How Biography Influences the Curriculum - Essay Example

Introduction In every academic institution, curriculum plays a very definitive and vital role. The curriculum defines how a certain institution is to be run by deftly outlining the various tenets and protocols that hold this concept in place. Thus stated, it can be observed that without a structure that clearly shows how different institutions are to be run, it becomes extremely difficult for the parties involved to be fully integrated into the system. The systems that employ the use of curriculum and curriculum development are mostly academic institutions. This essay will connect the adoption, usage and assimilation of the curriculum in persons through their biography. The essay will show how the biography of people influences their curriculum through learning experiences in the society. Curriculum development and concepts Curriculum development has a number of tiers. Some of these tiers are highlighted in the following discussion. According to Green (nd), the curriculum development involves the concept of purpose. In this concept, the curriculum developer must take into consideration the purpose of developing the curriculum. The main point and implication is that the developer has prior information regarding the role of this curriculum. The knowledge of the intention of the curriculum assists the developer in creating a curriculum that is successful in encompassing the various utilization of the curriculum. Gruenewald (2008) and Marsh (nd), furthers this statement by stating that the creation of a purpose is the most important thing for any curriculum developer. The other concept in curriculum development is the identification of the educational experiences that will evolve from the purpose of this curriculum. One needs to know about these experiences so that he or she would be in a position to assess whether the curriculum is in line with the fulfillment of the set purpose and give the desired educational experiences. After the identification of these experiences is done, it is important to have these experiences arranged in a certain order that enables the developer to have unrivalled and open contact with them. This means that the developer has to n make sure that he or she organizes these experiences well to make them rhyme with the various purposes of developing the curriculum. Pinar (1974) states that the last part in the curriculum development concept stems from the evaluation of these experiences that result from the curriculum creation and purpose. This implies that, a curriculum cannot be considered to have served the purpose for which it was originally intended if the experiences of the curriculum have not been evaluated to ascertain that they are in cohesion with these purposes. The process of evaluation of the experiences is a very critical one. It is here that the developer gauges whether the whole process of curriculum development has been successful or not. Biography connection to curriculum Having identified the various concepts of curriculum development above, the connection between biography and curriculum can now be established. This cohesion is analyzed in the following paragraphs. From the definitions of Gruenewald (2008) and Pinar (1974) expressed above, curriculum is perceived as the acquisition of a set of knowledge both in the classroom as well as in the society at large. Learning is a continuous process which occurs in a cyclic manner irrespective of whether this occurs in an academic capacity or not. Biography entails the life of a person. In this sense, the life encompasses all tenets such as the experiences the person had during his or her lifetime amongst other aspects. The connection between biography and curriculum can be created from this concept of experiences. As has been priory determined, there are a number of concepts that go hand in hand towards the creation and development of a perfect curriculum. The process of identification of experiences relates to the biography in the sense that, one has to first identify the experiences he or she wishes to attain from a certain curriculum. These experiences have to be driven from some already achieved experiences in the past. This way, the developer will surely know what kind of experiences that should be anticipated. By looking into the past, one can anticipate about what the future holds. The same case applies to the concept of curriculum as a continuous learning process. Thompson (1968) states that life is in an endless cycle of learning. People learn new things with the dawn of each day. The learning process is not constricted to classrooms only. From every sector, learning process takes place. People learn new languages, how to drive, new trends and fashion among others. This is a knowledge that people impact upon themselves without going through the formalities of sitting in a classroom. New experiences are derived with connections to people. People share amongst themselves new ideas, ideologies, concepts, modes of doing things among others. The very basic notion of people learning how to live together as a community embeds itself into the process of gathering experiences. These experiences constitute a biography and they are then used to create a curriculum for the future. The experiences in the biographical concept happen in a very systematic manner. They occur in such a way that one experiences prompts the occurrence or happening of the other. This is the basis of the curriculum. A curriculum has to be implemented in a certain specific manner for enhanced effectiveness. The experiences in the life of a person also happen in a very systematic way. Conclusion From the above discourse, it has been observed that there is a big connection between the biography of a person and the curriculum. From the discussion, curriculum is perceived to be a systematic manner in which the learning process occurs. Biography has been taken in the concept of experiences that have happened in the past in the life of a person. From the discussion, these two, biography and curriculum are connected in the sense that biography involves the experiences that have happened in the past, experiences which have been guided by a certain protocol. The curriculum is created from these experiences. As such, in conclusion, it can be stated that biography influences curriculum. References Green, B., (nd).Curriculum Inquiry in Australia: Toward a Local Genealogy of the Curriculum Field. 123-138. Gruenewald, D., (2008). ‘The best of both worlds: a critical pedagogy of place’. Environmental Education Research, Vol. 14, No. 3; 308–324. Marsh (nd). What is curriculum?-introduction. 1-19 Pinar (1974). School Deform-the race to nowhere’.15-41. Thompson, P., (1968). ‘Like schools', educational 'disadvantage' and 'thisness'. 157-170. Read More