The document defines curriculum and discusses its key dimensions. It states that John Delnay defined curriculum as a purposeful plan for organizing learning interactions between teachers, students, and content. Some authors see curriculum as efforts to achieve desired student outcomes in and out of school. There are four major curriculum dimensions: informal, formal, non-formal, and guidance/counseling. The informal curriculum involves daily learning outside the classroom. The formal curriculum is structured learning in educational institutions. The non-formal curriculum involves daily activities related to work, family or leisure. [END SUMMARY]

1. ETB 2151
CURRICULUM STUDIES
Organized Richard Kasirye

2. DEFINITION OF CURRICULUM
• John Delnay (1959)  Curriculum is a design
PLAN for learning that requires the purposeful
and proactive ,organization sequencing, and
management of the interactions among the
teacher, the students and the content
knowledge we want students to acquire..

3. CONT.
• Some authors define curriculum as the total
effort of the school to bring about desired
outcomes in school and out-of-school
situations.
• Kerr (1968), defines curriculum as all the
learning which is planned and guided by
school whether it is carried on in groups or
individually.

4. CONT.
• Marsh, C. J. & Willis, G. (2003) define
curriculum as the totality of learning experiences
provided to students so that they can attain
general skills and knowledge at a variety of
learning sites.
• What is your definition of curriculum?

5. DIMENSIONS OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM
There are Four major dimensions of curriculum
which include:
• Informal
• formal
• Non-formal
• Guidance and Counselling

6. INFORMAL CURRICULUM
• “Informal education is that learning which goes on
outside of a formal learning environment such as a
school, a college or a university, therefore it is learning
outside of the classroom/lecture theatre; however more
can be said by way of providing a definition of the
term.
• Informal education can be seen as ‘learning that goes
on in daily life’, and/or ‘learning projects that we
undertake for ourselves“(Smith, 2009).

7. CONT.
• “learning that goes on in daily life and can be received
from daily experience, such as from family, peer groups,
the media and other influences in a person’s
environment” (Oñate, 2006).
Characteristics
 Conducted outside the formal curricula
Students can be situated anywhere on the hierarchy such as
workplace, family, social organization etc

8. CONT.
• No learning objectives specified. learners can
decide what systems or materials they interact
with
• No prescribed sequence of learning events or
certification

9. FORMAL/ OFFICIAL CURRICULUM
• “Learning that occurs in an organized and structured
environment (such as in an education or training
institution or on the job) and is explicitly designated as
learning (in terms of objectives, time or resources).
Characteristics
Formal learning is intentional from the learner’s point
of view.
It typically leads to certification.
occurs in an organised and structured context
Is a hierarchal system

10. CONT.
Prepares students for the next level, often with
certification for specific levels
Has compulsory component with time
restrictions on completing pedagogical units
Teaching and learning situations are structured
around objectives and assessment
Often has prescribed curriculum designed by
the state or by the institution

11. ASPECTS OF FORMAL
• In Formal curriculum the three aspects should be catered to produce a
balanced learner/ graduate
Co-
Curriculum
Core
Curriculum
Hidden
Curriculum

12. NON-FORMAL CURRICULUM
• “Learning resulting from daily activities related to work,
family or leisure. It is not organized or structured in
terms of objectives, time or learning support.
• It can be define "Any organized educational activity
outside the established formal system whether
operating separately or as an important feature of
some broader activity that is intended to serve
identifiable learning clienteles and learning objective"
Characteristics
• Centralization of the process on the student,
• For the student’s personal and professional growth.

13. EXAMPLES O NON-FORMAL
Sports programs organized of
community organization
Non-credit adult education programs
Computer and Language Classes in a
Community
Online free courses
Community training opportunities

14. CONT.
•It is well planned and no need of any
school system.
•A participatory learning system
•It is open ended educational system
•No need for structured course and
curriculum
•Age, Time and curriculum flexibility

15. CONT.
•Involvement of both public and private
sector in the process
•It is not necessary to conduct exam on
regular basis
•Credentials like certificate and awards
are not necessary to be awarded
•Self-learning is appreciated

16. ADVANTAGES
Formal education Non-formal education Informal education
· Known form of education · Informal · Anywhere and anytime
Trained teachers Flexibility in organization
and methods
can take place in almost any
other location
On a regular basis Acknowledging the
importance of education
use a variety of methods
Leads to a formally
recognized credential
After-school programs lifelong education
Community based
organizations
Can lead to greater
confidence in formal
classroom
It is more practical and
useful for day to day life
than
the theory based formal
education.

17. DISADVANTAGES
Formal education Non-formal education Informal education
· Formal · Drop-in: attendance
is inconsistent
tends to be
unpredictable
Rigid It doesn’t result in a
degree/diploma
Going with the flow
Program Teachers are not
trained but have
experience
· Conversations or
internet may have
wrong information
Classroom-based
Educational standards
It does not consider the
students’ standards,
values and attitudes

18. TASK 1
•Identify and explain with
examples the different types of
curriculum.

19. TYPES OF CURRICULUM
•Written Curriculum
The Written Curriculum is the published
curriculum that is part of the formal
education.
The Written Curriculum includes course
objectives, course guides, lesson plans,
course material and grading criteria.

20. HIDDEN CURRICULUM
•The Hidden, or Covert, Curriculum refers to
messages communicated by an
organization that are implied.
•The Hidden Curriculum may have more
influence than the Written Curriculum
because it is based on the norms and
values of the organization

21. HIDDEN CURRICULUM

22. TASK
•Sit in pairs and discuss your experiences at
your place of work and the surrounding
society.
•How is this experience related to what you
studied at college.
•Identify some of the elements of
curriculum mentioned in the first video.
•Demonstrate and explain the different
values in education curriculum.

23. NULL CURRICULUM
•The Null Curriculum represents the
material or subjects that are not being
taught as part of the written curriculum.
• When subjects such as music or art are
not included in the Written Curriculum and
thus form part of the Null Curriculum,
students may believe these subjects have
minimal value.

24. TESTED CURRICULUM
• The Tested, or Assessed, Curriculum is
the body of information on which
students will be tested.
•Teachers may prefer to teach material
that will be tested on state or school
tests to improve their success rates.

25. ELECTRONIC CURRICULUM
• The Electronic Curriculum includes all learning
activities that are Internet-based.
• By acknowledging the existence of the issues to
be considered with the electronic curriculum,
educators must take into consideration the
credibility of information on the Internet.

26. SELECTION OF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
•Every curriculum is aimed at developing in the
learners certain competencies or abilities.
•Curriculum aims range from the very broad
statement to the more specific. (aims, goals and
objectives).

27. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h56KTb4FbB8&t=606s

28. CURRICULUM DETERMINATES

29. CONT. CURRICULUM DETERMINANTS
Factors that influence curriculum designing
Political-
Political systems have a strong bearing on the curriculum
and education system of the country.
Democratic countries will tend to promote democratic
values in their curricula by granting freedom to learners
in what they learn? and how they learn it?
Therefore, democratic values become central in the
curriculum for that particular country

30. CONT. CURRICULUM DETERMINANTS
• Economic
Changing economic
needs due to regional
integration Changing economic
activities i.e from
Agriculture to oil refinery
Skills needed by the
employers
Changing demands in
the world of work
Countries level of
economic
development

31. CONT. CURRICULUM DETERMINANTS
• Technological
Changes in technology
Changing roles of the
teacher due to changes in
technology
Changes in the employment
skills needed to meet the
changes in technology

32. CONT. CURRICULUM DETERMINANTS
• Social
Core values and needs of the society
Changing values of society
Faith, beliefs and attitudes of people
Demands of modern society

33. CONT.
Learner related / psychological
1. Knowledge of the nature of the learner and learning process and the
condition facilitating optimum learning.
2. Knowledge of growth and development
3. Intelligence, development capacities.
4. Curriculum to be child centered, learning experiences should be
provided in accordance with the mental development of the learner.
5. Interests of the learner.

34. CONT. CURRICULUM DETERMINANTS
• Philosophical : there are a number of philosophical beliefs about true
knowledge that include; idealism, realism (Essentialism and
perennialism school)and pragmatism (associated with progressivist
school)
It is in accordance with the aspiration level of the individual
It helps in the development of proper philosophy of life.
It inculcates the desired ideals of life in the youngsters.
It reflects the ideals and aspirations of the people.
It is based on the philosophy of the nation.
It aims at the all-round development of the individual.
It enables the learners to learn the desirable cultural values,
intellectual virtues, societal norms and moral doctrine.
It helps in the development of the personal and national
character.

35. TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT ON
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
Two Schools of Thought Predominate
throughout history of curriculum
development:
•The Essentialist School
•The Progressive School

36. THE ESSENTIALIST SCHOOL
• It considers the curriculum as something rigid
consisting of discipline subjects.
• It considers all learners as much as the same and
it aims to fit the learner into the existing social
order and thereby maintain the status quo
• Its major motivation is discipline and considers
freedom as an outcome and not a means of
education.

37. CONT. THE ESSENTIALIST SCHOOL
• Its approach is authoritative and the teacher’s
role is to assign lessons and to recite recitations.
• It is book-centered and the methods
recommended are memory work , mastery of
facts and skills, and development of abstract
intelligence.
• Traditional Point of View Joseph Schwab’s view
of curriculum is that discipline is the sole source
of curriculum. He said that curriculum should
consist only of knowledge which comes from
discipline which is the sole source

38. CONT. THE ESSENTIALIST SCHOOL
• It has no interest in social action and life
activities.
• Traditional Point of View In our education
system, curriculum is divided into chunks of
knowledge we call subject areas in the basic
education such as English, Mathematics, Science,
Social Studies and others. In college, discipline
may include humanities, sciences, languages
and many more.
• Its measurement of outcomes are standard tests
based on subject matter mastery.

39. THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOOL
• It conceives of the curriculum as something
flexible based on areas of interest.
• It is learner-centered, having in mind that no
two persons are alike.
• Its factor of motivation is individual achievement
believing that persons are naturally good.

40. CONT. THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOOL
• Progressive Points of View Curriculum is defined as the
total learning experiences of the individual. This
definition is anchored on John Dewey’s definition of
experience and education.
• He believed that reflective thinking is a means that
unifies curricular. Thought is not derived from action
but tested by application.
• The Role of the teacher is to stimulate direct learning
process.
• It uses a life experience approach to fit the student for
future social life.

41. PROGRESSIVE POINTS OF VIEW OF
CURRICULUM
• Constant revision of aims and experimental techniques
of teaching and learning are imperatives in curriculum
development in order to create independent thinking,
initiative, self-reliance, individuality, self-expression and
activity in the learner.
• Listing of subjects, syllabi, course of study and list of
courses or specific discipline can only be called
curriculum if these written materials are actualized by
the learner.

42. STATING LEARNING
OBJECTIVES

43. CONTENT
Content has three components which are
considered in selection of content:
1. Knowledge
2. Process/skill
3. Affective

44. KNOWLEDGE COMPONENT
Concepts – regularities in objects of events designated by
labels
Ex: concept of water (liquid, colorless)
Principles – significant relationships between and among
concepts
Ex: Water boils at 100˚C

45. CONT. KNOWLEDGE COMPONENT
Theories – contain a set of logically related
principles that attempt to explain a phenomenon
Ex: Theory of Relativity
Laws – theories that have wide applicability and
have been continuously proven to hold true.
Ex: Laws of Motion

46. PROCESS/SKILL COMPONENT
Mental processes – used in handling, dealing
with or transforming information and
concepts
Physical/manipulative processes – used for
moving and handling objects

47. AFFECTIVE COMPONENT
Attitudes– have feeling and emotional tones
Ex: openness, respect for others’
rights
Values – serve as basis for determining when attitudes
and behaviors are appropriate and which are not.
Ex: truth, honesty, justice

48. CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF CONTENT
Relevance – Content reflects the social, cultural
and technological realities of the time
Balance – What is constant and what is
changing? There should also be balance
between the three domains of learning

49. CONT. CRITERIA OF CONTENT
SELECTION
Validity – refers to accuracy or inaccuracy of the
content. Content should also coincide with the
expressed aims of the curriculum.
Learnability – Content should be selected in
consideration with the learners’ level of
development.

50. CONT.
Feasibility – This criterion considers:
• resources (human, physical and financial)
• time allocation
• school calendar
• enabling legislation
• public support

51. LEARNING EXPERIENCES
• Instructional component of the curriculum
providing for the interaction between
teacher, student and content
• These include:
Teaching methods
Learning activities

52. CRITERIA FOR SELECTION
OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Appropriateness – Learning experiences should be
suitable to content, objectives, domain, and learners’
level of development.
Feasibility – feasible in terms of time, qualification,
experience of staff, available resources, safety and
legal considerations

53. CONT. CRITERIA FOR SELECTION
OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Variety – Different activities and methods are
required by different disciplines and domains.
Optimal Value – Learning experiences should
encourage learners to continue learning on their
own.

54. CURRICULUM EVALUATION
• According to Ornstein and Hunkins (1995), curriculum
evaluation is a process done in order to gather data
that enables one to decide weather to accept, change
or eliminate the whole curriculum in the text book.
• Evaluation is the process of making value judgements
about the merit or worth of a part or the whole of a
curriculum (unesco, nd).

55. CONT.
Objectives of Curriculum Evaluation
• To determine the outcomes of a programme.
• To help in deciding whether to accept or reject a
programme.
• To ascertain the need for the revision of the
course content.
• To help in future development of the curriculum
material for continuous improvement.
• To improve methods of teaching and
instructional techniques.

56. TYPES OF EVALUATION
Formative Evaluation. It occurs during the course of
curriculum development.
• Its purpose is to contribute to the improvement of the
educational programme.
• The evaluation results provide information to the
programme developers and enable them to correct
flaws detected in the programme.

57. CONT.
Summative Evaluation.
• In summative evaluation, the final effects of a
curriculum are evaluated on the basis of its
stated objectives.
• It takes place after the curriculum has been fully
developed and put into operations.

58. CONT.
• Diagnostic Evaluation. Diagnostic evaluation is
directed towards two purposes either for
placement of students properly at the outset of
an instructional level (such as secondary
school),or to discover the underlying cause of
deviancies in student learning in any field of
study.

59. ACTIVITY
• Describe the interrelatedness of curriculum
element
Objectives
Content
Methods and Teaching aids
Evaluation

60. CURRICULUM DESIGNING
• Is the way curriculum is conceptualized/interpreted to
include the selection and organization of the content,
the selection and organization of learning experiences
or activities and the selection of the assessment
procedure and tools to measure achieved learning
outcomes. Curriculum designs include; Subject-
centered, learner-centered, core and broadfield
curriculum

61. SUBJECT-CENTERED DESIGN
• This model focuses on the content of the
curriculum. The subject centered design
corresponds mostly to the textbook written for
the specific subject
• Students in history should learn the subject
matter like historians, students in biology should
learn how biologist learn, and so with students in
mathematics should learn how mathematicians
learn.

62. ADVANTAGES OF SUBJECT-CENTERED
CURRICULUM
• The subject-centered designer divides the curriculum into nice and
neat subjects such as math, science, history, literature.
• Focuses the education system on clear objectives which are
measurable.
• Creates a target for performance indicators of school managers.
• Conducting examinations, National grading and certification of
candidates can be easily done.
• Authority can easily plan for human, financial and material resources
in advance.
• It creates jobs for people in terms department heads and deans of
faculties.

63. CONT.
• Intellectual powers of individual learners can be developed
through this approach.
• Content to be taught can be controlled and monitored by
authorities at national, regional /provincial, District and school
level.
• Provides a wide base for learners to select from especially when
they want to select areas to major in.
• It is easy to implement especially by young inexperienced
teachers.
• Provides parents, schools, communities and other stakeholders
with an opportunity of setting expected performance standard of
the learners.

64. DISADVANTAGES
• The drawback of his design is that sometimes learning
is so compartmentalized.
• It stresses so much the content that it forgets about
students’ natural tendencies, interest and experiences.
• The assumption that information learned through
subject matter curriculum will be transferred for use in
everyday life situations may sometimes fail.
• Textbook are made by experts in the field who might
not put into consideration what knowledge and even
experiences a learner requires.

65. CHILD-CENTERED DESIGN (JOHN DEWEY,
ROUSEAU, PESTALLOZI AND FROEBEL )
It is anchored on the needs and interests of the
child.
The learner is not considered as a passive
individual but as one who engages with his/her
environment.
One learns by doing. Learners interact with the
teachers and the environment.

66. CONT.
 Experiences of the learners become the
starting point of the curriculum. Thus the
school environment is left open and free.
 Learners are made to choose from various
activities that the teacher provides.

67. ADVANTAGES
It gives power to the learners: they are
identified as the experts in knowing what they
need to know.
The constructivist element of this approach
honors the social and cultural context of the
learner.
It creates a direct link between in-class work
and learners' need for literacy outside the
classroom.

68. DISADVANTAGES
It often relies on the teacher's ability to create
or select materials appropriate to learners'
expressed needs.
This requires skill on the part of the teacher, as
well as time and resources.
Learners’ interests change from time to time. It
becomes difficult to predict.
Some learner interests are against the society’s
accepted values.

69. CORE CURRICULUM
• It centers on general education and the problems are based on
common human activities. The central focus of the core design
includes common needs, problems, concerns, of the learners.
• Advantages
 Provides basic knowledge of various content areas before they
specialize.
 Enables them to utilize general knowledge in the day to day
living.
 Provide parents, schools, and communities with an
unprecedented opportunity to debate and reach agreement on
what students should know and be able to do.
 Focuses the education system on understandable, objective,
measurable, and well-defined goals to enable schools to work
smarter and more productively.

70. DISADVANTAGES
• Creates a wide area of study which requires high concentration
during revision.
• It is expensive in terms of buying material resources, equipment
and personnel.
• It does not cater for individual learner’s interest and aspirations.

71. BROAD FIELDS
• Broad Fields - the curriculum is organized to cut across subject lines
and to emphasize relationships between subjects. It usually if
organized into a 3 to 5 fields. For example, fields for technical career
learning, professional and personal growth, supporting sciences, etc.

72. ADVANTAGES
• The relatedness enables learners to identify the application
knowledge in their day to day life.
• It helps to create a balanced person with wide thinking attitude
critical and comprehensive analysis.
• Enables learners to cover a wide area of content but in related
manner, for future inter - relationship and daily use.
• It saves time and resources.

73. DISADVANTAGES
• Students get a shallow amount of knowledge in comparison to the
deeper content of a single-subject.
• There is likely to be no teachers who can competently teach the
combined subject areas. They are likely to continue teaching in terms
of their original particular subjects.
• Text books which combine the merged areas may not be available.
• It is time consuming because of combining various subjects.
• This curriculum design doesn’t give teachers their professional identity
being recognized themselves as historians or geographers biologists
or chemists

74. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
• It is defined as the process of selecting, organizing,
executing, and evaluating, learning experiences on the
basis of the needs, abilities and interests of the
learners and the nature of the society or community.
• Some curriculum experts like Tyler say that the steps
are followed in a sequence or a straight line. This
model that assumes that curriculum decision making
follows a straight line is called linear model

75. CONT.
• Other scholars argue that curriculum decision making
is not a simple linear process that necessarily starts
with aims. One of them is Wheeler (1978) who believes
that curriculum decision making can start from any
point and can come back to any of the points e.g. like a
cycle
• Kerr (1968) also believes that curriculum process is a
very complex set of activities and decisions and they
interact a lot. Changes made in content may
necessitate changes in experiences, which may again
bring about changes in evaluation etc.

76. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT MODELS
Models of curriculum development may include but not limited to;
Tyler's model
Wheelers model
Hilda Taba
Kerr

77. TYLER’S MODEL
Tyler’s Questions of Curriculum Development will
provide 4 steps:
• What educational purposes should the school seek to
attain?
• What educational experiences can be provided that are
likely to attain these purposes?
• How can these educational experiences be effectively
organized?
• How can we determine whether these purposes are
being attained?

78. TYLER’S MODEL
Four Basic Principle
• Purposes of the school
• Educational experiences related to the purpose
• Organization of the experiences
• Evaluation of the experiences

79. WHEELER’S MODEL
• Evaluation
• Organization
and
Integration of
learning
experiences
• Selection of
Content
• Aims, goals
and
objectives
• Selection of
learning
Experiences

80. HILDA TABA MODEL

81. KERR’S MODEL
• Objectives Evaluation
Knowledge
School learning
experience

82. GENERAL CONCEPTS AND DESIGN
PRINCIPLES
• Alignment and Coherence - all parts of the curriculum must be
logically consistent with each other.
• Scope - the range or extent of "content" It must be sufficient to
lead learners to achieve the program.
• Sequence - is the ordering of learning experiences so that
learners build on previous experiences and move to broader,
deeper or more complex understandings and applications.
• Continuity - refers to the vertical repetition of major curriculum
elements in different courses over time.
• Integration - refers to the horizontal relationship among major
curriculum components at any given point in time.

83. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
• Basic understanding of curriculum development process can be
through the use of professor Skilbeck’s model of curriculum
development
Situation Analysis
Collection of data about; the education system, learner and the teacher
Pragramme building
-Design of teaching and learning activities i.e content, structure and
method, scope, sequence…
-Study materials eg. Resource units, text materials, videos…
-design appropriate institutional settings eg laboratory, workshops,
fieldwork
-Personal training, deployment and role definition
-Time tables and provisioning
Piloting, Interpretation and implementation
-Trying out the designed materials on sampled schools and making
corrections basing on field comments from the participating schools.
-Teachers organize learning activities and integrate them into classroom
situation
Monitoring, Feedback, assessment, reconstruction
-Design of monitoring and communication system
-Preparation of assessment schedules
-Reconstruction i.e ensuring continuity of the process
N.B Curriculum development is a continuous process to meet the
changing trend of education challenges.
Goal Formulation
Statement of expected learning outcomes aligning with educational gaps
found out during situation analysis (Aims, goals and objectives).

84. • Sources
• Definition formal education: Source: Cedefop, 2008.
Definition non-formal/informal education: Source: Cedefop, 2008.
http://www.shortly.nl/peZ
Disadvantage, advantages and information:
• http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-non-formal-education/
https://elearningargentina.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/informal-
http://enhancinged.wgbh.org/started/what/formal.html
http://wqd.nl/qJErt
http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-informal-education/
http://www.techne-dib.com.br/downloads/6.pdf
https://metranet.londonmet.ac.uk/fms/MRSite/Research/cice/pubs/professio
al/professional-04.pdf
http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-informal-education/

85. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Curriculum Development: The Philippine Experience.
• Garcia, Dolores (2007). Designing Curriculum. Rex Book Store.
• Reyes, Flordeliza C. (2000). Engineering the Curriculum. De La
Salle University Press.