Philippine Curriculum Components PDF

**Module 3: Components of Curriculum and Curriculum Approaches** **[Elements/Components of Curriculum ]** **AIMS AND OBJECTIVES** - A formal curriculum is embedded in a formal institution called school. Schools are established institutions which are either run by the government or by th...

**Module 3: Components of Curriculum and Curriculum Approaches** **[Elements/Components of Curriculum ]** **AIMS AND OBJECTIVES** - A formal curriculum is embedded in a formal institution called school. Schools are established institutions which are either run by the government or by the private sector. - The Philippine educational systems are divided into three educational levels: **primary, secondary** and **tertiary** education based on the Philippine Constitution of 1987. - All school aims to: 1. Inculcate patriotism and nationalism. 2. Foster of love of humanity. 3. Promote respect for human rights. 4. Appreciate the role of national heroes in the historical development of the country. 5. Teach the rights and duties of citizenship. 6. Strengthen ethical and spiritual values. 7. Develop moral character and personal discipline. 8. Encourage critical and creative thinking. 9. Broaden scientific and technological knowledge and promote vocational efficiency. **AIMS OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION (EDUCATIONAL ACT OF 1982)** In the elementary school, through their curricula should aim to: - Development and necessary for living in and contributing to a developing and changing society; - Provide learning experiences which increase the child's awareness of and responsiveness to the change in the society; - Promote for the intensify knowledge, identification with and love for the nation and the people to which he belongs; and - Promote work experiences which develop orientation to the world of work and prepare the learner to engage in honest and gainful work. **AIMS OF SECONDARY EDUCATION** In high school or secondary level, educational curricula aims to: - Continue to promote the objective of elementary education, and - Discover and enhance the different aptitudes and interest of student in order to equip them with skill, for productive endeavour and or to prepare them for tertiary schooling. **AIMS OF TERTIARY EDUCATION** Tertiary education refers to college and university formal education based on the curricula of the different courses. The different courses should aim to: - Provide general educational program which will promote national identity, cultural consciousness, moral integrity and spirit vigour, - Train the nation's manpower is the skill required for national development; - Develop the professions that will provide leadership for the nation; and - Advanced knowledge through research and apply new knowledge for improving the quality of human life and respond effectively to changing society. Based from the mandate of the constitution, each school therefore should be guided by its **vision, mission and goals** and its curricula should also revolve around these. The school's vision is a clear concept of what institution would like to become in the future. It provides the focal point or unifying element according to which the school staff, faculty, student perform in individually or collectively. **Example**: The Bulacan State University is a progressive, knowledge generating institution, globally recognized for excellent instruction, pioneering research and responsive community engagement. The school's mission statement, spell on how it intends to carry out its vision. The mission targets to produce the kind of person the students will become after having been educated over certain period of time. **Example:** The Bulacan State University exist to produce highly competent, ethical and service-oriented professionals that contribute to the sustainable socio-economic development of the nation. The school's vision and mission are further translated into goals which are broad statements or intents to be accomplished. Data for the sources of school goals may include the learners, the society and the fund of knowledge. **Example:** Build a strong foundation of skills and concepts In a curriculum, these goals are made simple and specific for the attainment of each learner. These are called educational objectives. **Benjamin Bloom and Robert Mager** defined educational objectives in two ways: 1. Explicit formulations of the ways in which students are expected to be changed by the educative process; and 2. Intent communicated by statement describing a proposed change in learners. **Benjamin Blooms** and his association classified three big domains of the objectives; These are **cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.** - **Cognitive domains (Blooms et al 1956)** -- domain of thought process. 1. Knowledge -- recall, remembering of prior learned materials in terms of facts and concept. 2. Comprehension- ability to grasp the meaning of material. It includes the lowest form of understanding. 3. Application -- the ability to use learned material in new and concrete situation. 4. Analysis -- ability to break down material into component parts so that its organizational structure maybe understood. 5. Synthesis -- ability to put parts together to form of a new whole. 6. Evaluation -- ability to pass judgement on something based on the given criteria. - **Affective Domains -- (Krathwohl, 1964 -- domain of valuing, attitude, and appreciation)** 1. Receiving- students' willingness to pay attention to particular event, stimuli or classroom activities. 2. Responding-active participation on the part of the students. 3. Valuing- concerned with the worth or a value student attaches to the particular phenomena, object or behavior. 4. Organization- concerned with bringing together different values and building a value system. 5. Characterization by a value or value complex- developing a lifestyle from a value system. - **Psychomotor Domains -- (Simpson, 1972)- domain of the use of psychomotor attributes.** 1. Perception -- use of sense organs to guide motor activities. 2. Set -- refers to the readiness to take a particular type of action. 3. Guided response -- concerned with the early stages in learning complex, skill, imitation and trial and error are some of the ways of doing. 4. Mechanism -- responses have become habitual. Performance skills are with ease and confidence. 5. Complex over responses- skillful performance and with complex movement patterns. 6. Adaptions -- skill will develop the ability to modify ease is very easy. 7. Origination -- refers to creating new movement patterns to fit the situation. Creativity is evident. **CURRICULUM CONTENT OR SUBJECT MATTER** According to some curriculum specialists, content or subject matter is a compendium of facts, concept generalization, principles and theories. The fund of human knowledge represents the repository if accumulated discoveries and inventions of man down the centuries, due to man's exploration of his world. This is the subject center of curriculum. On the other hand, those who view knowledge as learner centered, relates knowledge to the individuals personal and social world and how he or she defines reality. **"Knowledge is a model we construct to give meaning and structure to regularities in experience"** according to **Gerome Bruner.** **Subjects Areas in Basic or General Education** Each subject area has its own body of subject matter of learning content. Here are just examples: 1. COMMUNICATION ARTS - includes skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing as well as the effective use of language in daily living. 2. MATHEMATICS -- includes numeric and computational skills and measurement. 3. SCIENCE -- includes all branches of natural sciences, exploration and discovery dealing with natural phenomena and the use of scientific method. 4. SOCIAL STUDIES -- include basic elements like Geography, History, Anthropology and Economics. 5. MUSIC -- includes basic music theory, practice in singing and playing musical instruments. 6. PHYSICAL EDUCATION -- includes health, physical fitness, individual and team sports spectatorship. 7. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION -- includes psychomotor and manipulative skills in basic crafts and trades. **SOME CRITERIA WHICH CAN BE UTILIZED IN THE SELECTION OF SUBJECT MATTER OR CONTENT FOR THE CURRICULUM** 1. SELF-SUFFICIENCY -- according to Scheffler (1970) the prime guiding principle for content selection is helping the learners to attain maximum self-sufficiency in learning but in the most economical manner. 2. SIGNIFICANCE -- when content or subject matter will contribute to basic ideas, concepts, principles, and generalization to achieve the overall aim of the curriculum. 3. VALIDITY -- the authenticity of the subject matter selected is its validity. With information explosion, oftentimes, knowledge selected for school content may become obsolete. Thus, subject matter should be checked or verified at regular intervals. 4. INTEREST -- For a learner-centered curriculum, this is the key criterion. A learner will value the content if it is meaningful to him or her. Student's interests should be considered and adjusted taking into consideration maturity, prior experiences, educational and social value of their interest among others. 5. UTILITY -- Usefulness of the content or subject matter maybe relative to the learner who is going to use it. Usefulness maybe either be for the present or future. 6. LEARNABILITY -- Subject matter in the curriculum should be within the range of the experiences of the learners. This is clearly suggested by the psychological foundations of the curriculum. 7. FEASIBILITY -- Can the subject matter be learned within the time allowed, resources available, expertise of the teacher, and the nature of the learners? Content selection should be considered within the context of existing reality in schools, in society and government. **There are other considerations that maybe used in the selection of the learning content. It would be of great help if curriculum makers can use them.** a. Frequently and commonly used to daily life; b. Suited in the maturity levels and abilities of students; c. Valuable in meeting the needs and the competencies of a future career; d. Related with other subject areas; and e. Important in the transfer of learning **In organizing or putting together the different learning contents, Palma 1992, suggested the following principles:** a. BALANCE -- Curriculum content should be fairly distributed in depth and breadth of the particular learning area or discipline. This will ensure that the level area will not be over crowded or less crowded. b. ARTICULATION -- When each level of subject matter is smoothly connected to the next, glaring gaps and wasteful overlaps in the subject matter will be avoided. Teamwork among the teachers will enhance articulation of contents in the curriculum. c. SEQUENCE -- is the logical arrangement of the subject matter. It refers to the deepening and broadening of content as it is taken up in higher levels. d. INTEGRATION -- the horizontal connections are needed in the subject areas that are similar so that learning will be related to one another. e. CONTINUITY -- Learning requires a continuing application of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes or values so that these will be used in daily living. The constant repetition, review and reinforcement learning is referred to continuity. **Curriculum Experience** This section will not discuss in detail the different instructional strategies that provide the experiences. Instead it will link instructional strategies and methods to curriculum experiences, the core or the heart of the curriculum. The instructional strategies and methods will put into action the goals and use the content in order to produce an outcome. Teaching strategies convert the written curriculum to instruction, both the teacher and the learner take action to facilitate learning. The sections are based on planned objectives, the subject matter to be taken and the support materials to be used. These will include a multitude of teaching methods and educational activities which will enhance learning. Among these are the time tested methods, inquiring approaches, constructivist and other emerging strategies that compliment new theories in teaching and in learning. Whatever methods the teacher utilizes to implement the curriculum, there will be some guide for the selection and use. Here are some of them: 1. Teaching methods are means to achieve the end. They are used to translate the objectives into action. 2. There is no single best teaching method. Its effectiveness will depend on the learning objectives, the learners and skills of the teacher. 3. Teaching methods should stimulate the learner's desire to develop cognitive, affective, psychomotor, social and spiritual domain of individual. 4. In the choice of the teaching methods, learning styles of the students should be considered. 5. Every method should lead to the development of the learning outcomes in the three domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. Flexibility should be a consideration in the use of teaching methods. **CURRICULUM EVALUATION** - According to Worthen and Sanders (1987), all curriculum to be effective must have the element of evaluation. - According to Tuckman (1985), evaluation is defined as meeting the goals and matching them with intended outcomes. - Context refers to the environment of curriculum in which curriculum is operating its context. - Input is referred to as the ingredients of the curriculum such as its goals, strategies and others. - Product is accomplished by the curriculum. - Evaluation process is the part of curriculum which may know and measure the knowledge and behavior of a student **STEPS ON HOW TO DO AN EVALUATION** 1. Focus on what particular component of the curriculum. Specify the objectives of evaluation. 2. Collect gathered information. Information is made up of data needed with regards to the object of the evaluation. 3. Organize the information or data in order. 4. Analyze the information to make it organized. 5. Report the information. Make sure that the idea or information must be discussed to the class. 6. Recycle the information for continuous feedback, modification and adjustments are to be made. **CURRICULUM APPROACHES** **Curriculum approach** is a way of dealing with curriculum, ways of doing, creating, designing and thinking about it. There are four curriculum approaches that will presented in this topic. Curriculum practitioners and implementers may use one or more approaches in planning, implementing and evaluating the curriculum. -  **Behavioral approach **- Anchored on the behaviorist principles, behavioral approach to curriculum is usually based on a blueprint. In the blueprint, goals and objectives are specified, contents and activities are also arranged to match with the learning objectives. The learning outcomes are evaluated in terms of goals and objectives set at the beginning. Behavioral approach which was started with the idea of Frederick Taylor is aimed to achieved efficiency. In the factory for example, the worker will be paid according to his output produced with in a specific period of time. In education, behavioral approach begins with educational plans that start with the setting of goals or objectives. These are considered as important ingredients in curriculum implementation as evaluating the learning outcomes as a change of behavior. The change in behavior indicates the measure of the accomplishments. -  **Managerial approach** - The managerial approach became a dominant curriculum approach in the 1950\'s and 1960\'s. The principal is the **curriculum leader** and at the same time instructional leader who is supposed to be the general manager. The **general manager** sets the policies and priorities, establish the direction of change and innovation, and planning and organizing curriculum and instruction. School administrators are less concerned about the content than about organization and implementation. They are less concerned about subject matter, methods and materials than improving curriculum. Curriculum manager look at curriculum changes and innovations as they administer the resources and restructure the schools. -  **System approach** - The system approach to curriculum was influenced by system theory. In the systems approach to curriculum, the parts of the total school district or school are examined in terms of how they relate to each other. The organizational chart of the school represents a systems approach. It shows the line-staff relationships of personnel and how decisions are made. To George Beauchamp, the system theory of education see the following to be of equal importance are **(1) administration (2) counseling (3) curriculum (4) instruction and (5) evaluation.** - **Humanistic approach** - This approach is rooted in the progressive philosophy and child-centered movement. The humanistic approach considers the formal of planned curriculum and the informal or hidden curriculum. It considers the whole child and believes that in curriculum the total development of the individual is the prime consideration. The learner is at the center of the curriculum. 1. **Curriculum as a content or body of knowledge to be transmitted --** refers to the body of knowledge taught wherein students are expected to learn a given subject like English, Filipino, Mathematics, Science or Social Studies. Content knowledge generally refers to the facts, concepts, theories and principles that are taught and learned in specific academic courses, rather than to related skills such as reading, writing or researching that students also learn in schools. 2. **Curriculum as product** -- is expressed in form of outcomes which are referred to as the achieved learning outcomes. 3. **Curriculum as a process** -- refers to what actually happens in the classroom and what people do to prepare and evaluate. **GUIDING PRINCIPLES:** - Curriculum process in the form of teaching methods or strategies are means to achieve the end. - There is no single best process or method. Its effectiveness will depend on the desired learning outcomes, the learners, support materials and the teacher. - Curriculum process should stimulate the learner's desire to develop the cognitive, effective, psychomotor domains in each individual. - In the choice of methods, learning and teaching styles should be considered. - Every method or process should result to learning outcomes which can be described as cognitive, affective and psychomotor. - Flexibility in the use of the process or methods should be considered. An effective process will always result to learning outcomes. - Both teaching and learning are the two important processes in the implementation of the curriculum. 4. **Curriculum as a praxis** -- is an action which embodies certain qualities. These include a commitment to human well-being and the search for truth and respect for others. It is the action of people who are free and are able to act for themselves.