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... ... middle of paper ... ...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.
Introduction: When one thinks of a curriculum what is it that comes to one’s mind? Is it just an official document or is there something more than that. The term curriculum has various perspectives in general it constitutes the teaching and learning process or one can say that is the intended curriculum that is usually presented in official document and is employed as a guiding document . Within a classroom setting the curriculum can be altered through a range of interactions and what is delivered is the “implemented curriculum “ and what the learners actually learn or achieve is the achieved or learned curriculum. In addition to this there is the hidden curriculum which helps develop moral values and beliefs
The National Curriculum is split up into stages, these stages are determined by age groups, key stage 1 ranges from ages 5-7 which is the year group 1 and 2, then there is key stage 2 which ranges in ages 7-11 this is year groups 3-6. Key stages 3 and 4 are secondary stages, so at key stage 3 the pupils are 11-14. At the final stage of the pupils development through the National Curriculum, key stage 5 they are 14-16, at this stage they get more choice in which areas of the curriculum they want to continue in. However some subjects which are part of the National Curriculum such as, english, maths and science are compulsory. At each stage expectations are set as to pupils performance levels. Targets are laid out for programmes of study for pupils. The national curriculum helps the school create a working relationship, not only with the pupils but also with the parents. The curriculum is a way to create many more opportunities for all levels of achievement. It can help with building on certain strengths in a pupils ability. When we consider the different structures to which the curriculum can take on we must look at the way in which the information set out through the curriculum is put across to the pupils through content and organization. David Scott a Professor of Educational Leadership and Learning at the University of Lincoln?s International Institute for Educational Leadership. He is an expert in curriculum studies, David Scott identifies and depicts six curriculum ideologies. These are Foundationalism, Conventionalism, Instrumentalism, Technical Rationality, Critical Pedagogy and Post-modernism.
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...
...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.
The National Curriculum seems to pursue the route of a “… shared and authentic ‘national’ body of accepted knowledge and standards.” (Walkup, 2011). This appears to tell us that, with the National Curriculum, we are brought together, and taught the same subjects, and have similar attainment targets; however once difference that can also come out of this, is the level and standards at which it is taught, this is because different teachers will have different ideas as to how it should be taught.
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...
Australia’s education system functions in a highly political context, as does the education systems of most other developed or developing nations throughout the world (Meadmore, 1999). Education is therefore a complex process that is both intertwined with and influenced by the society, culture and community in which it exists (Meadmore, 1999). As a result, it is expected to operate within certain perimeters and deliver specific outcomes (Meadmore, 1999). Consequently, over the last several decades, significant changes have occurred in education, “sometimes by forces well outside education, and all too often, it seems, according to principles that have little to do with education” (Welch, 2010, p.235) itself. The structure and
As a professional practice, settings are responsible for the delivery of core subjects, dictated through specific curriculums. The term curriculum ( or curricula) refers to a set of courses and their content offered in educational institutes, such as schools,(Doherty and Hughes, 2009). Its context is said to describe: a body of theory about teaching and learning, targeting the needs and characteristics of a particular group of learners,(Veale,2013). It often refers to the programmes’ objectives and goals, as well as its methods and materials, (Universal Design for Learning Guidelines, 2014). “Curricula are undoubtedly culturally shaped and cannot always be readily transferred from one environment to another,”(p.5, Miller and Pound. 2011).
Wortham, S. C. (2002). Early childhood curriculum: developmental bases for learning and teaching (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill/Prentice Hall.
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.
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.
Flinders, D. J. (1997). Curriculum and Consciousness. The curriculum studies reader (4th ed.). New York: Routledge. (Flinders, 1997)
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...
Designing curriculum, instruction, and assessments are steps teachers use to help them make sense of the concepts they teach and helps drive instruction. These steps can take on many different forms and drive a classroom in a plethora of ways. These steps, when developed properly, can help a teacher utilize each moment in the classroom and help students gain more insight to the standards they need to become proficient.