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Assess the applicability of the
Hilda Taba’s model of
Curriculum Development on
HE curriculum
By Guide Bango
PGDHE 2020
C20140390D
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Presentation outline
• Learning outcomes
• Definition of terms
• Introduction
• Four Taba’s philosophical ideas on curriculum development
• The Taba model
• Steps in the Taba model
• Application of the Taba model
• Strengths of the Taba model
• Limitations of using the Taba Model
• Conclusion
• Questions/reflections/responses to questions
• References
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Learning outcomes
•Explain the key components of Hilda Taba’s
model.
•Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the
Hilda Taba’s model.
•Assess the applicability of the Hilda Taba’s
model of curriculum development on Higher
education.
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Definition of terms
• Curriculum is a programme of activities (by
teachers/educators/facilitators/lecturers/mentors and pupil/student)
designed so that pupil/student will attain so far as possible certain
educational and other schooling ends or activities, (Grundy 1987)
• Curriculum Development can be defined as the systematic planning
of what is taught and learned in
schools/colleges/universities/institutions of HE as reflected in courses
of study and school programs.
• A model is a format for curriculum design developed to meet unique
needs, contexts, and/or purposes. (Fry 2001, Ketteridge, 2003,
Marshall 2008)
• Higher education is all organized learning and training activities at
the tertiary level (UNESCO 1994: 7).
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Introduction
• The Taba Model was developed by Hilda Taba (1902 – 1967), an
architect, a curriculum theorist, a curriculum reformer, and a teacher
educator.
• She was born in Kooraste, a small village in the present Põlva county, in
south-east Estonia, on 7 December 1902, (Brady, 1992, p. 9).
• This presentation will focus on the applicability of the Hilda Taba’s model of
curriculum development to Higher education curriculum.
• She believed that there must be a process for evaluating student
achievement of content after the content standards have been established
and implemented.
• The main concept of this approach to curriculum development is that
teachers must be involved in the development of the curriculum.
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Four Taba’s philosophical ideas on
curriculum development
• Social processes, including the socialization of human beings,
are not linear, and they cannot be modelled through linear
planning. In other words, learning and development of
personality cannot be considered as one-way processes of
establishing educational aims and deriving specific objectives
from an ideal of education proclaimed or imagined by some
authority.
• The reconstruction of curricula and programmes is not a short-
term effort but a long process, lasting for years.
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Some of Taba’s philosophical ideas on
curriculum development…. contd
• Social institutions, among them school curricula and
programmes, are more likely to be effectively rearranged if,
instead of the common way of administrative reorganization—
from top to bottom— a well-founded and co-ordinated system of
development from bottom to top can be used.
• The development of new curricula and programmes is more
effective if it is based on the principles of democratic guidance
and on the well-founded distribution of work. The emphasis is
on the partnership based on competence, and not on
administration. 7

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Taba model:
• Taba model is inductive approach.
• start with specifics to a general design.
• i.e. teachers start by creating teaching – learning units for the students, then narrow down to
objectives.
• Her model is teacher approach.
• She believed that teachers are aware of the students needs hence
they should be the one to develop the curriculum.
• Taba’s is the Grass-root approach.
• the Taba model was an attempt to ensure that decisions about
curriculum are made on the basis of valid criteria and not whim or
fancy
• The main idea to this approach is that the needs of the students are
at the forefront to the curriculum.
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Steps in Taba model:
1. Diagnosis of learners needs and expectations of the larger
society.
2. Formulation of learning objectives.
3. Selection of the learning content.
4. Organization of learning content.
5. Selection of the learning experiences.
6. Organization of learning activities.
7. Determination of what to evaluate and the means of doing
it.
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Diagnosis of learners needs:
Begin by identifying the needs of the students for whom the curriculum is
planned
• Diagnosis of achievement.
• Diagnosis of students as learners.
• Diagnosis of curriculum problems.
Systematic diagnosis process:
1. Problem identification
2. Problem analysis
3. Formulating hypothesis and gathering data.
4. Experimenting with action.
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Formulation of learning objectives.
Specify objectives to be accomplished
Main objectives of education are:
1. To add to knowledge they posses
2. To enable them to perform skills which otherwise they would not
perform
3. To develop certain understanding, insights and appreciations.
4. Development of healthy personality.
5. Analysis of a particular culture and society which educational
program serves.
6. Transmit culture
7. Reconstruct society
8. Fullest development of individual
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Function of educational objectives:
To guide on curriculum decision on
What to cover?
What to emphasize?
What content to select?
Which learning experiences to stress?
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Principle of formulation of objectives:
• Objective should useful, cleared and concreteness
• Objective should describe both kind of behavior i.e. expected and
content
• Objective should be realistic
• Scope of objective should be broad
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Selection and organization of content:
Match content and objectives.
Organise content in a sequence, taking into account the maturity of the
learners, their academic achievement and their interests.
• Content should be rational base
• Validity and significance of content
• Consistency with social realities
• Appropriateness to the need and interest of students
• Making proper distinctions between the various levels of content
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Organization and Selection of the learning
experiences
Teacher selects learning experiences and methods that will involve the students
with the content
Sequence and organise learning activities
This involves more than applying principles of learning.
• Have you used a variety of teaching methods?
• When using lecture will you make that active with questions and discussion?
• Are there opportunities for students to learn from one another?
• Are there opportunities for students to apply what they are learning through solving
real problems or developing projects that could be used in a real work setting?
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Determination of what to evaluate and the
means of doing it
Determine how objectives are to be accomplished and what have been
accomplished.
• Plans need to be made for evaluation.
• How should the quality of learning be evaluated to assure that the ends
of education are being achieved?
• How does one make sure that there is consistency between the aims
and objectives and what is actually achieved by students?
• Does the curriculum organization provide experiences which offer
optimum opportunities for all varieties of learners to attain
independent goals?
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HILDA TABA MODEL
Taba believed that: "To evolve a
theory of curriculum development
and a method of thinking about it, one
needs to ask what demands and
requirements of culture and society
both are, both for the present and the
future. Curriculum is a way of
preparing young people to participate
in our culture."
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Activity
• Group 1: What are the main aspects of the model and how applicable
is it in the development of curricular for HE curriculum in
ZIMBABWE.
• Group 2: What are the major strengths of the model.
• Group 3: What are the limitations of the model
Each group to select a rapporteur who will give the findings to the rest
of class members
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Application of the Taba model
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Taba model is currently used in most curriculum designs.
• Identifying the needs of the students.
• Developing objectives
• Selecting instructional method
• Organizing learning experiences
• Evaluating

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Strengths of Taba model:
• Gives teachers a greater role by not just making them implementers of
the curriculum but also developers
• Uses the inductive method
• Teacher approach is used
• Notes that teachers are aware of the students’ needs therefore they are
the ones that should develop the curriculum
• Sees curriculum as a “plan for learning”
• Gives importance to objectives in order to establish a sense of purpose
for deciding what to include, exclude and emphasize in a curriculum.
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Strengths of using the Taba Model in the
classroom:
• Gifted students begin thinking of a concept, then dive deeper into that
concept
• Focuses on open-ended questions rather than right/wrong questions
• The open-endedness requires more abstract thinking, a benefit to our
gifted students
• The questions and answers lend themselves to rich classroom
discussion
• Easy to assess student learning
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Limitations of using the Taba Model in the
classroom:
• 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. Given
the reality of teachers' professional preparation and working conditions (Smith et
al., 2001), lack of skills, time and resources makes creating curriculum with this
approach difficult.
• Teachers may also find it difficult to strike an acceptable balance among the needs
and interests of students.
• Taba’s inductive model may not appeal to curriculum developers who prefer to
consider the more global aspects of the curriculum before proceeding to specifics.
• Can be difficult for non-gifted students to grasp
• Difficult for heterogeneous classrooms
• Works well for fiction and non-fiction, may be difficult to easily use in all subjects
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Conclusion
• In short, Taba advocated for a flexible model of curriculum renewal
based on joint efforts of practicing teachers, educational
administrators and researchers.
• Her curriculum model covers many of the critical topics, from aims
and goals of education, the selection of the content, the process of
organizing learning and school development, and evaluation at
different levels.
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THOUGHTS, REFLECTIONS AND
QUESTIONS
Time for Q and A
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REFERENCES
1. https://www.academia.edu/9273140/Curriculum_development_models_and_documents
2. https://norhazwanishuib.wordpress.com/2017/06/18/reflective-3-taba-model-of-curriculum-development-efland-theory-
cognitive/
3. http://www.ibe.unesco.org/sites/default/files/tabae.pdf
4. http://staffnew.uny.ac.id/upload/131405899/pendidikan/KAKUBUTEK+-+Curriculum+Development+PPT.pdf
5. https://brainmass.com/education/philosophy-of-education/592665
6. https://tisya09.weebly.com/uploads/5/5/0/0/55002293/edu555_week_3.pdf
7. https://www.slideshare.net/shanmahmood/child-development-by-shan-mahmood?next_slideshow=1
8. https://nurdinimhzn.wordpress.com/2017/04/06/taba-model-of-curriculum-development/
9. http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2474/Taba-Hilda-1902-1967.html
10. http://mrbeasleysaigsite.weebly.com/tabas-concept-development-model.html
11. http://www.vkmaheshwari.com/WP/?p=1861
12. Taba, Hilda. (1962). Curriculum Development Theory and Practice. New York: Harcourt, Bruce & World, Inc.
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• Brady, E.H. 1992. Hilda Taba as a prominent figure in educational science: her life and
scientific career in the United States. In: Jubilee Conference Hilda Taba–90: invited
addresses and reports, p. 7–14. Tartu, Estonia: University of Tartu.
• Costa, A.L.; Loveall, R.A. 2002. The legacy of Hilda Taba. Journal of curriculum and
supervision (Alexandria, VA), vol. 18, no. 1, p. 56–62.
• Krull, E.; Kurm, H. 1996. [Hilda Taba—a worldwide known educator from Estonia: Taba’s
biography, ideas, and impact on Estonian education.] Retrospectiven in Sachen Bildung, r.
2 (studien), no. 17. (www.schulmuseum.at/publikationen/retrospektiven.doc)
• Lewy, A., ed. 1991. The international handbook of curriculum. Oxford, UK: Pergamon
Press. Lindgren, H.C. 1972. Educational psychology in the classroom. 4th ed. New York,
NY: John Wiley & Sons.
• Parry, L.J. 2000. Transcending national boundaries: Hilda Taba and the ‘new social
studies’ in Australia, 1969 to 1981. The social studies (Washington, DC), vol. 91, no. 2, p.
69–78. Schon, D.A. 1987. Beyond the stable state. London: Temple Smith.
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