Assignment 2: A Template for Curriculum Construction (2-3 page paper)
Review and reflect on the curriculum in the organizational setting using the information in Chapter 2 (Englishs text). Describe the ways in which the curriculum content is selected in the organizational setting.
Describe how you think the process could be improved. Describe the curriculum guide used in your organization\’s setting and analyze whether it is user friendly.
Citations from the assigned readings (both texts) are required to support your statements and comments.
Assignment 2: A Template for Curriculum Construction
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Assignment 2: A Template for Curriculum Construction
Introduction
Curriculum development is a step-by-step process that requires a deeper understanding of all the requirements. It involves the systematic organization of what it should be taught. The curriculum content is very critical because it is the main source of knowledge (Keating et al., 2018). Curriculum development entails the decisions regarding who will be taught and how the course will be taught. Every component of the curriculum interacts with the other to ensure alignment (Keating et al., 2018). This paper looks into ways in which the curriculum content is selected as well as how the process can be improved.
The Process of Selecting Curriculum Content
The process of selecting curriculum content within the organization is complicated as it must satisfy the needs of groups of interest. According to English (2010), the selection of knowledge to include in a school curriculum is a fundamentally political act: similarly, the organization is affected and the process. One of the ways of selecting a curriculum is by asking the questions: Who benefits from selecting what is included in the school’s curriculum (Keating et al., 2018). The stakeholders also consider who is excluded or diminished by the contents.
The most common practice in developing a curriculum is by employing interested teachers during summer or after-school hours to write the curriculum. The teachers often begin by identifying their philosophies, which entails listing their common beliefs (English, 2010). Some of the beliefs include what the teachers believe children can learn. For instance, they may believe education should involve critical thinking, they may believe history will prepare students to live better in the world, or that education should develop the whole world.
The teachers then select curriculum contents based on their philosophy and beliefs. For instance, critical thinking often narrowly refers to solving higher order decontextualized mathematical problems or working in difficult scientific fields such as physics, chemistry, or biology. According to English (2010), statements that govern curriculum construction, are nothing more than ideological political screens to ensure that the final product aligns with the ideology. After this knowledge, or content is selected to match the screen.
Ways of Improving the Process
Because the curriculum development focuses on directing educationally induced political and social actions, the outcomes are exactly the products of an ideology rather than philosophy. The beliefs that assist in selecting curriculum content are statements of ideologies as opposed to philosophies (English, 2010). The process of selecting curriculum content should focus more on philosophy than political and social ideologies. Philosophies are much more pertinent to be concerned with processes and procedures than a doctrine of belief. Additionally, the process should begin with the needs assessment approach to develop and select curriculum content (Keating et al., 2018). A need assessment is a gap analysis about the existing level of pupil performance compared to the desired level of learners’ performance (English, 2010). Curriculum content can be selected to bridge the skill, knowledge, and performance gaps among students rather than to satisfy political and social ideologies that benefit a few individuals in power.
Conclusion
Curriculum development has hidden issues that most people and education stakeholders lack knowledge about. The process of selecting curriculum content is a vital step in the curriculum development process. The selection process is often designed to satisfy certain political and social ideologies, to benefit a few individuals, especially those in power. However, the process should be based on philosophy rather than beliefs. Also, the needs assessment result should guide the process of selecting curriculum content to meet learners’ needs rather than the needs of the political class.
English, F. W. (2010). Deciding what to teach and test: Developing, aligning and leading the curriculum (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Keating, S. B., DeBoor, S. S., & Keating, S. B. (2018). Curriculum development and evaluation in nursing education. Springer Publishing Company.