The School Curriculum:

Definition, Nature and Scope

 Some Definitions of Curriculum
1. Curriculum is a planned and guided set of learning experiences and
intended outcomes, formulated through the systematic reconstruction of
knowledge and experiences under the auspices of the school, for the
learners’ continuous and willful growth in personal social competence.
(Daniel Tanner, 1980
2. It is written document that systematically describes goals planned,
objectives, content, learning activities, evaluation procedures and so
forth. (Pratt, 1980)
3. The contents of a subject, concepts and tasks to be acquired, planned
activities, the desired learning outcomes and experiences, product of
culture and an agenda to reform society make up a curriculum.
(Schubert, 1987
 Some Definitions of Curriculum
4. A curriculum includes “all of the experiences that individual learners have in
a program of education whose purpose is to achieve broad goals and related
specific objectives, which is planned in terms of a framework of theory and
research or past and present professional practice.” (Hass, 1987)
5. It is a programme of activities (by teachers and pupils) designed so that
pupils will attain so far as possible certain educational and other schooling
ends or objectives. (Grundy, 1987)
6. It is a plan that consists of learning opportunities for a specific time frame
and place, a tool that aims to bring about behavior changes in students as a
result of planned activities and includes all learning experiences received by
students with the guidance of the school. (Goodland and Su, 1992)
Some Definitions of Curriculum
7. It provides answers to three questions: 1. What knowledge,
skills and values are most worthwhile? 2. Why are they most
worthwhile? 3.How should the young acquire them?
(Cronbeth, 1992)

Some Points of View of Other Curricularists

Points of view about the curriculum can either be traditional or
progressive according to the person’s philosophical,
psychological and even psychological orientations. These
views can also define what a curriculum is all about.
Curriculum from Traditional Points of View
The traditional points of view of curriculum were advanced
Robert Hutchins, Arthur Bestor and Joseph Schwab.
 Robert M. Hutchins views curriculum as “permanent
studies” where rules of grammar, reading, rhetoric, logic and
mathematics for basic education are emphasized. The 3Rs
(Reading, Writing, ‘rithmetic) should be emphasized in basic
education while liberal education should be the emphasis in
college.
 Curriculum from Traditional Points of View
 Arthur Bestor as an essentialist believes that the mission of the
school should be intellectual training, hence curriculum should
focus on the fundamental intellectual disciplines of grammar,
literature and writing.
 Joseph Schwab thinks that the sole source of curriculum is a
discipline, thus the subject areas such as Science, Math, Social
Studies, English and many more.
 PhillipPhenix asserts that curriculum should consist entirely of
knowledge which comes from various disciplines.
 Curriculum from Progressive Points of View
John Dewey believes that education is experiencing.
Holin Caswell and Kenn Campbell viewed curriculum as all
experiences children have under the guidance of teachers.
Othaniel Smith, William Stanley and Harlan Shore likewise
defined curriculum as a sequence of potential experiences, set up in
schools for the purpose of disciplining children and youth in group
ways of thinking and acting.
Colin Marsh and George Willis also viewed curriculum as all the
experiences in the classroom which are planned and enacted by the
teacher and also learned by the students.
 Approaches to the School Curriculum
1. Curriculum as a Content or Body of Knowledge
-It is quite common for traditionalists to equate a
curriculum to a topic outline, subject matter or concepts
to be included in the syllabus or a books.
Four Ways of Presenting the content in the curriculum:
2. Topical Approach, where much content is based on
knowledge, and experiences are included;
3. Concept Approach with fewer topics in clusters around major and
sub-concepts and their interaction
 Four Ways of Presenting the content in the
curriculum:
3. Thematic Approach as a combination of concepts
that develop conceptual structures, and
4. Modular Approach that leads to complete units of
instruction.
 Criteria in the Selection of Content
There are some suggested criteria in the selection of
knowledge or subject matter. (Scheffer, 1970 in Bilbao, et al 2015)
1. Significance. Content should contribute to ideas, concepts,
principles and generalization that should attain the overall
purpose of the curriculum.
2. Validity. The authenticity of the subject matter forms its
validity. Thus there is a need for validity check and verification
at a regular interval, because content which may be valid in its
original form may not continue to be valid in the current times.
 Criteria in the Selection of Content
3. Utility. Usefulness of the content in the curriculum is relative to
the learners who are going to use these. It may have been useful in
the past, but may not be useful now or in the future.
4. Learnability. The complexity of the content should be within the
range of experiences of the learners.
5. Feasibility. Can the subject content be learned within the time
allowed, resources available, expertise of the teachers and the
nature of learners.
6. Interest. Will the learners take interest in the content? Are the
contents meaningful?
 Guide in the Selection of the Content in the
Curriculum
1. Commonly used in the daily life.
2. Appropriate to the maturity levels and abilities of the learners
3. Valuable in meeting the needs and competencies of the future
career
4. Related to other subject fields or discipline for
complementation and integration
5. Important in the transfer of learning to other disciplines.
 B A S I C S: Fundamental Principles for
Curriculum Contents
Palma in 1952 proposed that the contents in the curriculum should
be guided by Balance, Articulation, Sequence, Integration and
Continuity.
Balance. Content should be fairly distributed in depth and breadth.
Articulation. As the content complexity processes with the
educational levels, vertically or horizontally, across the same
discipline smooth connections or bridging should be provided.
 B A S I C S: Fundamental Principles for
Curriculum Contents
Sequence. The logical arrangement of the content refers to the
sequence or order.
Integration. Content in the curriculum does not stand alone or in
isolation. It has some ways of relatedness or connectedness to
other contents.
Continuity. Content when viewed as a curriculum should
continuously flow as it was before, to where it is now, and where it
will be in the future.
Scope. It consists of all the contents, topics, learning experiences
comprising the curriculum.
2. Curriculum as a Process
-It is seen as a scheme about the practice of teaching.
-Curriculum links to the content. While content
provides materials on what to teach, the process
provides curriculum on how to teach the content.
To teachers, the process is very critical. This is the
other side of the coin: instruction, implementation,
teaching.
When curriculum is approached as a PROCESS,
guiding principles are presented.
1.Curriculum process in the form of teaching methods or
strategies are means to achieve the end.
2. There is no single best process or method.
3. Curriculum process should stimulate the learners’ desire
to develop the cognitive, affective, psychomotor domains in
each individual.
When curriculum is approached as a PROCESS, guiding
principles are presented.
4. In the choice of methods, learning and teaching styles should be
considered.
5. Every method or process should result to learning outcomes
which can be described as cognitive, affective and psychomotor.
6. Flexibility in the use of the process or methods should be
considered.
7. Both teaching and learning are two important processes in the
implementation of the curriculum.
3. Curriculum as a Product
-is what the students desire to achieve as learning
outcomes.
-Is what the students desire to achieve as learning outcomes
-Is expressed in the form of outcomes which are referred to
as the achieved learning outcomes.
Thank you so much!