Reflection 1: What is curriculum?
According to Marsh (2010) curriculum is “An interrelated set of plans and experiences which students complete under the guidance of the school or early childhood settings.”(p. 93). The curriculum is many things, it is a document containing a set of expected performance outcomes and content to guide teachers. Curriculum can also be the delivery of objectives and personal experiences to accelerate student learning (A. Smith, personal communication, April 10, 2014).
I personally found separating curriculum from syllabus difficult until reading chapters 6, 9 and 19 from Marsh (2010). Curriculum is a guideline set out for teachers and educators that advises what they need to teach their students (Marsh, 2010). Which simply breaks down and outlines the subjects needed to be taught, along with methods for ensuring each student has learned the necessary materials. The curriculum can also inform teachers regarding how to measure the effectiveness of their teachings through standardised testings (McLachlan, Fleer, & Edward, 2010).
Although curriculum is developed by Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) so that teachers can be more aware of what they are expected to teach throughout the year, many people can influence the curriculum. These include; business owners, government, higher education, such as universities, special interest groups, parents and carers, teachers and childcare professionals and students who modify it to suit their needs (ACARA, 2013). An example of this is some business owner’s need young apprentices with certain hospitality certificates, and now as a result of greater vocational emphasis, higher years of schooling now accommodate to these students’ needs...
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...y of needs to reflect today's educational and managerial philophies. Journal Of Instructional Psychology, 26(3).
Killen, R. (2009). Effective teaching strategies (5th ed.). Melbourne: Cengage.
Marsh, C. J. (2010). Becoming a teacher: Knowledge, skills and issues (5th ed.). Frenchs Forrest, New South Wales: Pearson Australia.
McKewan, E. K. (2010). Ten traits of highly effective teachers. Melbourne: Hawker Brownlow.
McLachlan, C., Fleer, M., & Edward, S. (2010). Early childhood curriculum planning, assessment and implementation (1st ed.). Cambridge, Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (2008). Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians. Retrieved from http://www.mceecdya.edu.au/verve/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pdf.
Various Authors (2012) Oxford Big Ideas Australian Curriculum History 10, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Victoria
The Australian curriculum has been designed for children in their schooling years from foundation to year twelve. Currently the curriculum has covered four learning areas (English, Mathematics, Science and History) from kindergarten to year ten. “The Australian Curriculum describes knowledge, skills and understanding organised by learning areas.” (ACARA, 2010 d). Each learning area contains a: rationale – describing the nature of learning, aims – the intended result of learning from the curriculum, year level description, strands – interrelated broad organisers for the content in each learning area, content descriptions – describe what teachers are expected to teach, content elaborations – content description sup...
Franklin Bobbitt in The Curriculum writes: ‘The central theory [of curriculum] is simple. Human life, however varied, consists in the performance of specific activities. Education that prepares for life is one that prepares definitely and adequately for these specific activities. People need the abilities, attitudes, habits, appreciations and forms of knowledge and these will be the objectives of the curriculum. The curriculum will then be that series of experiences which children and youth must have by way of obtaining those objectives.’ (Bobbit...
Marsh, C.J. (2010). Becoming a teacher: Knowledge, skills and issues. Frenchs Forest, Sydney, NSW: Pearson Australia
...m while having freedom to choose how to teach it. This allows the curriculum to become more personable. Teachers currently associate curriculum with government mandates. They believe that curriculum is what they are told to teach instead of what is desired to learn. Curriculum in the educational setting, according to Pinar, is intended to be used to teach us to think intellectually, sensitively, and with courage to prepare us to be individuals committed to other individuals.
White, J. (1982). The aims of education restated (pp. 121-2). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Curriculum is the organized framework that explains the content that children are to learn, the processes through which children achieve the identified curricular goals, what teachers do to help children achieve these goals and the context in which teaching and learning occur. The best curriculum for early childhood teacher is developmentally appropriate curriculum that allows teachers to set-up an effective learning environment for children.
Eliason, C. F., Jenkins, L. (2008). A practical guide to early childhood curriculum (8th edition). New
When reviewing the literature regarding the past, present and future of educational curriculum, several main points seem apparent, namely that curriculum is cyclical, that a dilemma or paradox exists, and that curriculum must be looked at with a sensitive view.
Flinders, D. J. (1997). Curriculum and Consciousness. The curriculum studies reader (4th ed.). New York: Routledge. (Flinders, 1997)
hardy, E. F. a. C., 2013. Early Childhood Curriculum. Hume Avenue Park West Dublin 12: Gill and Macmillan.
Posner, G. (1998) ‘Models of curriculum planning’. In Beyer, L. and Apple, M. (eds) The Curriculum. Problems, Politics and Possibilities (2nd edn). New York: State University of New York Press.
Keating, J. 1998. Australian Training Reform: Implications for Schools (Revised Edition). Curriculum Corporation, Melbourne, Victoria.
It is a document containing descriptions for teachers to work on lesson planning, assessment and reporting. It focuses on what is to be taught and what students are expected to learn from the curriculum, providing a basis for each state and territory to work from when putting together their educational programs etc. focuses on providing programs and information (links) etc to help promote education and development of students throughout. Parents, teachers, schools, and communities etc, have access to programs and links provided by the Australian curriculum in order to increase communication and encourage support from the parents and communities, while providing further assistance for students. There are also two key documents that represent as guides in the development of the Australian curriculum. These include Melbourne Declaration of Education Goals for Young Australians (2008) and Shape of the Australian Curriculum (2010). The Melbourne declaration forms a basis for which the Australian curriculum is guided. Involving diversity through cross curriculum perspectives, discusses outline, report writing and guidelines. The purpose is to layout the design of curriculum that underlines the importance of knowledge skills and cross – curriculum perspectives, while supporting the changing needs of the 21ST Century. However, the Shape of the Australian curriculum document acts as a foundational guideline for the ACARA in the development of three phases.
Curriculum is important being it’s the underlying factor that plays a role in determining ones growth, achievement and success. The majority of curriculum con...