Curriculum Development and Implementation (PDF)

**3.5.2 Curriculum Development**: Curriculum Development is defined as the creation of materials which are the results of curriculum planning. Therefore, curriculum is the continuous identification, selection and arrangement of learning opportunities and the creation of instructional materials with...

**3.5.2 Curriculum Development**: Curriculum Development is defined as the creation of materials which are the results of curriculum planning. Therefore, curriculum is the continuous identification, selection and arrangement of learning opportunities and the creation of instructional materials with the appropriate teaching strategies. This will enable the government to solve problems and challenges affecting the nation. For example, the need for technological development, issues of unemployment and capacity building among youths in the country. It can be the need to develop Information and communication Technology (ICT), the problems of HIV/AIDS and population growth. It is compulsory on every school aged child to attend Universal Basic Primary Education. Therefore, curriculum development is a deliberate attempt to address identified needs and problems. Such problems may come from any of the curriculum components like objectives, contents; subjects or methods of teaching, instructional materials, or evaluation. They can be as a result of challenges posed by technological advancement in the world or research findings that rendered initial ideas outdated. In a country like Nigeria, curriculum development is the responsibilities of federal, state and local governments. It also takes place in the school and at the classroom levels. In addition, at various educational levels, certain agencies and professional bodies are involved. Malcom Skill Beck prepared a model for proper curriculum development. This model has five stages as follows: i. **Situational Analysis:** It involves assessing the state of education on the existing needs of the society. This includes the teachers, materials, contents and relevance. ii. **Programme building:** This is designing the structure of the programme to achieve national objectives. For example, selection of contents, materials, and equipment as well as organizing them into an acceptable and functional plan. iii. **Implementation:** It contains details studies to understand and sort out resources and putting the new curriculum into use. iv. **Monitoring and evaluation**: This suggests that the curriculum development is a continuous process. The information collected during monitoring is fed into the system so as to update the existing curriculum. v. **Goal Formation**: It includes determining the targets to be achieved in educational programmes. However, the Skill Back's model fails to provide some details on how to develop a programme. But curriculum development at any level is a problem solving process and should be taken with all seriousness to solve the problem and prepare against any one that may happen in the future. **3.5.3 Curriculum Implementation:** it is exclusively within the realm of the school and teacher to actualize the planned curriculum; it is the teacher who prepares the learners to take external evaluation procedures where applicable. The external evaluation in return gives a feed back to the society whether the stated national objectives of the entire curriculum have been achieved. For example, the Nigerian system of education is aimed at producing functional graduates after undergoing 6 years of primary education, 3 years of Junior secondary, another 3 years of senior secondary and four years of university education. The system also recognizes the need for pre-primary education, like kindergarten and Nursery schools; and the non-formal education. **Problems** of curriculum implementation appear to have five main sources which include: 1. [Absence of motivation]: If there is no monetary incentive, teachers may resist the new curriculum. 2. [Inadequate resources]: The resources expected are time, materials, specialists, and administrative support. If the new curriculum could not get the support of all these, there may be a problem. 3. [Lack of clarity about the content]: If teachers are not well informed about the curriculum contents and no description on behavioural changes, role and responsibilities, the implementation may not be a success. 4. [Vulnerability]: If the schools implementing the curriculum are not adequately supplied with instructional materials and the teachers are not given their salaries on time, curriculum implementation could be a failure. 5. [Skepticism]: If the curriculum is not adequately validated by experts and the teachers find little or no merit in the new curriculum, such curriculum can be discarded and refused to be implemented. **3.5.4 Curriculum Evaluation**: This is a strategy to determine the worth of curriculum. It means to ascertain whether the goals of education arc achieved or not. The evaluation is carried out at two distinct levels. a. Assessing students' performance. b. Assessing the programme. Evaluation is used for the purpose of: i. Selecting appropriate contents based on the aims and objectives of the curriculum. ii. Selecting appropriate method of teaching the contents. iii. Checking the effectiveness of learning experiences used. iv. Checking suitability and the appropriateness of the curriculum to address social needs v. Giving feedback to the planners, learners, teachers and the society so that it provides a basis for making changes in the curriculum. **Assessing students' performance (formative):** These are broad range of activities and tasks, including observation, worksheet, presentation, group work and testing. Teachers can assess their pupils/students to find out what they have learned in the process of instruction. The information collected is used in the following: i. Find out if the students have understood the lesson in preparation for the next lesson or stage. ii. Make judgment about how well students have learned the knowledge or skills being taught. iii. Gather information about their students' achievements informally and formally. The informal way is by observing students as they work in groups, practice tasks, oral questioning and discussion. The formal evaluation is used for learning a task like projects, writing assignments, tests, and researches. **Assessing the education programme (summative):** This is the systematic method for collecting, analyzing and using information to answer question about the effectiveness and efficiency of programmmes, policies and projects. In education, important considerations are made to assess how a programme costs; how it can be improved, and whether it is worthwhile or to look for an alternative. If there are un-intended outcomes, they will be considered and solution are suggested. In assessing a programme, it is done at the end of an operating cycle, and the findings are typically used to help decide whether a programme should be adopted, continued, or modified for improvement. **3.6.0 Domains of Learning** Indeed, it can be said that the learner's survival as a living being depends largely on them. Possessing these domains allows the learner to be able to learn. **3.6.1 Cognitive Domain** This is an aspect of learning that involves and relate to the [mental process] in knowing or comprehending things. It also refers to the mental process by which knowledge is acquired and utilized, and can equally be achieved through several processes of thinking, learning, concept formation, problem solving as well as imagery and remembering. Bloom (1965) and his associates have discovered similar divisions of cognitive development as follows: [information], [comprehension], [application], [analysis], [synthesis] and [evaluation], In addition, Piaget had further outlined the factors that influence cognitive development include: [heredity and environment], [organization], [assimilation] and [adoption]. He summed it up as the maturational stage. **3.6.2 Affective Domain** This domain of learning is concern with [values], [attitudes] as well as [appreciation]. It also embraces interests, social relations, emotional adjustments, habits and life style. The values have to do with beliefs which are internalized and gradually built by the learner to determine his attitudes and appreciations (Bloom; 1965). All these are of paramount importance because they help an individual to balance his relations with those around him as a social being. **3.6.3 Psychomotor Domain** This involves physical movement and manipulative skills such as the use of the whole fingers and the individual organs such a hands and arms which are used for writing, drawing diagrams, sketching, labeling and painting. It includes body movements such as demonstrating correct or incorrect performance in the following activities e.g. playing golf, football and tennis. It also involves other bodily exercises such as jumping, walking, swimming and climbing. etc. Skilled movements require both learning and practice for their successful execution.