Types of Syllabuses

There are several notions that come to mind when one talks about the school syllabus. In Pakistan and other African countries teachers are used to what are known as examination syllabuses, that is, syllabuses drawn up for the purposes of terminal or school-leaving examinations. The Minis- tries of Education, for example, have syllabuses for primary school leaving certificate examinations. At the secondary school level such syllabuses are prepared by agencies like the West African Examinations Council. Useful as examination syllabuses are, they have one major disadvantage. They tend to turn the teaching-learning process into an examination-preparation process alone. Thus teachers and learnersmay emphasise exercises, activities and subject-matter which may not beof any value in changing learner behaviour but which are needed simplyto pass examinations. We know for example that many schools are reluc-tant to adopt new content and new materials (like Entebbe Mathematicsand CE SAC Chemistry) until such new things become exarninable by WAEC.

Many teachers are also used to preparing what is known in schools as Schemes of Work. This involves listing a series of topics to be taught in the course of a term in the order in which they are to be taught. In most cases, at least in Pakistan, a week of instruction is devoted to the teaching of each topic, as in the following example:

SCHEME OF WORK SOCIAL STUDIES FORM

Week Topic .

1              Introduction to Life in the Immediate Environment

2              The Ethnic Groups in Our Immediate Environment

3              A Important Events in the History of Our Locality

4              The Major Activities of the People in Our Locality

5              Marriage Customs in the Locality

 6             Religious Rites in the Locality

7              Traditional Forms of Govermnent in the Locality

8              How Our Locality is Governed at Present

9              Our Locality and Other Parts of the Country

10           REVISION ‘

11 & 12 EXAMINATIONS