CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

TYPES OF CURRICULUM
Corresponding to the changes in the educational system, there also have been changes
in the concept of curriculum. With the advancement in the knowledge and technology
what should be included in the curriculum of basic general education has been
modified.
The contributions of psychologists and educationalists through research studies have
influenced greatly the organization of the content of curriculum. As new systems of
education developed, new psychological, philosophical and sociological principles
modified the educational process and new concepts of curriculum came into being.
These new concepts gave rise to formulation of different types of curricula:
1. The traditional or subject matter curriculum.
2. The activity curriculum.
3. The experience curriculum.
4. The undifferentiated curriculum
5. Basic education curriculum.
6. Life centered curriculum.
7. Core curriculum

1. TRADITIONAL/ SUBJECT MATTER CURRICULUM: the distinguishing

characteristic of subject matter curriculum is its preponderant emphasis on facts and
skills, and subject matter to be learned. The emphasis is on logical, rather than
psychological organization. Individual difference in learning is not considered. It is
assumed that all should learn from contact from the same sources at the same rate. It
stresses repetition and memorization and it is not often related to actual life situations.
DEFECTS OF TRADITIONAL/ SUBJECT MATTER CURRICULUM
a. It is conceived in terms of subjects
b. It is rigid and static
c. It is constructed by adults after their own image.
d. It stresses repetition and memorization.
e. It is not an expression of our cultural and spiritual heritage.
f. It neglects other informal agencies of education.
g. It neglects mother- tongue.
h. It is book- centered
i. It is not progressive
j. It is not comprehensive
k. Absence of technical and vocational studies
l. Domination by examinations.

2. THE ACTIVITY CURRICULUM

In the activity curriculum the subject matter is translated in terms of activities and
knowledge is gained as an outcome of activities. Great educationalists like Comenius,
Pestalozzi and Rousseau were advocates of learning through activity or work for
learning purpose. Activity curriculum is especially suitable to very young children.
Activities are used as medium for imparting all the requisite knowledge. Activity also
contributes to social development. Referring to activity curriculum the Wardha scheme
of education stated: “ We have attempted to draft an activity curriculum which implies
that our schools must be the place of work, experimentation and discovery and not of
passive absorption of information, imparted as second hand.” The child through self
activity and inquiry solves problems in his own creative ways. Projects are examples of
activities.
Children are active in nature. Constructive activities provide opportunities for
satisfaction of creativeness and lead to full and all – round growth of their personality.
The basic education curriculum recommended by Mahatma Gandhi is also a form of
activity curriculum where all knowledge is related to activity, practical experience and
observation.
Dewey stated that activity curriculum is a continuous stream of child’s activities
unbroken by systematic subjects and springing from the interest and personally felt
needs of the child. The schools become the place of work, experimentation and
discovery and not of passive absorption of information. The secondary education
commission points out the basis of teaching must be that organization of subject matter
into units of projects which would create opportunities for self activity on the parts of
the students. These should largely replace the formal lessons which lack proper
motivation and therefore fail to arouse real interest.
Activity also contributes to the social development of children, through discussion and
working together with other children in the school and through contact with outsiders
who help in the projects.
The activities involved in projects and practical work stimulate intellectual
development, manual skills and technical efficiency. However, it must be remembered
that all education which is needed for life cannot be given through activity alone. There
must be place for all other forms of learning which contribute towards development of
an all around personality.
Activity curriculum attempts to fit the scope and sequence of each child’s activities and
experience in the school to his biological, intellectual and social growth. Activities of
the heart, head and hands will be covered by the activity curriculum. All tasks
connected with craft work, those leading to healthy living, related to better knowledge
of physical and social environment, citizenship, recreational, cultural and linguistic
aspects, literature and fine arts are included in activities.

LIMITATIONS OF ACTIVITY CURRICULUM:

1. It may however be clearly noted that all the education which is needed for a full
and effective living cannot be imparted through activity.
2. There is a danger of over- activation. Too much of everything is abd. If over
passivity in education is undesirable, over activity may also lead to to lopsided
development.
3. THE EXPERIENCE CURRICULUM:
A curriculum which gives rich and varied experience of knowledge, skills, attitudes and
appreciation is called the experience curriculum.
In the words of john Dewey: “ Experience is a matter of interaction of organism with its
environment, an environment that is human as well as physical, that includes the
materials of tradition, institutional as well as local surrounding.”
True learning is experiencing. Experience based on the needs and interests of learners is
the surest means of effective learning. Experience means trying out. It is the inner
perception that a person has of events in which he participates. When learning from an
experience, an individual identifies and describes what has been seen, felt, thought or
done in a situation. The learner assigns a meaning to what he has experienced and
certain values are formed with each experience, building on to the previous experiences
and learning’s.
Experience may occur on different levels, and the meaning that each level has for each
learner will vary because of her past experiences and the extent to which they have been
synthesized and integrated into her behavior. This integration is done by the learner
herself and the teacher cannot do integration in the minds of the learner. However,
teacher has an important role to play in this process through the selection of appropriate
learning experiences and guidance of the learner through the experiences.

TYPES OF EXPERIENCE
Three levels of experiences are identified here, direct experiences, mediated
experiences and indirect experiences.
1. DIRECT EXPERIENCES: Direct experiences are those which provide firsthand
knowledge. Experiences in the form of educational and historical trips, visits and
excursions, doing manual work executing projects and handling various objects fall
under this category. Such experiences involve both physical and mental activity and the
knowledge gained there form is always real and concrete. Children should, therefore be
provided as many of the direct experiences as possible in the school.
2. MEDIATED EXPERIENCES: this level of experiencing is the most abstract one
and comes through the use of words, written and oral and other symbols. It may be
called symbolized experiencing and learning- verbal and mathematical.
3. INDIRECT EXPERIENCES: indirect experiences are given through text books,
radio broadcasts, educational films and library services etc. Vicarious experiencing
through medium of audiovisual materials may be considered the second level of
experiencing and learning. It is less concrete than direct experiencing.
Both direct and indirect experiences are essential in a child’s education. In fact both of
them are complimentary and interdependent.
4. UNDIFFERENTIATED CURRICULUM (FUSED CURRICULUM):
“Differentiation means specialization and undifferentiation is the opposite of
specialization. Undifferentiated curriculum means a curriculum which does not aim at
the specialized study of various subjects. The fused curriculum lays emphasis on the
formation of worthwhile habits, skills and virtues. This is to be planned for the primary
and secondary level when study of specialized subjects is not expected. It contains a
certain amount of common knowledge and experiences which are essentials for all
children. The undifferentiated curriculum avoids the practice of compartmentalizing the
knowledge into various subjects as in subject curriculum and over emphasizing on the
activities as in activity curriculum. It gives an integrated experience to pupils with its
fused and common course of the study which lays foundation of worthwhile habits,
skills, appreciation and values which are essential for a fuller and balanced personality.
Undifferentiated curriculum, later leads to specialization in various technical,
commercial, agricultural and administrative field. (Saffaya).

ADVANTAGES OF UNDIFFERENTIATED CURRICULUM:

1. The undifferentiated curriculum, with its fused and common course of study gives
integrated experience to pupils. It is on the basis of fused knowledge that experiences
can be integrated, which later, lead to a mature personality.
2. This curriculum leads to the foundation of worthwhile habits, skills, aptitudes,
appreciations and values which are essential for a fuller and balanced personality.
3. Undifferentiated curriculum later leads to specialization in various technical,
commercial, agricultural and administrative fields.
5. BASIC EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM: basic education was conceived and
explained by Mahatma Gandhi who was unhappy with the education system of our
country. In order to create a new, free and independent India, he realized that the
educational system needed reform. He wanted the traditional school curriculum to be
replaced by a vital, dynamic, meaningful curriculum, related to the life experience of
the pupil.
Gandhiji regarded education as a means for fitting man to play a useful role in the
society. Basic education is essentially an education for life, through living. Its aims to
create a social order in which there would be no violence or exploitation of the masses.
In this scheme of education, all knowledge is related to activity, practical experience
and observation. The center for basic education is the core, in which there is productive
work, which is creative and socially useful for pupil without any distinction of class or
caste.
The curriculum of basic education has been constructed around three integrally related
centers, physical environment, social environment and craft. All subjects and activities
are coordinated with these centers in order much needed unity to school curriculum.

MAIN FEATURES OF BASIC EDUCATION CURRICULUM

The main features of basic education curriculum are as follows:
1. Education for life: education for life through living is a principal feature of basic
education.
2. Basic craft: basic education is planned and organized around a basic craft like
spinning, weaving, agriculture, dairy farming and industries. The creative and aesthetic
effects of craft is utilized in this curriculum.
3. An activity curriculum: principle of learning by doing is emphasized. Activity
which is productive work for the economic value is the aim.The curriculum should
organize and develop experience. The starting point of knowledge is the experience
acquired by the child in the course of everyday life. A properly organized school should
start with the child’s native interest and experience guide it to become inter related,
more systematic and more enlightened. This helps him in developing significant social,
intellectual and more attitudes which make him a truly educated person.
4. Principle of correlation: All learning are correlated to the center core. History,
civics, geography, language, mathematics and arts are taught in relation to the craft.
5. Mother tongue as the medium of instruction: Gandhiji emphasized that people of
free India must be educated through use of mother tongue and all Indians have the right
to express themselves in their own mother tongue. Education for all is to be free,
compulsory and in the mother tongue.
6. School and community relationship: in order to establish close relationship
between education within the school and outside, social and cultural programmes
involving pupils and community are to be arranged. The parents and community are to
be involved in the school activities so that the school is an expression of the aspirations
of the community.
Other ways of organizing curriculum are the correlated curriculum and integrated or
fused curriculum.
CORRELATED CURRICULUM:
It is an attempt to overcome the defects of the separate subject curriculum with the aim
to relate the various subjects so that each can better reinforce and compliment the other.
The correlated curriculum provides for relationship between and among subjects. There
are some possible points at which connections can be made between subjects. eg:
mathematical formula needed for solving problems in physics and chemistry, social
studies and literature etc. the teachers of various subjects will have to look for possible
correlation between subjects and apply them while teaching. Correlation necessitates
cooperative planning and mutual help and understanding among various teachers.

INTEGRATED CURRICULUM: integrated curriculum plan is also known as “broad

field” curriculum. It means, blended together or pouring together of subjects so that
students can see the integrated whole. Broad field curriculum is a modification of
correlated curriculum; subjects are grouped into broad fields such as language,
communication, natural sciences, social studies, physical curriculum, physiology and
the arts.
It is bringing together into a broad organization those subject matter elements which
have certain relationships. The learner cannot learn all the subjects, but can choose the
subjects from each broad field as he prefers.

6. LIFE CENTERED/ BALANCED CURRICULUM: Here the programme has the

students and not the subjects in view. The interests of the pupil facilitate learning and
thus the programme becomes more life related. Finding common interest and working
together of students bring about growth in life related skills. There is flexibility in the
content and instructional methods and a variety of resources such as newspapers,
journals, libraries, excursion, audio and video tapes make it possible to cater to the
needs of students with varied interests and abilities.
The teachers must know a great deal about the growth and development of children and
adolescents in order to successfully use the students centered approach.
Critics of student centered curriculum point out that there is problem of balance and
continuity in the organization of the curriculum because of the varied interests of
students as well as due to unstructured content.
7. CORE CURRICULUM: the term core has come to be applied to that part of
experience curriculum that is concerned with those kinds of experience that will
develop the general competences which all must have in order to live effectively in the
society. It is considered that there are some common learning’s which everyone needs to
have irrespective of one’s future occupation or way of life.
The core curriculum also includes learning experiences that will provide for the
specialized or varied competences of individuals with different interest and abilities.
Core curriculum is the general education aspect of teaching regardless of social status or
vocational choice of students. It is the common curriculum for all students which will
be balanced to give even coverage of those basic elements seem to be of fundamental
importance to ever member of society. It is the choice of key or central subjects, their
arrangements and organization and relation to one another and to the course as a whole.
The themes are extracted from life in general or from a particular field, from its current
issues and problems.
The elements making up the core curriculum are to be responsible to changing needs as
of the whole curriculum. The core curriculum seta the scene for the rest of the course
and must provide appropriate inspiration and substance for learning. It must provide a
sound basis and framework of principles and practice for further knowledge and
experience including post basic education. Once acquired, they can be applied in any
other context and it is transferable.

FEATURES OF THE CORE CURRICULUM:

1. It is the general education aspect of all teaching.
2. The core pattern is problem centered and focus is on common problems of the
learners.
3. Process of learning is important. The learner gets firsthand experience for living in
a democratic society.
4. There is preplanning by teachers as well as teacher student practice.
5. The emphasis of core is o total growth of students, socially, intellectually,
physically, emotionally and spiritually. The focus of learning is on common social and
personal problems of learners.
6. There is a need for blocks of time to provide learning experiences of varying types
like field observation.
7. The core pattern is oriented toward guidance and counseling for dealing with
student’s individual problems and need for self evaluation.
Successful implementation of core curriculum requires a wide range of cooperative
planning by all concerned with education: planners, teachers and students.