Nursing Curriculum
By
Mrs.Bhavisha Patel
Asst. professor
G.CON

Introduction
In today’s world of rapidly
shifting resources, institutions of
higher education are facing the
need to make numerous changes to
successfully meet the challenges of
the future. Creative, innovative
methods of curriculum delivery are
being exposed in an effort to
provide cost effective, quality
programming to an increasingly
diverse population of students.

The term “curriculum” was first used
in Scotland as early as 1820 and became
part of education.
The term “curriculum” is a Latin word
“currere” which means running race or
runway, which one takes to reach goal.

Definition
“Curriculum is defined as the formal and
informal content and process by which learners gain
knowledge and understanding, develop, skills, and
alter attitudes, appreciations and values under the
auspices of that school.”
- Ronald.c.Doll,1996
“Curriculum is a tool in the hands of the artist (teacher)
to mould his material (pupils) according to his ideals (aim
and objectives) in his studio (school)”.
- Cunningbam

Determinants
Psychological Scientific
Political
Sociological
Philosophical

Principles of Curriculum
Principles of Utility
Principle of flexibility
Principle of child-centeredness
Principle of life-centeredness
Principle of community-centeredness

Principles of Curriculum
Principle of correlation
Principle of activity-centeredness
Principle for the use of leisure
Principle of inter-relation of subject
Principle of development of culture
and civilization

Principles of Curriculum
Principle of need based activity
Principle of value-orientedness
Conservative principles
Principle of creative training
Principle of harmony

Competence
Experience
Knowledge

Knowledge centered curriculum
(subject centered)
Knowledge centered curriculum is
that curriculum in which knowledge is
divided in terms of isolated subjects, the
sequence followed is the logical sequence
pertaining to the particular discipline and the
logic is determined by the subject specialist.

Competence based curriculum
(Task oriented or activity based curriculum)
“ what should a learner be able to do and
what she should learn during the course?” is
the basic question that drives the making of
such a curriculum plan.
The focus is on the tasks that a successful
graduate Nurse need to do later as a competent
professional.

The tasks could be of
Cognitive problem solving skills,
Definitive communication skills or
Mixed type encompassing more than one
domain.
Nursing curricula need to adopt this
approach more widely.

Experience based curriculum
In this type of curriculum learner is
placed in the natural setting of the
community
Perhaps community oriented nursing
education is an ideal method of educating
learners.

Curriculum Development
Curriculum development is a deliberate process,
not a event, that takes concentrated time, effort and
faculty commitment.
The process consists of a series of systematic,
logical, dynamic spiraled and progressive stages that
can be time consuming and labor intensive.

STEPS OF
CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT
Formulation of
educational
objectives
Selection of teaching
learning
experiences
Organization of
teaching –
learning
experiences
Evaluation of
learning
objectives/
outcomes

Formulation Of Educational Objectives
Educational objectives formulated for a
given course of study will depend upon the
intended learning outcomes.

In formulating educational objections, it
is best to use words or phrases (eg. to identify, to
differentiate, to evaluate, to perform a particular
task or procedure, to elicit a response from) that
describe, as precisely as
possible, measurable or observable learning
outcomes.
Phrases like ‘to know’, ‘to understand’,
and ‘to appreciate’, which are not precise enough
for this purpose, may however be used in
statements that describe the general goals of a
course/programme.

Educational objectives will provide useful
guidelines for teachers to adopt a more systematic
approach in designing and planning instructional
strategies, particularly with respect to:
What to teach
How to teach
How to assess
What to evaluate

SELECTIONOF LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Learning experience is
defined as deliberately planned
experiences in selected situations
where students actively
participate, interact & which
result in desirable changes of
behavior in the students.
In nursing education,
selection of learning experience
is concerned with the decision
about the content of subject
matter & clinical, community &
laboratory practice.

Criteria for the selection of Learning
Experiences
Consistent with the philosophy
Varied & flexible enough
Give the students an opportunity to practice
Provide chance for the development of
independent thinking
Adapted to the needs of the student
Provide continuity, correlation & integration
Learning experience should be:

Planned & evaluated co-operatively by the
teacher & the student
Selected & arranged to give appropriate emphasis
& weight age according to the relative importance
of the various L.Es & contents.
should allow the student to learn by doing
should create motivation & interest among
students
selected should bring out multiple outcomes in
students
All learning experiences which are planned &
selected should be helpful to the student in
attaining the educational objectives.

Organization of learning experiences
• It has to be done carefully, systematically &
sequentially
• Acc to Tyler, primary aim of organization of
learning experiences in the curriculum is to
bring & relate various learning experiences
together to produce the maximum.
• Continuity, sequence & integration has to be
followed

Learning experiences have to be vertically & horizontally
organized
In vertical organization, the L.E
planned for the entire curriculum have to be
arranged in such a way that the learning
progresses week by week, month by month,
semester to semester & year to year.
In horizontal, all the learning takes
place in different times & are automatically
related to learning of another situation or
subject.

Elements of Organizing the Learning
Experiences
Grouping learning under subject headings
Preparation of master plan for curriculum
Placement of learning experiences in the total
curriculum
Preparation of the correlation chart
Organization of clinical experience
Types of teaching system have to be followed.

Evaluation of the curriculum
Curriculum evaluation involves an
assessment of the philosophy of the institution,
programme goals, nursing content taught in each
course, course objectives, teaching – learning
methods, course evaluation methods & the
relationship of non- nursing courses to the overall
plan of study.
Evaluation of a curriculum should be
efficient & effective.

Five M’s of curriculum evaluation
Men & other personnel involved
Money
Materials
Methods
Minutes

Curriculum models or conceptual models
provide faculty with a means of conceptualizing
and organizing the knowledge, skills, values &
beliefs critical to the delivery of a coherent
curriculum that facilitates the achievement of
the desired curriculum outcomes.
Curriculum models

Purpose of models.
Provide a blueprint for determining the scope
of knowledge.
Highlight the purpose they serve, their goals
and objectives, content & methods of
instruction & evaluation they promote.
These are the educational road maps.

Linear Development
• Linear nursing education models are objectives-
driven, emphasizing desired student-nurse
outcomes.
• Objectives or specific behaviors are established
and a step-by-step program is developed to teach
students and achieve desired outcomes.
• As an educational blueprint, linear models can be
assessed to determine if the stated objectives have
been reached.

Cyclic Models
Cyclic models portray nursing curriculum
development as a coherent and logical
procedure involving five specific mechanisms
including
Situational analysis,
Choice of objectives,
Content selection and arrangement,
Methods selection and arrangement and
Learning assessment.
This model assumes that what is being
taught is circular with no specific starting or
ending point.

Dynamic Models
Complex, flexible, interactive and
dynamic, this model encourages curriculum
development participants to debate, argue and
discuss the curriculum approach until arriving at
an agreed-upon result.
The model urges nursing educators, nurses,
doctors, students and health care community
leaders to have involvement and input in the
curriculum design and development.

The Tyler Model
In 1949, Ralph Tyler, a consultant
with the University of Washington School of
Nursing, introduced "Syllabus for Education
360," which was then revised in 1950 to
"Basic Principles of Curriculum and
Instruction." Tyler's model was based on
objectives or "goal-attainment," according to
Keating.

This is considered the Classic Curriculum
Model, one of the earliest ideas in education
that leads to the measurement of outcomes.
The Tyler Model remains the foundation for a
performance-based nursing curriculum.

Tyler identified four principles for teaching:
1. Defining appropriate learning objectives.
2. Establishing useful learning experiences.
3. Organizing learning experiences to have a
maximum cumulative effect.
4. Evaluating the curriculum and revising those
aspects that did not prove to be effective.

Curriculum Revision / Changing
the Curriculum

Curriculum Revision means making the
curriculum different in some way to give it a new
position or direction
This often means alteration to its philosophy
by way of its aims & objectives, reviewing the
content included, revising its methods & re
thinking its evaluatory procedures.

Approaches to Curriculum Revision:
Addition
Deletion
Reorganization

Stages of Curriculum Revision
Fred greaves describes the 7 stages in revising
a nursing curriculum
Stage I: Formation of Curriculum development &
evaluation committee
Stage II: Appraise the existing nursing &
educational practices
Stage III: make a detailed study of the existing
curriculum content
Stage IV: establish criteria for decisions

Stage V: Design & writing of the new
curriculum changes
Stage VI: within this stage the actual
implementation of changes put into action
Stage VII: evaluate the effects of those
changes & it is with evaluation that this final
stage is concerned.

Role of CurriculumCommittee Members
The process of curriculum construction is a
cooperative effort. In this national agencies, regional
and local level agencies, principals and the teachers
as well as community members are involved.

National agency
In Indian situation for the planning of secondary level
curriculum the agency involved at the central level is National
Council Of Educational Research And Training (NCERT).
It frames the curriculum and circulates it for adoption to state
departments of education, boards of examination etc.
It frames the curriculum in consultation with experts, subject
teachers, and heads of institutions.
Its task is to frame the curriculum in keeping with the national
policy on education.
The curriculum framework prepared by it is only suggestive
and it is for the state governments and boards of Examination
to accept it, modify it or reject it.

State Government
As mention above the NCERT prepares the
curriculum which is suggestive in nature and it is the
state government who decides to select, modify or
rejected.
Every state government appoints a board of
examination for secondary and higher secondary
examination. This board prescribes the curriculum
which has to be followed in all the institution which
are to be recognized for sending their students for
public examination conducted by the board.
Each board has a subject committee which prescribes
the content of the courses in that subject.

Indian Nursing Council
Indian Nursing Council plays a major role in
the development & revision of the nursing
curriculum
Nursing Educational Committee , part of INC
will prepare the curriculum for the prescribed
courses.
Members of the committee only will have an
opportunity to participate in curriculum
development & revision.

The Role of Teachers
Only those teachers who are the part of committee have
the opportunity to participate in this process.
The teachers working in aided and recognized schools
have no freedom to plan their own curriculum. But , the
teachers working in experimental innovative schools may
have the opportunity to do so.
But for the most of teachers it is not possible to do so.
They may only have some freedom in the transacting the
curriculum in prescribed framework.

The need for research in nursing
Nursing research is a needed in nursing practice,
education, administration, management.
Nursing research needed to discover, verify,
structure and restructure the professional knowledge
through systematic way.
Research is the only way to:
– Build a body of nursing knowledge
– Validate improvements in nursing
– Make health care efficient as well as cost
effective

Contd..
Nursing are expected to deliver the
highest quality care.
To get high quality need to update new
knowledge through nursing research.
It is needed to implement the research
into a scientific approach of facts finding.

Importance of Research in Nursing
Curriculum
To improve the quality of care.
To update the knowledge.
Research allows nurses to question their
practice, find answers and thus implement into
their area.
Evidence based practice.

Conclusion
Curriculum is considered as the blueprint of an
educational program.
We need to consider how to design the curriculum that
would work in the globalized world and for globalization,
how to design the curriculum that accommodates diversity
and differences, how to design the curriculum that is
meaningful to the students, and how to design the
curriculum that reflects to the concepts of the profession.
Nursing curriculum is the learning opportunities and
the learning activities that the faculty plans and implement
in various settings for a particular group of students, for a
specified period of time in order to attain the objectives.