Republic of the Philippines

PANGASINAN STATE UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDIES
Bayambang Satellite
Bayambang, Pangasinan

PAULANE ROJAS NAVALTA DR. RAZEALE RESULTAY

MAED-ECED PROFESSOR

CURRICULUM ESSENTIALS

I. CURRICULUM AND THE TEACHER

A. Curriculum in School
Who Implements the Curriculum?
 The curriculum is implemented by teachers and depends on the quality of
teaching and learning strategies, learning materials and assessment. Only those
teachers who are trainees can play an effective role in defining and implementing
the curriculum.
Attitudes of Policy Makers
 Teachers cannot be taken for granted or viewed simply as skilled technicians
who dutifully realize a given set of teaching in accordance with the directives of a
distant authority.
 Policy makers should no longer assume that curriculum implementation is a
process that translates directly into classroom reality.
 Policy makers should identify, analyze and address any discrepancies between
teachers opinions and ideas offered for curriculum innovation
 Policy makers generally view teachers as technicians and do not
include them in the curriculum development process.
Why are Teachers Important in the Implementation of Curriculum?
 Teachers/educators are the major pillars in the teaching and learning process.
 A teacher does more than just implement curriculum. While curriculum
specialists, administrators and outside education companies spend countless
hours developing curriculum it is the teachers who know best what the
curriculum should look like.
 Teachers know their students better than others involved in the curriculum
process. While the state often dictates the skills covered by the curriculum, a
teacher can provide insight into the types of materials, activities and specific
skills that need to be included.
 A teacher can gauge whether an activity will fit into a specified time frame and
engage students. All teachers should be allowed to provide input during the
creation stage.
 Teachers must implement the curriculum in their own classroom sticking to the
plan that has taken so much time, careful planning and effort to create.
 Reflection on a curriculum allows teachers and others involved in the process to
find any weaknesses in the curriculum, and attempt to make it better.
Setbacks/Shortcomings of Involving Teachers in the Process of
Curriculum Development

 In the absence of adequate teacher training, teachers may rely on their

prior beliefs and experiences in interpreting the new curriculum. This
will contribute to the mismatch between what the curriculum aims to
achieve and what actually happens inside the classroom.

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How Can Professional Development Enhance Teachers Role in
Development and Implementation of Curriculum?

 It is the responsibility of teacher training and development programs to provide

teachers with opportunities to redirect their beliefs and reflect upon their
classroom practices, so that maximum targeted professional development can be
implemented.
Some topics to be addressed in designing professional development
opportunities for teachers who are implementing as new program:

1. Program Philosophy
It is important for teachers to understand the philosophy behind the
program and how it may impact students, parents, administrators and stake
holders.
2. Content
Teachers may find the curriculum introduces unfamiliar content they have
not taught in a while.
3. Resources
Adequate resources should be available for implementing a new
curriculum.
Time: Teachers should be allowed to have enough time to prepare and
deliver the new requirements of the new curriculum and take time to understand
the subject.
5. School Ethos
The overall belief of the school in the new curriculum, eg the
faculty and community recognizes the importance of the subject in the
school curriculum
6. Professional Support
Opportunities for professional development such as workshops, seminars,
best teacher awards.
7. Professional Adequacy and Interest
Teachers own interest, ability and competence to teach the curriculum i.e
confidence in teaching, attitudes and freeness to teach the subject.
II. THE TEACHER AS A CURRICULARIST
Curricularist
 A person who is involved in curriculum knowing, writing, planning, implementing,
evaluating, innovating, and initiating
 A teacher’s role is broader and inclusive of other functions and so teacher is a
curricularist.
What does a teacher do to deserve the label as curricularist?
 The classroom is the first place of curricular engagement. The first school
experience sets the tone to understand the meaning of schooling through the
interactions of learners and teachers that will lead to learning. Hence, curriculum
is the heart of schooling
Describing Teacher As Curricularist
1. Knows the curriculum
 Learning begins with knowing. The teacher as a learner starts with knowing
about the curriculum, the subject matter or the content.
 As a teacher, one has to master what are included in the curriculum. It is the
acquiring academic knowledge about formal (disciplines, logic) or informal
(derived from experiences). It is mastery of the subject matter.
2. Writes the curriculum
 A classroom teacher takes record of knowledge concepts, subject matter or
content. These need to be written or preserved. The teacher writes books,

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 modules, laboratory manuals, instructional guides, and reference materials in
paper or electronic media.
3. Plans the curriculum
 A good curriculum has to be planned. It is the role of the teacher to make a
yearly, monthly or daily plan of the curriculum.
 The teacher takes into consideration several factors in planning a curriculum.
These are: learners, support material, time, subject matter or content, desired
outcomes , context of the learners among others.
4. Initiates curriculum
 In cases where the curriculum is recommended to the schools from DepEd,
CHED, TESDA, UNESCO, UNICEF or other educational agencies for improvement
of quality education, the teacher is obliged to implement.
 Implementation of a new curriculum requires the open mindedness of the
teacher, and the full belief that the curriculum will enhance learning.
5. Innovates the curriculum
 Creativity and innovation are hallmarks of an excellent teacher. A curriculum is
always dynamic, hence keeps on changing. From the content strategies, ways of
holding, blocks of time, ways of evaluating, kinds of students and skills of
teachers, one cannot find a single eternal curriculum that would perpetually fit.
6. Implements the curriculum
 The curriculum that remains recommended or written will never serve its
purpose. Somebody has to implement it.
 Heart of schooling is the curriculum.
 It is this role where the teacher becomes the implementor of the curriculum.
 She is at the height of an engagement with the learners , with support materials
in order to achieve the desired outcome. It is where teaching, guiding and
facilitating skills of the teacher is expected to be the highest level.
7. Evaluates the curriculum
 How can one determine if the desired learning outcomes have been achieved?
 Is the curriculum working?
III. THE TEACHER IS A KNOWER OF THE CURRICULUM
 Curriculum should be understood by teachers and other stakeholders to affect
students, parents, politicians businessmen, professionals, gov’t officials, or even
common people.
 CURRICULUM came from the Latin word “currere” referring to the oval track in
which the Roman chariots raced
 CURRICULUM refers to the whole body of a course in an educational institution
or by a department (The New International Dictionary)
 CURRICULUM refers to the courses taught in schools and universities (Oxford
English Dictionary)
 CURRICULUM is equated with the syllabus regarded as all the teaching-learning
experiences which the students encounters while in school
IV. THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM: DEFINITION, NATURE AND SCOPE
A. Some Definitions of The Curriculum
1. It is a written document that systematically describes goals planned,
objectives, content, learning activities, evaluation procedures and so forth
2. The contents of a subject, concepts and tasks to be acquired, planned
activities, the desired learning outcomes and experience product of culture
and an agenda to reform society make up curriculum
3. A curriculum includes “all of the experiences that individual learners have
in a program of education whose purpose is to achieve broad goals and
related specific objectives, which planned in terms of framework of theory
and research or past and present professional practice.
4. It is a programme of activities (by teachers and pupils) designed

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 so that pupils will attain so far as possible certain educational and other
schooling ends or objectives.
5. Its is a plan consists of learning opportunities for a specified time frame
and place, a tool that aims to bring about behavior changes in students as
a result of planned activities and includes all learning experiences received
by students with the guidance of school.
6. It provides answers to three questions: What knowledge, skills and values
are most worthwhile Why are they most worthwhile? How should the
young acquire them?
B. Scope of Curriculum
1. Goals - The benchmarks or expectations for teaching and learning often
made explicit in the form of a scope and sequence of skills to be addressed
2. Methods - The specific instructional methods for the teacher, often described
in a teacher’s edition
3. Materials - The media and tools that are used for teaching and learning
4. Assessment - The reasons for and methods of measuring student progress.
C. Nature of Curriculum
 The instructional programme as indicated by the course offerings to meet the
varies requirements of a vast heterogeneous population
 The courses of study, embodying outlines of knowledge to be
taught
 All the experiences provided under the guidance of the school
 Curriculum is that which makes a difference between maturity and
immaturity, between growth and stasis, between literacy and illiteracy,
between sophistication (intellectual, moral, social and emotional) and
simplicity.
 It is the accumulated heritage of man’s knowledge filtered through the prisms
of contemporary demands and pressures. It is that wisdom considered
relevant to any age in any given location.
 It is that we choose from our vast amount of heritage of wisdom to make a
difference in the life of man.
V. APPROACHES TO SCHOOL CURRICULUM
Three Ways of Approaching a Curriculum
1. Curriculum as a Content
 Focus will be the body of knowledge to be transmitted to students using
appropriate teaching method.
 The likelihood of teaching will be limited to acquisition of facts, concepts
and principles of the subject matter; however , the content can also be
taken as a means to an end.
 Ways of presenting the content in the curriculum
 Topical approach- much content is based on knowledge , and
experiences are included.
 Concept approach - fewer topics in clusters among major and sub-
concepts and their interaction, with relatedness
emphasized
 Thematic Approach- combination of concepts that develop conceptual
structures
 Modular Approach- leads to complete units of instruction
 Criteria in Selection of Content (Scheffer, 1970 in Bilbao, et al
2009):
 Significance - Content should contribute to the ideas, concepts,
principles and generalization that should attain the overall purpose of
the curriculum. Content becomes the means of developing cognitive,
affective, or psychomotor skills of the learners.

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  Validity - Authenticity of the subject matter forms its validity. There is
a need for validity check and verification at a regular interval, because
content may not continue to be valid.
 Utility - Usefulness of the content in the curriculum is relative to the
learners who are going to use this.
 Learnability - The complexity of the content must be within the range
of the learners.
 Feasibility - Can the subject be learned within the time allowed,
resources available, expertise of the teachers and the nature of the
learners? Are the contents of learning which can learned beyond the
formal teaching-learning engagement? Are there opportunities to learn
these?
 Interest - Will the learners take interest in the content? What value will
the contents have in present and future life of the learners? Interest is
one of the driving forces for the students to lean better.
 Guide in the Selection of the Content in the Curriculum
 Commonly used in the daily life
 Appropriate to the maturity levels and abilities of the learners
 Valuable in meeting the needs and competencies of the future career
 Related to other subject fields or discipline for complementation and
integration
 Important in transfer of learning to other disciplines
2. Curriculum as a Process
 Curriculum happens in the classrom as the questions as by the teacher
and learning activities engaged in by the students.
 The process of the teaching and learning process becomes the central
concern of teaching to emphasize critical thinking, thinking meaning-
making and heads on, hands-on doing and many others.
 There are the ways of teaching, ways of managing the content, guiding
learning, methods of teaching and learning and strategies of teaching or
delivery modes.
 When curriculum is approached as a PROCESS, guiding
principles are presented:
 Curriculum process in the form of teaching methods or strategies are
means to achieve the end.
 There is no single best process in method.
 Curriculum should stimulate the learners' desire to develop the
cognitive, affective, psychomotor domain in each individual.
 In the choice of methods, learning and teaching styles should be
considered.
 Every method or process should result to learning outcomes which can
be described as cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.
 Flexibility in the use of the process or methods should be considered.
 Both teaching and learning are the two important processes in the
implementation of the curriculum.
3. Curriculum as a Product
 Central to the approach is the formulation of behavioral objectives stated as
intended learning outcomes.
 These learned or achieved learning outcomes are demostrated by the person
who has meaningful experiences in the curriculum. All these result of
planning, content and processes in the curriculum.

VI. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT: PROCESSES AND MODELS

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  Curriculum is a dynamic process involving many different people and procedures.
Development connotes changes which is systematic. A change for the better
means alteration, modification, or improvement of existing condition.
 To produce positive changes, development should be purposeful, planned and
progressive. Usually it is linear and follows a logical step-by-step fashion
involving the following phases: curriculum planning, curriculum design,
curriculum implementation and curriculum evaluation.
 Generally, most models involve four phases.
1. Curriculum planning considers the school vision, mission and goals. It also
includes the philosophy of strong education belief of the school. All of these
will eventually be translated to classroom desired learning outcomes for the
learners.
2. Curriculum designing is the way curriculum is conceptualized 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.
3. Curriculum implementing is putting into action the plan which is based on the
curriculum design in the classroom setting or the learning environment. The
teacher is the facilitator of learning and, together with the learners, uses the
curriculum as design guides to what will transpire in the classroom with the
end in view of achieving the intended learning outcomes. Implementing the
curriculum is where action takes place.
4. Curriculum evaluating determines the extent to which the desired outcomes
have been achieved. This procedure is on-going as in finding out the progress
of learning (formative) or the mastery of learning (summative). Along the
way, evaluation will determine the factors that have hindered or supported
the implementation. It will also pinpoint where improvement can be made
and corrective measures, introduced. The result of evaluation is very
important for decision making of curriculum planners, and implementors.
Curriculum Development Process Models
1. Ralph Tyler Model: Four Basic Principles Also known as Tyler’s Rationale, the
curriculum development model emphasizes the planning phase. This is presented in his
book Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction. He posited four fundamental
principles which are illustrated as answers to the following questions:
a. What education purposes should schools seek to attain?
b. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these
purposes?
c. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?
d. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained or not?
Tyler’s model shows that in curriculum development, the following considerations
should be made:
a. Purposes of the school
b. Educational experiences related to the purposes
c. Organization of the experiences
d. Evaluation of the experience
2. Hilda Taba Model: Grassroots Approach Hilda Taba improved on Tyler’s model. She
believed that teachers should participate in developing a curriculum. As a grassroot
approach Taba begins from the bottom, rather than from the top as what Tyler
proposed. She presented seven major steps to her linear model which are the ff:
a. Diagnosis of learner’s needs and expectations of the larger society
b. Formulation of learning objectives
c. Selection of learning contents
d. Organization of learning contents
e. Selection of learning experiences

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 f. Determination of what to evaluate and the means of doing it.
3. Galen Saylor and William Alexander Curriculum Model: Galen Saylor and
William Alexander (1974) viewed curriculum development as consisting of four steps.
Curriculum is “a plan for providing sets of learning opportunities to achieve broad
educational goals and related specific objectives for an identifiable population served by
a single school center.
a. Goals, Objectives and Domains - Curriculum planners begin by specifying the
major educational goals and specific objectives they wish to accomplish. Each
major goal represents a curriculum domain: personal development, human
relations, continued learning skills and specialization.
b. Curriculum Designing - Designing a curriculum follows after appropriate learning
opportunities are determined and how each opportunity is provided.
c. Curriculum Implementation - A designed curriculum is now ready for
implementation. Teachers then prepare instructional plans where instructional
objectives are specified and appropriate teaching methods and strategies are
utilized to achieve the desired learning outcomes among students.
d. Evaluation - The last step of the curriculum model is evaluation. A
comprehensive evaluation using a variety of evaluation techniques is
recommended. It should involve the total educational programme of the school
and the curriculum plan, the effectiveness of instruction and the achievement of
students. Through the evaluation process, curriculum planner and developers
can determine whether or not the goals of the school and the objectives of
instruction have been met. All the models utilized the process of (1) curriculum
planning, (2) curriculum designing, (3) curriculum implementing, and (4)
curriculum evaluating.

REFERENCES
Capilayan, C. (2017). Teacher as Curricularist. Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/criscapilayan/teacher-as-curricularist

Santos, Q. (2016). The Teacher as the Knower of the Curriculum. Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/quengsantos/the-teacher-as-the-knower-of-the-
curriculum

Varlapink. (2015). Curriculum Its Meaning, Nature And Scope. Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/valarpink/curriculum-its-meaning-nature-and-scope

Tejada, J. (2017). Approaches to School Curriculum. Retrieved from

https://www.slideshare.net/JunilaTejada/approaches-to-school-curriculum

Delacruz, D. & Del Mundo, D.F. (2016). Curriculum Development: Processes And
Models. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/
DianneCarmelaDelacruz/curriculum-development-processes-and-models