Role of Teacher in Curriculum Development
Role of Teacher in Curriculum Development
Role of Teacher in Curriculum Development
Planning
Teachers know their students' needs better than others involved in the curriculum process.
While state or federal standards often dictate 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. Teachers from multiple grade-levels may collaborate to identify skills students
need at each level and ensure that the curriculum adequately prepares students to advance
to the next grade-level and to meet the standards.
Creation
Because teachers must use the curriculum, they should have input in its creation. A teacher
can gauge whether an activity will fit into a specified time frame and whether it will engage
students. If multiple teachers will use the curriculum, allow as many of them as possible to
provide input during the creation stage. As teachers provide input, they will gain ownership
in the final product and feel more confident that the curriculum was created with their
concerns and the needs of their particular students in mind.
Implementation
Teachers must implement the curriculum in their own classrooms, sticking to the plan that
has taken so much time, careful planning and effort to create. When a teacher fails to
properly implement a strong curriculum, she risks not covering standards or failing to
implement effective practices in the classroom. That does not mean a teacher cannot make
minor changes. In fact, a strong curriculum is designed to allow a teacher to be flexible and
to insert a few personalized components or choose from among a selection of activities.
Reflection
Reflecting on a curriculum allows teachers and others involved in the process to find any
weaknesses in the curriculum and attempt to make it better. Teachers reflect on curriculum
in multiple ways, such as keeping a journal as they implement the curriculum, giving
students surveys and reviewing the results or analyzing assessment data and individual
student performance. Not only can reflection serve to improve a specific curriculum, it may
guide the creation of new curriculum.
Course Implementation
Respondents teaching the standards reported a range of motivations, both intrinsic and
extrinsic, for adopting them during 2011. Of the 51 who reported their motivation, 90%
wanted to provide better opportunities for students. Most had a personal interest in the
topics. Some believed that adopting the new standards was good for the country or simply
the right thing to do. Some felt it would give credibility to computing as a subject, and 8%
were motivated by school management’s requirements.
Teacher confidence
The confidence of teachers and their sense of identity relative to the subject area is an
important consideration. The responses show relatively low confidence among teachers in
their ability to teach the new topics.
Adapter
As an adapter the role of teacher is just same as implementer that is what some conceptual
term which indicates that the teacher become ready to accept the curriculum in order to
implement it.
Developer
As a developer the teacher role is to take part in curriculum process. In Pakistan some
respective teachers are being invited to attend various meetings held by higher authorities
in order to make contributions in curriculum development process.
Researchers
1. Function
Significance
Teachers should be consulted about curriculum evaluation because they are ultimately
responsible for translating its objectives into specific lessons. According to the Alberta
Teachers' Association, teachers are ethically and legally bound to routinely assess students
and report their progress. A curriculum should help teachers do this by providing a realistic
set of goals and suggested techniques to assist students at all ability levels. When decisions
are made about changes in content, teachers can provide feedback based on their direct
interaction with students.
Features
Teachers routinely use assessment data to design and adapt instruction. They can also use
this data to evaluate the effectiveness of a curriculum. Informal assessments, as well as
standardized tests given at the end of the academic year, yield valuable information about
students' understanding of the concepts they have been taught. It is important to look at
each student's progress in comparison to the entire class. If a majority of pupils achieves a
proficient score, this usually indicates an appropriate alignment of curriculum standards and
assessment.
Effects
A teacher's role in curriculum evaluation affects the school's choice of textbooks, as well as
the adoption of special programs to augment educational standards. Classroom instructors
examine the curriculum's objectives to determine the relevance of the materials. If a great
disparity exists, school officials must reassess their programs or consider editing or
remapping the curriculum to best meet the students' needs. Utah State University's
education department advises teachers to assess their curriculum if students do not achieve
80- to 90-percent mastery on specific skills. In such a case, the curriculum may lack
instructional guidance necessary for teaching prerequisite skills. Conversely, if students
continually meet or exceed these percentages, teachers can propose advanced instruction.
Expert Insight
Over time, teachers gain insight to the effectiveness of a curriculum on their students' long-
term academic development. Thus, they should recognize an effective curriculum as one
composed of student-centered methods that emphasizes the teacher as a facilitator. This
type of instruction begins as early as kindergarten. Certainly, there will be a greater degree
of hands-on teaching at this level, but even students ages 4 and 5 are capable of applying
strategies like questioning and monitoring as the teacher reads a story to them. After they
learn to read, these techniques continue to guide their instruction.
The Alberta Teachers' Association advocates teachers as curriculum evaluators, citing that
experienced instructors—no matter what grade level they teach—know that mastery can be
measured through informal observation as well as tests. An effective curriculum will take this
into consideration when presenting assessment strategies. Teachers are uniquely qualified to
determine if student outcomes and curriculum objectives are properly aligned and
implemented.
Evaluation
Evaluation describes how to assess the nature, impact and value of an activity through the
systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of information with a view to making an
informed decision.
2: Gathering Evidence
3: Judgment
All evaluation plans should identify both participants (those directly involved in the project)
and stakeholders (those otherwise invested by credibility, control or other capital), and
should include the relevant items developed in the evaluation process.