able to criticise. To be a food critic, you must be a connoisseur of different kinds of foods. To be a critic, you must be aware and appreciate the subtle differences in the phenomenon you are examining. In other words, the curriculum evaluator must seek to be an educational critic.

When employing the procedure of educational criticism the following questions may be asked: * What has happened in the classrooms as a result of implementation of the new curriculum? * What are some of the events that took place? (eg. more students are participating in field work, more students are asking questions in class, even academically weak students are talking in group activities) * How did students and teachers organise themselves in these events? * What were the reactions of participants in these events? (eg. students enjoyed working collaboratively in projects) * How can the experiences of learners be made more effective as suggested by students, teachers and administrators? (eg. more resources are needed for fieldwork, more computers are needed to integrate the internet in teaching and learning).

You will notice that these questions places more emphasis on the process of learning and the quality of experiences by those involved in the implementation of the curriculum; namely, students, teachers and administrators. According to the Connoisseurship Model, evaluators provide a description and interpretation of the curriculum plan implemented:

1) Description: The evaluator records the actions, the features of the environment and experiences of students, teachers and administrators. People who read the evaluation report will be able to visualise what the place looks like and the processes taking place. The aim here is to help the reader “see” the school or classroom and get a feel of what the curriculum evaluator or critic is attempting to understand and help others understand.

2) Interpretation: The evaluator explains the meaning of events reported by putting it in its context. For example, why academically weak students were motivated to ask questions; why reading comprehension skills improved; why enthusiasm for doing science experiments increased and so forth.

To be able to describe and interpret the implementation of a curriculum the evaluator has to collect data and the following are examples of activities an evaluator may engage in: * The evaluator observes what is going on the classroom and records teachers and students in action using videotapes, audiotapes and photographs. * The evaluator keeps notes of what is done, what is said and more importantly what is not said. The evaluator should strive to describe the tone of the curriculum in action (Ornstein and Hunkins, 1998). * The evaluator interview students, teachers and administrators about the quality of the curriculum * The evaluator would analysis student’s work.