CURRICULUM AND ITS PRINCIPLES

MEANING OF CURRICULUM

        Originally the term curriculum was related to the concept of a course of studies followed by the pupils in a teaching institution, but in present day curriculum may be perceived as being a part of the broader area known as education. Actually education is a concept that each curriculum developer needs to define and refine before the development process is carried out. Curriculum includes everything that takes place, and everything that does not take place, within the purview of the school. Curriculum is a framework that sets expectations for student learning.

ETYMOLOGICAL MEANING OF CURRICULUM

        The word curriculum comes from the Latin word currere, meaning "to run the course". This is the same Latin word that career comes from. Curriculum is understood as a course of study, allowing the student to follow it until he is finished with the race.

        In 1918, John Bobbitt, a well known educator and writer of the day, defined curriculum as being the course of activities, experiences and studies that all children need to become successful adults. The word curriculum is generally understood to mean the lesson plans, books and other resources needed to promote learning. Within this definition are thousands of individual interpretations. As a home school parent you will need to have a thorough understanding of how curriculum is defined in your state, because it will make a difference in the requirements for homeschooling your child.

DEFINITION OF CURRICULUM

        We know that the views of one person are not same with others. There are different scholars and educationists who defined curriculum in different ways. Some of the definitions of curriculum are as follows-

Cunningham: “Curriculum is a tool in the hands of the artist (teacher) to mould his material (pupils) according to his ideals (aims and objectives) in his studio (school)”.

B. Othanel Smith (1957):  A sequence of potential experiences is set up in the school for the purpose of disciplining children and youth in group ways of thinking and acting.  This set of experiences is referred to as the curriculum.

Goodman (1963): A set of abstractions from actual industries, arts, professions, and civic activities, and these abstractions are brought into the school-box and taught.

Hass (1980): The curriculum is all of the experiences that individual learners have in a program of education whose purpose is to achieve broad goals and related specific objectives, which is planned in terms of a framework of theory and research or past and present professional practice.

Curriculum encompasses a variety of technical and non technical courses that are required to complete a specific degree. It serves as a guide for teachers, a roadmap if you will, that establishes standards for student performance and teacher accountability. Curriculum is a set of courses that comprise a given area or specialty of study.

PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION

Principle of child centeredness-

Modern approach to curriculum construction should be paedocentric as well as democratic in the sense that the child should occupy a central position in the entire teaching learning process and he should actively participate in it. The child should be the key to all kinds of curricular programmes. According to the needs, capabilities, and capacities of the child at the particular age level the curriculum should be constructed.

Principle of community centeredness-

The curriculum is centered round the needs of the society because the needs of the society are greater day by day. Considering this curriculum should be framed.

Principles of integration-

Curriculum must integrate the child’s activities and his needs on the one hand and the needs of the 21^st century democracy on the other hand. It should be related to the social environment of the students.

Principles of creativity-

Curriculum must place the pupil in the place of discoverer and provision must be made for creative type of activities.

Principle of elasticity and variety-

The curriculum should not be rigid but should be changed to suit the changing needs of the pupils and the society, it should be flexible and broad based.

Principle of diversification-

The curriculum should bear in mind the individual differences, diversification in the interests and variety of the talents of the educands. Unless, the curriculum is diversified and flexible, it would not be useful for the like of the students.

Principle of earning of livelihood-

The curriculum should be such as to equip the students to be able to earn their living after entering life. Earning of livelihood is an essential item of society.

Principle of utilization of leisure-

The curriculum should not be competent enough, only to train the students to take up work. It should have the capacity to train the students to be able to utilize their leisure properly. In other words, the curriculum should include such other activities that may be taken up during leisure.

Principle of common subjects-

The curriculum especially unto the secondary stage of education should provide common and general knowledge to the students.

Principle of Values-

In the emerging society, a number of desirable values are to be inculcated in our children. So, modern curriculum should provide for inculcating values of social, moral, spiritual, democratic and aesthetic.

Principle of Totality-

The Secondary Education commission has also highlighted this principle by suggesting that there must be totality of learning experiences that are given to the pupil through the manifold activities in the classroom and available in the library, laboratory, workshop, play ground and informal contacts between teachers In this way the entire life of the school becomes the curriculum that can touch the life of the students at all points.

The principle of availability of time and other resources-

Curriculum is the means to realize the outcomes of the educational objectives of the school. Implementation of the curriculum is equally important as curriculum construction. While developing curriculum experts should also keep its implementation in mind. They should be aware of the conditions of the schools and possible availability of time and resources available.

The principle of consultation with teachers-

Teachers play a key role in the implementation of the school curriculum of any grade or stage. It is therefore quite essential to seek the proper involvement of the teachers in the construction and development of the school curriculum.

The principle of the comprehensive curriculum-

The curriculum must have the necessary details. List of topics to be covered does not solve the purpose. Both teachers and students should know clearly what is expected of them, what is the beginning and what is the end of the topic for the particular class. Material, aids, activities, life situations etc. should be listed in the curriculum.

So, the curriculum should be well balanced, properly graded, fairly broad-based and approximately designed for meeting the needs of the society and the individual. In general from the above discussion we can say that curriculum is nothing but the totality of experiences, which we gain from an educational institution.

REFERENCES

• Mahanta, N.N and Borah, H. N(2016): Foundation of Curriculum Development. Mani Manik Prakash, Panbazar, guwahati.
• Arulsamy, S(2010): Curriculum Development. Neelkamal Publication Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.

SOURCE- INTERNET

• https://home-school.lovetoknow.com/definition-curriculum)
• https://physicscatalyst.com/graduation/principles-of-curriculum-development/
• https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/education/curriculum-construction-in-india-education/84842
• http://www1.udel.edu/educ/whitson/897s05/files/definitions_of_curriculum.htm
• http://www.homeofbob.com/pedagogy/plan/curDev/defList.htm