INTRODUCTION:

Over recent years the study of the curriculum has assumed importance in all fields of education. The school curriculum of a country reflects the traditions, philosophy, values and principles of the country and people. Curriculum planning and development has itself become a specialized area of education. A well planned and administered curriculum contributes to the development of the country and its people.

The term ‘curriculum’ is derived from the latin word “curre” which means ‘run’. Thus curriculum means running race or course or ‘runaway’ for reaching a certain goal or destination as in a course of study1.

Pedagogically curriculum means the course of the studies to be pursued by the students or the content of education to be imparted through the organization of its entire work5.

DEFINTION:

In the words of Cunningham, “curriculum is in the hands of the artist (teacher) to mould his material (pupils) according to his ideals (aims and objectives) in his studio (school). This definition implies important role for the teacher in moulding the students, which gives a passive role to the students and it is the teacher who decide the aims and objectives of education¹.

The secondary Education Commission Report (1952-53) states that the “curriculum includes all the totality of experiences that a pupil receives through the manifold activities that go on in the school, in the class room, library, laboratory, workshop, playground and in the numerous informal contacts between teachers and students”^1,5.

Peynes’ definition of curriculum is that “curriculum consists of all the situations that the school may select and consciously organize for the purpose of developing the personality of its pupils and for making behaviour changes in them”¹.

CONCEPTS OF CURRICULUM:

The traditional concept of the curriculum represented the mastery over subjects, certain type of knowledge and skills, as the main objective of the educational programme. The teacher emphasized mastery over subject matter by the students according to a strict syllabus planned by the administrative system of the school. Passing of examination was the goal. The stress is on intellectual development, rather than on development of values¹.

The need of learner was not taken into consideration in planning the curriculum. This type of curriculum is static and not adaptable to individual needs.

THE NEWER CONCEPTS OF CURRICULUM:

According to the newer concepts of curriculum, education is a dynamic process, by which the learner is guided and helped to live in the present world making necessary adaptations, solving problems of life and being creative in planning and building one’s own future.

Education should include the various experiences the learner has in the school, outside the school, in the community and society in which one lives. In other words, the modern curriculum is learner cantered and not subject cantered. It is flexible according to changes in the environment¹.

Modern curriculum covers all the wider areas of individual and group life and include all the meaningful and desirable activities outside as well as inside the school, planned and organized and used educationally. The end product of the curriculum is the growth and development of the pupil, especially in relation to his power, abilities and interests.

CRITIERIA OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT:

Bhatia explains the ABC of curriculum as Articulation, Balance and Continuity.

Articulation:

Refers to correlation between subjects. Articulation in the organization of curriculum present mainly three problems.

First is the interdisciplinary problems. Teaching of various subjects like anatomy, physiology, psychology etc. are done by different teachers, at different times of the day and each subjects is dealt as though they have no relationships with each other. Correlation necessitates cooperative planning and material help and understanding among teachers.

Another area of poor articulation is in terms of theory and practice application. The student should be able to see that what is learned in theory classes have direct relationship with practical situations. The inter relationship between the subjects, like anatomy and physiology applied to daily problems of living must be understood by the learners.

A third articulation lies in the nature of the relationship between the school and the life outside the school community.

Balance:

Refers to the relation between the class room experience and learning experience outside the class or extracurricular activities like craft, arts or NCC.

There should be proper balance between direct and indirect experiences, theory and practice, individual and social aims, subjects taught and time allotted and between core subjects and electives.

The balanced curriculum will be a broad field curriculum containing humanities, social sciences and natural sciences organized into “core” and “periphery” subjects or general and special areas giving freedom for learners to choose according to their interest. Balance is the one which will help the students to meet all the needs of individuals – physical, intellectual, social, aesthetic, emotional and spiritual.

Continuity:

This refers to the vertical relation of the major elements of curriculum. The learners moves from one stage to the other, from one class to the other. Learning must be a continuous process².

SOURCES OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT:

KLSSE

KNOWLEDGE:

It is central to curriculum development with rapid expansion of knowledge resulting from new research findings in various discipline. The curriculum has to be changed as often as necessary to learn new ways and means of learning and students must know how to select and apply knowledge in the practical aspects and keep up-to-date with the necessary information.

LEARNERS:

The first and the most important aspect to be considered in any curriculum is the human aspect of the curriculum in which the needs and capacities of individual pupils are recognized. Learners vary in their culture, intellectual capacities, needs and interest.

SCIENCE:

Every day new discoveries and inventories are bombarding the society. Use of television, satellite and information network facilitate learning. Research findings and changes in practice areas especially in professional course content and skills to be learnt.

SOCIETY:

The cultural heritage values and ideals of society influence the objectives of education. The socio economic background, the employment opportunities and the consumer’s need for services affect the curriculum and type of education provided.

The major goal of education in the present world is the need for employment. The consumer demand for services are to be taken into consideration in preparing students for life activities especially in the job oriented, vocational and professional curricula.

EXTERNAL FORCES AND DIVINE:

The policy makers, government, universities, institutions of higher education, professional colleges and statutory bodies are the external forces and outside agencies which influence curriculum planning^{1, 3}.^.

CURRICULAM PLANNING:

Planning of curriculum is the responsibility of the faculty of a college. All the curricula of particular education which are prescribed by the statutory body may be the university in the state. In case of professional education the minimum required standard and experiences are prescribed by the concerned councils of the profession. Advancement of knowledge in various disciplines, research findings, changes in traditional customs, increasing availability of resources, all have effect on education, teaching and learning method. What is learned today becomes redundant in future. Therefore modification of curriculum is essential if the programme offered by the school is to keep pace with the changing society. Research in curriculum planning and implementation is much needed.

The conceptual model by Heidgerken depicts how the objectives of education are achieved through the educational process and the various dimensions of the process leading to desired outcome.⁵

THE COMPONENTS OF EDUCATIVE PROCESS

Figure 1: The components of education process

The components of the educative process are the learners, teacher and the subject matter. The subject matter is what is to be learned, the way it is to be learned and the setting in which is to be learned. Four dimensions in the educative process identified by Heidgerken (1965) are;

1. The substantive dimensions (the curriculum) what is taught and what is learned.

2. The procedural dimensions. It is the way and method. It also includes the teachers and learners motivation leading to self-learning.

3. The environmental dimension it is the physical and social factors in which teaching and learning take place. It includes all the learning environment like college, community and clinical laboratory.

4. The human relation dimension It includes the interaction with various people in the environment, teachers, other students and administrative staff; all the individuals who play some role in the learning process^5,1.

Components of curriculum:

The idea of rational curriculum planning accepted by a number of educationalists led to generic model of curriculum consisting of four main components namely, objectives, content, methods and evaluation⁷.

COMPONENTS (A.C.M.E)

BASIC CURRICULUM MODEL

Curriculum Planning:

The total curriculum plan should include, the overall objectives, objectives for each course units, lessons, type of learning experiences to provided methods of teaching, duration of each course and plan for evaluation.

Curriculum planning is a complex process involving many groups of people; like faculty, community leaders, subjects experts, consumers, students, employers of the prospective graduates, educationalist and psychologist⁶.

The curium planned in various stages, planning of curriculum as a whole, planning of various courses and units and lessons for each area.

Discipline:

All academic activities, curricular and extra-curricular, which are planned, includes staff and other students rules and decisions, routines as well as physical environment like building etc and social environment like community and public opinion all constitute curriculum.

Broad fields:

Curriculum is prepared by organizing subjects around new unifying centers, and bringing together subjects from different related subjects and grouping them under a new theme. Field selected for curriculum are humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

Correlation process:

It is an attempt to overcome the defects of the separate subject curriculum. With the aim to relate the various subjects so that each can better reinforce and complement the other.

b. Learner centred design:

Child centred:

Teaching must be that organization of subject matter into units of projects which would create opportunities for self-activity on the parts of the students. These should largerly replace the formal lesson.

Experience centred:

True learning is experiencing. It based on the needs and interests of learner is the surest means of effective learning. Experience means trying out. It describes what has been seen, felt, thought or done in a situation.

c. Problem centred design:

Life situation:

Programme has the students. Findings common interest and working together of students bring about growth in life related skills. There is flexibility in the content and instructional methods and variety of resources such as newspaper, journals, libraries, excursion, and audio- video tapes.

Social problems:

Development of social organization and moral development. Most of the fights and unhappy social situations which arise in the primary school is the result of lack of development of the social domain. Education should aim at development of social consciousness, character development of citizenship, ability to adopt to society and to be socially productive and of value to others³.

Phases of Curriculum Development:

There are four phases such as:

1. Planning phase

2. Development phase

3. Implementation phase

4. Evaluation phase

Planning phase:

In this phase, there will be a involvement of administrators, faculty and students in the curriculum. Review the curriculum by a committee to identify areas that need to be changed. The objectives, learning experiences provided, teaching and learning activities need to be studied. To arrange for orientation programmes for the staff to prepare them for change and to overcome resistances.

Development phase:

Prior to constructing a curriculum, we should consider certain factors⁷. They are:

Factor relating to learners:

Health

Family

Vocation

Religion and culture

Employment opportunities

Social civic and economic aspects

Psychological aspects and so on.

Factors related to the teachers:

Educational qualification

Level of preparation

Employment opportunities

Social civic and economic aspects

Psychological aspects .

Factors related to the subjects:

Subject content

Hours for theory and practical’s

Learning experiences

Audio visual aids

Method of teaching

Evaluation

Factors related to the environment:

Physical environment

Needs of the society

National aspiration and needs

Culture and changes in values

Problems of the society

Social changes

Technological changes

Economical changes

Political changes

Manpower need

Factors related to the Resources available:

Financial resources

Human resources

Material resources

Government regulation and policies.⁶

Implementation phase:

Once the curriculum plan has been finalized, the course modification steps have to be taken. Implemented by formulating objectives, course content, learning methods, teaching approaches and evaluation procedures. Behaviour changes expected in the students, with the implementation of the change have to be clearly stated. New teaching method also may have to be accepted according to the change.

Evaluation phase:

It must be used to monitor the progress of the students learning to determine the extent to which the objectives have been achieved and to find ways of improving teaching learning methods. This will give feed back to the planners and should be used to further improvement of curriculum.¹

REFERENCES:

1 DR. Aleyamma Kurian George, Principles of Curriculum Development and Evaluation, Published by Vivekananda Achagam, 2004.

2 Bhatia and Bhatia, Theory and Principles of Education, Douba Book House, Delhi 2000.

3 Saffaya, Mathur et al, Development of Educational Theory and Practice, Dhanpat Rai and Sons Delhi, 1982.

4 Tyler, Ralph, Basic Principles of Curriculum Construction, Chicago Press, 1949.

5 Heidgerkin, Lorreta, Teaching and Learning in Schools of Nursing Principles And Methods., J.B Lippincot, New York, 2002.

6 Neeraja KP, Textbook of Nursing Education, Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers, New Delhi, 2009.

7 Taba, Hilda, Curriculum Development: Theory and Practice, New York: Harcourt Brace and World, 1962.

8 Aggarval JC, Theory and Principles of Education, VIKAS Publishing House, New Delhi.

Received on 17.02.2015 Modified on 26.02.2015

Asian J. Nur. Edu. and Research 5(3): July- Sept.2015; Page 431-436

DOI: 10.5958/2349-2996.2015.00086.5