Basic Phases of Curriculum Development Prepared by Phylla Magallanes

OVERVIEW OF THE

BASIC PHASES OF

CURRICULUM

DEVELOPMENTPREPARED BY:

MISS PHYLLA LYNNE JUNE G. MAGALLANES

THE BASIC PHASES OF

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

Curriculum Development as a process, is the continuous adapting of the curriculum to the changing needs of students, teachers and society (Dunne, 1987).

People have attached different meanings to the word “curriculum”, and as there are diversified definitions for the word, there are also plenty of models that describe the process of curriculum development. However, the following four basic steps or phases are found to be consistently present in existing models:

CURRICULUM PLANNING

CURRICULUM ORGANIZATION/DESIGN

CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION

CURRICULUM EVALUATION

CURRICULUM PLANNING

This phase lays the foundation for all the curriculum

development steps.

The steps in this phase include:

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 sections help form an issue statement that will serve to identify

the members of a development team and the scope of the

curriculum content.

Form Curriculum Development Team

In this section, topics 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.

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.

Analysis, the second part of this needs assessment step, describes

techniques on how to use the data and the results of the information

gathered. (El Sawi, 1996).

CURRICULUM PLANNING

What role do teachers play in curriculum planning?

Teachers know their students' needs better than others

involved in the curriculum process. While state or

federal standards often dictate the skills covered by

the curriculum, a teacher can provide insight into the

types of materials, activities and specific skills that

need to be included. Teachers from multiple grade-

levels may collaborate to identify skills students need

at each level and ensure that the curriculum

adequately prepares students to advance to the next

grade-level and to meet the standards (Zeiger, n.d.).

CURRICULUM PLANNING

“If you fail to plan, you

are planning to fail!”

― Benjamin Franklin

CURRICULUM

ORGANIZATION/DESIGN

This phase determines intended outcomes, the

content, and the methods.


State Intended Outcomes

An intended outcome states what the learner will be able to do as a

result of participating in the curriculum activities.

This section includes: (1) a definition of intended outcomes, (2) the

components of intended outcomes (condition, performance, and

standards), (3) examples of intended outcomes, and (4) an overview

of learning behaviors.

Select Content

At this point, the primary questions are: "If the intended outcome is

to be attained, what will the learner need to know? What

knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours will need to be acquired

and practiced?“

The scope (breadth of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours)

and the sequence (order) of the content are also discussed.

Design Experiential Methods

After the content is selected, the next step is to design activities

(learning experiences) to help the learner achieve appropriate

intended outcomes. An experiential learning model and its

components (i.e., experience, share, process, generalize, and

apply) are discussed in this section. (El Sawi, 1996).

CURRICULUM

ORGANIZATION/DESIGN

What role do teachers play in curriculum design?

Because teachers must use the curriculum, they

should have input in its creation. A teacher can gauge

whether an activity will fit into a specified time frame

and whether it will engage students. If multiple

teachers will use the curriculum, allow as many of

them as possible to provide input during the creation

stage. As teachers provide input, they will gain

ownership in the final product and feel more confident

that the curriculum was created with their concerns

and the needs of their particular students in mind

(Zeiger, n.d.).

CURRICULUM

ORGANIZATION/DESIGN

"Design is a funny

word. Some people

think design means

how it looks. But of

course, if you dig

deeper, it's really how

it works."

― Steve Jobs



Produce Curriculum Product

Once the content and experiential methods have been agreed

upon, the actual production of curriculum materials begins. This

section includes: 1) suggestions for finding and evaluating existing

materials; 2) evaluation criteria; and 3) suggestions for producing

curriculum materials.

Test and Revise Curriculum

This step includes suggestions to select test sites and conduct a

formative evaluation of curriculum materials during the production

phase.

Recruit and Train Facilitators

It is a waste of resources to develop curriculum materials if

adequate training is not provided for facilitators to implement it.

Implement Curriculum

This is the actual implementation of the designed curriculum in the selected testing sites.

(El Sawi, 1996).


What role do teachers play in curriculum design?

Teachers must implement the curriculum in their own

classrooms, sticking to the plan that has taken so

much time, careful planning and effort to create.

When a teacher fails to properly implement a strong

curriculum, she risks not covering standards or failing to

implement effective practices in the classroom. That

does not mean a teacher cannot make minor

changes. In fact, a strong curriculum is designed to

allow a teacher to be flexible and to insert a few

personalized components or choose from among a

selection of activities (Zeiger, n.d.).


"The most difficult

thing is the decision to

act, the rest is merely

tenacity. The fears are

paper tigers. You can

do anything you

decide to do. You

can act to change

and control your life;

and the procedure,

the process is its own

reward."

― Amelia Earhart



Design Evaluation Strategies

Two types of evaluation, formative and summative, are used during

curriculum development. Formative evaluations are used during the

needs assessment, product development, and testing steps.

Summative evaluations are undertaken to measure and report on

the outcomes of the curriculum. This step reviews evaluation

strategies and suggests simple procedures to produce valid and

reliable information. A series of questions are posed to guide the

summative evaluation process and a sample evaluation format is

suggested.

Reporting and Securing Resources

The final element in an evaluation strategy is "delivering the pay off

(i.e., getting the results into the hands of people who can use them).

In this step, suggestions for what and how to report to key

shareholders, especially funding and policy decision makers, are

provided and a brief discussion on how to secure resources for

additional programming. (El Sawi, 1996).


What role do teachers play in curriculum evaluation?

Reflecting on a curriculum allows teachers and others

involved in the process to find any weaknesses in the

curriculum and attempt to make it better. Teachers

reflect on curriculum in multiple ways, such as keeping

a journal as they implement the curriculum, giving

students surveys and reviewing the results or analyzing

assessment data and individual student performance.

Not only can reflection serve to improve a specific

curriculum, it may guide the creation of new

curriculum (Zeiger, n.d.).


“The only man who

behaves sensibly is my

tailor; he takes my

measurements anew

every time he sees

me, while all the rest

go on with their old

measurements and

expect me to fit

them.”

― George Bernard

Shaw

“We are more than role

models for our students; we

are leaders and teachers of

both an academic curriculum

and a social curriculum.”

- Patricia Sequeira Belvel

(2009)

REFERENCES

Belvel, P. (2009). Rethinking Classroom Management: Strategies for Prevention, Intervention, and Problem Solving. Corwin: Thousand Oaks, California. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=p-ygIOrjbdAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Dunne, T. (1987). Curriculum Development and the World Food Issue: A Case Study. Trocaire: Ireland. Retrieved from http://www.trocaire.org/resources/tdr-article/curriculum-development-and-world-food-issue-case-study

El Sawi, C. (1996). Curriculum Development Guide: Population Education for Non-Formal Education Programs of Out-of-School Rural Youth. FAO Corporate Document Repository: Rome. Retrieved from www.fao.org/docrep/009/ah650e/ah650e03.htm

Zeiger, S. (n.d.) Role of Teachers in the Curriculum Process. Chron. Retrieved from http://work.chron.com/role-teachers-curriculum-process-5344.html

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Basic Phases of Curriculum Development Prepared by Phylla Magallanes