Topic 3

CURRICULUM HAS SEVERAL DEFINITIONS

One of them is the syllabus showing the topics to be covered. It is Roman in origin and referred to a race
course. It represents a course of subjects to be covered by students in their race towards the end of the race,
or at the finishing point they may receive a certificate, diploma or degree. Curriculum should be defined as all
that is planned to be covered to enable the learner to acquire and develop the desired knowledge, skills and
attitudes.
However, there are a number of other definitions that suffice to refer to curriculum including;
i. A course of subjects covered by students towards obtaining a certificate, diploma or degree
ii. The subject content, courses or areas of study, teaching methods and connected with the knowledge
and values and how they are transmitted
iii. All the experiences that a learner goes through under the jurisdiction of the school
iv. Means and materials with which students will interact with for the purpose of achieving identified
educational objectives
v. All the planned and organized experiences that a school offers to the learners
vi. The sum total of all syllabuses in the school
vii. A combination of classroom and out of classroom activities carried out under a school in response to
societal needs
viii. The continuous chain of activities necessary for translating educational goals into concrete activities,
materials and observable behavior change
ix. All the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried out in groups or
individually inside or outside the school.

What is the relationship between curriculum and education?

i. Education is the process through which the curriculum is realized
ii. Curriculum as planned for an educational system can only be executed in an educational setting or
environment
iii. The education process provides the audience for curriculum implementation (teachers, parents,
students, other stakeholders)
iv. Curriculum is the blue print of education in systematically stated terms
v. The curriculum directs the society through the education system to identify knowledge and skills to
be imparted in the learners.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCHOOLING AND CURRICULUM
i. The curriculum contains the abilities that we seek to develop in the learners during the schooling
process
ii. The school serves to preserve and transmit the cultural heritage of the society embedded in the
curriculum
iii. It is the learners from the school who are determinants of the curriculum implementation process
(how baked are the learners?)
iv. The curriculum content should proceed from the familiar to the unfamiliar, simple to complex,
known to unknown in the schooling process.

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
It is the process of planning, implementing and evaluating a programme of instruction.
It takes place at various levels namely; international, national, regional, county and school level. In the case of
Kenya curriculum development is centralized at KICD at the national level.
The international forum broadcasts the curriculum desire for the whole world population through statements
like Education for All (EFA), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The national level in trying to
implement these may come up with strategies such as Free Primary Education (FPE), or Subsidized Secondary
Education (SSE).

METHODS OF CURRICULUM INQUIRY

There are two authorities that are used in curriculum inquiry
The legal authority and the moral authority
i. The legal authority is one where the line government ministry formulates Acts that govern the
provision of education in the country.
ii. The moral authority is derived from a particular society for which the curriculum is designed. It is
imbedded in the character of the person and grounded in the ethical system of the society.

Curriculum context refers to the environment in which the curriculum process takes place and considers the
social environment, economic environment, political environment etc.
It is quipped that curriculum is socially and economically located, physically situated, politically placed and
historically determined.
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
There are a number of factors that influence curriculum design, development and implementation. These
include: political factors, social/cultural factors, historical factors, economical factors, philosophical factors,
geographical factors, technological factors and the nature of knowledge.
1. Political factors

A country's political leadership and their decisions determine the type of curriculum that the country offers
to its citizens. This is done through pronouncements by governments in initiatives like the SDGs, EFA, and
Vision 2030 etc. The politicians also influence the implementation of the curriculum through influencing
employment and recruitment of teachers and heads of institutions etc. through parliament the politicians
influence the allocation of funds for curriculum development. Issues like management of institutions and
people involved in boards of management are politically inclined.
2. Social Factors

Education is a social institution that addresses needs of the society because the society has objectives that
should be addressed and achieved through education. Therefore, education should address the social needs
and provide solutions the social problems that affect the society. The strength of the curriculum is in how
much it is able to promote the peoples’ culture and way of life.
3. Economic Factors

The direction and shape of the curriculum are determined by the economy of a country and the society at
large.
A society with a strong economic base and a good endowment of resources is able to provide facilities for
curriculum development and implementation and enable education to flourish. They build classrooms,
libraries and equip laboratories and other infrastructure that enable learning to be carried out successfully
4. Philosophical Factors

The philosophy of a country greatly influences the direction and speed with which curriculum development
and implementation is regarded. The philosophy is entailed in the aims and goals to be achieved through
education. This is displayed in vision, mission and motto statements of the educational institutions. They seek
to propel the institutions towards attainment of individual goals.
5. Technological Factors

Technology provides a strong platform that influences provision of educational services. The emergence of
technologies like computers has transformed the way in which the curriculum is designed, developed and
implemented. There is a paradigm shift in the pedagogical approaches and strategies with more inclination to
the integration of technology in the instructional process. Much of the learning is now taking place on the e-
platform. There is advancement in the preparing, storing and retrieval of curriculum content resulting from
technological developments.
6. Geographical Factors

The geographical location of a place has influence on the positioning of schools and how the schools are built.
This in effect impacts on educational development in that locality. Availability of good infrastructure is a
stimulus for enhanced monitoring and evaluation of school programmes. Hostile geographical areas may
never attract personnel to provide the educational needs entailed in the curriculum implementation.
7. Nature of Knowledge

Knowledge is never static it changes with the emerging demands in the society. Through research
information on how humans learn, there is need to tailor instruction to meet the varied ways in which
education can be meaningfully learned. Therefore, curriculum development has to be guided by such new
developments.
8. Historical Factors

History informs the present and future practice in education i.e., changes in the constitution ( 1992- repeat of
section 2A, new constitution 2010), struggle for independence etc. We also have historical figures such as
Ralph Tyler, Hild Taba and John Dewey etc.
9. Emerging Issues

HIV/AIDs, Global warming, Drug Abuse, Terrorism, sex education etc. The issues are incorporated into the
curriculum.
A SCHOOL CURRICULUM IS COMPOSED OF ELEMENTS AND DIMENSIONS.
Elements of the school curriculum
There are three main elements namely;
1. Objectives
2. Learning experiences i.e., the activities that learners undertake to achieve the objectives of the
curriculum.
3. Evaluation which is the process of determining the extent to which the curriculum objectives are being or
have been achieved.

Dimensions of the school curriculum

They are categorized into three, namely; the formal, the non-formal and the informal dimension
1. The formal dimension

It is composed of the formal courses of study usually prescribed in the school syllabus in the form of subjects
such as mathematics, physics, chemistry etc.
2. The non-formal dimension

It includes those activities taken in schools and at times referred to as co-curricular activities or
extracurricular activities. They are supplementary to learning and include games, societies, field excursions
that are organized depending on students' interests and abilities and occur in a free and relaxed atmosphere.
3. The informal dimension

Refers to those spontaneous experiences at school that influence the learners' behavior and include things
like the school routine, school guests, they provide opportunities through which students to copy and
emulate the behaviors of their teachers and fellow students. In the case of students in boarding schools
where the students come from different ethnic backgrounds, through their interaction they exchange ideas
and learn from each other the different cultures.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ELEMENTS AND DIMENSIONS OF SCHOOL CURRICULUM

EVOLUTION OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN KENYA

Before the introduction of western education, there existed indigenous form of education. Parents, elders,
villagers acted as instructors or teachers.
The curriculum included dancing, tribal laws, language, initiation rites, religion, hunting, farming, oral number
work etc.
Christian missionaries introduced western education and were later supported by the colonial government.
The other groups that contributed or influenced education in Kenya included traders, settlers, voluntary
workers and the Africans themselves.
European missionaries came to convert Africans to Christianity and to find homes for freed slaves and
rehabilitate them.
To facilitate this mission stations were opened and the first at Rabai Mpya in 1846 by Krapf and Rebmann.
There was need to teach the converts simple elements of writing and reading. Thus, elementary schools
came up.
The missionaries saw elementary education as a powerful weapon in spreading Christianity. The missionaries
therefore performed two tasks namely; spread Christianity and provide elementary education.
The curriculum offered consisted of compulsory Religion, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, simple Technical
and Agricultural training.
The curriculum was drawn by missionaries who lacked relevant educational training and experience. Hence,
they were inadequate and the education varied from station to station depending on the missionaries'
curriculum.
The education was shallow and lacked methodology with much emphasis on rote learning.
The wide range of missionaries from different nationalities gave rise to different policies and practice in
education.
There was fierce competition among missionaries for converts and this left out the less populated areas.
In post independent Kenya, the government has tried to erase this imbalance. The colonial government was
initially reluctant to accept official responsibility for providing education to Africans. It left everything in the
hands of the missionaries but provided grants in aid. They saw missionary provision of education to be
adequate for the Africans' condition. (Encouraged loyalty and subservience which to them was ideal to
eliminate revolt from the Africans).
The Uganda Railway Company built special schools for its employees who were mainly Europeans and Asians.
This was in 1904 in Nairobi. It was to serve the educational needs of its employees.
The colonial government stated getting involved in the provision of education for the Africans in 1908 with
the appointment of Nelson Fraser as education advisor to the government of British East Africa. The
government relied on appointment of commissions and committees to determine the type of education to be
given to Africans. The recommendations of these commissions formed the basis for curriculum development
policy in the colony until 1963.
FRASER REPORT 1909
It agreed on the principle of differentiated system of education for Europeans, Asians and Africans. It noted
some talent among the Africans and expressed the need to tap this talent by providing technical education.
This led to the establishment of the department of education in 1911 to coordinate the school curriculum.

Several schools were opened to teach industrial training, agriculture and typing. By 1913 the first official
government school was opened in Machakos.

Was compiled using a fund provided by a lady called Stokes. The commission emphasized practical
agriculture and adapting the curriculum and teaching to the African conditions.
It advocated for better administration and planning of education
It advocated for participation of natives in the decision regarding their own education.
Following this commission, the native industrial training depot was started at Kabete in 1924 and a Jeans
school Kabete in 1925 to train Africans in community rural development. It also trained itinerant teachers
who moved from school to school.
It taught community related education with emphasis on technical/ industrial education. The Africans
resisted this type of education because it reduced them to hewers of wood and drawers of water. The need
for academic education and training for many Africans to allow them participate in leadership led to
establishment of missionary secondary schools. Alliance in 1926, Mang’u in 1927, Maseno in 1938, St. Mary's
Yala in 1939. The curriculum had strong Christian bias plus academic coverage in English, Mathematics,
Science, Agriculture and Art. The Africans also began their own independent schools and this was the origin
of the harambee school spirit.