EMMA CONCEPCION T. SOGO-AN DR.

OLGA ALONSABE
System of Developing, Implementing Curriculum/EDFD July 6, 2019

NATURE OF CURRICULUM

Curriculum is a continuous reconstruction, moving from the child’s present experience out into that
represented by the organized bodies of truth that we call studies...the various studies...are themselves
experience—they are that of the race. (John Dewey,1902,pp.11–12)

Curriculum is the entire range of experiences, both directed and undirected, concernedin unfolding the
abilities of the individual; or it is the series of consciously directed training experiences that the schools
use for completing and perfecting the unfoldment. (Franklin Bobbitt,1918,p.43)

[The curriculum is] a succession of experiences and enterprises having a maximum life-likeness for the
learner...giving the learner that development most helpful in meeting and controlling life situations.
(Rugg,1927)

The curriculum is composed of all the experiences children have under the guidance of teachers....Thus,
curriculum considered as a field of study represents no strictly limited body of content, but rather a
process or procedure. (Hollis Caswell in Caswell &Campbell,1935,pp.66,70)

[The curriculum is] all the learning experiences planned and directed by the school to attain its educational
goals. (Ralph Tyler,1957,p.79)

A curriculum usually contains a statement of aims and of specific objectives; it indicates some selection
and organization of content; it either implies or manifests certain patterns of learning and
teaching....Finally, it includes a program of evaluation of the outcomes. (Hilda Taba,1962,p.11)

Curriculum is a sequence of content units arranged in such a way that the learning of each unit may be
accomplished as a single act, provided the capabilities described by specified prior units (in the sequence)
have already been mastered by the learner.(Robert Gagne,1967,p.23)

[Curriculum is] all planned learning outcomes for which the school is responsible....Curriculum refers to
the desired consequences of instruction. (James Popham & EvaBaker,1970,p.48)

The word curriculum means output of the curriculum development process that is intended for use in
planning instruction. (Michael Schiro,1978,p.28)

Curriculum is a plan for providing sets of learning opportunities for persons to be educated. (J. Galen
& William Saylor in Saylor, Alexander,& Lewis,1981,p.8)

The curriculum is not a tangible product, but the actual day-to-day interactions of students, teachers,
knowledge and milieu. (Catherine Cornbleth,1990)
Importance of Curriculum

Curriculum development. Curriculum matters mainly because of its potential impacts on

students. The fundamental purpose of curriculum development is to ensure that students
receive integrated, coherent learning experiences that contribute towards their personal,
academic and professional learning and development.
Types and Components of curricula
Any curriculum consists of several components: objectives, attitudes, time, students and
teachers, needs analysis, classroom activities, materials, study skills, language skills, vocabulary,
grammar and assessment.

What are the different definitions and types of curriculum?

When I asked my students what curriculum means to them, they always indicated that it
means the overt or written curriculum – thinking of a curriculum manual with goals and
objectives, or their textbooks. However, the word “curriculum” as it is defined from its early
Latin origins means literally “to run a course.” If one thinks of a marathon with mile and
direction markers, signposts, water stations, and officials and coaches along the route, this
beginning definition is a metaphor for what the curriculum has become in the education of our
children.

Here are multiple definitions of curriculum, from Oliva (1997) (4)

Curriculum is:

 That which is taught in schools

 A set of subjects.
 Content
 A program of studies.
 A set of materials
 A sequence of courses.
 A set of performance objectives
 A course of study
 Is everything that goes on within the school, including extra-class activities,
guidance, and interpersonal relationships.
 Everything that is planned by school personnel.
 A series of experiences undergone by learners in a school.
 That which an individual learner experiences as a result of schooling. p 4
What are the different kinds of curriculum?
Obviously the answer to this question is subject to interpretation. Since curriculum reflects
the models of instructional delivery chosen and used, some might indicate that curriculum
could be categorized according to the common psychological classifications of the four
families of learning theories “Social, Information Processing, Personalist, and
Behavioral.” Longstreet and Shane have dubbed divisions in curricular orientations
as: child-centered, society-centered, knowledge-centered, or eclectic. Common
philosophical orientations of curriculum parallel those beliefs espoused by different
philosophical orientations – Idealism, Realism, Perennialism, Essentialism,
Experimentalism, Existentialism, Constructivism, Reconstructivism and the like.

Whatever classification one gravitates to, the fact remains that at one time or another
curriculum in the United States has, at some level, been impacted by all of the above. In
essence, American curriculum is hard to pin down because it is multi-layered and highly
eclectic.

Curriculum is:
Anything and everything that teaches a lesson, planned or otherwise. Humans are born
learning, thus the learned curriculum actually encompasses a combination of all of the
following — the hidden, null, written, political and societal etc.. Since students learn all the
time through exposure and modeled behaviors, this means that they learn important social
and emotional lessons from everyone who inhabits a school — from the janitorial staff, the
secretary, the cafeteria workers, their peers, as well as from the deportment, conduct and
attitudes expressed and modeled by their teachers. Many educators are unaware of the
strong lessons imparted to youth by these everyday contacts.”

The following represent the many different types of curricula used in schools
today

Type of Definition
Curriculum

1. Overt, Is simply that which is written as part of formal instruction of

explicit, or schooling experiences. It may refer to a curriculum document, texts,
written films, and supportive teaching materials that are overtly chosen to
curriculum support the intentional instructional agenda of a school. Thus, the
overt curriculum is usually confined to those written understandings
and directions formally designated and reviewed by administrators,
curriculum directors and teachers, often collectively.
2. Societal As defined by Cortes (1981). Cortes defines this curriculum as:…[the]
curriculum massive, ongoing, informal curriculum of family, peer groups,
(or social neighborhoods, churches, organizations, occupations, mass media, and
curricula) other socializing forces that “educate” all of us throughout our lives. 24

This type of curricula can now be expanded to include the powerful

effects of social media (YouTube; Facebook; Twitter; Pinterest, etc) and
how it actively helps create new perspectives, and can help shape both
individual and public opinion.

3. The That which is implied by the very structure and nature of schools, much
hidden or of what revolves around daily or established routines.
covert
curriculum Longstreet and Shane (1993) offer a commonly accepted definition for
this term – the “hidden curriculum,” which refers to the kinds of
learnings children derive from the very nature and organizational
design of the public school, as well as from the behaviors and attitudes
of teachers and administrators…. ” 46

Examples of the hidden curriculum might include the messages and

lessons derived from the mere organization of schools — the emphasis
on: sequential room arrangements; the cellular, timed segments of
formal instruction; an annual schedule that is still arranged to
accommodate an agrarian age; disciplined messages where
concentration equates to student behaviors were they are sitting up
straight and are continually quiet; students getting in and standing in
line silently; students quietly raising their hands to be called on; the
endless competition for grades, and so on. The hidden curriculum may
include both positive or negative messages, depending on the models
provided and the perspectives of the learner or the observer.

In what I term floating quotes, popularized quotes that have no direct,

cited sources, David P. Gardner is reported to have said: We learn
simply by the exposure of living. Much that passes for education is not
education at all but ritual. The fact is that we are being educated when
we know it least.

4. The null That which we do not teach, thus giving students the message that
curriculum these elements are not important in their educational experiences or in
our society. Eisner offers some major points as he concludes his
discussion of the null curriculum. The major point I have been trying to
make thus far is that schools have consequences not only by virtue of
what they do teach, but also by virtue of what they neglect to teach.
 What students cannot consider, what they don’t processes they are
unable to use, have consequences for the kinds of lives they lead. 103

Eisner (1985, 1994) first described and defined aspects of this

curriculum. He states: There is something of a paradox involved in
writing about a curriculum that does not exist. Yet, if we are concerned
with the consequences of school programs and the role of curriculum in
shaping those consequences, then it seems to me that we are well
advised to consider not only the explicit and implicit curricula of schools
but also what schools do not teach. It is my thesis that what schools do
not teach may be as important as what they do teach. I argue this
position because ignorance is not simply a neutral void; it has important
effects on the kinds of options one is able to consider, the alternatives
that one can examine, and the perspectives from which one can view a
situation or problems. …97

From Eisner’s perspective the null curriculum is simply that which is not
taught in schools. Somehow, somewhere, some people are empowered
to make conscious decisions as to what is to be included and what is to
be excluded from the overt (written) curriculum. Since it is physically
impossible to teach everything in schools, many topics and subject
areas must be intentionally excluded from the written curriculum. But
Eisner’s position on the “null curriculum” is that when certain subjects or
topics are left out of the overt curriculum, school personnel are sending
messages to students that certain content and processes are not
important enough to study. Unfortunately, without some level of
awareness that there is also a well-defined implicit agenda in schools,
school personnel send this same type of message via the hidden
curriculum. These are important to consider when making choices. We
teach about wars but not peace, we teach about certain select cultures
and histories but not about others. Both our choices and our omissions
send messages to students.

5. Phantom The messages prevalent in and through exposure to any type of

curriculum media. These components and messages play a major part in the
enculturation of students into the predominant meta-culture, or in
acculturating students into narrower or generational subcultures.

6. What is taught, or emphasized at home, or those experiences that are

Concomitant part of a family’s experiences, or related experiences sanctioned by the
curriculum family. (This type of curriculum may be received at church, in the
context of religious expression, lessons on values, ethics or morals,
molded behaviors, or social experiences based on the family’s
preferences.)
7. Rhetorical Elements from the rhetorical curriculum are comprised from ideas
curriculum offered by policymakers, school officials, administrators, or
politicians. This curriculum may also come from those professionals
involved in concept formation and content changes; or from those
educational initiatives resulting from decisions based on national and
state reports, public speeches, or from texts critiquing outdated
educational practices. The rhetorical curriculum may also come from
the publicized works offering updates in pedagogical knowledge.

8. The formal curriculum (written or overt) comprises those things in

Curriculum- textbooks, and content and concepts in the district curriculum guides.
in-use However, those “formal” elements are frequently not taught. The
curriculum-in-use is the actual curriculum that is delivered and
presented by each teacher.

9. Received Those things that students actually take out of classrooms; those
curriculum concepts and content that are truly learned and remembered.

10. The Processes, content, knowledge combined with the experiences and
internal realities of the learner to create new knowledge. While educators
curriculum should be aware of this curriculum, they have little control over the
internal curriculum since it is unique to each student. Educators can
explore this curricula by using instructional assessments like “exit slips,”
reflective exercises, or debriefing discussions to see what students
really remember from a lesson. It is often very enlightening and
surprising to find out what has meaning for learners and what does not.

11. The Those lessons learned through searching the Internet for
electronic information, or through using e-forms of communication. (Wilson,
curriculum 2004) This type of curriculum may be either formal or informal, and
inherent lessons may be overt or covert, good or bad, correct or
incorrect depending on ones’ views. Students who use the Internet
on a regular basis, both for recreational purposes (as in blogs, wikis,
chatrooms, list serves, through instant messenger, on-line
conversations, or through personal e-mails and sites like Twitter,
Facebook, or Youtube) and for personal online research and
information gathering are bombarded with all types of media and
messages. Much of this information may be factually correct,
informative, or even entertaining or inspirational. But there is also a
great deal of other e-information that may be very incorrect, dated,
passé, biased, perverse, or even manipulative.
The implications of the electronic curriculum for educational practices
are that part of the overt curriculum needs to include lessons on how
to be wise consumers of information, how to critically appraise
the accuracy and correctness of e-information, as well as how
to determine the reliability of electronic sources. Also, students
need to learn how to be artfully discerning about the usefulness and
appropriateness of certain types of information. Like other forms of
social interaction, students need to know that there are inherent
lessons to be learned about appropriate and acceptable
“netiquette” and online behaviors, to include the differences
between “fair and legal usage,” vs. plagiarism and information
piracy.