Curriculam Developmont

4.1
According to Prideaux (2003) the word ‘curriculum’ began as a Latin word ‘currere’ which means a race, to run or proceed.’ Wiles (2008) claims there is no generally agreed definition of ‘curriculum’. However, Harrison eta al (2010) defines the curriculum as planned sequence of formal instructional experiences presented by teachers to whom the responsibility is assigned. The term curriculum is mostly used to refer to the existing contract between society, the state, and educational professionals with regard to the educational experiences that learners undergo during a certain phase of their lives. However, the definition which this essay proposes to use was coined by Stenhouse (1975) cited in Carr and Kemmis (1986) p.671 ‘a curriculum is an attempt to communicate the essential principles and features of an educational proposal in such a form that it is open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective translation into practice.’ The curriculum must be in the form that can be communicated to those associated with the learning institution, should be open to critique and readily transformed into practice. Indeed, as Kelly (2009) argues, if any definition of curriculum is to be practically effective and productive, it must offer much more than a statement about the knowledge content within schooling is to transmit, offer a justification and an exploration of the effects that exposure to that knowledge will have on the recipients.  
There are rationales placed by curriculum writers on the process of designing a curriculum by advocating the use of models. According to Page and Thomas (1977) a model is a means of transferring a relationship or process from its actual setting to one in which it can be more conveniently studied. The classical model for curriculum design proposed by Tyler asked four questions of curriculum planners (as shown in appendix A) Tyler’s steps for curriculum design included stating objectives, selecting learning experiences, organising the...