Conflicting Views on the Term Curriculum

People have different views of what constitutes the curriculum of a given school or of a school system. In fact the word curriculum is used very frequently by people both inside and outside the field of education, but each user seems to attach a different meaning to the term. Three different views are however clearly discernible from discussions and'writings on the topic, and each of these will be discussed in this chapter.

The first, and most widely expressed, view of the school curriculum is that which sees it as a group of school subjects meant to be taught to the learner. In keeping with this view people talk of the list of subjects on the curriculum of a particular school or school system. When people com- plain about a school system (or about the work done in a particular school) they tend to argue for or against the inclusion of certain subjects in the curriculum. Thus, in Pakistani, the school curriculum is often criti-cised for not being broad enough and for being limited to traditional literary and scientific subjects to the exclusion of vocational subjects. People have consequently advocated a broadening ofthecurriculum. As we shall see later in this chapter this ‘combination of the disciplines’ view of the school curriculum is not totally false. Its major problem is that it is in itself not broad enough. It tends to equate the school curriculum with the syllabus.

A second view of the school curriculum sees the individual school or school system as having several curricula, that is, each subject taught in school is seen as having its own curriculum. In keeping with this view people tend to talk of the History curriculum, the Chemistry curriculum, the Hausa Language curriculum, and so on. Again, while it is true that there» can be individual subject-based curricula, this view of the school curriculum is limited in that it does not see the learner being subjected to a total learning-teaching situation which involves his exposure to a wide ariety of activities initiated and organised by the school. The third view of the school curriculum embraces elements of the first two. It recognises the role of subject disciplines in the education of any group of learners. It attempts however to forge a closer link between the subject disciplines and related educational and school activities. The cur-ricultun is, according to this viewpoint, seen as a combination of the objectives of instruction, the subject-matter of instruction, the material of instruction, the strategies of instruction, the various learning experiences offered to the learner, and the evaluation of everything involved in the plamiing and execution of a school prograrmne. .

Objectives refer to expected changes in the behaviour of the learner after his exposure to a particular school experience or to a programme of instruction. For example, one of the major objectives of Pakistani educa-tion, as outlined in the National Policy, is ‘the acquisition of appropriate skills, abilities, and competencies both mental and physical as equip-ment for the individual to live in and contribute to the development of his society’. Subject-matter refers to the content of what is learnt by the learner. This can be seen both in terms of broad categories like History, Home Economics, Igbo, Biology, Mathematics, etc. , or in detailed form, as in the content of a particular subject discipline for a given group of learners. Material refers to the various aids (textbooks, teachers’ guides, student workbooks, laboratory equipment, audio-visual equipment, etc.) which could facilitate student learning. Strategies refer to the methods adopted to help learners attain the objectives of a given cur-riculum. In the process of learning the learner is exposed to all sorts of activities. He discusses, he asks questions, he explores, he investigates, etc. These make up learning experiences and they are a means of helping the learner attain the objectives of a school programme. Evaluation refers to the act of systematically collecting data and informationon all the pa-rts of a curriculum (like testing children and recording their marks, observing their work closely, seeing how well teachers teach, etc.) to enable people take the right type of decisions on curriculum matters.