CHAPTER 1

CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT
MODULE 1:

CURRICULUM AND THE TEACHER

• Curriculum
- refers to the lesson and academic content taught in a school or in a specific
course or program. Curriculum then, was seen as a tradition of organized knowledge
taught in schools of the 19th century. Two centuries later, the concept of a curriculum
has broadened to include several modes of thoughts and experiences.

- teachers will have nothing to do if there is no curriculum. Curriculum is at the

heart of the teaching profession. Every teacher is guided by some sort of curriculum
in a classroom and in school.
The educational levels:
1. Basic Education. This level includes kindergarten, Grade 1 to Grade 6 for
elementary and for secondary, Grade 7 to Grade 10 , for the Junior High School
and Grade 11 and 12 and for the Senior High School. Each of the levels has it’s
specific recommended curriculum. The new basic education levels are provided
in the K to 12 Enhanced curriculum of 2013 of the Department of Education.
2. Technical Vocational Education. This is post secondary technical vocational
educational and taken training taken care of by Technical Educational and Skills
Development Authority (TESDA). For the TechVoc track in SHS of DepEd, DepEd
and TESDA work in close coordination.
3. Higher Education. This includes the Baccaulaureate or Bachelor Degrees and
the Graduate Degrees(Master’s and Doctorate) which under the regulation of
the Commission on Higher Education (CHED)
Types of Curricula in Schools
1. Recommended Curriculum. Almost all curricula found in our schools are
recommended for Basic Education, these are recommended by the
Department of Education( DepEd), for Higher Education, by the Commission on
Higher Education(CHED) and for vocational education by TESDA. These three
government agencies oversee and regulate Philippine education. The
recommendations come in the form of memoranda or policies, standards and
guidelines. Other professional education organizations or international bodies
like UNESCO also recommend curricula in schools
2. Written Curriculum. This includes documents based on the recommended
curriculum. They come in the form of course of study ,syllabi, modules, books,
or instructional guides among others. A packet of this written curriculum is the
teacher’s lesson plan. The most recent written curriculum is the K to 12 for
Phillipine Basic Education.
3. Taught Curriculum. From what has been written or planned, the curriculum has to
be implemented or taught. The teachers and the learners will put life to the written
curriculum. The skill of the teacher to facilitate learning based on the written
curriculum with the aid of the instructional materials and facilities will be necessary.
The taught curriculum will depend largely on the teaching style of the teacher and
the learning style of the learners.

4. Supported Curriculum. This is described as support materials that the teacher

needs to make learning ad teaching meaningful. These include print materials like
books, charts, posters , worksheets, slides , models, realias , mock ups and other
electronic illustrations. Supported curriculum also includes facilities where learning
occurs outside or inside the four walled building. These includes the playground,
science laboratory, audio visual rooms, zoo museum market or the plaza. These are
the places where authentic learning through direct experiences occur.
5. Assessed curriculum. Taught and supported curricula have to be evaluated to find out if the teacher
has succeeded or not in facilitating learning. In the process of teaching and at the end of every lesson or
teaching episode, an assessment is made. It can either be assessment for learning , assessment as
learning or assessment of learning. If the process is to find the progress of learning, then the assessed
curriculum is for learning, but if it is to find out how much has been learned or mastered, then it is
assessment of learning. Either way, such curriculum is the assessed curriculum.

6. Learned Curriculum. How do we know if the student has learned? We always believe that if a student
changed behavior he/she has learned. For example, from a non-reader to a reader or from not knowing
to knowing or from being disobedient to being obedient. The positive outcome of teaching is an
indicator of learning. These are measured by tools in assessment which can indicate the cognitive,
affective and psychomotor outcomes. Learned curriculum will also demonstrate higher order and
critical thinking and lifelong skills.

7. Hidden/ Implicit Curriculum. This curriculum is not deliberately planned but has a great impact on
the behavior of the learner. Peer influence, school environment, media, parental pressure, societal
changes, cultural practices, natural calamities are some factors that create the hidden curriculum.
Teachers should be sensitive and aware of this hidden curriculum. Teachers must have good foresight to
include these in the written curriculum, in order to bring to the surface what are hidden.
 The Teacher As Curricularist
• Curricularist
- a person who is involved in curriculum knowing , writing
planning implementing, evaluating, innovating and initiating.

- to describe a professional person who is a curriculum

specialist( Hayes, 1991; Ornstein & Hunskins, 2004; Hewitt, 2006)
The teacher as curricularist . . .
1. Knows the curriculum. Learning begins with knowing. The teacher
as learner starts with knowing about the curriculum, the subject
matter or the content. As a teacher, one has to master are included
in the curriculum. It is acquiring academic knowledge both formal(
disciplines, logic) or informal (derived from experiences, vecarious,
and unintended). It is the mastery of the mastery of the subject
matter. ( Knower)
2. Writes the curriculum. A classroom teacher takes record of
knowledge concepts, subject matter or content these need to be
written or preserved. The teacher writes books, modules,
laboratory manuals, instructional guides and reference materials in
paper or electronic media as curriculum writer or reviewer. (Writer)
3. Plans the curriculum. A good curriculum has to be planned. It is the rule of the
teacher to make a yearly , monthly, or daily plan of the curriculum. This will serve
as a guide in the implementation of the curriculum. The eacher takes into
consideration several factors in planning a curriculum. These factors include the
learners, the support material, time, subject matter or content, the desired outcomes,
the context of the learners among others. By doing this, the teachr becomes a
curriculum planner. (Planner)

4. Initiates the curriculum. In cases where the curriculum is recommended to the

schools from DepEd, CHED, TESDA , UNESCO, UNICEF, or other educational
agencies for improvement of quality education, the teacher is obliged to implement.
Implementation of the new curriculum requires the open mindedness of the teacher ,
and the full belief that the curriculum will enhance learning. There will be many
constraints and difficulties in doing things first or leading however, a transformative
teacher will never hesitate to try somethi ng novel and relevant.( Initiator)
5. Innovates the curriculum. Creativity and innovation are whole marks of an excellent
teacher. A curriculum is always dynamic, hence it keeps on changing. From the content,
strategies, ways of doing, blocks of time, ways of evaluating, kinds of students and skills of
teachers, one cannot find single internal curriculum that would perpetually fit. A good
teacher, therefore, innovates the curriculum, and thus becomes a curriculum innovator.
( Innovator)
6. Implements the curriculum. The curriculum that remains recommended or written will
never serve its purpose. Somebody has to implement it. As mentioned previously, at the
heart of schooling is the curriculum. It is this rule where the teacher becomes the
curriculum implementor . An implementor gives life to the curriculum plan. The teacher is
at the heart of an engagement with the learners, with support materials in order to achieve
the desired outcome. It is where teaching, guiding , facilitating skills of the teacher is
expected o the highest level. It is here where teaching as a science and as an art will be
observed. It is here, where all the elements of the curriculum will come into play. The
success of a recommended, well written and planned curriculum depends on the
implementation. ( Implementor)
7. Evaluates the curriculum. How can one determine if the desired learning
outcomes have been achieved? Is the result curriculum working? Does it bring the
desired result? What do outcomes reveal? Are the learners achieving? Are there
some practices that should be modified? Should the curriculum be modified,
terminated or continued? These are some few questions that need that help the
curriculum evaluator. That person is the teacher. ( Evaluator)