Curriculum Development Models for Quality Educational System

Nature Of Curriculum

Curriculum generally refers to the planned and unplanned experiences which learners receive in the process of their formal or semi-formal education for the purpose of becoming rounded persons who can make meaningful contributions to the betterment of their society and global environment. Curriculum according to Ogunyemi (2009) is a process of achieving the goals of education through the formal/semi-formal educational set-up such as the basic/secondary schools, the colleges of education, the monothenics /polytechnics, the adult literacy/innovative enterprise institutions and the universities. A curriculum is an embodiment of all the knowledge, skills and attitudes which a nation, through her schools, imparts to her citizens. “Knowledge” here refers to all the facts, theories, principles, generalizations and rules needed to be acquired for a student to be certified as competent in a field. Thus, if a student is majoring in chemistry for instance, knowledge here refers to all the facts or information about non-living things, their composition, property, uses and changes they undergo with particular reference to an atom, the orbital levels, bound, valence, Dalton’s atomic theory, etc. Dike and Eze (2009) observe that curriculum involves the acquisition of skills needed to perform tasks. If student wants to specialize in choreography for instance, he or she must learn how to combine different body movements to depict and synchronize with music rhymes in order to heighten interest and appreciation. To be an excellent pilot, a football player, a television cameraman, a video editor, an auto-mechanic, a surgeon, a computer guru, a technologist and so on, one needs to acquire the skills in these areas to be certified as competent. Skill in this case refers to the ability to expertly use one’s hands, legs, and the entire body in combination with facts in one’s brain in order to perform a task. It goes beyond mere recall of facts to applying them along with body movements to perform atask. Salient features of the above definitions and descriptions are the following: The tangible aspects of the curriculum are in the form of “Curriculum Guide”, “Curriculum Standard”, “Syllabus”, etc. It is also worthy of noting that there are also the intangible elements popularly known as hidden curriculum depending on the area of the learning experiences that is being considered. These areas include the specified content, observed behavioural practices, imitated lifestyles and so no. a meaningful curriculum must focus on the three domains of learning viz- cognitive (knowledge /intellect), psychomotor-productive (skills) and affective (attitudes/values) in order to foster an all-round development. Curriculum is for the betterment of the society but adequate efforts must be made to ensure that the interests and needs of the learners are not compromised. Curriculum involves a dynamic process and as such must move with the changing trends in the society. Curriculum like education is a product of a wide array of actors (politicians, policy makers, curriculum workers, teachers, laypersons, targeted learners and so on).the implication is that curriculum involves planning at different levels. The nature of curriculum x-rayed above has clearly shown that in practice, curriculum consists of all the learners’ planned and unplanned needs for full potentials development. No wonder Emeruwa (1981) describes curriculum in terms of its major three components of programme of studies, programme of activities and programme of guidance. The impeccable role of curriculum in achieving quality education system has called for meticulousy in curriculum development.