Curriculum Development Process Assignment Help
When speaking of formal education, curriculum refers to the combination of courses and their subject matter which a university or a school has to offer. The word curriculum comes from the Latin word “currere” which signifies to run or to proceed, denoting the academic process which children go through to become adults (Brown 2007, p.118). Curriculum is basically a concept referring to a broader syllabus which is required to be understood by an individual to achieve a specific level of education (Clements et al, 2013, p.951). Although the curriculum can be defined through many definitions, broadly speaking, it is the content or courses which are offered by a school or university. Similarly, curriculum may also be referred to a particular set of courses which an individual is required to pass in order to earn a particular education level (FAR 2008, p.256). For example, a high school or a university might refer to all its teachings and lessons as a curriculum or a teacher might refer to all the subjects being taught during a year as curriculum. On the other hand, a college might refer to all the courses require to acquire a diploma as curriculum. Due to complexity of its nature, curriculum is difficult define (McInerney & Etten 2005, p.104). In narrower terms, it may be defined as the syllabus and examination, in a broader term it may encompass learning methods which an individual has to undergo in an institution and in still wider terms, it may involve educational experiences, teaching strategies, educational environment, learning outcomes, course content, assessment, personal timetable and students’ style of learning.
What is curriculum development process?
The curriculum development process methodically manages the contents to be taught, the individuals responsible for teaching the contents and the way the content will be taught (Kelly & Melograno 2004, p.67). Here, it is appreciable that each component of curriculum development is related to one another. For example, the content which is required to be taught is affected by or depends upon who is teaching it. Similarly, the methodology used to teach depends upon the individuals who are being taught, their settings, environment and intellect level (Svinicki & McKeachie 2011, p.209). In a broader sense, the curriculum development process includes the designing of curriculum, its development, implementation of curriculum and its evaluation (Print 1993). However, upon close examination of the process, it can be accrued that each component of the process is, in fact, a process in itself and comprises of many diverse yet inter-related activities. The aim of Curriculum Development is to generate a functionally viable Curriculum Development Process. Apparently, due to this reason, many countries of the world further breakdown the model of Curriculum Development Process into designing of curriculum, its development, implementation of curriculum, its evaluation and reviewing of the implementing strategies (Kridel 2010, p.203). The added “review” part caters for the appropriateness of the curriculum with respect to interests and needs of the country. One such curriculum development model is being followed by Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), Government of Australia (ACARA 2010). Although Australia is a linguistically diverse country, many processes require Standard Australian English communication. A great emphasis is therefore laid by the Australian government in development of English curriculum.
The first step in curriculum development is the needs assessment and problem identification (Kern, Thomas & Hughes 2010, p.10). This step identifies the fields in which a dearth of skill and knowledge exists and the learning and teaching approach which is required to fulfill that deficiency. It further identifies the role of the teachers, their skill level, strengths, weaknesses, attitudes and values (Wiles 2008, p.59). Similar to this idea, the first step in a curriculum development process taken by Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) for English curriculum development is Curriculum shaping. In this phase, the authority generates a wide guideline regarding the purpose, organization and structure of learning part. Apart from developing the curriculum design, this phase also aims at guiding the writers and providing guidelines for evaluating the quality of curriculum documents. Three different but interrelated strands namely; language, literature and literacy, comprise the Australian English curriculum. As a result of this curriculum, the students must learn the constantly evolving dialects and languages and the factors affecting this evolution e.g. social, cultural, historical and demographic changes. Once everything is taken into account, the curriculum is conceptualized with special emphasis on the objectives of the curriculum. Learning objectives of every course must match the mission of the Institute at a narrower level and that of the state at a larger level. This means that by the time students go through the course, the learning objectives of each course must lead to achievement of the mission statement of the Institute (Lake & Jones 2012, p.174).
The planning portion of the curriculum development process comes under the second step: development of curriculum. In this phase, vision of the curriculum is identified and step by step procedures for curriculum writing; both print and non-print are developed (Jones 2010, p.217). In case of Australian English curriculum, this phase of the curriculum development process is undertaken during Curriculum writing. During Curriculum writing, the plan and objectives of the English curriculum are revisited and amended for compatibility with writing phase. Emphasis is laid on the text which is enables student to use English language cohesively and coherently and to use more complex language terms for specialized subjects. Further the proposed English curriculum guidelines are mapped on to current Australian curriculum along with international benchmarking. The next step in curriculum writing is the drafting phase. In this phase, outline of the curriculum is drafted and reviewed to identify possible issues in literature and context, language variation and change and texts in contexts and measures are incorporated to address these issues. The draft curriculum is then reviewed by the Advisory Board, National Board and International Board for any particular issues and their solution. After redrafting of Curriculum in the light of guidelines given by the advisory boards, the draft curriculum is subsequently submitted to Curriculum committee for final approval.
The most critical stage of the Curriculum development process is the implementation of curriculum. At this stage, the operationalization of the curriculum is realized through active participation of all the stake holders (Carl 2009, p.134). Usually, curriculum development agency is responsible for management of an implementation process which requires contributions by teachers, students, parents and the general public. In case of ACARA, it is responsible to deliver the approved English curriculum to the institutions for timely implementation. The implementation support is solely the responsibility of the institution whereas ACARA is responsible to monitor the implementation process in order to ensure that Australian curriculum objectives are being achieved.
The final stage of a curriculum development process involves the evaluation and review of the curriculum (Uys & Gwele 2005, p.115). The data obtained from field regarding the implementation of curriculum is analyzed in order to determine whether the curriculum requires revision due to changing educational needs of the students. From Foundation to year No 10, quality of education imparted to the students is depicted by achievement standards which consist of work samples and written descriptions by the students. A certain achievement standard describes the effectiveness in learning and depth of language knowledge which a student has achieved to be promoted to the next achievement level. The structure of achievement level from Foundation to Year 10 describes the progress which a student makes in the area of English language learning, thus providing teachers a gauge to measure the efficacy of the curriculum. The work samples acquired from the students communicate the expectations from the developed curriculum. Student work samples play a key role in communicating expectations described in the achievement standards. The work samples comprise the response of the students, assessment tasks and efficacy of teaching methodology used. The work samples coupled with achievement standards provide a fair amount of idea to the teachers regarding the effectiveness of curriculum implementation.
There are numerous stakeholders involved in English curriculum development process in Australia, e.g. students, teachers, curriculum administrators and manager, parents, and community members (Taylor 2003, p.15). Students are the primary stakeholders in the curriculum development process and are the main reason for the development of curriculum. Students are the ones who are directly affected by the implementation of curriculum and also are the ones whose active involvement or otherwise depends on the success of the curriculum implementation (Marsh 2009, p.94). The primary role of a stakeholder warrant that individual and universal characteristics of the students, e.g. age, social background, environment, emotion, physical and mental development and cultural background are considered in designing and implementation of the curriculum. ACARA takes into account the cultural and linguistic diversity in Australia while preparing English curriculum. Teachers present the other side of the coin, i.e the learning process. Their prime duty is to write and implement the curriculum (Raizen & Britton 1997, p.83). This task is carried out by the teachers on a daily basis through lesson planning, oral presentations, discussions in English language and preparation of activities for the students. They address the needs of the students and modify curriculum to suit the requirements of the learners and achievement of goals. As a curriculum developer, they play their role in text book writing or by being a part of the curriculum committee. Curriculum Administrators and Managers are responsible for supervision of implementation of approved curriculum. For this purpose, they recruit teachers, admit students, arrange school facilities and equipment and remain concerned about the type of curriculum offered by their institution. Parents are probably the biggest supporters of schools may be because they are paying for their children’s education (VERS 1997). They enjoy great influence and power in curriculum implementation because of which the success of a curriculum depends on their support. This vital role played by the parents may be connected to the education of parents through parental programs. Community members are other very important stake holders who help the institutes in acquiring the much-needed resources for successful implementation of curriculum. Because of this reason and their influence in various government sectors, many institutions include respectable community members in school boards. Other stakeholders may involve the professional organizations which have great contribution to the curriculum reviewing process because of their influence in licensing examinations and professional knack regarding the industry where the students would finally end up.
There are several factors, which affect English curriculum development process in Australia to meet the requirements of learners and teachers both in academic institutions and corporate learning structures (Spafford 1943, p.213). Politics and political situation in the country are one of the main factors, which have great influence on curriculum development. In Australia, politics is the main source of funding for the process of English language curriculum development, which helps from the point of establishment of objectives to recruitment of teachers, and arrangement of educational environment, buildings and facilities. Therefore, all facets of curriculum depend on national, local and state political structure and standards of Australia. Economics is another important factor affecting the curriculum development process. Businesses spend a lot of budget to carry out in-house training of their employees in order to gain surplus. Similarly, Australian government sponsored English language education ploys on the same model and expects its students on contribute in the economic uplift of the country after gaining appropriate education standards. Nation’s economic conditions influence the contents of the curriculum, goals of the students and sets standards for academic achievements. Similarly, there are a number of social factors, which have their influence on design and development of curriculum. Firstly, Social and linguistic diversity which includes culture, social and religious grouping tend to affect the contents of the English curriculum and methodology of teaching. Due to social diversity in Australian community, relevant contents and topics are added to the English curriculum to accommodate all the social diverse group traditions in order to promote equality. Similarly, the social awareness of the society regarding global issues, e.g. environment and technology advancements also has a profound impact on complexity of the English language curriculum. The compulsive use of computers and multimedia in the learning centers has transformed the contents of English curriculum to show compatibility with technological advancements. The teacher plays a crucial role in the curriculum development process because of his or her responsibility to implement curriculum in the institution (Kridel 2010, p.854). In many states and districts of Australia, curriculum is revised after every few years to address various political, social and economic issues. In this scenario, teachers are mostly given the responsibility of writing the revised curriculum thus doing most of the work. In the event of decision by the state to revise the curriculum, teachers take on the responsibility of making sure that the revised curriculum meets the envisioned national objectives and achievement standards. The revised curriculum copies and text books are procured by the state departments and given to the teachers for implementation in the classrooms. Teachers are provided with the sample text book copies of the revised curriculum which are sorted and sampled by teachers to choose the best text book which fits the needs of the classroom. Finally, the selected revised copies are presented to the curriculum board for approval and adoption. Subsequent to implementation of curriculum, teachers continually generate novel activities to assist in development and refinement of the curriculum and meeting the national educational standards. Moreover, teachers are also responsible for developing tests, portfolios and curriculum projects in order to gauge the extent o which students have been able to learn and benefit from the curriculum. These assessment tools assist the teachers in modifying and revising the curriculum to suit the needs of the students and to cater for social and cultural diversity in the school.
