1. Joey R. Miñano

2. • Some examples of both student and
society needs are:
 to develop the attitude and practice of a
sound mind in a sound body
 To promote concern for protecting the
environment
 to develop a well-rounded individual
 to develop skills sufficient for competing in a
global economy
 to develop a linguistically, technologically, and
culturally literate person

3. • It is important to note that the needs of
the student cannot be completely divorced
from those of society, or vice versa.
• To further understand the needs of the
student and society let’s look at the
following classification scheme:
• needs of students by level
• needs of students by type
• needs of society by level
• needs of society by type

4. • The six levels of student needs of concern
to the curriculum planner may be
identified as:
1. human
2. national
3. state or regional
4. community
5. school
6. individual

5. • Another dimension is added when the
curriculum planner analyzes the needs of
students by types.
• Physical/Biological
• Socio-Psychological
• Educational

6. We can classify the levels of needs of society
from the broadest to the narrowest:
human
international
national
city
community, and
neighborhood.

7. The curriculum planner must additionally
look at the needs of society from the
standpoint of types. Some examples of
societal needs that have implications for on
the curriculum are:
political
social
economic
environmental
defense

8. • Each subject contains certain essential areas or topics
(the bases for determining the scope of a course) that,
if the learner is to achieve mastery of the field, must be
taught at certain times and in a certain prescribed order
(sequence).
• The sequence could be determined by:
• increasing complexity (as in mathematics, foreign
languages, English grammar, science)
• logic (as in social studies programs that begin with the
child’s immediate environment—the home and school—
and expand to the community, state, nation, and world)
• psychological means (as in career education programs
that start with immediate interests of learners and
proceed to more remote ones)

9. • The objectives of a needs assessment are
twofold:
1. to identify needs of the learners not being
met by the existing curriculum.
2. to form a basis for revising the curriculum in
such a way as to fulfill as many unmet needs
as possible.
• Conducting a needs assessment is not a
single, one-time operation but a continuing
and periodic activity.

10. • The needs assessment process is designed to
inform those affected by the process as to
which curriculum features should be kept as
is, kept with revision, removed, and/or added.
• Those conducting a needs assessment must
gather extensive data about the school and
community and must make use of multiple
means of assessment, including opinions,
empirical observation, inventories, predictive
instruments, and tests.

11. • They should follow constructive techniques
for involving and managing individuals and
groups throughout the process, and must
apply effective methods for sharing
information to keep participants and the
community abreast of the process. They must
seek out the help of persons trained and
experienced in curriculum development,
instruction, staff development, budgeting,
data gathering, data processing,
measurement, and evaluation.

12. Curriculum
Revision
Needs of
Learners,
Society and
Subject
Matter
Data
Collection
and
Analysis

14. Herbert Spencer’s
Description of Life
Activities

15. According to Spencer, the essential
activities of men which should serve as the
foci of educational effort and concern are:
1. Self-Preservation – the continuous living
of a healthy biological life – is the first
activity of living man.
2. Man must earn his daily bread. All
activities concerned with the production and
acquisition of material goods and of all
things necessary for life fall into this second
category.

16. 3. Men are family-livers of purpose of
procreation, sexual gratification, etc.
thus the third essential activity is family
living, especially the nourishing and training
of children.
4. Next to the responsibilities of the
family come those of the citizen. The
duties of the citizen are subordinate to those
of the family, since in a good liberal society,
family prosperity and happiness are
foundational to all social prosperity and
happiness.

17. 5. Finally, and as a sort of residual
category, is the use of leisure hours,
the “aesthetic” sphere of life, the
satisfaction of feeling and taste
principally in the disinterested
enjoyment of literature and art.

18. • If educators were to grant that these are
the five focal areas of human activity,
how would they help people to improve
their functioning in these areas?
Spencer’s answer to this question was
unequivocal, if oversimplified.
– Teach people the sciences which alone can tell
them truly how to perform these natural
functions. Teach them the appropriate facts, of
course by appropriate natural methods as
suggested above, concerning these life
activities.

19. – Spencer thus defended his claim that, for
intellectual, moral, and religious discipline the
best and ultimately only valid knowledge to
acquire is scientific knowledge. Science is as
much the educator’s answer to disciplinary
demands as to specific guidance of life
activities.