FOUNDATIONS OF CURRICULUM

1.0 Introduction
There are three major fields that curriculum development depends primarily the fields of
philosophy, sociology and psychology. An understanding of these fields is crucial to the study of
curriculum. Traditionally they are referred to as curriculum foundations. In this unit we learn
about the foundations of curriculum as may be applied in the context of open and distance
learning.

2.0 Objectives
At the end of this unit we will be able to:

• Explain the terms philosophy, sociology and psychology

• Discuss several different philosophies of education
• Determine the role of philosophy, sociology and psychology in curriculum development

3.0 Main Content

3.1 Philosophical Foundations

In this section, we shall discuss several different philosophies of education that influence
curricular decisions.

Educational decisions are influenced to a very large extent by philosophy of education. There are
four major philosophical positions that have over the years influenced curriculum development.
These are Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Existentialism.

3.1.1 Idealism

This is a doctrine that centers on moral and spiritual reality. The key word is reality. Reality
according to idealism is seen as a world within a person’s mind. It follows that idealists will teach
subjects of the mind. According to the idealists the teacher would be models of ideal behaviour
and the function of the school will be to sharpen intellectual processes and present models of
behaviour that are exemplary. In such an education, materials for teaching – learning would focus
around broad ideas especially in the areas of literature and scripture. Idealism does not center on
acquisition of specific facts from different disciplines.

3.1.2 Realism

Unlike idealism that view the world within a person’s mind, realism considers objects and matter.
Realists believe that human behaviour is rational when it conforms to the laws of nature and is
governed by social laws. This means that what scholars have discovered in the different disciplines
about the world constitute knowledge. The implication of this in school is that the teacher would
teach the learners knowledge of the world they live in. Like the idealists, realist also stress that
education should emphasis permanent values. One major difference between the idealists and the
realists is that whereas the idealists stress subject matter, the realists stress the subject experts as
source for curriculum development. These two philosophical ideas constitute the traditional
philosophies.

3.1.3 Pragmatism
In pragmatism emphasis is on change, processes and relativity. In terms of education it focuses on
practical aspects in teaching and learning. The idea here is that learning will occur when the
learner interacts with the environment. In terms of the curriculum the pragmatists state that what
to teach should be planned to help learners think critically and not on what to think. It then follows
that teaching – learning should be exploratory and not explanatory. Learning should emphases
activity method which will encourage students to solve problems.

3.1.4 Existentialism
The idea of existentialism is that there is no values outside human beings. Existentialist argue that
man should have freedom to make choices and be responsible for the consequences of the choices.
In curriculum development this means that learners should be given freedom to choose what to
learn or to participate in curriculum decision making. The implication of this is that a learner
should not be forced into pre-determined programmes of study. These ideas means that the teacher
functions only as a resource to facilitate the learners search for personal meaning.

Having discussed four major philosophies, we will now turn to philosophies of education and their
implications to curriculum development.

3.2 Educational Philosophies and Curriculum

In this section we shall also be looking at four major educational philosophies. These are i)
Perennialism, ii) Progressivism, iii) Essentialism, and iv) Reconstructionism.

3.2.1 Perennialism
The underlying idea of this philosophy of education is that education is constant, absolute and
universal. Perenialism is related to idealism of general philosophy. By implication this philosophy
will focus on values that have moral and spiritual bases. The curriculum of the perennialist is
subjectcentered. It draws heavily on defined disciplines or logically organised bodies of content,
but it emphasizes teaching and leaming of languages, literature, sciences and arts. The teacher is
viewed as an authority in a particular discipline and teaching is considered an art of imparting
inforrnation/knowledge and stimulating discussion. In such a scheme of things, students are
regarded immature as they lack the judgement required to determine what should be studied, and
also that their interests demand little attention as far as curriculum development is concerned.
There is usually only one common curriculum for all students with little room for elective subjects.
Educators who emphasis intellectual meritocracy belong to this type of educational philosophy.
Such educators enforce academic standard, identify and encourage talented learners.

3.2.2 Progressivism
Opposition to perennialist thinking in education gave rise to progressivism during the 1920s and
1930s. According to this school of thought, the skills and tools of learning include problem solving
methods and scientific inquiry. This educational philosophy stress learning experiences that
include cooperative behaviour and self-discipline. The curriculum according to the progressives
should be interdisciplinary in nature and the teacher as a guide for students in their problem-
solving and scientific projects. This educational philosophy is in opposition the authoritarian
teacher; excessive dependence on textbook methods; memorization of factual data and learning
by excessive drilling; static aims and materials that reject the notion of a changing world; and
attempts to isolate education from individual experiences and social reality.

3.2.3 Essentialism
This educational philosophy is rooted partly in idealism and partly in realism of general
philosophy. This school of thought emerged as a result of criticism against progressivism. It may
be interesting to note that despite the criticism, proponents essentialism did believe that education
should prepare the learner to adjust to a changing society. The implication of essentialism to
education is that learning should consist in mastering the subject matter that reflects currently
available knowledge in various disciplines.

3.2.4 Reconstructionism
This school of thought views education as a means of reconstructing society. To this school of
thought school must be used as a means to shape the attitudes and values of the learner.

In the discussion about philosophy, it was suggested that philosophy has a valuable place in the
practical realities of school/college since one's educational philosophy largely determines one's
view on curriculum. While dealing with the social foundations, we said that in developing a
curriculum both the contemporary and the future society should be , considered and kept in view.
We also said that in developing curricula, attention be paid to such issues as growth of technology,
family structure, life styles and other aspects of society. At the same time, thought must be given
to how the curriculum, developed in an industrial age, may respond to the growing diversity of
the emerging postindustrial society.

3.3 Sociological Foundations

In Unit 1 we learnt of the philosophical foundations of curriculum. Similarly when we discuss the
curriculum we must consider the social setting and its influence on decisions about the curriculum.
3.3.1 Society and Curriculum
We are aware that no child lives in isolation of the society. As students experience the curriculum,
they are equally influenced by social pressures. Research has also shown that the society can
influence what the learner learns of the curriculum positively or negatively. What a child learns
can affect not only the child but the whole society. It is therefore necessary that when we consider
the curriculum we must consider the society also.

The way boys and girls, men and women are supposed to act vary from one culture to the other.
For this reason we can conclude that besides the classroom-curriculum, society plays a vital role
in shaping the attitudes of the young. This means that the curriculum should not only reflect
society but also help to shape it.

3.3.2 Social Change and Curriculum

We have heard statements such as “this is a jet age”, “the world is changing so fast”. There is no
doubt that the society is changing swiftly. It is also not in doubt that we are not finding it easy to
cope with the changes. This is more so with our schools. To make education respond to social
changes, a curriculum should be framed keeping in mind growth of technology, structure of the
family and cultural diversity. Let us now attempt to explain what each factor means.

3.3.3 Growth of Technology

Today societies use computers and other information-processing devices to replace manual
workers than was the situation some decades ago. In Nigeria since 2000 communication
technology as greatly improved. There are so many network providers. Similarly Nigerians have
become information society. It therefore important that the curriculum must undergo changes in
order to match with and capture important social changes

3.3.4 Structures of family

The structure of the family among Nigerians is greatly changing. There is increase in divorce,
single parenthood, separations and the likes. These have great influence on education. Parents no
longer provide a stable and predictable environment for young people. Schools have become the
major sources for promoting common values among youth. This new trend in life patterns and
values poses serious questions in curriculum planning.

3.3.5 Cultural Diversity

Nigeria is a multi-cultural society. From the south to the north, even with the same state culture
differ. It is therefore important that in planning the curriculum we must consider how the content
should portray the different cultural values.

3.4 Psychological Foundations

We often hear the team psychology. In psychology we learn of many things such as child
development. There is a branch of knowledge known as educational psychology and this branch
deals with how people learn. In this unit we shall be discussing about the major learning theories
and their contribution to curriculum development. We shall also discuss individuals basic
psychological needs as well as reflect on their translation into the curriculum.

3.4.1 Learning Theories

It is important that we emphasize that we shall not be discussing learning theories in great detail.
This is so considering the fact that there are other course areas that have done so. Our discussion
here will center on the learning theories and their contributions to curriculum development. There
are different major theories of learning. They shall be classified into behaviourist, cognitivist and
phenomenology theories. Let us now briefly discuss each group of theories.

3.4.2 Behaviourist Theories

These are theories that deal with stimulus – response and reinforcement schemes. Prior to the late
1950s the dominant learning theory in education was behaviourism. Behaviourism is a theory of
animal and human learning that only focuses on objectively observable behaviour and discounts
mental activities. Behaviour theorists define learning as nothing more than the acquisition of new
behaviour. Experiments by behaviourists identified conditioning as a universal learning process.
There are two different types of conditioning, each yielding a different behavioural pattern.
Classic conditioning occurs when a natural reflex responds to a stimulus. The most popular
example is Pavlov's observation that dogs salivate when they eat or even see food. Operant
conditioning occurs when a response to a stimulus is reinforced. Basically, operant conditioning
is a simple feedback system. If a reward or reinforcement follows the response to a stimulus, then
the response becomes more probable in the future. For example, leading behaviourist B.F. Skinner
used reinforcement techniques to teach pigeons to dance. Two major criticisms of behaviourism
are that it does not account for all kinds of learning. It disregards the activities of the mind and
does not recognize new language patterns of young children.

Without going into the details we shall touch upon the main, characteristic features of the
behaviourist school of thought. Essentially, learning is considered a habit-formation and teaching
is regarded as arranging learning experiences in such a way as to promote desirable behaviour.
Further, behaviourism maintains that what is learnt in one situation can be transferred to other
situations as well. Broadly, behaviourists advocate that: behaviour is likely to be influenced by
the conditions under which learning takes place; attitudes to and abilities of learning can change
or improve over time through the application of proper stimuli; learning experiences can be
designed and controlled to create desired learning.

3.4.3 Behaviourism and Curriculum

Let us now turn our attention to the contribution of behaviourist theory to curriculum
development. A curriculum, according to behaviourist, should be based on acquisition of skills,
well-defined short-term and long-term objectives, appropriate instructional materials and media
to suit the learner's Abilities, diagnosing, assessing and reassessing the learners' needs, objectives,
activities, tasks and instruction with a view to improving the curriculum.

3.4.4 Cognitivist Theories

This group of theories view the learner in relationship with the total environment. By the late
1960s, the influence of behaviourist theories of learning was waning and Piaget’s ideas of
intellectual development came into prominence (Duit and Treagust, 1998). Most cognitivists
believe that growth and development occur in progressive stages. Piaget proposed stages of
cognitive development. Piaget’s stage theory identified four kinds of logical operations that
children and adolescents exhibit in sequence. These are sensorimotor (birth to about 2 years),
preoperational (from about age 2 to 7), concrete operational (from about age 7 – 11) and formal
operational (from about age 11 onwards). Although Piaget’s idea of general, logical thinking skills
and their development in stages were found valuable in describing cognitive development, they
were also criticized. One major criticism is the idea that logical thinking operations are
independent from contexts. Today most psychologists explain the phenomenon of human growth
and development in cognitive, social, psychological and physical terms.

3.4.5 Cognitivism and Curriculum

Most curriculum specialists tend to show greater adherence to cognitivism than to behaviourism.
This might be because the cognitive approach leads to logical methods for organising and
interpreting learning. It may also be because the cognitive approach is rooted in the tradition of
teaching based on subject matter. Most educationists feel that learning is synonymous with
cognitive development. There is a call for the problem solving approach in teaching-learning.
However, a look at actual teaching-learning situation shows that problem solving approach is
incomplete and that something is lost in its processes of actual transfer in the classroom. In reality,
the teaching-learning process boils down to the teacher talking predominantly and students mostly
responding to what is said by the teacher. It then follows that curriculum specialists should include
a curriculum where students are not afraid of asking questions, making mistakes, taking cognitive
risks and playing with ideas.

3.4.6 Phenomenology
This group emphasizes the affective domain of learning.

4.0 Conclusion

You have learnt that the foundations of curriculum one has affect curriculum development.

5.0 Summary
In this Unit, we have explored the psychological foundations of the curriculum. The discussion
has shown that curricula can become more effective if they are based on considerations such as
basic human needs and the ways for meeting them.