Lesson 1.

1: The Curricula in School develop a generalized agility which can never be duplicated by mere training
and so on.
"The Sabre-Tooth Curriculum by Harold Benjamin (1939)"
"If you had any education yourself, you would know that the essence of true
A man by name of New-Fist-Hammer-Maker knew how to do things his
education is timeless. It is something that endures through changing
community needed to have done, and he had the energy and the will to go
conditions like a solid rock standing squarely and firmly in the middle of
ahead and do them. By the virtue of these characteristics, he was an educated
raging torrent."
man. New-Fist was also a thinker. Then as now, there were few lengths to
which men would not go to avoid the labour and pain of thought. The story was written in 1939. Curriculum then, was seen as a tradition of
organized knowledge taught in schools of the 19th century. Two centuries
New-Fist got to the point where he became strongly dissatisfied with the
later, the concept of a curriculum has broadened to include several modes of
accustomed ways of his tribe. He began to catch glimpses of ways in which
thoughts or experiences.
life might be made better fir himself, his family and his group. By virtue of
this development, he became a dangerous man... Formal, non-formal or informal education do not exist without a curriculum.
Classrooms will be empty with no curriculum. Teachers will have nothing to
New-Fist thought about how he could harness the children's play to better life
do, if there is no curriculum. Curriculum is at the heart of the teaching
of the community. He considered what adults do for survival and introduced
profession. Every teacher is guided by some sort of curriculum in the
these activities to children in a deliberate and formal way. These included
classroom and in schools.
catching fish with bare hands, clubbing little woolly horses, and chasing
away-sabre-toothed-tigers-with-fire. These then became the curriculum and In our current Philippine educational system, different schools are established
the community began to prosper-with plenty of food, hides for attire and in different educational levels which have corresponding recommended
protection from threat. "It is supposed that all would have gone well forever curricula. The educational levels are:
with this good educational system, if conditions of life in that community
1. Basic Education.
remained forever the same." But conditions changed.
This level includes Kindergarten, Grade 1 to Grade 6 for elementary; and for
The glacier began to melt and the community could no longer see the fish to
secondary. Grade 7 to Grade 10, for the Junior High School and Grade 11 and
catch with their bare hands, and only the most agile and clever fish remained
12 and for the Senior High School. Each of the levels has its specific
which hid from the people. The woolly horses were ambitious and decided to
recommended curriculum. The new basic education levels are provided in the
leave the region. The tigers got pneumonia and most died. The few remaining
K to 12 Enhanced Curriculum of 2013 of the Department of Education.
tigers left. In their place, fierce bears arrived who would not be chased by
fire. The community was in trouble. 2. Technical Vocational Education.
One day, in desperation, someone made a net from willow twigs and found a This is post-secondary technical vocational education and training taken care
new way to catch fish-and the supply was even more plentiful than before. of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). For the
The community also devised a system of traps on the path to snare the bears. TechVoc track in SHS of DepEd. DepEd and TESDA work in close
Attempts to change the education system to include these new techniques coordination.
however encountered “stem opposition”
3.Higher Education.
These are also activities we need to know. Why can't the school teach them?
But most of the tribe particularly the wise old men who controlled the school, This includes the Baccalaureate of Bachelor Degrees and the Graduate
smiled indulgently at this suggestion. "That wouldn't be education. it would Degrees (Master's and Doctorate) which are under the regulation of the
be mere training". We don't teach fish grabbing to catch fish, we teach it to Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
Content Focus museum, market or the plaza. These are the places where authentic
learning through direct experiences occurs.
In whatever levels of schooling and in various types of learning
environment. Several curricula exist. Let us find out how Allan Glatthorn 5. Assessed Curriculum
(2000) as mentioned in Bilbao, et al (2008) classified these:
Taught and supported curricula have to be evaluated to find out if the
Types of Curricula Simultaneously Operating in the Schools teacher has succeeded or not in facilitating learning. In the process of
teaching and at the end of every lesson or teaching episode, an
1. Recommended Curriculum
assessment is made. It can either be assessment for learning, assessment
Almost all curricula found in our schools are recommended. For Basic as learning or assessment of learning. If the process is to find the
Education (DepEd), for Higher Education, by the Commission on Higher progress of learning, then assessed curriculum is for learning, but if it is
Education (CHED) and for vocational education (TESDA). These three to find out how much has been learned or mastered, then it is assessment
goverment agencies oversee and regulate Philippine education. The of learning. Either way, such curriculum is the assessed curriculum.
recommendations come in the form of memoranda or policies, standards
6. Learned Curriculum
and guidelines. Other professional organizations or international bodies
like UNESCO also recommend curricula in schools. How do we know if the students has learned? We always believe that if
the student changed behavior, he/she has learned. For example, from a
2. Written Curriculum
non-reader to a reader or from not knowing to knowing or from being
This includes documents based on the recommended curriculum. They disobedient to being obedient. The positive outcome of teaching is an
come in the form of course of study, syllabi, modules, books or indicator of learning. These are measured by tools in assessment, which
instructional guides among others. A packet of this written curriculum is can indicate the cognitive. affective and psychomotor outcomes. Learned
the K to 12 for Philippine Basic Education. curriculum will also demonstrate higher order and critical thinking and
lifelong skills.
3.Taught Curriculum
7. Hidden/Implicit Curriculum
From what has been written or planned, the curriculum has to be
implemented or taught. The teacher and the learners will put life to the This curriculum is not deliberately planned, bur has a great impact on the
written curriculum. The skill of the teacher to facilitate learning based on behavior of the learner. Peer influence, school environment, media,
the written curriculum with the aid of instructional materials and parental pressures, societal changes, cultural practices, natural calamities,
facilities will be necessary. The taught curriculum will depend largely on are some factors that create the hidden curriculum. Teachers should be
the teaching style of the teacher and the learning style of the learners. sensitive and aware of this hidden curriculum. Teachers must have good
foresights to include these in the written curriculum, in order to bring to
4.Supported Curriculum. the surface what are hidden.
This is described as support materials that the teacher needs to make However, in every teacher's classroom, not all these curricula may be
learning and the teaching meaningful. These include print materials like present at one time. Many of them are deliberately planned, like the
books, charts, posters, worksheets, or non-print materials like power recommended, written, taught, supported, assessed, and learned
point presentations, movies, slides, models, realias, mock-ups, and other curricula. However, a hidden curriculum is implied, and a teacher may or
electronic illustrations. Supported curriculum also includes facilities may not be able to predict its influence on learning. All of these have
where learning occurs inside or outside the four-walled building. These significant role on the life of the teacher as a facilitator of learning and
include the playground, science laboratory, audio-visual rooms, zoo, have direct implication to the life of the learners.
Lesson 1.2 The Teacher as a Curricularist however, a transformative teacher will never hesitate to try something
novel and relevant. (INITIATOR)
A person who is involved in curriculum knowing, writing, planning,
implementing, evaluating, innovating, and initiating may be designated 5. Innovates the curriculum. Creativity and innovation are hallmarks of
as curricularist. A TEACHER'S role is broader and inclusive of other an excellent teacher. A curriculum is always dynamic, hence it keeps on
functions and so a teacher is a curricularist. changing. From the content, strategies, ways of doing, blocks of time,
ways of evaluating, kinds of student and skills of teachers, one cannot
The classroom is the first place of curricular engagement. The first
find a single eternal curriculum that would perpetually fit. A good
school experience sets the tone to understand the meaning of schooling
teacher, therefore, innovates the curriculum and thus becomes a
through the interactions of learners and teachers that will lead to
curriculum innovator. (INNOVATOR)
learning. Hence, curriculum is at the heart of schooling.
6. Implements the curriculum. The curriculum is that remains
The Teacher as a Curricularist...
recommended or written will never serve its purpose. Somebody has to
1. Knows the curriculum. Learning begins with knowing. The teacher implement it. As mentioned previously, at the heart of schooling is the
as a learner starts with knowing about the curriculum, the subject matter curriculum. It is this role where the teacher becomes the curriculum
or the content. As a teacher, one has to master what are included in the Implementor. An implementor gives life to the curriculum plan. The
curriculum. It is acquiring academic knowledge both formal (disciplines, teacher is at the height of an engagement with the learners, with support
logic) or informal (derived from experiences, vicarious, and unintended). materials in order to achieve the desired outcome. It is where teaching,
It is the mastery of the subject matter. (KNOWER) guiding, facilitating skills of the teacher are expected to be highest level.
It is here where teaching as a science and as an art will be observed. It is
2. Writes the curriculum. A classroom teacher takes record of here, where all the elements of the curriculum will come into play. The
knowledge concepts, subject matter or content. These need to be written success of a recommended, well written and planned curriculum depends
or preserved. The teacher writes books, modules, laboratory manuals, on the implementation. (IMPLEMENTOR)
instructional guides, and reference materials in paper or electronic media
as a curriculum writer or reviewer. (WRITER) 7. Evaluates the curriculum. How can one determine if the desired
learning outcomes have been achieved? Is the curriculum working? Does
3. Plans the curriculum. A good curriculum has to be planned. It is the it bring the desired results? What do outcomes reveal? Are the learners
role of the teacher to make a yearly, monthly or daily plan of the achieving? Are there some practices that should be modified? Should the
curriculum. This will serve as a guide in the implementation of the curriculum be modified, terminated or continued? These are some few
curriculum. The teacher takes into consideration several factors in questions that need the help of a curriculum evaluator. That person is the
planning a curriculum. These factors include the learners, the desired teacher. (EVALUATOR)
outcomes, the context of the learners among others. By doing this, the
teacher becomes a curriculum planner. (PLANNER) The seven different roles are those which a responsible teacher does in
the classroom everyday! Doing these multi-faceted work qualifies a
4. Initiate the curriculum. In cases where the curriculum is teacher to be a curricularist.
recommended to the schools from DepEd, CHED, TESDA, UNESCO,
UNICEF or other educational agencies for improvement of quality To be a teacher is to be a curricularist even if teacher may not equal the
education, the teacher is obliged to implement it. Implementation of a likes of John Dewey, Ralph Tyler, Hilda Taba, or Franklin Bobbit. As a
new curriculum requires the open mindedness of the teacher, and full curricularist, a teacher will be knowing, writing, implementing,
belief that constraints and difficulties in doing things first or leading, innovating, initiating and evaluating the curriculum in the school and
classrooms just like the role models and advocates in curriculum and There are four ways of presenting the content in the curriculum. These
curriculum development who have shown the way. are:
Approaches to the School Curriculum 1. Topical Approach, where much content is based on knowledge, and
experiences are included;
curriculum can be approached or seen in three ways. It can be defined as
content, a process or an outcome. If you examine the definitions provided 2. Concept Approach with fewer topics in clusters around major and
by the experts in the field, there are three ways of approaching a sub-concepts and their interaction, with relatedness emphasized;
curriculum. First, is to approach it as content or a body of knowledge to
3. Thematic Approach as a combination of concepts that develop
be transmitted. Second, is to approach it as a product or the learning
conceptual structures, and
outcomes desired of learners. Third, is to approach it as a process or what
actually happens in the classroom when the curriculum is practiced. 4. Modular Approach that leads to complete units of instruction.
1. Curriculum as a Content or Body of Knowledge Criteria in the Selection of Content
It is quite common for traditionalists to equate a curriculum to a topic There are some suggested criteria in the selection of knowledge or
outline, subject matter, or concepts to be included in the syllabus or subject matter. (Scheffer, 1970 in Bilbao, et al 2015)
books. For example, a primary school mathematics curriculum consists
of topics on addition, multiplication, subtraction, division, distance, 1. Significance. Content should contribute to ideas, concepts, principles
weight, and many more. Another example is in secondary school science and generalization that should attain the overall purpose of the
that involves the study of biological science, physical science, curriculum. It is significant if content becomes the means of developing
environmental science and earth science. Textbooks tend to begin with cognitive, affective or psychomotor skills of the learner. As education is a
biological science such are plants and animals; physical science with the way of preserving culture, content will be significant when this will
physical elements, force and motion; earth science with the layers of the address the cultural context of the learners.
earth and environmental science with the interaction of the biological and 2. Validity. The authenticity of the subject matter forms its validity.
physical science and earth's phenomena, climate, vegetation followed by Knowledge becomes obsolete with the fast changing times. Thus, there is
economic activities such as agriculture, mining, industries, urbanization a need for validity check and verification at a regular interval, because
and so forth. content which may be valid in its original form may not continue to be
If curriculum is equated as content, then the focus will be the body of valid in the current times.
knowledge to be transmitted to students using appropriate teaching 3. Utility. Usefulness of the content in the curriculum is relative to the
methods. There can be a likelihood that teaching will be limited to the learners who are going to use these. Utility can be relative to time. It may
acquisition of facts, concepts, and principles of the subject matter, have been useful in the past, but may not be useful now or in the future.
however, the content or subject matter can also be taken as a means to an Questions like: Will I use this in my future job? Will it add meaning to
end. my life as a lifelong learner? Or will the subject matter be useful in
All curricula have content regardless of their design or models. The fund solving current concerns?
of knowledge is the repository of accumulated discoveries and inventions 4. Learnability. The complexity of the content should be within the
of man from the explorations of the earth and as products of research. In range of experiences of the learners. This is based on the psychological
most educational setting, curriculum is anchored on a body of knowledge principles of learning. Appropriate organization of content standards and
or discipline.
sequencing of contents are two basic principles that would influence something in the future.
learnability.
3. Sequence. The logical arrangement of the content refers to sequence
5. Feasibility. Can the subject content be learned within the time or order, This can be donevertically for deepening the content or
allowed, resources available, expertise of the teachers and the nature of horizontally for broadening the same content. In both ways，the patter
the learners? Are there contents of learning which can be learned beyond usually is from easy to complex， what is known to the unknown， what
the formal teaching-learning engagement? Are there opportunities is current tosomething in the future.
provided to learn these?
4. Integration. Content in the curriculum does not stand alone or in
6. Interest. Will the learners take interest in the content? Why? Are the isolation. It has some ways of relatedness or connectedness to other
contents meaningful? What value will the contents have in the present contents. Contents should be infused in other disciplines whenever
and future lives of the learners? Interest is one of the driving forces for possible. This will provide a wholistic or unified view of curriculum
students to learn better. instead of segmentation. Contents which can be integrated to other
disciplines acquire a higher premium than when isolated.
Guide in the Selection of the Content in the Curriculum
5. Continuity. Content when viewed as a curriculum should
1. Commonly used in the daily life
continuously flow as it was before, to where it is now, and where it will
2. Appropriate to the maturity levels and abilities of the learners
be in the future. It should be perennial. It endures time. Content may not
3. Valuable in meeting the needs and competencies of the future career
be in the same form and substance as seen in the past since changes and
4. Related to other subject fields or discipline for complementation and
developments in curriculum occur. Constant repetition, reinforcement
integration
and enhancement of content are all elements of continuity.
5. Important in the transfer of learning to other disciplines
6. Scope. The breadth and depth of the curriculum content are vital in a
BASICS: Fundamental Principles for Curriculum Contents
curriculum. Scope consists of all the contents, topics, learning
Palma in 1952 proposed that the contents in the curriculum should be experiences comprising the curriculum. In layman's term scope refers to
guided by Balance, Articulation, Sequence, Integration and Continuity. coverage. The scope shall consider the cognitive level, affective domain
However, in designing a curriculum contents Hunkins and Ornstein and psychomotor skills in identifying the contents. Other factors will be
(2018) added an important element which is Scope, hence from BASIC considered but caution is given to overloading of contents. "More
to BASICS initials of Balance, Articulation, Sequence, Integration, contents are not always better."
Continuity.
2. Curriculum as a Process
1. Balance. Content should be fairly distributed in depth and breadth.
We have seen that the curriculum can be approached as content. On the
This will guarantee that significant contents should be covered to avoid
other hand, it can also be approached as a process. Here, curriculum is
too much or too little of the contents needed with in the time allocation.
not seen as a physical thing or a noun, but as a verb or an action. It is the
2. Articulation. As the content complexity progresses with the interaction among the teachers, students and content. As a process,
educational levels, vertically or horizontally, across the same discipline curriculum happens in the classroom as the questions asked by the
smooth connections or bridging should be provided. This will assure no teacher and the learning activities engaged in by the students. It is an
gaps or overlaps in the content. Seamlessness in the content is desired active process with emphasis on the context in which the processes
and can be assured if there is articulation in the curriculum. Thus, there is occur. Used in analogy of a recipe in a cookbook, a recipe is the content
a need off team among writers and implementers of curriculum. while the ways of cooking 1s the process.
Curriculum as a process is seen as a scheme about the practice of 2. There is no single best process or method. Its effectiveness will
teaching. It is not a package of materials or a syllabus of content to be depend on the desired learning outcomes, the learners, support
covered. The classroom is only part of the learning environment where materials and the teacher.
the teacher places action using the content to achieve an outcome. Hence 3. Curriculum process should stimulate the learners' desire to develop
the process of teaching and learning becomes the central concern of the cognitive, affective, psychomotor domains in each individual.
teachers to emphasize critical thinking, and heads-on, hands-on learning 4. In the choice of methods, learning and teaching styles should be
and many others. considered. fi. Every method or process should result to learning
outcomes which can be described as cognitive, affective and
As a process, curriculum links to the content. While content provides
psychomotor.
materials on what to teach, the process provides curriculum on how to
5. Flexibility in the use of the process or methods should be
teach the content. When accomplished, the process will result to various
considered. An effective process will always result to learning
curriculum experiences for the learners. The intersection of the content
outcomes.
and process is called the Pedagogical Content Knowledge or PCK. It will
6. Both teaching and learning are the two important processes in the
address the question: If you have this content, how will you teach it?
implementation of the curriculum.
This section will not discuss in detail the different teaching strategies
3. Curriculum as a Product
from where learning experiences are derived. Rather, it will describe how
the process as a descriptor of curriculum is understood. The content is the Besides viewing curriculum as content that is to be transmitted, or
substance of the curriculum, how the contents will be communicated and process that gives action using the content, it has also been viewed as a
learned will be addressed by the process. product. In other words, product is what the students desire to achieve as
learning outcomes.
To teachers, the process is very critical. This is the other side of the coin:
instruction, implementation, and teaching. These three words connote the The product from the curriculum is a student equipped with the
process in the curriculum. When educators ask teachers: What knowledge, skills and values to function effectively and efficiently. The
curriculum are you using? Some of the answers will be: 1. Problem- real purpose of education is to bring about significant changes in
based. 2. Hands-on, Minds-on. 3. Cooperative Learning. 4. Blended students' patter of behavior. It is important that any statement of
Curriculum. 5. Online. 6. Case- based and many more. These responses objectives or intended outcomes of the school should be a statement of
approach curriculum as a Process. These are the ways of teaching, ways changes to take place in the students. Central to the approach is the
of managing the content, guiding learning, methods of teaching and formulation of behavioral objectives stated as intended learning
learning and strategies of teaching or delivery modes. In all of these there outcomes or desired products so that content and teaching methods may
are activities and actions that every teacher and learner does together or be organized and the results evaluated. Products of learning are
learners are guided by the teacher. Some of the strategies are time- tested operationalized as knowledge, skills, and values.
traditional methods while others are emerging delivery modes.
Curriculum product is expressed in the form of outcomes which are
When curriculum is approached as a PROCESS, guiding principles referred to as the achieved learning outcomes. There may be several
are presented. desired learning outcomes, but if the process is not successful, then no
learning outcomes will be achieved. These learned or achieved learning
1. Curriculum processes in the form of teaching methods or strategies
outcomes are demonstrated by the person who has meaningful
are means to achieve the end
experiences in the curriculum. All of these are result of planning, content
and processes in the curriculum.