ASSIGNMENT No. 2

 

Q. 1 Analyze the higher secondary school curriculum in Pakistan under the criteria for corriculum organization given by Ralph Tyler in his book “Basic Principles of curriculum and Instruction”.

Curriculum Development: The Tyler Model

The Tyler Model, developed by Ralph Tyler in the 1940’s, is the quintessential prototype of curriculum development in the scientific approach. One could almost dare to say that every certified teacher in America and maybe beyond has developed curriculum either directly or indirectly using this model or one of the many variations.

Tyler did not intend for his contribution to curriculum to be a lockstep model for development. Originally, he wrote down his ideas in a book Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction for his students to give them an idea about principles for to making curriculum. The brilliance of Tyler’s model is that it was one of the first models and it was and still is a highly simple model consisting of four steps.

 

Determine the school’s purposes (aka objectives)

Identify educational experiences related to purpose

Organize the experiences

Evaluate the purposes

Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction

Step one is determining the objectives of the school or class. In other words, what do the students need to do in order to be successful? Each subject has natural objectives that are indicators of mastery. All objectives need to be consistent with the philosophy of the school and this is often neglected in curriculum development. For example, a school that is developing an English curriculum may create an objective that students will write essays. This would be one of many objectives within the curriculum.

Step two is developing learning experiences that help the students to achieve step one. For example, if students need to meet the objective of writing an essay. The learning experience might be a demonstration by the teacher of writing an essay. The students than might practice writing essays. The experience (essay demonstration and writing) is consistent with the objective (Student will write an essay).

Step three is organizing the experiences. Should the teacher demonstrate first or should the students learn by writing immediately? Either way could work and preference is determined by the philosophy of the teacher and the needs of the students. The point is that the teacher needs to determine a logical order of experiences for the students.

Lastly, step four is evaluation of the objectives. Now the teacher assesses the students’ ability to write an essay. There are many ways to do this. For example, the teacher could have the students write an essay without assistance. If they can do this, it is evidence that the students have achieved the objective of the lesson.

There are variations on this model. However, the Tyler model is still considered by many to be the strongest model for curriculum development.

Tyler’s goal attainment model or sometimes called the objectives-centered model is the basis for most common models in curriculum design, development and evaluation. The Tyler model is comprised of four major parts. These are: 1) defining objectives of the learning experience; 2) identifying learning activities for meeting the defined objectives; 3) organizing the learning activities for attaining the defined objectives; and 4) evaluating and assessing the learning experiences. In this paper I will most deal with the evaluation component of the model. However, before I start evaluating the science curriculum for DeKalb County, I start with a brief discussion of the Tyler model, what it is, its parts, and what it emphasizes.

The Tyler Model begins by defining the objectives of the learning experience. These objectives must have relevancy to the field of study and to the overall curriculum (Keating, 2006). Tyler’s model obtains the curriculum objectives from three sources: 1) the student, 2) the society, and 3) the subject matter. When defining the objectives of a learning experience Tyler gives emphasis on the input of students, the community and the subject content. Tyler believes that curriculum objectives that do not address the needs and interests of students, the community and the subject matter will not be the best curriculum. The second part of the Tyler’s model involves the identification of learning activities that will allow students to meet the defined objectives. To emphasis the importance of identifying learning activities that meets defined objectives, Tyler states that “the important thing is for students to discover content that is useful and meaningful to them” (Meek, 1993, p. 83). In a way Tyler is a strong supporter of the student-centered approach to learning. Overall, Tyler’s model is designed to measure the degree to which pre-defined objectives and goals have been attained. In addition, the model focus primarily on the product rather than the process for achieving the goals and objectives of the curriculum. Therefore, Tyler’s model is product focused. It evaluates the degree to which the pre-defined goals and objectives have been attained.

 

There are several criticisms leveled at the Tyler’s goal attainment model or the Tyler’s objective centered model. The first criticism is that, it is difficult and time consuming to construct behavioral objectives. Tyler’s model relies mainly on behavioral objectives. The objectives in Tyler’s model comes from three sources (the student, the society, and the subject matter) and all the three sources have to agree on what objectives needs to be addressed. This is a cumbersome process. Thus, it is difficult to arrive to consensus easily among the various stakeholders groups. The second criticism is that, it is too restrictive and covers a small range of student skills and knowledge. The third criticism is that Tyler’s model is too dependent on behavioral objectives and it is difficult to declare plainly in behavioral objectives the objectives that covers none specific skills such as those for critical thinking, problem solving, and the objectives related to value acquiring processes (Prideaux, 2003). The fourth and last criticism is that the objectives in the Tyler’s model are too student centered and therefore the teachers are not given any opportunity to manipulate the learning experiences as they see fit to evoke the kind of learning outcome desired.

To evaluate the DeKalb County School System Science Curriculum, I downloaded the DeKalb County physical science and biology curriculum at a glance from the districts’ website. After a careful look at the curriculum, I realized that both the biology and physical science curriculum does not fit the many definitions of a true curriculum. They are plainly instructional guides with standards, units to be covered, and the time allocation for each unit. In my understanding, a curriculum should encompasses more than a list of standards, units, and time allocations. According to Robert Gagne (1966) curriculum encompasses four categories. These categories are: 1) subject matter or content, 2) statements of end objectives or goals, 3) the sequencing of content, and finally 4) pre-assessment of skills. The DeKalb County Science Curricular for physical science and biology lack many of these features.

The Dekalb County Science Curriculum at a glance document does not appear to meet Kerr’s definition of curriculum either.  According to Kerr (1968) a curriculum is “all the learning which is planned and guided by school, whether it is carried on in groups or individually, inside or outside the school (Kerr, J. 1968, as cited in Kelly A. V. 2009, p.12). Kerr’s definition of the curriculum together with Gagne’s categories of the curriculum appears to encompass more than just the standards, the units covered, and the time allocated for each unit. In other words, a curriculum is much broader than a course syllabus or a curriculum guide and it includes both the planned and the unplanned consequences/effects of the curriculum.

In order to evaluate the biology and physical science curricular at Dunwoody High School, I created a table containing the Spring EOCT scores for the two courses. The data spans a range of three years, from spring of 2011 to spring of 2013. I will also compare Dunwoody EOCT scores with the entire DeKalb Country scores to the score summary of the whole state of Georgia.

Q.2 Discuss in detail the main objectives of curriculum evaluation. Elaborate the steps involved in evaluation process.

The curriculum development process systematically organizes what will be taught, who will be taught, and how it will be taught. Each component affects and interacts with other components. For example, what will be taught is affected by who is being taught (e.g., their stage of development in age, maturity, and education). Methods of how content is taught are affected by who is being taught, their characteristics, and the setting. In considering the above three essential components, the following are widely held to be essential considerations in experiential education in non-formal

The CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT MODEL on the next page (Figure 1) shows how these components relate to each other and to the curriculum development process. It begins when an issue, concern, or problem needs to be addressed. If education or training a segment of the population will help solve the problem, then curriculum to support an educational effort becomes a priority with human and financial resources allocated.

The next step is to form a curriculum develop-ment team. The team makes systematic decisions about the target audience (learner characteristics), intended out-comes (objectives), content, methods, and evaluation strategies. With input from the curriculum development team, draft curriculum products are developed, tested, evaluated, and redesigned -if necessary. When the final product is produced, volunteer training is conducted. The model shows a circular process where volunteer training provides feedback for new materials or revisions to the existing curriculum.

(Insert Curriculum Development Model here)

 

Figure 1

 

Figure 2

PHASES AND STEPS IN CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT (See Figure 2 on the previous page) further illustrates how the 12 essential steps progress from one to the next. It also shows the interaction and relationships of the four essential phases of the curriculum development process: ( I) Planning, (II) Content and Methods, (III) Implementation, and (IV) Evaluation and Reporting. It is important to acknowledge that things do not always work exactly as depicted in a model!

Each phase has several steps or tasks to complete in logical sequence. These steps are not always separate and distinct, but may overlap and occur concurrently. For example, the curriculum development team is involved in all of the steps. Evaluations should occur in most of the steps to assess progress. The team learns what works and what does not and determines the impact of the curriculum on learners after it is imple­mented. Each step logically follows the previous. It would make no sense to design learning activities before learner outcomes and content are described and identified. Similarly, content cannot be determined before learner outcomes are described.

In the experience of the author, and confirmed by other curriculum specialists, the following curriculum development steps are frequently omitted or slighted. These steps are essential to successful curriculum development and need to be emphasized.

Two types of evaluation are included in the Phases and Steps illustration: (1) Formative provides feedback during the process of developing the curriculum, and (2) Summative answers questions about changes (impact) that have occurred in learners because of their learning experiences. Summative evaluation provides evidence for what works, what does not work, and what needs to be improved.

In every step of the curriculum development process, the most important task is to keep the learner (in this case, youth) in mind and involve them in process. For example, the curriculum team members, who have direct knowledge of the target audience, should be involved in con­ducting the needs assessment. From the needs assessment process, the problem areas are iden­tified, gaps between what youth know and what they need to know are identified, and the scope of the problem is clarified and defined. The results may prompt decision makers to allocate resources for a curriculum development team to prepare curriculum materials.

A brief description of each of the curriculum development steps is described below. After reviewing these descriptions, you should have a very clear idea of how the steps occur in each of the phases and what each step includes.

(1)   Identify Issue/Problem/Need

The need for curriculum development usually emerges from a concern about a major issue or problem of one or more target audience. This section explores some of the questions that need to be addressed to define the issue and to develop a statement that will guide the selection of the members of a curriculum development team. The issue statement also serves to broadly identify, the scope (what will be included) of the curriculum content.

(2)   Form Curriculum Development Team

Once the nature and scope of the issue has been broadly defined, the members of the curriculum development team can be selected. Topics covered in this section include: (1) the roles and functions of team members, (2) a process for selecting members of the curriculum development team, and (3) principles of collaboration and teamwork. The goal is to obtain expertise for the areas included in the scope of the curriculum content among the team members and develop an effective team.

(3)   Conduct Needs Assessment and Analysis

There are two phases in the needs assessment process. The first is procedures for conducting a needs assessment. A number of techniques are aimed toward learning what is needed and by whom relative to the identified issue. Techniques covered in this section include: KAP – Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Survey; focus groups; and environmental scanning.

Analysis, the second part of this needs assessment step, describes techniques on how to use the data and the results of the information gathered. Included are: ways to identify gaps between knowledge and practice; trends emerging from the data; a process to prioritize needs; and identification of the characteristics of the target audience.

Q.3 Select any level of education (Primary to higher secondary), evaluate its scheme of studies and prepare a brief report.

Education System

The system of education includes all institutions that are involved in delivering formal education (public and private, for-profit and nonprofit, onsite or virtual instruction) and their faculties, students, physical infrastructure, resources and rules. In a broader definition the system also includes the institutions that are directly involved in financing, managing, operating or regulating such institutions (like government ministries and regulatory bodies, central testing organizations, textbook boards and accreditation boards). The rules and regulations that guide the individual and institutional interactions within the set up are also part of the education system.

 

Education system of Pakistan:

The education system of Pakistan is comprised of 260,903 institutions and is facilitating 41,018,384 students with the help of 1,535,461 teachers. The system includes 180,846 public institutions and 80,057 private institutions. Hence 31% educational institutes are run by private sector while 69% are public institutes.

 

Analysis of education system in Pakistan

Pakistan has expressed its commitment to promote education and literacy in the country by education policies at domestic level and getting involved into international commitments on education. In this regard national education policies are the visions which suggest strategies to increase literacy rate, capacity building, and enhance facilities in the schools and educational institutes. MDGs and EFA programmes are global commitments of Pakistan for the promotion of literacy.

 

A review of the education system of Pakistan suggests that there has been little change in Pakistan’s schools since 2010, when the 18th Amendment enshrined education as a fundamental human right in the constitution. Problems of access, quality, infrastructure and inequality of opportunity, remain endemic.

 

Issues

A)    MDGs and Pakistan

Due to the problems in education system of Pakistan, the country is lagging behind in achieving its MDGs of education. The MDGs have laid down two goals for education sector:

 

Goal 2: The goal 2 of MDGs is to achieve Universal Primary Education (UPE) and by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. By the year 2014 the enrolment statistics show an increase in the enrolment of students of the age of 3-16 year while dropout rate decreased. But the need for increasing enrolment of students remains high to achieve MDGs target. Punjab is leading province wise in net primary enrolment rate with 62% enrolment. The enrolment rate in Sindh province is 52%, in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) 54% and primary enrolment rate in Balochistan is 45%.

 

Goal 3: The goal 3 of MDGs is Promoting Gender Equality and Women Empowerment. It is aimed at eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005 and in all levels of education not later than 2015. There is a stark disparity between male and female literacy rates. The national literacy rate of male was 71% while that of female was 48% in 2012-13. Provinces reported the same gender disparity. Punjab literacy rate in male was 71% and for females it was 54%. In Sindh literacy rate in male was 72% and female 47%, in KPK male 70% and females 35%, while in Balochistan male 62% and female 23%.

 

B)    Education for All (EFA) Commitment

The EFA goals focus on early childhood care and education including pre-schooling, universal primary education and secondary education to youth, adult literacy with gender parity and quality of education as crosscutting thematic and programme priorities.

EFA Review Report October 2014 outlines that despite repeated policy commitments, primary education in Pakistan is lagging behind in achieving its target of universal primary education. Currently the primary gross enrolment rate stands at 85.9% while Pakistan requires increasing it up to 100% by 2015-16 to fulfil EFA goals.  Of the estimated total primary school going 21.4 million children of ages 5-9 years, 68.5% are enrolled in schools, of which 8.2 million or 56% are boys and 6.5 million or 44% are girls. Economic Survey of Pakistan confirms that during the year 2013-14 literacy remained much higher in urban areas than in rural areas and higher among males.

1)      Lack of Proper Planning: Pakistan is a signatory to MDGs and EFA goals. However it seems that it will not be able to achieve these international commitments because of financial management issues and constraints to achieve the MDGs and EFA goals.

 

2)      Social constraints: It is important to realize that the problems which hinder the provision of education are not just due to issues of management by government but some of them are deeply rooted in the social and cultural orientation of the people. Overcoming the latter is difficult and would require a change in attitude of the people, until then universal primary education is difficult to achieve.

 

3)      Gender gap: Major factors that hinder enrolment rates of girls include poverty, cultural constraints, illiteracy of parents and parental concerns about safety and mobility of their daughters. Society’s emphasis on girl’s modesty, protection and early marriages may limit family’s willingness to send them to school. Enrolment of rural girls is 45% lower than that of urban girls; while for boys the difference is 10% only, showing that gender gap is an important factor.

 

4)      Cost of education: The economic cost is higher in private schools, but these are located in richer settlements only. The paradox is that private schools are better but not everywhere and government schools ensure equitable access but do not provide quality education.

 

5)      War on Terror: Pakistan’s engagement in war against terrorism also affected the promotion of literacy campaign. The militants targeted schools and students; several educational institutions were blown up, teachers and students were killed in Balochistan, KPK and FATA. This may have to contribute not as much as other factors, but this remains an important factor.

 

6)      Funds for Education: Pakistan spends 2.4% GDP on education. At national level, 89% education expenditure comprises of current expenses such as teachers’ salaries, while only 11% comprises of development expenditure which is not sufficient to raise quality of education.

 

7)      Technical Education: Sufficient attention has not been paid to the technical and vocational education in Pakistan. The number of technical and vocational training institutes is not sufficient and many are deprived of infrastructure, teachers and tools for training. The population of a state is one of the main elements of its national power. It can become an asset once it is skilled. Unskilled population means more jobless people in the country, which affects the national development negatively. Therefore, technical education needs priority handling by the government.

 

 

Q.4 Analyze the process of curriculum development in Saudi Arabia

Official Education in Saudi Arabia

Official public education in Saudi Arabia was established in 1925, and it was placed under the Director of

Knowledge. The public school was only for boys, as girls were not allowed to enroll in public school. During

that time, girls were taught at home, which is called “Ktateb”, where a scholar woman taught her students at her

home, covering subjects such as religious studies and language (Hamdan, 2005). At that time, some girls tried to

get their education from the public school system, especially girls, who were from the west and the east coast

areas of the country. Before analyzing women’s education in Saudi Arabia, it is important to know the structure

of Saudi Arabian society and understand that the role of tradition and religion is vital to interpreting social

change in the country, especially as it relates to women (Hamdan, 2005). Saudi Arabia is composed of five areas:

east, west, south, northof the country. The east and west areas are multicultural and have people from different

social classes, so they are less conservative than the other parts of the country; this means most girls who were

fighting for their education were from the east and west areas of thecountry. This effort was confronted strongly

by society, especially religious men, who thought girls should not have the same opportunity as boys. Smith

states, “[w]e are not talking about prejudice or sexism as particular bias against women or a negativestereotype

of women. We are talking about the consequence of women’s exclusion from a full share in the making of what

becomes treated as our culture” (Smith, 1987: p. 20). In fact, there are three different explanations for why so-

ciety fought girls’ education.

The first explanation is that religious men believed that by allowing girls to study at public schools, Saudi so–

ciety would be exposed to the West and its culture, and then the Saudi society would be negatively affected

(AlMunajjed, 1997). In fact, the religious men usually believed that any item or any idea imported from Western

culture was not to be trusted, even though societymight be in need of that idea.

The second explanation is that if girls were allowed to study in public school, society would be in danger, be–

cause the main role of women is to raise children and be a good mother (Hamdan, 2005), Therefore, the struc–

ture of the Saudi family would be threatened by women’s education. Unfortunately, this argument was not only

used in Saudi Arabia, but it has also been prevalent in most areas of the world when women have been fighting

for their education. In the United States, some communities thought the role of women is to raise children, not

obtain higher education. Therefore, women struggled to find housing on campus because they were not welcome

inside campus, and they did not receive what the men on campus received. Not only that, but they also did not

get jobs after finishing their bachelor degrees, so they ended up staying at home as housewives or mothers

(Gordon, 1987).

The third explanation is related to religion, as most men in Saudi society, especially religious men, believed

women should stay at home. They are not allowed to be out of their home unless they have a convincing reason,

such as seeing a doctor or buying groceries for their homes. This idea developed because religious men thought

if women were allowed to leave their home, society would become corrupt because women would deal and talk

with strange men, which is against religion as they believed it. Therefore, girls were fighting for their education

for more than forty years to be part of the public school system. After this historical explanation, this paper will

illustrate the three major challenges for girls’ education in Saudi Arabia including how the curriculum has been

reformed from time to time.

3. Girls’ Curriculum in 1960

Without persuading religious men in the country andgetting their support, it was impossible to establish girls’

education in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, “[i]n 1959, King Saud discussed the issue of educating women in Saudi

Arabia, and he sought support from religion’s scholars to start education for girls” (Alamri, 2011: p. 88). In

1960, King Faisal issued a decision that announced the establishment of girls’ public schools. In the middle of

the country, especially in Buriadah, people were against the King’s decision, so they went out with their guns to

close any girls’ school in their city by force (Hamdan, 2005). After that, they met the King and asked him to

cancel his decision. According to Lacey, “whenever King Faisal faced resistance” He would ask, “Is there any–

thing in the Holy Quran which forbids the education of women?” He would further state, “We have no cause for

argument, God enjoins learning on every Muslim man and women”(Lacey, 1981: p. 368). At the end of the

meeting, the King told them they were not obligated to enroll their girls in public school. In fact, for pacification

of the religious men, the King established an education institution for girls’ education that was separate from the

Ministry of Knowledge for boys. The head and director for girl’s education institution was “The Mufti of the

Country,” who was also the head of religion of the country. Therefore, these groups made the decisions regarding how girls’ education should look.

In the Girls’ Education Constitution, the religious men indicated that the purpose of educating a girl, as stated by the Directorate General, was “to bring her up in a proper Islamic way so as to perform her duty in life, be an

ideal and successful housewife and a good mother, ready to do things which suit her nature as teaching, nursing,

and medical treatment” (Alireza, 1987). Also, in another article, they wrote that girls must be separate from boys’

schools at all education level except kindergarten(Alireza, 1987). Those schools were guarded by men to pre–

vent any man from entering those schools. Amani states, “Each girls’ school, college or university is assigned at

least two men who are usually in their 50s or 60s who are responsible to check the identity of those who enter

the school, deliver and pick up the mail and generally to safeguard the girls inside the school until they are

picked up by their fathers or brothers” (Hamdan, 2005: p. 50).

Even though society, knowledge, and students can be a source of curriculum (Tanner, D., & Tanner, L. N.,

1975), girls in Saudi Arabia were ignored and were not asked about their needs or their interests. Smith states

that in regards to women’s education inSaudi Arabia, “women need to learn to relate to one another and treat

each other as sources of knowledge” (Smith, 1987: p. 35). Dewey believed it is very important to relate curricu–

lum to students’ interests and experiences (Dewey, 1902). At that period of time in Saudi Arabia, boys were the

only ones who appeared to benefit from girls’ education because schools were preparing girls to be good wives

for their husbands. Therefore, girls at that time were taught a different curriculum from boys because the pur–

pose of schooling was different. According to Tanner, D., & Tanner, L. N.(1975), the purpose of school is for

preparing students for him or herself, a career, and citizenship. For boys, the purpose includes all three purposes

with a different balance. However, the purpose for women in Saudi Arabia was only preparing her for herself.

Because girls were not allowed to work at any job or to offer any thing for their country as a part of citizenship,

schools only prepared them to be a good wife and mother. At that time, what was considered most worthwhile

was to teach Islamic studies, Arabic language, basic math and housekeeper. The content of those curricula was

totally different from what boys are taught because they are offered from different institution. The Ministry of

Knowledge, which was for boys, has people who created the curriculum who were very well educated and held

education degrees. On the other hand, people who created women’s curriculum were religious and did not hold a

degree or have knowledge on designing curriculum. In fact, when I analyzed the language curriculum from that

time, I found that I was confused when I tried to find the objective or the goals of curriculum. It appears that so–

ciety was afraid to give anyone a chance to lead girls’ education except religious men. Women who graduated

from public school stayed at home or received training to be a teacher for a girl’s school.

One purpose of high school is preparing students for college(Tanner, D., & Tanner, L. N., 1975).  Higher

education was established in Saudi in 1949 when the Islamic college started enrolling students for first time, and

in 1957, King Saud University was found and started enrolling students in several colleges(Hakeem, 2012).

However, higher education was only for boys, and girls were prevented from getting higher education. There–

fore, boys’ schools were improved to reach the higher education criteria. In 1969, the girls’ education institution

found that they had a shortage of teachers, so they decided to establish girls’ teacher colleges in order to employ

those girls for their schools(Hakeem, 2012). Unfortunately, girls were not allowed to take any major as was the

case for men; the only major they could study at those colleges was teaching and basic courses such as cooking.

That affected the curriculum they were taught girls’ teaching colleges because it was only focused on one pur–

pose, which was preparing for teaching and ignoring the other proposes of schooling, that are citizenship and

self. From 1960 until 1969, women received some rights to attend public schools and higher education. Even

thought they did not have equal opportunities compared to men, it was great improvement inside the very con-

servative society.

4. Girls’ Curriculum after 9/11

The situation of the isolation of the institutions of girls’ education from boys’ education was stabled for more

than thirty years. Girls’ schooling in elementary, secondary, high school and university remained under the De–

partment of Religious Guidance until 2002, while the education of boys was overseen by the Ministry of Educa–

tion(Hamdan, 2005). After the attacked of 9/11, the country came under criticism, especially for women’s

rights:

The Gulf Wars have also drawn world attention to the events in the Gulf nations and to the status of womenin that part of the world. Ironically, the events of 9/11 brought to light again and more powerfully than ever before

the issue of women’s rights in Saudi society. In the aftermath of 9/11, the Saudi system in general and its reli–gious education system in particular became the focus of much criticism. One question put forward by Prokop

captures the essence of that criticism. Prokop asked to what extent the education system had been shaped andused by religious, political, and socioeconomic forces and interests (Hamdan, 2005: p. 56).

Most criticism centered on schools and curriculum because it might have influenced the output of terrorism.

Therefore, Islamic radicalism was blamed, and many educators petitioned the Saudi government toreform its

curriculum(Elyas& Picard, 2013). From that time, the battle was established between the liberalism lobby and

the religious men in the terms of curriculum. Each side thought they represented society and wanted to use their

agenda to develop curriculum. In 2002, the liberals found that it was a time to release girls’ education from reli–

gious men. According to Hamdan, “In2002, the General Presidency for Girls’ Education and the Ministry of

Education were amalgamated as a result of requests from both the general public and the government after a fire

in March 2002 in an elementary girls’ school in Mecca resulted in the death of 15 young girls” (2005: p. 44).

People were angry about that decision because they believed itwas the first step to changing the society, and

girls and boys could be integrated at the same schools in future.

Even though girls’ schools were now under the Ministry of Education, they were not receiving education in

the same subjects as boys. The content of curriculum for girls still focused on how to be a good mother and ig–

nored other important issues in women’s lives in Saudi Arabia, such as how to be a good leader. As an example,

girls were not allowed study any sport subjects because society was afraid if girls’ were given a chance to play

sports that might affect her negatively. Even thought Islam does not prevent girls from playing sports, the cul–

ture had power to prevent this because it was not acceptable for women to play sports even in closed buildings

where men were not allowed to get in.

Another subject that has been disregarded for girls is citizenship education; even though boys are taught citi–

zenship from first grade through twelfth grade, girls were not taught this subject at all. I believe that because the

society still did not believed that women could serve in any role for their country as a part of their citizenship.  

Not only were girls prevented from taking those subjects, but also they did not have a chance to attend vocational

schools even though it is as important as academic subjects (Tanner, D., & Tanner, L. N., 1975). The number of

girls who enrolled in public school was almost equal to the number of boys, but girls did not receive the quality

of curriculum and subject. Also, girls were not allowed to practice any kind of marketing or work in positions

such as a cashier. Even though the society was changing gradually, it was still impossible for women to work

beside men in public. Therefore, girls did not take any class or skills about how markets work that boys were

taking. Even though girls’ education was under the Ministry of Education, it could not change the curriculum,

not only for girls but also for boys, because of the expected reaction of society, especially religious men.

After 2001, women’s higher education began flourishing, and now most universities have a campus for girls.

Also, girls could now major in medicine, biology, and computer science in most of those campuses. However,

even though there were many campuses for girls around the country, they still were not allowed to attend every

class at some colleges. For example, girls’ campuses did not have engineering colleges, and the reasoning was

that even if they offered that degree, girls would not have a chance to work in that field when they graduated.

Moreover, society made the decision about what girls should take and what they should not, so society did not

accept that girls could take the same courses that boys were going to take. Therefore, when girls were preparing

for the college level they were not prepared like boys. For example, when I asked my sisters what do they want

to be after graduating from high school they said that “there is no choice for us, we are obligated to be a teacher”

while my brothers could make choices to be what they wanted to. It seems girls and boys were operating differ–

rently at school. According to Lloyd, Mensch, and Clark(2000: p. 113)“[m]uch research on the determinants of

school enrollment, retention, and ultimate grade attainment in developing countries has been confined to an ex–

ploration of the role of individual and family factors, often with particular attention given to the ways in which

these factors may operate differently for boys and for girls”.

5. King Abdullah’s Project

The last challenge and development for girls’ education started with era of King Abdullah. In 2006, the King

announced the project of development education. The aims of the project are to increase the capacity of Saudi

Arabia to be competitive and to build a knowledgeable society through a variety of programs, including the following:

•Building an integrated system of educational standards, calendar,and accounting.

•Head the implementation of the programs for the development of education, including the following five

points:

1) Continuing professional development for all those working in education.

2) Development of curricula and learning materials.

3) Improve the school environment to enhance learning.

4) Use information technology to improve learning.

5) Develop non–classroom activities and student services.   

(MashroaAlmalek Abdullah LtatwerAtalyem, 2012).

Those aims were for both girls and boys, so the first development was that they should have the same curri–

culum and that it should be revised to meet international standards. Once again there was opposition, especially

from religious men, because they thought it was impossible for girls to study the same subjects that boys are

taking. However, the power of the religious men inside society is weaker than it was before. Also, in 2009, King

Abdullah decided to give women a chance to be Ministry Education leaders. Dr. Noura al–Fayez is Deputy Mi–

nister of Education Affairs for girls. That means that at this time girls are perceived in the same manner that

boys are. For example, now girls are allowed to play sports inside their some schools, which was impossible ten

years ago. The quality of curriculum that boys were given is the same for girls right now.

This improvement is not only at K–12 level but also at the higher education level. In 2006, King Abdullah’s

scholarship was established. The scholarship is offered for study inuniversities around the world. Girls are given

same chance that boys are, with more flexibility for girls. According to the Ministry of Higher Education “Cur–

rently, more than 300 higher education colleges exist for women in the country alongside universities, and

women represent more than 56.6% of the total number of Saudi university students and more than 20% of those

benefiting from overseas scholarship program.”(Ministry of Higher,2010)With scholarship girls are allowed to

major in the same fields as are boys. For example, they can be lawyers or engineers, which was impossible for

them 10 years ago.

 

Q.5 Write short notes on the following:

 (a) Levels of Content and their Function

 (b) Procedures of content Selection

 (c) Principles of Curriculum Organization

(d) Selection and Organization of Teaching Methods

 

 

(a) Levels of Content and their Function

 

A content level refers to the level of content in a brand hierarchy. Higher levels are more rooted in your core brand experience, while lower levels support them in terms of strategy, branding, or function. You can use content levels to better understand the interconnectedness of the branded content you create for your business.

11 levels of brand content

1.      Core

2.      Vertical

3.      Hub

4.      Franchise

5.      Campaign

6.      Pillar

7.      Ladder

8.      Skyscraper

9.      Foundational

10.  Asset

11.  Element

1. Core

At a minimum, core content is content essential to your business offerings. Without it your brand wouldn’t exist — and you’d be unable to generate awareness or revenue. Core content often includes your website, key product and services pages, functional messaging and automation, as well as your brand’s mission and vision.

You define your core content.

Please note that the definition of core content is subjective. Always clarify what it means to your brand when communicating with content strategists and creators. For instance, if you opted to only have a brand presence on Facebook, your Facebook page and feed would be your core content. Or, if you’re like many marketers and publishers, you might casually refer to “core content” in the generic sense, meaning any content that is essential to a strategy, campaign or project. Context matters

2. Vertical

Verticals are major categories or broad themes of content toward the top of your content taxonomy. Think of the Yellow Pages, for instance. Within the directory you’ll find major business categories, such as Restaurants, Health, and Home Services. You could consider each of these top categories as verticals because each has dozens of sub-categories under their larger umbrella in the taxonomy (e.g., dozens of cuisine types under Restaurants).

3. Hub

Content hubs are organized collections of content. They can be as simple as navigable guides or blogs (such as the ClearVoice Blog) or as sophisticated as aggregates of multiple content types, links and feeds.

4. Franchise

Franchises are media produced on a recurring basis within a particular theme or story, or by a particular author/creator. They can range from newsletters and recurring columns, like our monthly Content Radars on Marketing Studies by Chad Buleen, to full-on entertainment franchises, like Harry Potter or the Marvel Universe.

5. Campaign

Campaigns are themed content initiatives tied to specific goals/KPIs and limited to predetermined time periods (or “flight times”). They can range from simple, themed series of posts on your social media to complex national advertisements, or even in-person events. (Yes, an in-person event or presence at a conference should be treated like a campaign.) Campaigns also can take on the feel of franchises, with multiple campaigns that build upon one another in a progressive series.

6. Pillar

Content pillars are bundles of content pages (or assets) supporting a specific theme or topic. Synonymous terms often include topic clusters, spokes-and-wheels, pillar pages, pillar posts, content bundles, or content series.

7. Ladder

Content ladders are long-form content pages (or assets) that are intended to be updated frequently. They often might grow or change in length from their first published version, and can reach lengths of 3,000 words or more. Ladders are meant to evolve over time.

8. Skyscraper

Skyscrapers are long-form content pages (or assets), often 1,500 words or more in length (similar to this one), that are used for link-building on particular topics. The term “skyscraper” refers to the “skyscraping height” of long content that requires significant vertical scrolling. Skyscrapers can be pages within a content pillar or a hub, but not necessarily. They also can be core content pages of your website. Unlike content ladders, however, the content on a skyscraper should be evergreen in nature, with only periodic updates.

9. Foundational

Foundational content can cover any content you create or solicit (e.g., user-generated) for your branded experiences that supports the higher levels of content and strategy.

10. Asset

Assets are valuable, distinct pieces of branded content that can be used for multiple purposes or strategies. They can range from infographics and branded templates to standalone brand experiences and promotional items for distribution. Assets can include a wide variety of content types: ebooks, videos, presentations, podcasts, reports, collateral, boilerplates, executive bios, podcasts, webinar recordings, original photos, ads, swag, merch, et al.

11. Element

Elements are similar to assets but they cannot stand on their own. Elements are building blocks that are used in the creation of higher levels of content. Examples include graphics, photos, widgets, forms, frames, code, non-branded templates (e.g., in Adobe, Microsoft Office, or other software), raw data, fonts, palettes et al.

B,,,Procedures of content Selection

 

Seven Criteria for the Selection of Subject-matter or Content of the Curriculum

The 7 criteria below can be utilized in the selection of subject matter for micro curriculum, and for the content, subjects needed for the curricular program or course, of the macro curriculum.

1. Self-sufficiency

To help learners attain maximum self-sufficiency at the most economical manner is the main guiding principle for subject matter or content selection (Scheffler, 1970) as cited by Bilbao et al., (2008). Economy of learning refers to less teaching effort and less use of educational resources; but students gain more results. They are able to cope up with the learning outcomes effectively.

This means that students should be given chance to experiment, observe, and do field study. This allows them to learn independently.

With this principle in mind, I suggest that for a high school curriculum or preparatory year, there should be a one day independent learning activity each week. However, this should be carefully planned by the teacher. When the students return, they should present outputs from the activity.

2. Significance

The subject matter or content is significant if it is selected and organized for the development of learning activities, skills, processes, and attitude. It also develops the three domains of learning namely the cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills, and considers the cultural aspects of the learners. Particularly, if your students come from different cultural backgrounds and races, the subject matter must be culture-sensitive.

In short, select a content or subject matter that can achieve the overall aim of the curriculum.

3. Validity

Validity refers to the authenticity of the subject matter or content you selected. Make sure that the topics are not obsolete.

For example, do not include typewriting as a skill to be learned by college students. It should be about the computer or Information Technology (IT).

Thus, there is a need to check regularly the subject matter or contents of the curriculum, and replace it if necessary. Do not wait for another 5 years in order to change it.

Modern curriculum experts are after current trends, relevance and authenticity of the curriculum; otherwise, your school or country will be left behind.

4. Interest

This criterion is true to learner-centered curriculum. Students learn best if the subject matter is meaningful to them. It becomes meaningful if they are interested in it. But if the curriculum is subject-centered, teachers have no choice but to finish the pacing schedule religiously and teach only what is in the book. This may somehow explain why many fail in the subject.

5. Utility

Another criterion is the usefulness of the content or subject matter. Students think that a subject matter or some subjects are not important to them. They view it useless. As a result, they don’t study.

Here are the questions that students often ask: Will I need the subject in my job? Will it give meaning to my life? Will it develop my potentials? Will it solve my problem? Will it be part of the test? Will I have a passing mark if I learn it?

Students only value the subject matter or content if it is useful to them.

6. Learnability

The subject matter or content must be within the schema of the learners. It should be within their experiences. Teachers should apply theories on psychology of learning in order to know how subjects are presented, sequenced, and organized to maximize the learning capacity of the students.

7. Feasibility

It means that the subject matter can be fully implemented. It should consider the real situation of the school, the government, and the society, in general. Students must learn within the allowable time and the use of resources available. Do not give them a topic that is impossible to finish.

C,,,Principles of Curriculum Organization

Curriculum Development ?

Curriculum Development is the step-by-step process of designing and improving the course offered at schools, colleges and universities. Even though each institution will have its own process, the broad stages of the framework consist of analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation.

Curriculum refers to specific lessons and academic content taught in schools and educational institutes for a particular course or program. On the other hand, curriculum development is a process that aims to improve the curriculum by using various approaches. A few of the commonly used techniques include need and task analysis, objective design, choosing appropriate teaching and learning methods, choosing assessment methods, and forming the curriculum committee and curriculum review committee.

Hence the entire process is divided into segments to ensure the development of an effective curriculum that would help to facilitate an enriching educational programme.

Types Of Curriculum Development Models:

Learner-Centred Design

Subject-Centred Design

Problem-Centred Design

1) Learner-Centered Design

The learner-centered design focuses on the understanding that each learner has different characteristics. The teachers or instructors are to give opportunities to the learners to take ownership of a project or assignment. They require to create chances for independent learning with well-regulated liberty. This indicates that students take a more active role in the classroom, but it is to be done under the instructor’s guidance.

There are four distinct attributes of learner-centered design, which includes:

Context- This refers to the assignments and tasks given in the classroom that should have real-world application. Consequently, the relevant context in student learning will help learners to connect with what they are learning.

Construction – Learners should relate their own experiences and prior learning with new learning.

Collaboration- Creating an environment and providing opportunities that encourage collaboration between classmates. Activities like group discussions and team assignments allows the learners to only form individuality but also expose to others’ opinions.

Conversation- Exercises to improve learners’ communication skills are mandatory, and hence instructors should employ them accordingly.

2) Subject-Centered Design

Subject-centered design is a traditional approach to curriculum that focuses on a particular subject matter or discipline rather than on the individual. Additionally, during the curriculum development process, this approach includes four subtypes of curriculum designs: subject-area design, discipline design, broad-field design, and correlation design.

3) Problem-Centered Design

Problem-centered design is an approach that focuses on developing problem-solving skills, thinking and communication skills. This is a student-centric strategy wherein the learners are given problematic situations and encouraged to solve them after careful observation.

 

D…Selection and Organization of Teaching Methods

Teaching Method

A teaching method refers to the set of step by step procedures used by the teacher in guiding the learners to achieve learning objectives. In other words, as applied to classroom setting, a teaching method is a series of related and progressive acts performed by the teacher and the learners to accomplish the general and specific objectives of the lesson.

Criteria for Selection of Method of Teaching

Few will disagree with the importance of using the right method in teaching. Because there is no simple and instant way of selecting a teaching method, different authors have presented several criteria for this purpose.

Hudgins (1971) suggested aims, goals and objectives; foundation commitments; content; and students’ experiences as appropriate criteria.

Brown (1992) argued for philosophical criteria, psychological criteria, technological criteria, criteria from pressure groups and practicality as a criterion in the procedure for selecting teaching method.

While these criteria are valuable, some of them lack direct practical application for school curricula. For a particular teaching method to be appropriate and efficient, it has to be in relation with the characteristics of the learners and the type of learning it is supposed to bring about.

Following are the considerations that one should keep in mind while selecting a method of teaching.

1. The Learners’ Profile

In choosing a method of teaching, a teacher must take into account the age, prior knowledge, style of learning and the nature of learners i.e. example the slow learners or fast learners. If the number of slow learners in the class is higher than that of fast learners it will force a teacher to use such a method that is easier for the slow learners to understand the lesson or subject maters.

2. Class Size

Our courses or classes will vary in size and the numbers in a particular teaching session will change from very small to very large. Quite clearly class size plays an important part in selecting a method because some are unsuitable when the group is excessively large or small. For example, discussion method may be effective for a small group but not for too large a group.

3. The Learning Objectives

The specification of learning objectives is important in selecting an appropriate teaching method, for these serve as targets for our teaching. In our schools, we are mainly concerned with knowledge or the cognitive domain for which brainstorming, discussion, lecture method etc. are suitable, while demonstration, project etc. will serve better for practical skills.

4. Local Constraints

One should also consider any local constraints when selecting a method. The two most important factors are the time and facilities available, including resource materials and textbooks. Quite clearly if an essential requirement for a particular method is not available, for example, a piece of equipment for a demonstration, then that method cannot be used. Similarly, if there was insufficient time to undertake a field trip, then some other method such as a video recording would have to be used.

5. Autonomy of Students

The degree of student autonomy is increasingly featuring in the selection of methods but this tends to be the case in more developed countries, where students often are more independent and have a wider choice in how they study university courses. In Africa, perhaps, this should not concern us too much at present but it is something to bear in mind for the future, particularly if we wish to become more learner-oriented.