MODULE 4 APPROACHES ABOUT THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM

AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES

AND MODELS
Introduction
Curriculum is viewed in different perspectives. It is often viewed in
three grand views; a content, a process and a product. The curriculum
also undergoes development and produces models which become the
bases of educational institutions. This module was designed to help
learners understand these approaches and analyze these processes
and models.
Learning Outcomes
1. Identify the different approaches to school curriculum;
2. Explain by examples how the approaches clarify the definition of
curriculum;
3. Reflect on how the three approaches interrelate with each other;
4. Explain and summarize the curriculum development process and
models.
Topics for Module 4:
Topic 1. Approaches to School Curriculum
Topic 2. Curriculum Development Processes and Models

Topic 1. APPROACHES TO SCHOOL CURRICULUM

Learning Content
Curriculum is viewed in many ways: as either a Content, a Process or a
Product.
Three Ways of Approaching a Curriculum
1. Curriculum as a Content or Body of Knowledge
● Equate a curriculum as a topic outline, subject matter, or concepts to
be included in the syllabus or in books.
For example, a primary school mathematics curriculum consists
of topics on addition, multiplication, subtraction, division, distance,
weight and many more.
Another example is in secondary school science that involves
the study of biological science, physical science, environmental
science and earth science. Textbooks tend to begin with biological
science such are plants and animals, physical science with the
physical elements, force and motion, earth science with the layers of
the earth and environmental science with the interaction of the
biological and physical science and earth’s phenomena, climate,
 vegetation followed by economic activities such as agriculture,
mining, industries, urbanization and so forth.
● The focus of a curriculum as a content is the body of knowledge to
be transmitted to students using appropriate teaching methods.
There can be a likelihood that teaching will be limited to the
acquisition of facts, concepts and principles of the subject matter,
however, the content or subject matter can also be taken as a
means to an end.
● All curricula have content regardless of their design or models. In
most educational settings, curriculum is anchored on a body of
knowledge or discipline.
Four Ways of Presenting the Content in the Curriculum
1. Topical approach where much content is based on knowledge, and
experiences are included;
2. Concept approach with fewer topics in clusters around major and
sub-concepts and their interaction, with relatedness emphasized;
3. Thematic approach as a combination of concepts that develop
conceptual structures; and
4. Modular approach that leads to complete units of instruction.
Criteria in the Selection of Content
1. Significance. Content should contribute to ideas, concepts, principles
and generalization that should attain the overall purpose of the
curriculum. It is significant if content becomes the means of developing
cognitive, affective or psychomotor skills of the learner.
2. Validity. The authenticity of the subject matter forms its validity.
Knowledge becomes obsolete with the fast changing times. Thus, there
is a need for validity check and verification at a regular interval,
because content which may be valid in its original form may not
continue to be valid in the current times.
3. Utility. Usefulness of the content in the curriculum is relative to the
learners who are going to use these. Utility can be relative to time. It
may have been useful in the past, but may not be useful now or in the
future.
4. Learnability. The complexity of the content should be within the range
of experiences of the learners. This is based on the psychological
principles of learning. Appropriate organization of content standards
and sequencing of contents are two basic principles that would
influence learnability.
5. Feasibility. Can the subject content be learned within the time allowed,
resources available, expertise of the teachers and the nature of the
learners? Are there contents of learning which can be learned beyond
the formal teaching-learning engagement? Are there opportunities
provided to learn these?
6. Interest. Will the learners take interest in the content? Why? Are the
contents meaningful? What value will the contents have in the present
and future life of the learners? Interest is one of the driving forces for
students to learn better.
Guide in the Selection of the Content in the Curriculum
1. Commonly used in daily life.
2. Appropriate to the maturity levels and abilities of the learners
3. Valuable in meeting the needs and competencies of the future career
4. Related to other subject fields or discipline for complementation and
integration
5. Important in the transfer of learning to other disciplines

Basic Principles of Curriculum Content

In 1952, Palma proposed the principle of BASIC as a guide in
addressing CONTENT in the curriculum. B.A.S.I.C. refers to Balance,
Articulation, Sequence, Integration and Continuity. In organizing content or
putting together subject matter, these principles are useful as a guide.
Balance. Content should be fairly distributed in depth and breadth.
This will guarantee that significant contents should be covered to avoid too
much or too little of the contents needed within the time allocation.
Articulation. As the content complexity progresses with the
educational levels, vertically or horizontally, across the same discipline
smooth connections or bridging should be provided. This will assure no gaps
or overlaps in the content. Seamlessness in the content is desired and can be
assured if there is articulation in the curriculum. Thus, there is a need for a
team among writers and implementers of the curriculum.
Sequence. The logical arrangement of the content refers to sequence
or order. This can be done vertically for deepening the content or horizontally
for broadening the same content. In both ways, the pattern usually is from
easy to complex, what is known, to the unknown, what is current to something
in the future.
Integration. Content in the curriculum does not stand alone or in
isolation. It has some ways of relatedness or connectedness to other
contents. Contents should be infused in other disciplines whenever possible.
This will provide a holistic or unified view of curriculum instead of
segmentation. Contents which can be integrated to other disciplines acquire a
higher premium than when isolated.
Continuity. Content when viewed as a curriculum should continuously
flow as it was before, to where it is now, and where it will be in the future. It
should be perennial. It endures time. Content may not be in the same form
and substance as seen in the past since changes and developments in
curriculum occur. Constant repetition, reinforcement and enhancement of
content are all elements of continuity.
2. Curriculum as a Process
Here, curriculum is not seen as a physical thing or a noun, but as a
verb or an action. It is the interaction among the teachers, students and
content. As a process, curriculum happens in the classroom as the questions
asked by the teacher and the learning activities engaged in by the students. It
is an active process with emphasis on the context in which the processes
occur. Used in analogy of the recipe in a cookbook, a recipe is the content
while the way of cooking is the process.
Curriculum as a process is seen as a scheme about the practice of
teaching. The process of teaching and learning becomes the central concern
of teachers to emphasize critical thinking, thinking, meaning-making and
heads-on, hands-on doing and many others.
As a process, curriculum links to the content, while content provides
materials on what to teach, the process provides curriculum on how to teach
the content. When accomplished, the process will result in various curriculum
experiences for the learners. The intersection of the content and process is
called the Pedagogical Content Knowledge or PCK. It will address the
question: If you have this content, how will you teach it?
To teachers, the process is very critical. This is the other side of the
coin: instruction, implementation, and teaching. These three words connote
the process in the curriculum. When educators ask teachers: What curriculum
are you using? Some of the answers will be: 1. Problem-based, 2. Hands-on,
Minds-On 3. Cooperative Learning 4. Blended Curriculum [Link]-line 6.
Case-based and many more. These responses approach the curriculum as a
Process. These are the ways of teaching, ways of managing the content,
guiding learning, methods of teaching and learning and strategies of teaching
or delivery modes. In all of these, there are activities and actions that every
teacher and learner do together or learners are guided by the teacher. Some
of the strategies are time-tested traditional methods while others are emerging
delivery modes.
Guiding Principles of Curriculum Process
1. Curriculum processes in the form of teaching methods or strategies are
meant to achieve the end.
2. There is no single best process or method. Its effectiveness will
depend on the desired learning outcomes, the learners, support
materials and the teacher.
3. Curriculum process should stimulate the learners’ desire to develop the
cognitive, affective, psychomotor domains in each individual.
4. In the choice of methods, learning and teaching styles should be
considered.
5. Every method or process should result in learning outcomes which can
be described as cognitive, affective and psychomotor.
6. Flexibility in the use of the process or methods should be considered.
An effective process will always result in learning outcomes.
7. Both teaching and learning are the two important processes in the
implementation of the curriculum.
3. Curriculum as a Product
Besides viewing curriculum as content that is to be transmitted, or
process that gives action using the content, it has also been viewed as a
product. In other words, the product is what the students desire to achieve as
a learning outcome.
The product from the curriculum is a student equipped with the
knowledge, skills and values to function effectively and efficiently. The real
purpose of education is to bring about significant changes in students’
patterns of behavior. It is important that any statement of objectives or
intended outcomes of the school should be a statement of changes to take
place in the students. Central to the approach is the formulation of behavioral
objectives stated as intended learning outcomes or desired products so that
content and teaching methods may be organized and the results evaluated.
Products of learning are operationalized as knowledge, skills, and values.
Curriculum product is expressed in the form of outcomes which are
referred to as the achieved learning outcomes. There may be several desired
learning outcomes, but if the process is not successful, then no learning
outcomes will be achieved. These learned or achieved learning outcomes are
demonstrated by the person who has meaningful experiences in the
curriculum. All of these are the result of planning, content and processes in
the curriculum.

Topic 2. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT: PROCESSES AND MODELS

Curriculum is a dynamic process. In curriculum development, there are
always changes that occur that are intended for improvement. To do this,
there are models presented to us from well-known curricularists like Ralph
Tyler, Hilda Taba, Galen Saylor and William Alexander which would help
clarify the process of curriculum development. There are many other models,
but let us use the three for this lesson.
Curriculum Development Process
Curriculum development is a dynamic process involving many different
people and procedures. Development connotes changes which are
systematic. A change for the better means alteration, modification or
improvement of existing condition. To produce positive changes, development
should be purposeful, planned and progressive. Usually it is linear and follows
a logical step-by-step fashion involving the following phases: curriculum
planning, curriculum design, curriculum implementation and curriculum
evaluation. Generally, most models involve four phases.
1. Curriculum planning considers the school vision, mission and goals.
It also includes the philosophy or strong education belief of the school.
All of these will eventually be translated to classroom desired learning
outcomes for the learners.
2. Curriculum designing is the way curriculum is conceptualized to
include the selection and organization of content, the selection and
organization of learning experiences or activities and the selection of
the assessment procedure and tools to measure achieved learning
outcomes. A curriculum design will also include the resources to be
utilized and the statement of the intended learning outcomes.
3. Curriculum implementing is putting into action the plan which is
based on the curriculum design in the classroom setting or the learning
environment. The teacher is the facilitator of learning and, together with
the learners, uses the curriculum as design guides to what will
transpire in the classroom with the end in view of achieving the
intended learning outcomes. Implementing the curriculum is where
action takes place. It involves the activities that transpire in every
teacher’s classroom where learning becomes an active process.
4. Curriculum evaluating determines the extent to which the desired
outcomes have been achieved. This procedure is on-going as in finding
out the progress of learning (formative) or the mastery of learning
(summative). Along the way, evaluation will determine the factors that
have hindered or supported the implementation. It will also pinpoint
where improvement can be made and corrective measures introduced.
The result of evaluation is very important for decision making of
curriculum planners, and implementers.
Curriculum Development Process Models
1. Ralph Tyler Model: Four Basic Principles
Also known as Tyler’s Rationale, the curriculum development
model
emphasizes the planning phase. This is presented in his book Basic
Principles of Curriculum and Instruction. He posited four fundamental
principles which are illustrated as answers to the following questions:
1. What education purposes should schools seek to attain?
2. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely
to attain these purposes?
3. How can these educational experiences be effectively
organized?
4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being
attained or not?
Tyler’s model shows that in curriculum development, the
following considerations should be made:
1. Purposes of the school
2. Educational experiences related to the purposes
3. Organization of the experiences
4. Evaluation of the experience

2. Hilda Taba Model: Grassroots Approach

Hilda Taba improved on Tyler’s model. She believes that
teachers should participate in developing a curriculum. As a grassroots
approach Taba begins from the bottom, rather than from the top as
what Tyler proposed. She presented seven major steps to her linear
model which are the following:
1. Diagnosis of learners’ needs and expectations of the larger
society
2. Formulation of learning objectives
3. Selection of learning contents
4. Organization of learning contents
 5. Selection of learning experiences
6. Determination of what to evaluate and the means of doing it

3. Galen Saylor and William Alexander Curriculum Model

Galen Saylor and William Alexander (1974) viewed curriculum
development as consisting of four steps. Curriculum is “a plan for
providing sets of learning opportunities to achieve broad educational
goals and related specific objectives for an identifiable population
served by a single school center.”
1. Goals, Objectives and Domains. Curriculum planners
begin by specifying the major educational goals and specific
objectives they wish to accomplish. Each major goal
represents a curriculum domain: personal development,
human relations, continued learning skills and specialization.
The goals, objectives and domains are identified and chosen
based on research findings, accreditation standards, and
views of the different stakeholders.
2. Curriculum Designing. Designing a curriculum follows after
appropriate learning opportunities are determined and how
each opportunity is provided. Will the curriculum be designed
along the lines of academic disciplines, or according to
student needs and interests or along themes? These are
some of the questions that need to be answered at this stage
of the development process.
3. Curriculum Implementation. A designed curriculum is now
ready for implementation. Teachers then prepare
instructional plans where instructional objectives are specific
and appropriate teaching methods and strategies are utilized
to achieve the desired learning outcomes among students.
4. Evaluation. The last step of the curriculum model is
evaluation. A comprehensive evaluation using a variety of
evaluation techniques is recommended. It should involve the
total educational programme of the school and the
curriculum plan, the effectiveness of instruction and the
achievement of students. Through the evaluation process,
curriculum planners and developers can determine whether
or not the goals of the school and the objectives of
instruction have been met.

All the models utilized the processes of (1) curriculum

planning, (2) curriculum designing, (3) curriculum
implementing, and (4) curriculum evaluating.

Teaching and Learning Activities

Activity 1: Making an Inventory of Curriculum Approach as Content, Process

and Product
 Instruction: Choose a book that is being used in elementary, high
school or college. Identify the following: Content, Process, Product.

Inventory of the Curriculum Content, Process and Product

Title of the Book:
Grade Level: Subject area
used:
No. Content Process Product/Outcome
Example: Example: Example:
[Link] of A. Individual A. Lists of types of
curriculum in research curriculum
the B. Interview B. Skill in interview
Classroom C. Observation and observation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Activity 2: Describe the model of curriculum development which you

understand well. Write in three paragraphs.
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Recommended learning materials and resources for supplementary

reading.
Flexible Teaching Learning Modality (FTLM) adopted
Example:
Online (synchronous)
//Edmodo, google classroom, moodle, schoology,
Podcast etc..
Remote (asynchronous)
//module, case study, exercises, problem sets, etc…

Assessment Task
I. Instruction: Match the CONCEPT in Column II with the CHOICES in
Column III.
Write the letter of your ANSWER in Column I
I. Answer II. Concepts III. Choices
[Link] as way of doing A. Content
[Link] of the content B. Process
[Link] as the subject matter C. Product
[Link] distribution of the content across the D. Validity
subjects
[Link] as the outcome of learning E. Balance
[Link] flow of content vertically or F. Articulation
horizontally in the curriculum
[Link] of successful teaching G. Sequence
[Link] and perennial content, from past to H. Integration
future
[Link] the transfer of content to other fields I. Continuity
[Link] of contents from easy to difficult J. Learning
outcomes

II. Instruction: After learning from this lesson, how would you prepare
yourself to become a teacher, using the three approaches to
curriculum? Write in the space below.

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III. Instruction: Determine the similarities and differences of the three
models of Curriculum Development Process
How are the models similar?
Similar Tyler’s Taba’s Saylor’s &
Features Alexander’s
Tyler xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Taba xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Saylor & xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Alexander

Comment:_____________________________________________________
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How are the models different?
Different Tyler’s Taba’s Saylor’s &
Features Alexander’s
Tyler xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Taba xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Saylor & xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 Alexander

Comment:_____________________________________________________
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References
Bilbao, P., Dayagbil, F., & Corpuz, B. (2015). Curriculum Development
for Teachers, Lorimar Publishing Inc.
Pawilen, G. (2015), Curriculum Development: A guide for teachers and
Students, REX Bookstore.
Reyes, E. & Dizon, E. (2015). Curriculum Development, Adriana
Publishing Co., Inc.