Curriculum in Nursing
Content
CURRICULUM PROCESS AND DEVELOPMENT
Aim:
At the end of the seminar students will be able to understand the concept of curriculum and the process of curriculum development.
Objectives:
At the end of the seminar students will be able to: 1. Define the term curriculum. 2. Tell the role of curriculum in nursing. 3. List the types of curricula. 4. Describe the curriculum frameworks in India. 5. Explain the process of curriculum development.
CURRICULUM IN NURSING:
Curriculum in nursing has also been viewed from a number of perspectives. Heidgerken, a respected nurse educator in the 1940s and 1950s, believed that curriculum entailed all planned and day to day learning experiences of the students and faculty, including both organized instructions and clinical experiences. Taba (1962), a curriculum expert whose work influenced nursing education, defined curriculum “all curricula, no matter what their particular design, are composed of certain elements. A curriculum usually contains a statement of aims and of specific objectives; it indicates some selection and organization of content; either it implies or manifests certain patterns of learning and teaching, whether because the objectives demand them or because the content organization requires them. Finally, it includes a program of evaluation of the outcomes”. Beauchamp (1968), another expert Building on curriculum as a plan, viewed curriculum as a written document depicting the scope and arrangement of a projected educational program for a school or college.
The nurse educators have been greatly influenced by the work of Bevis. The definition of curriculum used in her earlier writing reflected her allegiance to the Tyler behaviourist, technical model of curriculum development, an orientation supported by most nurse educators. In 2000, Bevis defined curriculum as "those transactions and interactions that take place between students and teachers and among students with the intent that learning takes place”. She challenged nurse educators to move from what she termed the Tylerian/behaviourist curriculum development paradigm to one that focuses on human interaction and active learning. Relative to this new paradigm, Bevis proposed that the definition of curriculum be changed to incorporate students and teacher's interactions and the transactions that occur. Other nurse educators have attempted to broaden Bevis definitions of curriculum. To capture the personal meaningfulness of curriculum, defined the term as an intensely personal learning within a transpersonal interaction, stating that curriculum is "the educational journey, in an educational environment in which the biography of the person (the student) interacts with the history
of the culture of nursing through the biography of another person (the faculty) to create meaning and release potential in the lives of all participants". Now nursing educators about the conceptualization of curriculum, there has been a stimulus to reconsider the meaning of the thinking term. "It is the responsibility of nursing education in collaboration with practices settings to shape practice, not merely respond to changes in the practice environment". New opportunities are offered to debate a number of issues, including the following: 1. Enhance students delegation, supervision, and leadership skills to effect change. 2. Focus on health promotion and disease prevention. 3. Enhance student - faculty interaction in the learning process. 4. Use "anticipatory - innovative learning" rather than "maintenance learning". 5. Use research-based nursing practice. 6. Focus on quality, cost-effective nursing care. 7. Expand culturally sensitive nursing practice in community based agencies.
Although, various curriculum models are found in the literature, most authors in nursing education agree that for learning to be successful and satisfying, an ongoing, responsive relationship between curriculum and instruction is essential.
TYPES OF CURRICULA:
Regardless of the interpretation of curriculum, several curricula may occur concurrently. 1. The official curriculum includes the stated curriculum framework with philosophy and mission; recognized lists of outcomes, competencies, and objectives for the program and individual courses; course outlines; and syllabi. Bevis (2000) stated that the "legitimate curriculum" . . . (is) the one agreed on by the faculty either implicitly or explicitly". These written documents are distributed to other faculty members, students, curriculum committee members, and accrediting agencies to document what is taught.
2. The operational curriculum consists of "what is actually taught by the teacher and how its importance is communicated to the student”. This curriculum includes knowledge, skills, and attitudes emphasized faculty in the classroom and clinical settings. 3. The illegitimate curriculum, is one known and actively taught by faculty yet not evaluated because descriptions of the behaviours are lacking. Such behaviours include "caring, compassion, power, and its use".
4. The hidden curriculum consists of values and beliefs taught through verbal and nonverbal communication by the faculty. Faculty may be unaware of what is taught through their expressions, priorities, and interactions with students, but students are very aware of the “hidden agendas” (curriculum), which may have a more lasting impact than the written curriculum. The hidden curriculum. The hidden curriculum includes the way faculty interact with students, the teaching methods used and the priorities set. 5. The null curriculum, represents content and behaviors that are not taught. Faculty need to recognize what is not being areas. Examples include content or skills faculty think they are teaching but are not, such as critical thinking. As faculty review curricula, all components and relationships need to be evaluated.
New approach to education and curriculum must be developed: one in which faculty are active participants and guides in learning, not lecturers. It urges an increased involvement in the community, with the university becoming responsible and accountable to the needs of the community. A curriculum that recognizes and accepts individual differences to enhance multiculturalism and believes that curriculum and learning should be focused on acquiring skills, not just factual knowledge. After all, knowledge should be measured by the ability of the students and graduates to perform tasks not recite facts. Therefore, it follows that the most effective learning occurs by experience not just by passive learning facts.
General education and nursing curricula are becoming more interactive, with classroom and workplace joining to meet learning goals set by diverse groups of students. Students must develop the ability to communicate across cultures; understand and respect others views and lives; and learn teamwork skills, including management, delegation and negotiation. The curriculum should offer activities to enable students to gain actual experiences and learn to work collaboratively with other disciplines in seeking solutions to problems.
CURRICULUM FRAME WORKS IN INDIA:
Curriculum is a composite of the entire range of experiences the learner undergoes under the guidance of the school or college. It is a systematic arrangement of the sum total of selected experiences planned by a school or college or a defined group of students to attain the aims of a particular educational program.
A curriculum directed to the education of the nurses is designed within three frameworks. 1. The legally established limits for the nursing activities of the nurses within the individual state or union and union territories. 2. The natural roles of nurse in the profession of nursing. 3. The types of nursing situations or areas where specifically qualified persons are able to learn for nursing.
The provisions of the state or union relative to the objectives and education of nurses vary, but they are based upon the limited roles of nurses in nursing profession. There will be common curricula for one state or country that will the requirements which is prescribed by the statutory body in the form of syllabus. In India, “Indian Nursing Council" is the statutory body which prescribes syllabus for all levels of nursing programs. It may be ANM, GNM, B.Sc N, M.Sc N, M Phil, PhD courses.
A curriculum is a plan, a guide to the types of actions to be taken in pursuit of education for a particular sphere of intellectual or practical endeavour. Since a
curriculum usually extends to the many things designing a curriculum usually requires the cooperative efforts of a number of people. The syllabus which is prescribed by body like Indian Nursing Council is the minimum requirement by law and constructing their own curricula, school or college or university can add much as required to meet their own particular objectives according to the needs or requirements of local national and Global levels. The basic design or pattern of curriculum is established by the sphere of nursing education in which the curriculum is directed. The curriculum therefore, includes all the subject matter and experience which a particular school or college or university plans for its own students and which is developed by the members of its own curriculum committee. The curriculum committee should consist of experts in the field of nursing and nursing education and also one or two experts from general and technical education or experts in medical field. But the curriculum committee on nursing should be lead or headed by nursing experts.
The curriculum development is an ongoing activity; it should be designed according to needs of the changing society, i.e. there is always time to time improvement in general education, changes in traditional customs, advances in medical sciences, research in nursing and increasing availability of resources. All these changes have an effect on nursing education, so the periodic evaluation and modification of the curriculum are essential if the program is offered by the school or college or university to keep pace with all these developments.
PHASES OF CURRICULUM PROCESS:
The curriculum is based on the philosophy and purposes of the school or college or university and its construction requires an understanding of educational psychology together with knowledge and skill in the principles and practice of nursing education. There are five steps in the development of the curriculum.
There are five phases in curriculum process, which include as follow: Phase I : Formulating the statement of philosophy of the school or college or university. Phase II : Establishments of purposes and objectives of the school or college or
university. Phase III : Selection of learning experience to achieve the purposes and objectives. Phase IV : Effecting organization of the selected learning experience. Phase V : Evaluations of the total program.
They are, however, related and interdependent and combine to form a cyclical process so that over time, the final phase affects the initial one. Each phase is logical development from the preceding one, for, most commonly, work in one phase cannot be attempted until some works have been done in a preceding phase. Not with standing this, there are certain relationships between the phases other than the logical and temporal ones. These will be considered later on.
The basic assumption on which this model rests is that the end of education is to change behaviour. In this sense, it is absolutely right to say that the end of education is always and everywhere the same. But this is at the most general level of discourse. In dealing with behavior, specification is necessary in order to be rather more precise than the usual statements of educational aims. Even where the determination of the aims of education is deemed to be a matter apart from the curriculum, the five phase cycle is relevant and, when it is used, it will increase the probability that the aims will be attained by the school, or college or university to keep pace with all other developments.
PHASE I : FORMULATING THE STATEMENTS OF PHILOSOPHY
The philosophy and administration of school or college, institution or education program originates from the Board of Trustees and its member constituted by the Government or any private trust, who are expected to become acquainted with the interests and problems in the community. For example, community may decide to organize hospital for the care of sick, organization of university or college or school of nursing may follow. The board of trusteed are selected because they are expected to be acquainted with the needs of the people of the community which includes representatives from the healthcare profession like nurses, doctors and administrators should be acquainted with conditions in their own fields of specialization. These people bring their beliefs and standards to the committee and together they organize and write a
statement of philosophy for the institutions that represent the collective beliefs of the group. Such a statement of philosophy will be found in the college, university or school. It serves as a framework within which the organization, school or college or educational program can function with a purpose and objective. Policies and standards of the school of college or university, outgrowth of the statement of philosophy of the institution. The philosophy is expressed in different ways as the quality of education, selection of teachers and students, protection of the individual rights of people, attitudes toward the value of human life and the integrity of individual administrator and teachers. The guidelines for the preparation of a statement of philosophy of a school or college of nursing are as follows: 1. An educational philosophy states the values which are believed to be right, true and good by the persons responsible for the school or college. 2. An educational philosophy will be unique to the particular society and individuals whom it serves. 3. All teaching staff should participate in the formulation of the school philosophy or college philosophy. 4. College or school philosophy is used as a screen. 5. College or school philosophy should not conflict with the philosophy of the institution of which it is a part. 6. College or school philosophy should be re-examined periodically to determine its suitability in the light of changing conditions.
PHASE II : AIMS, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
One of the major difficulties of the curriculum process is the transition from general aims to the particular objectives of the classroom. Whether the aims of the educational process are stated as part of the curricular process, or as is more usual, in isolation from it, they are of little use in the day to day learning situations in classroom or school. A three-step process is necessary here. Ultimate goals must be stated. Mediate goals derived and finally proximate goals set up, so that specific objectives can be planned at the classroom level.
The ultimate goals are the expected outcomes expressed as patterns or categories of behavior. They will be produced most successfully by an analysis of records of behaviour and generalizations about it. When the present state of knowledge does not allow or analytic process, it will almost invariably be possible to point out typical behaviour and to produce ultimate goals by illustration. Essentially, this step is the operational one demanded. To say that a full education includes the cultivation and discipline of the feelings is to do no more than to enumerate a general aim of education. To analyse it into behavior patterns, or to quote illustrations of what it really means in terms of observable behavior, is to reduce a general aim to an ultimate goal. Ultimate goals are the expected end products of an education carried out over time. They are the kinds of behavior that the educator hopes students will exhibit as a result of the education they have received. They are statements of desirable acts, feelings attitudes and knowledge; integrated in a pattern and exhibited in appropriate situations.
Mediate goals are the patterns of expected behaviour at given stages over the educational period. Because patterns of behavior are developed through learning experiences over time, the behavior expected of a 15 year old cannot be expected of a 10 year old. Further, certain behaviors which may be intended at one level cannot be instilled unless certain other behaviors have been established at an earlier stage. Though norms of behavior will obviously be useful in setting up mediate goals, the two should not be confused. Norms are statements about actual behavior in specific situations. Mediate goals are statements of intended behaviours in classes of situations at given stages.
It is doubtful whether specific objectives can be determined in phase I at all, because they are concerned with fairly discrete educational goals at the classroom level. Since the classroom is concerned with individual children rather than with groups taken at one given stage or studied longitudinally, specific objectives cannot be stated with any precision until the nature of the individual children has been considered. Learning to behave in a certain way is the result of interaction between the child and his psychological environment and in this transaction there is more than one term to be considered. The educational experience, whatever its nature, must be concerned not only with the intended outcomes, but also with the individual behavioural status, that is with
the actual behavior of the children before the learning experience is set up. This prior behaviour can be adequately assessed only in the classroom.
So, outside the classroom, it does not seem possible to go any further than the enunciation of proximate goals. In the traditional school with its separate-subject organization, these proximate goals were the 'curriculum' or course of study. In the terminology used here, they are the most specific statements intended behavioral outcomes possible in phase I. Though specific, they are not discrete, but linked in the same way as other kinds of goals.
At this stage, it should be pointed out that, though the curriculum process is developed through a series of phases, each phase cannot be completely worked through without reference to the succeeding ones. While the first step is obviously the definition of general aims in behavioral terms by either of the means mentioned, succeeding steps in phase I must be taken in conjunction with allied steps in phases II and III and with an eye to the problems of scope and sequence of phase IV. This means that, in the definition and delimitation of progressive goals obtained from any step in phase I to the corresponding steps in phases II and III. This, to quote Taba, involves rethinking of the meaning of the general objective in terms of the particular curriculum content or learning experiences and the selection of a particular emphasis in the light of what is both logical and appropriate to the growth potential of the given age or maturity level. Not withstanding this horizontal movement between levels in phases, the general sequence is as indicated, from phase I through phases II and III to phase IV and a good deal of work must be done in phase I before work is attempted in the other phases. No adequate educational experience can be offered unless it is abundantly clear what sort of behaviour is meant to result from it.
Guidelines for the preparation of the statement on the psychology of learning: 1. Educational psychology deals with the nature of the learning process, the factors in school or college situations which influence and modify learning, teaching methodology and the effects of education. 2. The faculty of a school or college of nursing should formulate a statement which outlines the psychology of learning with which all agree.
3. Studies on the application of the various principles of learning should be undertaken by the faculty in terms of specific students within a p articular school or college environment. 4. The statement of a psychology of learning agreed upon by the faculty is used to screen objectives for the school or college.
PHASE III : SELECTION OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Even if the general aims are derived and stated apart from the process of curriculum development, it is obvious that data useful in the three-step process in phase I must be derived from the behavioral sciences. In order to achieve ends, appropriate means are required. The means of instilling or changing behavior are through learning experiences. So phase II of the curriculum process is concerned with the selection of appropriate experiences to bring about the desired behavior specified in phase I. Though learning experiences are specific, they may be classified into general categories which deal with man's functioning in particular ways, or his interests in certain directions, or his attempts to solve certain kinds of problem. In its simplest form, this classification may be illustrated by saying that a 'physical' experience is different from a 'mental' one and that both differ from an 'emotional' one, though all three may occur in the same person in rapid succession. This does not mean that some features of any one kind of experience are not present to some degree in each of the others, but only that the effects of each kind are, in the main, seen in different types of behavior. The relationship between a learning experience and the resulting behavior is a conditional one which, in different situations can be expressed with more or less certainty. What is meant by conditional relationship is indicated by the statement. 'If behavior X is desired" learning experiences A, B and C must be provided'. The educator is trying to increase the probability that certain classes of situations will evoke certain types of behavior. For instance, in every social situation where there is a choice between two or more, he wishes the student to act honestly; when situations require that the student should integrate, it is desired that he should do so, rather than use the differential calculus. The proposition that a certain situation will elicit a certain kind of behavior has as a parallel the proposition that certain behaviors are produced by means of certain learning experiences.
Consequently, in phase II the problem is to select adequate learning experiences in order to achieve the goals set up in the preceding phase. These will need to be considered on at least three levels, corresponding to the steps indicated in the phase I. Ultimate goals require indication of broad categories of experiences embracing concepts and generalizations about the particular pattern of experience which leads to a particular kind of behavior. To take an example from the cognitive field; if behaviour from the Evaluation category of the Taxonomy of educational objectives appears as an ultimate goal, then it will be necessary to select learning experience which observation or preferably experiment has shown to produce behaviour which falls within this category.
At the level of mediate goals, learning experiences must be considered in a less general way, for they are intended to contribute to behavioral outcomes which may involve less maturity. As the students of child development have pointed out, a child can be immature and mature at the same time. In so far as a child is not an adult, he is immature both in growth and in development. In so far as a child is not an adult, he is immature both in growth and in development. In so far as he has grown and developed optionally, he can be considered mature with respect to elapsed time. To use a colloquialism in a much stricter sense than is usual, such a child is mature for his age that is, he exhibits behaviour appropriate to his stage of development. In order that this happy situation should occur, he must be exposed to and profit by appropriate experiences, which are not the same at different stages of development. Play is a good example of this sort of thing. In early childhood and perhaps even later, play is possibly the major learning activity. At later stages in our society, it is a recreational activity and, as such, is sharply distinguished from other learning activities.
The selection of learning experiences is taken a step further towards specificity at the level of proximate goals. The teacher here will have definite experiences in mind, derived from the record of experiences, either his own or someone else's. These experiences may or may not have occurred under controlled conditions, but they will refer to material which can be translated almost immediately into classroom happening appropriate to this sort of class. For instance, field trips are experiences which can occur at the beginning of the end of school life. Yet, as such, they must be considered quite
differently, because the nature of the experiences which can be offered to students who differ in age by 10 or 12 years is different. Even at the same age, the proximate goals may differ for two field trips and as a result different learning experiences will be desirable. Even bearing in mind the principle of multiple learnings requires in additiorn, that the selection of experiences should not be based entirely on a sample one-to-one correspondence. Half the task of selecting appropriate experiences for a proximate goal is accounted for by the fact that the list of possible learning experiences should also be referred to other proximate goals. This must be done in order that experiences may be selected which not only will result in behaviour specified by this goal, but which will, if possible, contribute to the inculcation of reinforcement of behaviour specified by other proximate goals. While the center must always be the focus of attention, the periphery must not be deliberately ignored nor allowed to go by default.
The selection of experiences, even at this level, is not final and cannot be so until the teacher knows something of the nature of the individuals in his class. He will have in mind, or preferably on paper, a range of experiences which will contribute toward the behavioral goals of phase I. Selection from these cannot be made adequately until specific objectives are detailed, a process which occurs in phase IV.
PHASE IV: ORGANIZATION AND LNTEGRATION OF EXPERIENCES AND CONTENT
The major task to be attempted in phase IV is the combining of information about experiences, including developmental sequences and stages discovered in phase II. With information derived from the taxonomic analyses of phase III in order to set up educational experiences designed to achieve the goals of phase I. Phase IV is concerned with educational sequences, that is with sequences of selected experiences, with content planned to produce certain behaviors within the general areas of understandings, sensitivities, feelings, attitudes, values and skills.
It seems clear that there is no common organizing principle present in current curricula, but rather than each type is focussed upon different things. The subject curriculum is focussed upon school or college subjects and their internal divisions, the
activity curriculum on certain catagories of activities or occupations or centers of interest and the core curriculum on areas of living or social functions and the problems found there. Thus, the categories which determined the scope and sequence of the whole educational programs are those determined by a particular emphasis upon one or other of the contributory factors discussed earlier. Emphasis on individual needs results in an activity program and emphasis on social needs in a core program. When one restricted area of social needs-the transmission of the intellectual cultural heritage-is the focus, a subject curriculum is the result.
Value judgements about curriculum orientation are more appropriate to phase I and differ little from general statements of educational aims. Indeed, „organizational categories' such as the seven 'cardinal principles of education or Spencer's or Bobbit's categories can be derived from the general statements of phase I. this explains why they should be considered as educational objectives. They are, in a sense, by-products of particular approaches to general ideas about behavior, learning experiences and content. In the actual practice of schools, the only type of organization which is really pure is the subject curriculum for both the activity and the core curriculum do not account for complete organizational procedure over the whole of school life. At some stage, other organizational categories than those distinctive of the type are employed. Most of what are usually thought of as organizational categories are not so much organizational categories as areas of activity corresponding to emphasis upon social or individual needs, or on the research disciplines.
Because Phase IV is the phase which leads directly into the teaching learning situation, it seems likely that the principles which should operate in this phase are best derived from those which govern learning situations in general and those in school and classroom in particular. Since organization is shaped by purposes, the curriculum-maker is thrown back upon his analyses in phases II and III. He can do little more than work empirically and experimentally to produce tentative hypotheses about the organization which can best serve his purposes and then put these hypotheses to the test.
Rigorous application of the curriculum process detailed here should help considerably in producing solutions to the problem. Operations carried out in phase I will indicate the nature of the behavior and patterns of behaviour implicit in the general
aims; operations detailed in phase II will indicate the kinds of learning experiences that observation and experiment have shown to produce that behavior. Detailed analysis of subject matter will cast some light on what behaviour detailed analysis is specifically determined (i.e. brought about only through specific subject matter) and what is commonly determined (i.e. can be instilled through content from more than one subject) as well as on the fundamental structure of various subjects. What is particularly needed is further search for concepts and generalizations which are common to more than one subject. Since the common general organizational categories are not mutually exclusive, it is possible that any or all of them may be used in determining how to organize educational experiences. Indeed, it has been shown that it is practicable to use different organizational categories at the same time, or for one set to be used at one stage of and a different set at a later stage, or even for the emphasis placed on different categories to change with time. It is within the stage concerned with general organizational categories that such decisions must be made and they must be made in the context of the general aims. Because of this, they will be general in nature.
It must not be forgotten; however, that decisions about general organizational categories affect not only the decisions about scope and sequence that are so important in phase IV, but also administration and methodology (and, for that matter, are affected by them). It is impossible to alter the general organizational categories used without at the same time altering the administrative organizational framework within which the teaching-learning process occurs. Change in one inevitably calls for change in the other. Curriculum-makers do not always recognize this, nor do they always see the interaction between decisions at the upper levels of phase IV and classroom practices. Much of the criticism leveled at the use of particular general organizational categories themselves, but should be directed toward a pedagogy which derives from erroneous views about behavior and learning. If the choice of organizing centers. On which educational sequences may be focused. These mustbe considered at several levels.
At about the level of the ultimate goals of phase I, the organizing centers will show by their combination the extent and variety of the education given. The scope and sequence of the curriculum are essentially indicated by these centers: the „centers of interest' of the activity program, the life functions, the areas of living or the social
problems of the core curriculum, or the basic themes of all the subjects or realms of knowledge.
At the more specific level of the classroom work unit, organizing centers must be selected as foci for lessons or units. In so far as no lesson is self-contained, but should refer to what is past and lead on to what is to come, organizing centers at this level may be thought of as integrating centers. Because the curriculum is made up of a series of educational experiences, that is, of coordinated sequences of experiences with subject matter designed to produce certain behavior, the plan of a lesson must take account of the sequence necessary to master the behavior and must indicate the nature and order of the steps to be taken.
The dart of reliable information about principles of instilling particular behaviors means that organization of educational experiences is usually based on such principles as proceeding from simple to complex, from part to whole, from concrete to abstract, from here and now to then and there, to else on the presumed logic of the subject matter. The problem of providing for cumulative learning raises so many unsolved theoretical questions that it is perhaps best attempted at the classroom level. From the integrating centers it is necessary to move to more specific levels, those of the source units and the classroom work units.
Obviously, no matter what general organizational categories are used, at the classroom level a program consists of a number of classroom work units, that is, interrelated but self-contained educational sequences. Under various schemes of organization these may be called lessons, lesson sequences, projects, activities, or units. Irrespective of what the item is called, it presents a unity with regard to objectives, experiences and content it has its own organizational pattern and presumably, involves some assessments and evaluation. Despite its unity and its singularity, it cannot be considered in isolation for, if it is planned and does not merely happen (and planning is the characteristic of formal education), it must have reference to other units which have gone before it as well as those which are to come. It will bear a definite relation to the integrating centers and the organizing centers, a relation of the same kind as the specific objectives of the classroom or the proximate goals of phase I bear to higher-level goals.
There must be valid reasons why it occurs at this point in time rather than at any other and these derive largely from operations conducted at the level of the integrating centers. These operations in turn depend on information derived from comparable levels in phase II and III. Information from the same sources will determine the nature, form, coverage and length of the unit. Further to this, however, it is necessary to state that these characteristics of the classroom work unit will partly be determined by the nature of the individuals in the class, in so far as the school can appraise them. The sum total of all classroom work units over a given period comprises the program for that class.
The source unit may be defined as a work unit for a particular educational stage, which indicates broad lines of approach to specific proximate goals. Within limits, it offers alternatives in experiences, content and organization of materials and these alternatives indicate useful but different means for attaining goals. Source units offer guidelines to the development of individual work units for particular groups. In practice, they would be tested empirically and subject to evaluation. Where teachers can be allowed enough relief from other duties to enable them to write up fairly full reports of work units carried out with particular classes, valuable material is made available not only to other teachers but to curriculum workers as well. In practice, a common method of compiling source units is for teachers to add assessment and evaluative data to a fairly detailed unit plan compounded. These documents form a basis for source units.
PHASE V : EVALUATION OF THE CURRICULUM
The final phase in the curriculum process is the coming to conclusions about the success or failure, of the educational enterprise by means of some measurement or assessment of change in behavior. The work in this phase can be considered under several headings. The first formal purpose is quite clear. Certain goals have been stated. As a result of formal education certain behaviours are expected. Do they, in fact, occur? Has the student actually acquired the facts, the knowledge, the skills, the attitudes, the beliefs and the values that were intended? And does he habitually respond in the expected ways?
The second task is concerned with the preceding phases and the evaluation of the operations that were performed in each. Were the experiences chosen suitable for attaining the operational goals, or would other experiences perhaps have been more suitable? Did the selected content contribute effectively, or would other content have been more suitable? Was the integration of experiences and content effective, or were related areas of subject matter learned in a compartmentalized fashion? What sort of concomitant learnings resulted from the organization used? Would a different sort of organization have produced greater change in the desired direction, either for some or all of the students? Many other questions could be listed, answers to which depend on the work done in this phase, but this selection gives some idea. of the principle concern. This is the evaluation, not of the behavioral changes of individuals, but of the theoretical bases of and practical applications resulting from the selection processes of the other phases. Only if this sort of thorough going evaluation is pursued can theory be strengthened and practice made more effective. Some of the measurement or assessment required in the evaluation of behavior change will serve these purposes, some instruments may have to be specifically designed. What is certain is that this function of evaluation must be kept clearly in mind.
There is another point of view from which evaluation as a part of curriculum planning must be considered. In so far as it is an attempt to change behaviour, education is concerned with behaviour at what may be three different levels. First, there is initial behavior, the behavior that the individual or group displays before the educational experience. Then there is the behavior resulting from the educational experience, which may be called. the actual outcome. Finally, there are the behaviors specified in the goals set out in phase I. These may be called intended outcomes.
The other aspect of evaluation to which reference was made is concerned with initial behavior. In order to make adequate plans to change behavior, it is necessary to know where to start. This means that some assessment of initial behavior must be made, so that appropriate learning experiences with content may be selected and organized. Logically, this would seem to show that specific objectives and even proximate goals cannot be properly determined until some assessment has taken place. It certainly draws attention to the close relationship between phase V and phase I, which will be considered presently and
emphasizes the interrelationships of all the phases. It is possible to assume that after some little experience of formal education the actual outcomes of one learning experience are roughly equivalent to the initial behavior for a succeeding one, provided that the time interval between the experiences is not too great. But only the continuous assessment of behavior will provide those data about initial behavior which are necessary for the effective selection and organization of learning material. Evaluation of any educational sequence rests upon the difference between initial behaviour and actual outcomes and the relationships these bear to intended outcomes. Measures of how far the student has come and how far he still has to go are fundamental to curricular decisions.
There is a certain amount of interdependence between Phase I and Phase V because in the process of translating aims into various kinds of goals in phase I, some forethought must be given to the means and processes of evaluation. Similarly, the various aspects of evaluation may and should affect the derivation of goals, the selection of educational experiences and their organization into sequences. Curriculum process must therefore be represented as a cycle and the curriculum must be envisaged as subject to continuous scrutiny and constant revision. The general aims of education may, as some people contend, remain the same, but even if this is possible, the social system within which they must be realized is in a state of flux, so that goals-ultimate, mediate or proximate-must be redefined or even altered to allow for new circumstances. As a theory of behavior is more fully developed it will perhaps be easier to approach the most effective selection of experiences with content and the best method of organizing and evaluating educational sequences.
Curriculum is the means which the school or college employs to discharge its responsibility towards the individual and society. It is a living whole, composed of experience actually going on in school or college. A sequence of potential experiences is set up in the school or college for the purposes of disciplining students in group ways of thinking and acting. The set of experiences is referred to as "curriculum". The curriculum should therefore, be thought of as composed or made up of all the actual learning experiences of students. It has been said that curriculum consists of the learning experiences in which students actually engage; the courses of study is printed or
mimeographed statement telling the teachers what experiences or areas of learning are advised or prescribed for given grades or periods within grades.
Evaluation is the term used to describe the process of finding out whether what was expected, desired or aimed at has been achieved. The good curriculum is constructed on some basic principles. These guide the curriculum makers and also serve as criteria for evaluation of the curriculum.
Criteria for Evaluation of Curriculum:
The basic principles of curriculum constructed serve as basis for curriculum evaluation. These principles are drawn from the philosophical, psychological and sociological bases and helps the teachers in the realization of the aims and objectives of education as below: 1. The curriculum should be child-centered-In this the life of the student at all points and help in the evaluation of balanced personality. 2. The curriculum should concentrate on the experience of human race as a whole. The purpose of the school is to reflect civilization itself and the curriculum should epitomize the accumulated experience of the race. 3. The curriculum should be based on the twin principles of utility and reality. The curriculum should include only knowledge and skills which the student requires for his present and future life in real sense. 4. The curriculum should be broad-based, flexible and changing/dynamic and should not be rigid and static. The curriculum should be changed needs and development of society advanced in field of science and knowledge. 5. The curriculum should possess continuity, articulation and integration. The central responsibility in curriculum planning is to see that overall total experience pattern of the learner possesses coherence, unity and integrity. Just as in a healthy body blood circulates or articulates freely through every vein giving life and vigor to the whole body. 6. The curriculum should provide for individual differences among children/students.
7. The curriculum should have social significance-curriculum should reflect all that is significant and characteristic in the life the community in its natural settings. 8. The curriculum should consist of purposeful activities and meaningful experiences. 9. The curriculum should provide direct instruction. 10.The curriculum should promote democratic value. 11.The curriculum should achieve the rounded growth of the child or students.
CONCLUSION:
Thus we saw the process of curriculum development. Though different steps have been mentioned, they are inseparable and work together for the development of a curriculum.
Aim:
At the end of the seminar students will be able to understand the concept of curriculum and the process of curriculum development.
Objectives:
At the end of the seminar students will be able to: 1. Define the term curriculum. 2. Tell the role of curriculum in nursing. 3. List the types of curricula. 4. Describe the curriculum frameworks in India. 5. Explain the process of curriculum development.
CURRICULUM IN NURSING:
Curriculum in nursing has also been viewed from a number of perspectives. Heidgerken, a respected nurse educator in the 1940s and 1950s, believed that curriculum entailed all planned and day to day learning experiences of the students and faculty, including both organized instructions and clinical experiences. Taba (1962), a curriculum expert whose work influenced nursing education, defined curriculum “all curricula, no matter what their particular design, are composed of certain elements. A curriculum usually contains a statement of aims and of specific objectives; it indicates some selection and organization of content; either it implies or manifests certain patterns of learning and teaching, whether because the objectives demand them or because the content organization requires them. Finally, it includes a program of evaluation of the outcomes”. Beauchamp (1968), another expert Building on curriculum as a plan, viewed curriculum as a written document depicting the scope and arrangement of a projected educational program for a school or college.
The nurse educators have been greatly influenced by the work of Bevis. The definition of curriculum used in her earlier writing reflected her allegiance to the Tyler behaviourist, technical model of curriculum development, an orientation supported by most nurse educators. In 2000, Bevis defined curriculum as "those transactions and interactions that take place between students and teachers and among students with the intent that learning takes place”. She challenged nurse educators to move from what she termed the Tylerian/behaviourist curriculum development paradigm to one that focuses on human interaction and active learning. Relative to this new paradigm, Bevis proposed that the definition of curriculum be changed to incorporate students and teacher's interactions and the transactions that occur. Other nurse educators have attempted to broaden Bevis definitions of curriculum. To capture the personal meaningfulness of curriculum, defined the term as an intensely personal learning within a transpersonal interaction, stating that curriculum is "the educational journey, in an educational environment in which the biography of the person (the student) interacts with the history
of the culture of nursing through the biography of another person (the faculty) to create meaning and release potential in the lives of all participants". Now nursing educators about the conceptualization of curriculum, there has been a stimulus to reconsider the meaning of the thinking term. "It is the responsibility of nursing education in collaboration with practices settings to shape practice, not merely respond to changes in the practice environment". New opportunities are offered to debate a number of issues, including the following: 1. Enhance students delegation, supervision, and leadership skills to effect change. 2. Focus on health promotion and disease prevention. 3. Enhance student - faculty interaction in the learning process. 4. Use "anticipatory - innovative learning" rather than "maintenance learning". 5. Use research-based nursing practice. 6. Focus on quality, cost-effective nursing care. 7. Expand culturally sensitive nursing practice in community based agencies.
Although, various curriculum models are found in the literature, most authors in nursing education agree that for learning to be successful and satisfying, an ongoing, responsive relationship between curriculum and instruction is essential.
TYPES OF CURRICULA:
Regardless of the interpretation of curriculum, several curricula may occur concurrently. 1. The official curriculum includes the stated curriculum framework with philosophy and mission; recognized lists of outcomes, competencies, and objectives for the program and individual courses; course outlines; and syllabi. Bevis (2000) stated that the "legitimate curriculum" . . . (is) the one agreed on by the faculty either implicitly or explicitly". These written documents are distributed to other faculty members, students, curriculum committee members, and accrediting agencies to document what is taught.
2. The operational curriculum consists of "what is actually taught by the teacher and how its importance is communicated to the student”. This curriculum includes knowledge, skills, and attitudes emphasized faculty in the classroom and clinical settings. 3. The illegitimate curriculum, is one known and actively taught by faculty yet not evaluated because descriptions of the behaviours are lacking. Such behaviours include "caring, compassion, power, and its use".
4. The hidden curriculum consists of values and beliefs taught through verbal and nonverbal communication by the faculty. Faculty may be unaware of what is taught through their expressions, priorities, and interactions with students, but students are very aware of the “hidden agendas” (curriculum), which may have a more lasting impact than the written curriculum. The hidden curriculum. The hidden curriculum includes the way faculty interact with students, the teaching methods used and the priorities set. 5. The null curriculum, represents content and behaviors that are not taught. Faculty need to recognize what is not being areas. Examples include content or skills faculty think they are teaching but are not, such as critical thinking. As faculty review curricula, all components and relationships need to be evaluated.
New approach to education and curriculum must be developed: one in which faculty are active participants and guides in learning, not lecturers. It urges an increased involvement in the community, with the university becoming responsible and accountable to the needs of the community. A curriculum that recognizes and accepts individual differences to enhance multiculturalism and believes that curriculum and learning should be focused on acquiring skills, not just factual knowledge. After all, knowledge should be measured by the ability of the students and graduates to perform tasks not recite facts. Therefore, it follows that the most effective learning occurs by experience not just by passive learning facts.
General education and nursing curricula are becoming more interactive, with classroom and workplace joining to meet learning goals set by diverse groups of students. Students must develop the ability to communicate across cultures; understand and respect others views and lives; and learn teamwork skills, including management, delegation and negotiation. The curriculum should offer activities to enable students to gain actual experiences and learn to work collaboratively with other disciplines in seeking solutions to problems.
CURRICULUM FRAME WORKS IN INDIA:
Curriculum is a composite of the entire range of experiences the learner undergoes under the guidance of the school or college. It is a systematic arrangement of the sum total of selected experiences planned by a school or college or a defined group of students to attain the aims of a particular educational program.
A curriculum directed to the education of the nurses is designed within three frameworks. 1. The legally established limits for the nursing activities of the nurses within the individual state or union and union territories. 2. The natural roles of nurse in the profession of nursing. 3. The types of nursing situations or areas where specifically qualified persons are able to learn for nursing.
The provisions of the state or union relative to the objectives and education of nurses vary, but they are based upon the limited roles of nurses in nursing profession. There will be common curricula for one state or country that will the requirements which is prescribed by the statutory body in the form of syllabus. In India, “Indian Nursing Council" is the statutory body which prescribes syllabus for all levels of nursing programs. It may be ANM, GNM, B.Sc N, M.Sc N, M Phil, PhD courses.
A curriculum is a plan, a guide to the types of actions to be taken in pursuit of education for a particular sphere of intellectual or practical endeavour. Since a
curriculum usually extends to the many things designing a curriculum usually requires the cooperative efforts of a number of people. The syllabus which is prescribed by body like Indian Nursing Council is the minimum requirement by law and constructing their own curricula, school or college or university can add much as required to meet their own particular objectives according to the needs or requirements of local national and Global levels. The basic design or pattern of curriculum is established by the sphere of nursing education in which the curriculum is directed. The curriculum therefore, includes all the subject matter and experience which a particular school or college or university plans for its own students and which is developed by the members of its own curriculum committee. The curriculum committee should consist of experts in the field of nursing and nursing education and also one or two experts from general and technical education or experts in medical field. But the curriculum committee on nursing should be lead or headed by nursing experts.
The curriculum development is an ongoing activity; it should be designed according to needs of the changing society, i.e. there is always time to time improvement in general education, changes in traditional customs, advances in medical sciences, research in nursing and increasing availability of resources. All these changes have an effect on nursing education, so the periodic evaluation and modification of the curriculum are essential if the program is offered by the school or college or university to keep pace with all these developments.
PHASES OF CURRICULUM PROCESS:
The curriculum is based on the philosophy and purposes of the school or college or university and its construction requires an understanding of educational psychology together with knowledge and skill in the principles and practice of nursing education. There are five steps in the development of the curriculum.
There are five phases in curriculum process, which include as follow: Phase I : Formulating the statement of philosophy of the school or college or university. Phase II : Establishments of purposes and objectives of the school or college or
university. Phase III : Selection of learning experience to achieve the purposes and objectives. Phase IV : Effecting organization of the selected learning experience. Phase V : Evaluations of the total program.
They are, however, related and interdependent and combine to form a cyclical process so that over time, the final phase affects the initial one. Each phase is logical development from the preceding one, for, most commonly, work in one phase cannot be attempted until some works have been done in a preceding phase. Not with standing this, there are certain relationships between the phases other than the logical and temporal ones. These will be considered later on.
The basic assumption on which this model rests is that the end of education is to change behaviour. In this sense, it is absolutely right to say that the end of education is always and everywhere the same. But this is at the most general level of discourse. In dealing with behavior, specification is necessary in order to be rather more precise than the usual statements of educational aims. Even where the determination of the aims of education is deemed to be a matter apart from the curriculum, the five phase cycle is relevant and, when it is used, it will increase the probability that the aims will be attained by the school, or college or university to keep pace with all other developments.
PHASE I : FORMULATING THE STATEMENTS OF PHILOSOPHY
The philosophy and administration of school or college, institution or education program originates from the Board of Trustees and its member constituted by the Government or any private trust, who are expected to become acquainted with the interests and problems in the community. For example, community may decide to organize hospital for the care of sick, organization of university or college or school of nursing may follow. The board of trusteed are selected because they are expected to be acquainted with the needs of the people of the community which includes representatives from the healthcare profession like nurses, doctors and administrators should be acquainted with conditions in their own fields of specialization. These people bring their beliefs and standards to the committee and together they organize and write a
statement of philosophy for the institutions that represent the collective beliefs of the group. Such a statement of philosophy will be found in the college, university or school. It serves as a framework within which the organization, school or college or educational program can function with a purpose and objective. Policies and standards of the school of college or university, outgrowth of the statement of philosophy of the institution. The philosophy is expressed in different ways as the quality of education, selection of teachers and students, protection of the individual rights of people, attitudes toward the value of human life and the integrity of individual administrator and teachers. The guidelines for the preparation of a statement of philosophy of a school or college of nursing are as follows: 1. An educational philosophy states the values which are believed to be right, true and good by the persons responsible for the school or college. 2. An educational philosophy will be unique to the particular society and individuals whom it serves. 3. All teaching staff should participate in the formulation of the school philosophy or college philosophy. 4. College or school philosophy is used as a screen. 5. College or school philosophy should not conflict with the philosophy of the institution of which it is a part. 6. College or school philosophy should be re-examined periodically to determine its suitability in the light of changing conditions.
PHASE II : AIMS, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
One of the major difficulties of the curriculum process is the transition from general aims to the particular objectives of the classroom. Whether the aims of the educational process are stated as part of the curricular process, or as is more usual, in isolation from it, they are of little use in the day to day learning situations in classroom or school. A three-step process is necessary here. Ultimate goals must be stated. Mediate goals derived and finally proximate goals set up, so that specific objectives can be planned at the classroom level.
The ultimate goals are the expected outcomes expressed as patterns or categories of behavior. They will be produced most successfully by an analysis of records of behaviour and generalizations about it. When the present state of knowledge does not allow or analytic process, it will almost invariably be possible to point out typical behaviour and to produce ultimate goals by illustration. Essentially, this step is the operational one demanded. To say that a full education includes the cultivation and discipline of the feelings is to do no more than to enumerate a general aim of education. To analyse it into behavior patterns, or to quote illustrations of what it really means in terms of observable behavior, is to reduce a general aim to an ultimate goal. Ultimate goals are the expected end products of an education carried out over time. They are the kinds of behavior that the educator hopes students will exhibit as a result of the education they have received. They are statements of desirable acts, feelings attitudes and knowledge; integrated in a pattern and exhibited in appropriate situations.
Mediate goals are the patterns of expected behaviour at given stages over the educational period. Because patterns of behavior are developed through learning experiences over time, the behavior expected of a 15 year old cannot be expected of a 10 year old. Further, certain behaviors which may be intended at one level cannot be instilled unless certain other behaviors have been established at an earlier stage. Though norms of behavior will obviously be useful in setting up mediate goals, the two should not be confused. Norms are statements about actual behavior in specific situations. Mediate goals are statements of intended behaviours in classes of situations at given stages.
It is doubtful whether specific objectives can be determined in phase I at all, because they are concerned with fairly discrete educational goals at the classroom level. Since the classroom is concerned with individual children rather than with groups taken at one given stage or studied longitudinally, specific objectives cannot be stated with any precision until the nature of the individual children has been considered. Learning to behave in a certain way is the result of interaction between the child and his psychological environment and in this transaction there is more than one term to be considered. The educational experience, whatever its nature, must be concerned not only with the intended outcomes, but also with the individual behavioural status, that is with
the actual behavior of the children before the learning experience is set up. This prior behaviour can be adequately assessed only in the classroom.
So, outside the classroom, it does not seem possible to go any further than the enunciation of proximate goals. In the traditional school with its separate-subject organization, these proximate goals were the 'curriculum' or course of study. In the terminology used here, they are the most specific statements intended behavioral outcomes possible in phase I. Though specific, they are not discrete, but linked in the same way as other kinds of goals.
At this stage, it should be pointed out that, though the curriculum process is developed through a series of phases, each phase cannot be completely worked through without reference to the succeeding ones. While the first step is obviously the definition of general aims in behavioral terms by either of the means mentioned, succeeding steps in phase I must be taken in conjunction with allied steps in phases II and III and with an eye to the problems of scope and sequence of phase IV. This means that, in the definition and delimitation of progressive goals obtained from any step in phase I to the corresponding steps in phases II and III. This, to quote Taba, involves rethinking of the meaning of the general objective in terms of the particular curriculum content or learning experiences and the selection of a particular emphasis in the light of what is both logical and appropriate to the growth potential of the given age or maturity level. Not withstanding this horizontal movement between levels in phases, the general sequence is as indicated, from phase I through phases II and III to phase IV and a good deal of work must be done in phase I before work is attempted in the other phases. No adequate educational experience can be offered unless it is abundantly clear what sort of behaviour is meant to result from it.
Guidelines for the preparation of the statement on the psychology of learning: 1. Educational psychology deals with the nature of the learning process, the factors in school or college situations which influence and modify learning, teaching methodology and the effects of education. 2. The faculty of a school or college of nursing should formulate a statement which outlines the psychology of learning with which all agree.
3. Studies on the application of the various principles of learning should be undertaken by the faculty in terms of specific students within a p articular school or college environment. 4. The statement of a psychology of learning agreed upon by the faculty is used to screen objectives for the school or college.
PHASE III : SELECTION OF LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Even if the general aims are derived and stated apart from the process of curriculum development, it is obvious that data useful in the three-step process in phase I must be derived from the behavioral sciences. In order to achieve ends, appropriate means are required. The means of instilling or changing behavior are through learning experiences. So phase II of the curriculum process is concerned with the selection of appropriate experiences to bring about the desired behavior specified in phase I. Though learning experiences are specific, they may be classified into general categories which deal with man's functioning in particular ways, or his interests in certain directions, or his attempts to solve certain kinds of problem. In its simplest form, this classification may be illustrated by saying that a 'physical' experience is different from a 'mental' one and that both differ from an 'emotional' one, though all three may occur in the same person in rapid succession. This does not mean that some features of any one kind of experience are not present to some degree in each of the others, but only that the effects of each kind are, in the main, seen in different types of behavior. The relationship between a learning experience and the resulting behavior is a conditional one which, in different situations can be expressed with more or less certainty. What is meant by conditional relationship is indicated by the statement. 'If behavior X is desired" learning experiences A, B and C must be provided'. The educator is trying to increase the probability that certain classes of situations will evoke certain types of behavior. For instance, in every social situation where there is a choice between two or more, he wishes the student to act honestly; when situations require that the student should integrate, it is desired that he should do so, rather than use the differential calculus. The proposition that a certain situation will elicit a certain kind of behavior has as a parallel the proposition that certain behaviors are produced by means of certain learning experiences.
Consequently, in phase II the problem is to select adequate learning experiences in order to achieve the goals set up in the preceding phase. These will need to be considered on at least three levels, corresponding to the steps indicated in the phase I. Ultimate goals require indication of broad categories of experiences embracing concepts and generalizations about the particular pattern of experience which leads to a particular kind of behavior. To take an example from the cognitive field; if behaviour from the Evaluation category of the Taxonomy of educational objectives appears as an ultimate goal, then it will be necessary to select learning experience which observation or preferably experiment has shown to produce behaviour which falls within this category.
At the level of mediate goals, learning experiences must be considered in a less general way, for they are intended to contribute to behavioral outcomes which may involve less maturity. As the students of child development have pointed out, a child can be immature and mature at the same time. In so far as a child is not an adult, he is immature both in growth and in development. In so far as a child is not an adult, he is immature both in growth and in development. In so far as he has grown and developed optionally, he can be considered mature with respect to elapsed time. To use a colloquialism in a much stricter sense than is usual, such a child is mature for his age that is, he exhibits behaviour appropriate to his stage of development. In order that this happy situation should occur, he must be exposed to and profit by appropriate experiences, which are not the same at different stages of development. Play is a good example of this sort of thing. In early childhood and perhaps even later, play is possibly the major learning activity. At later stages in our society, it is a recreational activity and, as such, is sharply distinguished from other learning activities.
The selection of learning experiences is taken a step further towards specificity at the level of proximate goals. The teacher here will have definite experiences in mind, derived from the record of experiences, either his own or someone else's. These experiences may or may not have occurred under controlled conditions, but they will refer to material which can be translated almost immediately into classroom happening appropriate to this sort of class. For instance, field trips are experiences which can occur at the beginning of the end of school life. Yet, as such, they must be considered quite
differently, because the nature of the experiences which can be offered to students who differ in age by 10 or 12 years is different. Even at the same age, the proximate goals may differ for two field trips and as a result different learning experiences will be desirable. Even bearing in mind the principle of multiple learnings requires in additiorn, that the selection of experiences should not be based entirely on a sample one-to-one correspondence. Half the task of selecting appropriate experiences for a proximate goal is accounted for by the fact that the list of possible learning experiences should also be referred to other proximate goals. This must be done in order that experiences may be selected which not only will result in behaviour specified by this goal, but which will, if possible, contribute to the inculcation of reinforcement of behaviour specified by other proximate goals. While the center must always be the focus of attention, the periphery must not be deliberately ignored nor allowed to go by default.
The selection of experiences, even at this level, is not final and cannot be so until the teacher knows something of the nature of the individuals in his class. He will have in mind, or preferably on paper, a range of experiences which will contribute toward the behavioral goals of phase I. Selection from these cannot be made adequately until specific objectives are detailed, a process which occurs in phase IV.
PHASE IV: ORGANIZATION AND LNTEGRATION OF EXPERIENCES AND CONTENT
The major task to be attempted in phase IV is the combining of information about experiences, including developmental sequences and stages discovered in phase II. With information derived from the taxonomic analyses of phase III in order to set up educational experiences designed to achieve the goals of phase I. Phase IV is concerned with educational sequences, that is with sequences of selected experiences, with content planned to produce certain behaviors within the general areas of understandings, sensitivities, feelings, attitudes, values and skills.
It seems clear that there is no common organizing principle present in current curricula, but rather than each type is focussed upon different things. The subject curriculum is focussed upon school or college subjects and their internal divisions, the
activity curriculum on certain catagories of activities or occupations or centers of interest and the core curriculum on areas of living or social functions and the problems found there. Thus, the categories which determined the scope and sequence of the whole educational programs are those determined by a particular emphasis upon one or other of the contributory factors discussed earlier. Emphasis on individual needs results in an activity program and emphasis on social needs in a core program. When one restricted area of social needs-the transmission of the intellectual cultural heritage-is the focus, a subject curriculum is the result.
Value judgements about curriculum orientation are more appropriate to phase I and differ little from general statements of educational aims. Indeed, „organizational categories' such as the seven 'cardinal principles of education or Spencer's or Bobbit's categories can be derived from the general statements of phase I. this explains why they should be considered as educational objectives. They are, in a sense, by-products of particular approaches to general ideas about behavior, learning experiences and content. In the actual practice of schools, the only type of organization which is really pure is the subject curriculum for both the activity and the core curriculum do not account for complete organizational procedure over the whole of school life. At some stage, other organizational categories than those distinctive of the type are employed. Most of what are usually thought of as organizational categories are not so much organizational categories as areas of activity corresponding to emphasis upon social or individual needs, or on the research disciplines.
Because Phase IV is the phase which leads directly into the teaching learning situation, it seems likely that the principles which should operate in this phase are best derived from those which govern learning situations in general and those in school and classroom in particular. Since organization is shaped by purposes, the curriculum-maker is thrown back upon his analyses in phases II and III. He can do little more than work empirically and experimentally to produce tentative hypotheses about the organization which can best serve his purposes and then put these hypotheses to the test.
Rigorous application of the curriculum process detailed here should help considerably in producing solutions to the problem. Operations carried out in phase I will indicate the nature of the behavior and patterns of behaviour implicit in the general
aims; operations detailed in phase II will indicate the kinds of learning experiences that observation and experiment have shown to produce that behavior. Detailed analysis of subject matter will cast some light on what behaviour detailed analysis is specifically determined (i.e. brought about only through specific subject matter) and what is commonly determined (i.e. can be instilled through content from more than one subject) as well as on the fundamental structure of various subjects. What is particularly needed is further search for concepts and generalizations which are common to more than one subject. Since the common general organizational categories are not mutually exclusive, it is possible that any or all of them may be used in determining how to organize educational experiences. Indeed, it has been shown that it is practicable to use different organizational categories at the same time, or for one set to be used at one stage of and a different set at a later stage, or even for the emphasis placed on different categories to change with time. It is within the stage concerned with general organizational categories that such decisions must be made and they must be made in the context of the general aims. Because of this, they will be general in nature.
It must not be forgotten; however, that decisions about general organizational categories affect not only the decisions about scope and sequence that are so important in phase IV, but also administration and methodology (and, for that matter, are affected by them). It is impossible to alter the general organizational categories used without at the same time altering the administrative organizational framework within which the teaching-learning process occurs. Change in one inevitably calls for change in the other. Curriculum-makers do not always recognize this, nor do they always see the interaction between decisions at the upper levels of phase IV and classroom practices. Much of the criticism leveled at the use of particular general organizational categories themselves, but should be directed toward a pedagogy which derives from erroneous views about behavior and learning. If the choice of organizing centers. On which educational sequences may be focused. These mustbe considered at several levels.
At about the level of the ultimate goals of phase I, the organizing centers will show by their combination the extent and variety of the education given. The scope and sequence of the curriculum are essentially indicated by these centers: the „centers of interest' of the activity program, the life functions, the areas of living or the social
problems of the core curriculum, or the basic themes of all the subjects or realms of knowledge.
At the more specific level of the classroom work unit, organizing centers must be selected as foci for lessons or units. In so far as no lesson is self-contained, but should refer to what is past and lead on to what is to come, organizing centers at this level may be thought of as integrating centers. Because the curriculum is made up of a series of educational experiences, that is, of coordinated sequences of experiences with subject matter designed to produce certain behavior, the plan of a lesson must take account of the sequence necessary to master the behavior and must indicate the nature and order of the steps to be taken.
The dart of reliable information about principles of instilling particular behaviors means that organization of educational experiences is usually based on such principles as proceeding from simple to complex, from part to whole, from concrete to abstract, from here and now to then and there, to else on the presumed logic of the subject matter. The problem of providing for cumulative learning raises so many unsolved theoretical questions that it is perhaps best attempted at the classroom level. From the integrating centers it is necessary to move to more specific levels, those of the source units and the classroom work units.
Obviously, no matter what general organizational categories are used, at the classroom level a program consists of a number of classroom work units, that is, interrelated but self-contained educational sequences. Under various schemes of organization these may be called lessons, lesson sequences, projects, activities, or units. Irrespective of what the item is called, it presents a unity with regard to objectives, experiences and content it has its own organizational pattern and presumably, involves some assessments and evaluation. Despite its unity and its singularity, it cannot be considered in isolation for, if it is planned and does not merely happen (and planning is the characteristic of formal education), it must have reference to other units which have gone before it as well as those which are to come. It will bear a definite relation to the integrating centers and the organizing centers, a relation of the same kind as the specific objectives of the classroom or the proximate goals of phase I bear to higher-level goals.
There must be valid reasons why it occurs at this point in time rather than at any other and these derive largely from operations conducted at the level of the integrating centers. These operations in turn depend on information derived from comparable levels in phase II and III. Information from the same sources will determine the nature, form, coverage and length of the unit. Further to this, however, it is necessary to state that these characteristics of the classroom work unit will partly be determined by the nature of the individuals in the class, in so far as the school can appraise them. The sum total of all classroom work units over a given period comprises the program for that class.
The source unit may be defined as a work unit for a particular educational stage, which indicates broad lines of approach to specific proximate goals. Within limits, it offers alternatives in experiences, content and organization of materials and these alternatives indicate useful but different means for attaining goals. Source units offer guidelines to the development of individual work units for particular groups. In practice, they would be tested empirically and subject to evaluation. Where teachers can be allowed enough relief from other duties to enable them to write up fairly full reports of work units carried out with particular classes, valuable material is made available not only to other teachers but to curriculum workers as well. In practice, a common method of compiling source units is for teachers to add assessment and evaluative data to a fairly detailed unit plan compounded. These documents form a basis for source units.
PHASE V : EVALUATION OF THE CURRICULUM
The final phase in the curriculum process is the coming to conclusions about the success or failure, of the educational enterprise by means of some measurement or assessment of change in behavior. The work in this phase can be considered under several headings. The first formal purpose is quite clear. Certain goals have been stated. As a result of formal education certain behaviours are expected. Do they, in fact, occur? Has the student actually acquired the facts, the knowledge, the skills, the attitudes, the beliefs and the values that were intended? And does he habitually respond in the expected ways?
The second task is concerned with the preceding phases and the evaluation of the operations that were performed in each. Were the experiences chosen suitable for attaining the operational goals, or would other experiences perhaps have been more suitable? Did the selected content contribute effectively, or would other content have been more suitable? Was the integration of experiences and content effective, or were related areas of subject matter learned in a compartmentalized fashion? What sort of concomitant learnings resulted from the organization used? Would a different sort of organization have produced greater change in the desired direction, either for some or all of the students? Many other questions could be listed, answers to which depend on the work done in this phase, but this selection gives some idea. of the principle concern. This is the evaluation, not of the behavioral changes of individuals, but of the theoretical bases of and practical applications resulting from the selection processes of the other phases. Only if this sort of thorough going evaluation is pursued can theory be strengthened and practice made more effective. Some of the measurement or assessment required in the evaluation of behavior change will serve these purposes, some instruments may have to be specifically designed. What is certain is that this function of evaluation must be kept clearly in mind.
There is another point of view from which evaluation as a part of curriculum planning must be considered. In so far as it is an attempt to change behaviour, education is concerned with behaviour at what may be three different levels. First, there is initial behavior, the behavior that the individual or group displays before the educational experience. Then there is the behavior resulting from the educational experience, which may be called. the actual outcome. Finally, there are the behaviors specified in the goals set out in phase I. These may be called intended outcomes.
The other aspect of evaluation to which reference was made is concerned with initial behavior. In order to make adequate plans to change behavior, it is necessary to know where to start. This means that some assessment of initial behavior must be made, so that appropriate learning experiences with content may be selected and organized. Logically, this would seem to show that specific objectives and even proximate goals cannot be properly determined until some assessment has taken place. It certainly draws attention to the close relationship between phase V and phase I, which will be considered presently and
emphasizes the interrelationships of all the phases. It is possible to assume that after some little experience of formal education the actual outcomes of one learning experience are roughly equivalent to the initial behavior for a succeeding one, provided that the time interval between the experiences is not too great. But only the continuous assessment of behavior will provide those data about initial behavior which are necessary for the effective selection and organization of learning material. Evaluation of any educational sequence rests upon the difference between initial behaviour and actual outcomes and the relationships these bear to intended outcomes. Measures of how far the student has come and how far he still has to go are fundamental to curricular decisions.
There is a certain amount of interdependence between Phase I and Phase V because in the process of translating aims into various kinds of goals in phase I, some forethought must be given to the means and processes of evaluation. Similarly, the various aspects of evaluation may and should affect the derivation of goals, the selection of educational experiences and their organization into sequences. Curriculum process must therefore be represented as a cycle and the curriculum must be envisaged as subject to continuous scrutiny and constant revision. The general aims of education may, as some people contend, remain the same, but even if this is possible, the social system within which they must be realized is in a state of flux, so that goals-ultimate, mediate or proximate-must be redefined or even altered to allow for new circumstances. As a theory of behavior is more fully developed it will perhaps be easier to approach the most effective selection of experiences with content and the best method of organizing and evaluating educational sequences.
Curriculum is the means which the school or college employs to discharge its responsibility towards the individual and society. It is a living whole, composed of experience actually going on in school or college. A sequence of potential experiences is set up in the school or college for the purposes of disciplining students in group ways of thinking and acting. The set of experiences is referred to as "curriculum". The curriculum should therefore, be thought of as composed or made up of all the actual learning experiences of students. It has been said that curriculum consists of the learning experiences in which students actually engage; the courses of study is printed or
mimeographed statement telling the teachers what experiences or areas of learning are advised or prescribed for given grades or periods within grades.
Evaluation is the term used to describe the process of finding out whether what was expected, desired or aimed at has been achieved. The good curriculum is constructed on some basic principles. These guide the curriculum makers and also serve as criteria for evaluation of the curriculum.
Criteria for Evaluation of Curriculum:
The basic principles of curriculum constructed serve as basis for curriculum evaluation. These principles are drawn from the philosophical, psychological and sociological bases and helps the teachers in the realization of the aims and objectives of education as below: 1. The curriculum should be child-centered-In this the life of the student at all points and help in the evaluation of balanced personality. 2. The curriculum should concentrate on the experience of human race as a whole. The purpose of the school is to reflect civilization itself and the curriculum should epitomize the accumulated experience of the race. 3. The curriculum should be based on the twin principles of utility and reality. The curriculum should include only knowledge and skills which the student requires for his present and future life in real sense. 4. The curriculum should be broad-based, flexible and changing/dynamic and should not be rigid and static. The curriculum should be changed needs and development of society advanced in field of science and knowledge. 5. The curriculum should possess continuity, articulation and integration. The central responsibility in curriculum planning is to see that overall total experience pattern of the learner possesses coherence, unity and integrity. Just as in a healthy body blood circulates or articulates freely through every vein giving life and vigor to the whole body. 6. The curriculum should provide for individual differences among children/students.
7. The curriculum should have social significance-curriculum should reflect all that is significant and characteristic in the life the community in its natural settings. 8. The curriculum should consist of purposeful activities and meaningful experiences. 9. The curriculum should provide direct instruction. 10.The curriculum should promote democratic value. 11.The curriculum should achieve the rounded growth of the child or students.
CONCLUSION:
Thus we saw the process of curriculum development. Though different steps have been mentioned, they are inseparable and work together for the development of a curriculum.
