Course: Curriculum Development and Instructions (838)
Semester: Spring, 2022
Assignment No. 02
Q.1 Explain in process of curriculum planning and development.
Preparation and Planning
When Mr. Nelson walks into his classroom at the beginning of the year, there are dozens of things for him to do. He needs to set up his classroom, organize supplies, put posters on the wall, arrange desks, decide on an appropriate behavior system, and most importantly, plan his curriculum. Curricular planning and development, the process of looking at the standards in each subject area and developing a strategy to break down these standards so they can be taught to students, varies according to grade level, subjects taught and available supplies.
In many districts, schools supply a complete curriculum in core subject areas, filled with teacher resources and student workbooks. In other districts, teachers are given a list of state, local or Common Core standards and asked to develop their own curriculum. Regardless of subject area or grade level taught, there are a few important factors for teachers to consider as they plan their curriculum, including standards and the breakdown of course material.
Q.2 Elaborate change as a function of curriculum improvement.
School districts across the nation have begun revising instructional programs in an effort to meet society’s demands for a 2lst century workforce. Determining what these needs are, how to address them, and how to revise established curriculum often rests in the laps of many building level administrators. Often these building principals find themselves at the center of a controversy they did not want, do not deserve, and cannot fix. Yet, they are charged with full responsibility for the often mandated “curriculum revision” process. Many times these same educational leaders have not had adequate preparation for, nor do they have a full understanding of, what is expected, with regard to the curriculum revision project. This demand for change to meet the needs of a 2lst century educational program is challenging even the best educational leaders.
Q.3 Discuss the different trends at national level in curriculum development.
Curriculum development is defined as planned, purposeful, progressive, and systematic process in order to create positive improvements in the educational system. Every time there are changes or developments happening around the world, the school curricula are affected. There is a need to update them in order to address the society’s needs.
To illustrate this contention, let’s trace back history. During the ancient times, people taught their children knowledge and skills in order to survive by catching fish or hunting animals for food. They had no formal education during that time, but their children learned and acquired the knowledge and skills for survival. So, during that time, they already had a curriculum which other educators call as, the saber-tooth curriculum. This type of curriculum refers to a kind of curriculum that existed during the ancient times in which the purpose of teaching was for survival.
However, when the effects of discoveries and inventions became inevitable, ancient people’s way of life had changed for the better. As a result, education became formal and curriculum development evolved as systematic, planned, purposeful and progressive, even today.
Curriculum development has a broad scope because it is not only about the school, the learners and the teachers. It is also about the development of a society in general.
Q.4 Vocationalization has political approach rather than educational. How?
the demand to enhance productivity and the employability of individuals through the development of work-related competences brings the vocational strand at the secondary school level under the umbrella of ‘vocationalisation’, together with general and ‘pre-vocational’ options. Functional aspects of this training that are relevant to labour market needs (e.g. technological knowledge, flexibility, better productivity) become increasingly more important than are educational achievements. Employers across different countries when surveyed consider employability skills to be the most important factor for employing graduates. Although a list of employability skills varies across countries, they are nevertheless related to the general skills valued by employers and the ones that help individuals gain employment and progress successfully through a working career. This functional approach to skills development provides some directions for TVET programmes developed at the upper-secondary level that should mainly be focused on general/employability skills, within the context of specific occupations. These skills, variously referred to as core, employability, generic, key or life skills/competencies, are playing a significant role in ensuring that young people have the necessary qualities to enter and participate in the workforce. In 2008, an Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) research network on core competencies was established to identify core competencies and to explore the ways in which these competencies operate in diverse contexts.
Q.5 Discuss the problems and issues in teacher training.
In nearly all countries, courses of the Normal School B, college, and university categories contain three main elements. The first element is the study of one or more academic, cultural, or aesthetic subjects for the purpose both of continuing the student’s own education and of providing him with knowledge to use in his subsequent teaching career. A second element is the study of educational principles, increasingly organized in terms of social science disciplines such as psychology, sociology, philosophy, and history. A third element consists of professional courses and school experience. Primary teachers may also receive instruction in the content and methods of subjects other than their own specialties that figure in the primary curriculum. In normal schools and colleges, and some universities, the three elements run parallel to one another, and the student is professionally committed from the outset of his course. Elsewhere, the study of educational processes and professional work (including school experience) may follow the completion of a period of academic study that the student has begun without any prior commitment to teaching as a career. There are still advanced countries where the possession of a university degree, without any qualification in education as such, is sufficient basis for the award of qualified teacher status. In England and Wales, for example, compulsory training for graduates, generally comprising two terms (six months) of professional and theoretical studies and a further three-month period of school experience, was scheduled to come into effect only in 1973.