Curriculum Development

1. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN
ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES
BEC3341
Title: Enacting Curriculum Development –
Selecting Educational Environment and
Participants in Curriculum Development
Prepared for: Madam Wan Zainira Wan Bakar
Prepared by: Maslinda Binti Mohamad Saad
(BEC132103)

2. SELECTING EDUCATIONAL
ENVIRONMENTS

3. • William Ayers notes,
“The learning environment is a complex, living reflection
of a teacher’s values.”
• It is more than a reflection of a teacher’s values.
• Representation of values from communities of persons, seen and
unseen.
• Represents a surrounding in which teachers and students engage in
mutual communications.
• William Ayers:
 An educational environment must be arranged both physically and
conceptually – to challenge the breadth and depth of students’
abilities and interests.
• Deborah, Voltz, Sims and Nelson:
 An educational environment must be created and orchestrated – so
that students feel intellectually safe.
• Students should be encouraged to investigate content realms in
ways that appeal to them and in ways the celebrate their cultural
orientations to learning, topics and people.

4. • Often are ignored by curricularists and teachers.
• They just accept the classroom to which one is
assigned.
• Should be planned so that purposeful student activity
is stimulated.
• Ayers – individuals learn what they deem important
without much outside intervention.
• Try to make the environment appealing in order to
tempt the individual to try some learning and action.
• An effective educational environment encourages
learning, cheers human effort, celebrates social
interaction and encourages forming a learning
community.
• The educational environment is an ecosystem or
biosphere.

5. • Ursula M. Franklin:
“Education is not just happening in natural and human
biospheres, it is happening in numerous bitspheres.”
• Bitspheres exists within the ‘space’.
 The inner environments of the various technologies – in
school or out-of-school lives.
• Our technologies are enabling us to expand school space or
educational environments, to limits known and unknown.
• Much of the transformation of our lives by our increasing use
of technologies is occurring without our awareness.
• The new technologies are contribute to destruction or major
alteration.
• This may be less willing to engage in face-to-face interactions,
preferring instead to dialogue in cyberspace.

6. • John Goodlad – schools must develop an
ecocentric ethics.
 A school’s particular culture – the relationships
among all the people within the school and
outside the school.
 Students interact with institutions and school
practices.

7. • Brian Castaldi – suggested that curriculum
planners must consider educational
environments in which curricula are
experienced.
• 4 criteria that educators should employ when
designing curriculum environments.
i. Adequacy
ii. Suitability
iii. Efficiency
iv. Economy

8. 1. Adequacy
 Refers to planned spaces.
 Example: size of classroom, temperature controlled.
2. Suitability
 Relates to planned activities.
 Teachers must consider both the chronological and
development ages of their students.
3. Efficiency
 Refers to operational and instructional effectiveness.
 With the technology becoming a central part of the
educational environment, the efficiency criterion has taken on
new meaning.
 Students can skim through documents provided by ‘the
internet’ or ‘World Wide Web’ in a minutes instead of hours.
 Students can instantly develop personal connections with
multiple learning communities.

9. 4. Economy
 Refers to cost-effectiveness.
 Dealt with the specific cost of teaching some part
of the curriculum in the environment provided.
 Not simply related to the cost of doing
something teaching some subject.

10. PARTICIPANTS IN
CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT

11. • Teachers
• Students
• Principals
• Curriculum Specialist
• Assistant Superintendents
• Superintendents
• Boards of Education
• The Federal Government

12. Teachers
 Occupy the central position in curriculum making.
 Decide which aspects of the curriculum to implement in a
particular class.
 Decide how much time to spend on developing basic or critical
thinking.
 Involved with curriculum committees – organized by grade
level, subject area or the type of student under consideration.
 The committees reflect either Site Based Management (SBM)
or School Based Curriculum Development (SBCD).
 Teachers should involved in every phase of curriculum
development.
 Michael Fullan – “Teachers function is not only as codesigners of
expert curricular and instructional systems, but also as co-
researchers into the effectiveness of implemented curricula.”
 Teachers can create quality programs and also modify external
programs to personalize them.

13. Students
 Should have a voice in curriculum development.
 Their input into the contents and experiences of
the curriculum is important.
 Motivated to learn that explicit content.
 Motivated to learn implicitly that their opinions
and choices matters.
 Empowered and encouraged to assume
responsibility for matters that concern them.

14. Principals
 They need to involved to make sure that the
curriculum planning for school system is
successful.
 Fullan – “The school has been successful in
creating quality education as administered by
a good principals.”
 No new curriculum will be introduced or
created for schools systems without the moral
and psychological support of principals.

15. Curriculum Specialists
 Play major role in curriculum development and
implementation.
 Have broad knowledge of curriculum and are
experts in creating and implementing curricula.
 Responsible for ensuring that programs are
conceptualized, designed and implemented.
 Must know how to design and develop
curriculum and how to supervise and evaluate
instruction.

16. Assistant (Associate)
Superintendents
 Most responsible for curriculum development.
 Reports directly to the superintendent.
 Usually this person:
1) Chairs or advises the general curriculum advisory committee.
2) Informs the superintendent of major trends in the field of curriculum
– how these trends are affecting the school system.
3) Works with elementary and secondary directors regarding curricular
activity.
4) In charge of the budget for curricular activity.
5) Provides input into the statement of philosophy, aims and goals.
6) Guides evaluation relevant to aims and goals.
7) Manages long and short term activities designed to strengthen
programs.
 Also helps formulate policies concerning curriculum innovation.

17. Superintendents
 The school system’s chief administrator.
 Responds to matters before the school board.
 Initiates curriculum activity.
 Starts programs for in-services training for teachers.
 Informs all district personnel of changes occurring in other
schools.
 Process demands from outside the system for change or
maintenance of educational offering.
 Must establish the means for curricular action.
 Interpret all aspects of the school’s program to the board.
 Set up communication networks to inform and involve the
public with regard to curriculum process.

18. Boards of Education
 Schools’ legal agents.
 Composed of laypeople – usually elected as
representatives of the general public.
 Responsible for the schools’ overall
management.
 Must ensure that the curriculum advances the
school system’s goals.

19. The Federal Government
• Beginning in 1960s, the Federal Government
become a powerful force in determining
educational materials and their uses.
• Fullan – government should and can:-
 Push for accountability .
 Provide incentives.
 Foster capacity building.

20. Conclusion
• Educators must determine whether they are
responsible for educating students or
schooling students.
• Educators must make sure that, to what camp
they have allegiance.
• Reflection is required just to determine for
what purposes curricula are being developed.

21. THANK YOU…