What Is Taught at Different Stages of Education - Essay Example

114214 "Curriculum as a term has a long history. It was used by Plato and Aristotle to describe the s taught during the ical period ofGreek civilization. This interpretation of the world "curriculum" is still used today: School brochures, newspaper articles, committee reports and some academic textbooks in the field refer to the subjects offered or prescribed as the curriculum of the school" Marsh, 1986, p.9, taken from (Kemmis, 1986, p.24). As a description of curriculum, it is difficult to find a better one than this of Marsh. In recent years, with interest increasing in what is taught at different stages of education, curriculum has gained a place of importance in the education-connected regions. Raising economic equalities and decreasing discrimination due to gender, race or creed, and the receding of conventionality in most of the societies worldwide, have encouraged the recent generations of children to seek not only lower education, but also higher and University education. Education has become a multi-facetted unending journey today without any limits or boundaries. Recently, there had been a vigorous change in the society, and the recent trend of globalisation with the booming media has increased these opportunities. Changed political perspectives, changes in the society, technological changes, shrinking of the world into a global village, desire to know more about the world, its arts and sciences have led even older people into the portals of learning with great results. The content of education has always been a matter of interest to thinkers. "Over 2000 years ago Plato was interested in what the leaders of an ideal state should be taught, and many philosophers and statesmen since have pondered the educational problems of society," (Taylor, 1985, p.2). Curriculum is defined as the combination of content of education, course of study, educational experiences, subjects to be studied, subject matter and educational activities (based on Taylor, p.3). Aims and objectives of the curriculum are the beliefs that they would serve the purpose of active education by planning for it much in advance, before the real education starts. It motivates students and gives a clear picture about what they are going to learn, so that they can plan their studies fully. It also provides a target to be completed for the teachers. It is the plan for the entire year and it is the list of skills the student is going to attain at the end of the studies. Curriculum is bound with the very concept of education. Curricula are anyway artificial as they are man made and could be changed any time, though some teachers feel a great awe towards it. They serve a variety of purposes, like making the children aware of the world in which they live, and about the social changes, sciences, political revolutions and economic transformations and space travels etc. The young are systematically introduced to various branches of knowledge through the curriculum, because they embody the beliefs about education. There are multiplicities of conceptions that keep shaping the education over the years and still continue to do so. It is an ongoing process, as the discoveries and knowledge continues to grow, curriculum keeps changing. "Concepts of learning also change over time; not only the validity of content, the demise of a subject area, the development of a new one, not only in terms of the rapidity with which content may expand or alter in certain disciplines, but in terms of what we know of learning as a process," (Skilbeck, 1984, p.18). Curriculum provides accountability and a way of comparing one with other curriculum. It also creates coherence to the subjects that are going to be taught, along with a systematic nature for the jumbled teaching. At higher classes, students can get more knowledge by studying in advance the rest of the curriculum, having known its contents. Its presence brings the education into a definite bracket so that all concerned are comfortably aware of its contents, examinations etc. 1. Appraise the factors that impinge upon planning and implementation of that curriculum. Only recently, psychology came to dominate the national curriculum. Earlier, it was a field of sociological investigation. "The planning and creation of alternative curricula is what curriculum development is about. Its end products are a range of intended curricula comprising proposals for what ought to be taught in schools" (Taylor, p.7). Curriculum has its own critics and some of them are made on the lines of pupil choice, differentiation, the impossibility of consensus, cultural pluralism, the decentralisation of power and the professional autonomy of teachers (based on Kirk, 1986, p.41). It has always been plagued by criticism and comments and suspicion about its usefulness. Some of the criticisms had been constructive and others were not; but all of them had been hindrances and delays, in spite of their beneficial plus points, in the way of attaining a perfect or nearly perfect curriculum. Over the years, experts have found out that there is an absolute impossibility to reach a complete consensus at any point of time. Differences of opinion and criticisms will always continue and to some extent, could be welcome too. There are many more problems that cannot be ignored. What had been suitable for one place, or one region was unsuitable for another. The regional tug of war had plagued the curriculum making all times. There had been political wars and debates for a mere curriculum. Places where Welsh was predominant earlier, a rather ill judged and rash ban on Welsh during Victorian days created a definite downfall of the language. In those regions, curriculum without Welsh figuring anywhere in it was unacceptable. In those days when most of the people in Scotland spoke Gaelic, the Scots could not imagine it without Gaelic either. Islands had their own problems. There were a lot of reservations to accept any kind of all-English curriculum at one stage. Every country has gone through the same problems before the educational system got stabilised. It had been a difficult task for all the Governments to move forward with their plans, while diverse cultures, religions, beliefs, values and customs kept coming between students and teachers and the subjects to be taught. Social perspective was another difficult hazard to cross. Organised schools and educational systems were depending on the social network. In some societies, it had not been easy to get over the race and gender bias. In a few other societies, in addition to race and gender, economy played a role along with slavery and bonded labour. Education system had to wade through every possible discrimination in this world, before it reached today's curriculumised status. All wrong customs, habits, religious and outdated principles, especially gender bias, many codes, rules, regulations, social taboos, dos and don'ts impinged into the educational arena, to keep it as limited and as unattainable as possible from the ordinary people. Those were the days when education was considered to be not required, or worthless or the people are simply not born into one of those highly important statuses where they deserved everything. As the need of a formal education was felt, it became the deserving wealth of a chosen few. It took decades before it to become a common property. Even after its coming down to the level of being at everybody's grasp, mainly due to the efforts of some intellectuals and statesmen in the Government, and other progressive organisations, people could not put behind the biases and prejudices that were part of the society. Hence, the framing of curriculum had been one of the most controversial matters, open to every attack and difficulties and hurdles. Acceptance of new discoveries too was a matter of contention. Till they were formally accepted, it could never be taught in schools and a lot of talk and writings were wasted on it. Another field that had difficulties was the religion. Anything about the religion to be touched was a matter of sacrilege for the fanatical members of the set. Another area, where tempers ran high was historical information. These were contested by even the scholars with a lot to say for and against any particular historical happening and this created a difficult situation for its being curriculumised. The same went to scientific discoveries and some of the societies who had no regard for new knowledge, vehemently opposed such discoveries preventing them from entering into the arena of school education, for a very long time. Anything that is not old had been resented thoroughly and this tendency was never the part of British society only, but other societies as well. In these turbulent waters and unlimited arguments, it had not been easy for the curriculum to emerge triumphant. 2. Explain the factors that have influenced its development. There were many factors that led to the development over the years. Every political, economic, cultural and social improvement has contributed to the evolvement of the curriculum. Every relief from the inhibitions and compulsions has led to enhancement of education system, which has, in turn, helped the various curriculums in vogue today. Politicians over the years had been influential in the development of curriculum. Government has taken many steps during the educational reforms for its improvement. The Great Debate of 1976-77 too showed how imperative the educational curriculum is, as a consultative document. Governments gave voice to the need of a national curriculum that had to be developed by many academicians and thus the Assessment Performance Unit came up after the demise of the School Councils. Government insisted on the best quality and laid down rules qualifying the standard. Improvement in the field of education and curriculum invention marched hand in hand with the progressive policies of each successive governments of the land. Once they realised that it was very important for the nation to have a coherent and clear educational policies, the matter attained utmost importance. Britain, no doubt, had exalted universities and educational institutions of distinction; but schooling at the lower level needed immediate attention. Curriculum made its presence felt at this level and after much haggling, they accepted the necessity of making an organised approach for the achievement of this goal. Discrepancies of the societies were fast vanishing and it was important to educate the younger citizens for better roles and for this, it was necessary to start in a highly methodical and organised way. Once this approach is confirmed, need for an organised curriculum became the next step. But it had to go through many shapes, avatars, sizes and hues, before it looked anything close to what it is today. Even then, curriculum is always subject to change. Outdated curriculum could be a problem is an understatement. It has to get itself updated all the time. Naturally, the content of the curriculum would keep changing; but the connecting thread of the narrative would remain the same. There were many landmarks in the development of curriculum and these educationally historically landmarks, also marked the progress being done over the years. "The evolution of courses for London science teachers in the nineties reflected a growing recognition that it was not enough to provide teachers with factual knowledge, or to prescribe and demonstrate a particular new approach - that persuasion, involvement and, above all, conviction, were crucial to, though not guarantees of, 'success'. Yes successive generations of twentieth century in service providers had to learn the same lesson all over again," (Goodson, 1985, p.138). One of the many contributions towards this achievement is the downfall of gender and class prejudices. The appalling class inequalities and the feminity achieving coherence in the country made a great difference to the society, and it all reflected in the educational processes of the country. "By 1939, both social class and gender divisions were firmly entrenched within the overall pattern of educational provision. The vast majority of working class children were schooled within the elementary sector and domestic subjects were caught primarily to girls - though a small number of boys did have cookery classes," (Goodson, p.155). 3. Evaluate the content of the curriculum and the way that this affects both teaching and learning. "We define a valuation as a systematic collection, analysis and reporting of information related to a specific programme or curricular innovation by structured and less structured approaches, using formal and informal means, for the purpose of facilitating decision making," (Tamir, 1985, p. 5). Curriculum agrees with the democratic community and social, economic, communication, rationality, technology, morality, belief and aesthetic systems. It has a great influence on the nature of knowledge. "A national curriculum framework should reflect a defensible categorisation of knowledge and forms of disciplined activity" (Kirk, p.83). It provides a relative autonomy for the teacher and a sense of personal responsibility for the organisation. It creates interdependence and independence both. It segregates the class as a separate psyche-group, attached to a particular curriculum, understanding the same, separate, privileged language. While planning the experts have to take into consideration a certain factors: prior learning of the children, who are going to be bound by this curriculum, their general prior experiences and age, their level of thinking and imagination capability etc. They have to judge if their individual differences are given a certain scope under the curriculum. Another question is how much motivation the curriculum could provide under the circumstances and will the mind be able to interpret and generalise its benefits. It is also important to judge how coherent and articulate the curriculum is, how conducive the general classrooms are to introduce a particular type of curriculum, what kind of personality teachers who teach that particular standard generally possess, in what way it would improve the teachers' potential, or hazard their mental growth. In one sentence, the curriculum has to be constantly evaluated and problems against its introduction should be found out and eradicated as far as possible. There is a necessity to maintain some kind of equilibrium in the subjects of a curriculum. Curriculum has a deep connection with the culture as they reflect one another because a major part of the curriculum is intermingled with the culture. "For the transmission of a society's culture is always a major part, and in some cases the whole of the educational process," (Kelly, 1987, p. 154). While evaluating the curriculum, evaluator should possess the knowledge required for the evaluation like interim and detailed reports, feedbacks and pertinent information. He should be thorough with the research methodology, political implications and the effect on children by the interpretation of the data. He should have the dispassionate, critically and analytically trained mind for the job. He should also realise the importance of confidentiality in the work of evaluation. Traditionally evaluating the educational process had always been discouraged. "The idea that teachers might question the value of what they are doing with students is avoided because the received curriculum assumes that learning as simply the ability to absorb and then reproduce subject knowledge," (Skilbeck, 1984, p.64). There had been many researches in order to find ways and means of improving the curriculum planning and process and this has led to enormous amount of literature by education experts. This has both negative and positive results; but definitely the research had never failed to glance at the entire process critically. "There has been a return to first principles, as it were, an attempt to redefine the field for itself. Unsurprisingly, those involved in this critical task found themselves reopening some of the most fundamental problems of educational studies and pressing towards new constructions of those problems," (Kemnis, 1986, p.x). Critical curriculam theorising, which would appreciate the achievements and point at the mishaps, there had been revolutionary changes. Balancing between the two by evolving a new area sans mistakes had been the goal ever since. The continuous research had never been a waste and could be easily justified by the many-splendoured results. "It brings the resources of critical social science to bear in making historical and social analyses of the contemporary form and substance of curriculum, and in organising collaborative processes of self-reflection by which educators can mount critiques of contemporary education and, simultaneously, engage in the historical, social and political struggle to change it," (Kemmis, p. 78). 4. Keep analysing the curriculum, regardless of the question. New directions in the policy at both local and national level are necessary, because there is no point in having an outdated and ancient curriculum, while children without the limitations of curriculum would have marched forward. When a new curriculum is introduced, it becomes necessary to change the view of the parents, to educate and improve sulking teachers, and preparing them for the change, taking parental influences, interests and complaints into account. Still giving more importance and autonomy to teachers look necessary and important both. "In this situation, in decentralized education systems such as that in the UK, it appears to be the conviction, commitment, skill and persistence of particular individuals and groups within the education system which have generated the varied courses in schools today," (Skilbeck, p.90). There are unlimited criticism theories of curriculum. Most of them have the same conventional theme. There was no explicit curriculum in schools in ancient days. Does this mean that people never studied and become intelligent Look at the impressive and famous Ancient Egyptian civilisation! Did they have a curriculum None of the ancient civilizations had anything remotely resembling a curriculum. Even the most celebrated teacher and the most dazzling student, Alexander the Great, did not work according to a curriculum. Did this make any difference in their teaching or learning Ancient Egypt did not have a curriculum either. This fact did not lessen their achievements in any way. There are also questions and theories that would tell us that over relying on a fixed frame like curriculum and forcing the entire teaching community to limit itself into that framework, could also limit the imagination and learning capacity of the teaching staff. As everything is provided for them, the teachers might refuse to look beyond this fixed horizon, and over the years get jaded in their job. With curriculum limiting their visions, imaginations and motivations, there is nothing further to inspire or coax them to venture into new vistas. Dispassionately speaking, curriculum usually makes the life of teachers highly amenable. Instead of exerting themselves in their jobs like their ancient counterparts, all they have to do is concentrating on their curriculum and learn and prepare lessons depending on the details of curriculum and this also leaves them absolutely uninterested in other pursuits. They would forget rest of the vast knowledge that they have achieved as part of their education and training, and will concentrate year after year, on only the small bit of it that has been listed in the curriculum. This could be termed as a national loss of intellectuality. Without curriculum, if they were asked to invent their own ways of teaching, perhaps they would have come out with original and innovative ways of using the remaining knowledge. Argued this way, curriculum might be a negative inspiration for the teachers. In olden days, when students studied or apprenticed with a single teacher, things used to be different without curriculum, mainly because, they had more practical education and less theoretical one. Students had unlimited access to all subjects whichever they fancied, because there was no limit or boundary for the education. They could learn anything that they thought might be useful for them. Especially this kind of system existed in Eastern countries like India, China, Japan, Nepal and many more countries of South East Asia. This might not have been ideal way of studying. But it was full of dreams, new vistas, visions and scope. In modern days, it is difficult to run institutions that way. Still, there is no denying the fact that such an education could bring out the best results in invoking the creative powers of the students. Without a curriculum, students too would have learnt many more subjects of their own choice, instead of the forced study of a tightly made framework. If one is concentrating on creative subjects, this perhaps would remain the most ideal situation. But today's education requires precision, definite theories and lab practical, new information, examinations and tests for student valuation. And hence, curriculum has become a part of every course that is undertaken in any of the educational system/s. What worse can happen without the existence of much-hated curricula There are many negative factors that could have happened. Whether curriculum is accepted or not, students have to do their examinations and this means, they have to study within the curriculum. Whatever else they plan to study would not help them in their education, as the questions would appear only according to the curriculum. If examinations too disappear, the situation will not be more helpful. Teachers, who are already used to curriculum, would not be able to start with their own educational programmes. Even if they do, there is no definite assurance that these programmes will be useful for them later in life or employment. Talking about the employment, it is necessary to show the subjects that had been studied, to the potential employer and this can be done very easily with a definite curriculum. This improves the human errors of forgetting and confusing after some time, leading to embarrassments. Goodson's statement that curriculum is a multi-faceted concept, constructed, negotiated at a variety of levels and in variety of arenas could be true, because curriculum is never stagnant; but a movement of many forces. It is not a one-way projection, but is a concept of many dimensions, mainly because it is never definite, and is always liable for further alterations. It looks forward to many discoveries and innovations and is always ready to change itself according to the new knowledge. This means, it is always on the look out for further gain in the form of knowledge. It has no definite shape or colour that would not be diversified under any circumstances. Instead, it is forever eager to change and adapt itself to the now altered circumstances. This makes it a very colourful and multi-faceted entity. It gets influenced by additional knowledge, or altered knowledge in any fields, because every field belongs to it. It does not work inside a fixed frame; but involves itself unlimited fields. It is a constructed entity, because there is nothing lucid about it. Only when the added knowledge has crossed the limits of uncertainty, and has become a positively confirmed force, it gets added to the curriculum and till then, curriculum ignores the new entrant. So, when the knowledge arrives at the portals of education, it already would have formed a structured shape. Definitely it would have gone through the levels from experiment, discovery, unknown and confusing power, which could become a much needed power in education and knowledge, to an accepted and heralded outcome without any uncertainty about it. Knowledge goes through many stages before it becomes part of education and what education receives is the hard and confirmed core of knowledge that is definitely unshakeable for a long time to come. This is the core of education for many years or centuries till further progress on the subject steps in. Very rarely theories get repudiated overnight, or discoveries are contested immediately. Even it happens, education being such a vast ocean, it would definitely assimilate such changes gracefully. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Cuff, E.C. and Payne, G.C.F. (1986), ed., Crisis in the Curriculum, Croom Helm, London. 2. Goodson, I. (1985), ed., Social Histories of the Secondary Curriculum: Subjects for Study, The Falmer Press, London. 3. Heywood, J. (1984), Considering the Curriculum During Student Teaching, Kogal Page, London. 4. Kirk, G. (1986), The Core Curriculum, Hodder and Stoughton, London. 5. Kelly, A.V. (1987), Knowledge and Curriculum Planning, Harper & Row, Publishers, London. 6. Kemmis, S. and Fitzclarence, L (1986), Curriculum Theorising: Beyond Reproduction Theory, Deakin University, Victoria. 7. Skilbeck, M. (1984), ed., Evaluating the Curriculum in the Eightees, Hodder and Stoughton, London. 8. Skilbeck, M. (1984), ed., Readings in School-Based Curriculum Development, Harper & Row, Publishers, London. 9. Taylor, P.H. and Richards C.M. (1985), An Introduction to Curriculum Studies, NEER-Nelson Publishing Company Ltd., Berkshire. 10. Tamir, P. (1985), ed. The Role of Evaluators in Curriculum Development, Croom Helm, London. Read More