Edu 321 – Curriculum Studies I 2008

Steps in Curriculum Development

1. You will recall in our lecture on Edu 214, we examined Tyler’s four questions of Curriculum
Development which form the basis for identifying the major steps of curriculum
development:

a. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?

b. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these
purposes?
c. How can these educational experiences be effectively organised?
d. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained?
2. When we reflect on these questions we are likely to arrive at the 4 major steps of curriculum
development i.e.

a. Selection of aims, goals and objectives;

b. Selection of learning experiences and content;

c. Organisation of learning experiences; and

d. Evaluation of the extent to which the objectives have been achieved.

3. A problem that has bothered those responsible for curriculum development is to determine
the sequence in which the process is carried out. Do all curriculum development processes
start in linear sequence described above i.e. from selection of objectives down to evaluation?
To some curriculum experts the answer to this question is yes. Logically, the first step would
be to identify the aims you would want the curriculum to achieve and then proceed to plan
experiences that would lead to their attainment.

4. But in practical sense, hardly do curriculum decision making follows this neat pattern. Some
scholars would therefore rather see the steps involved in curriculum development as
interdependent. Curriculum decisions are normally prompted by some felt problems in the
education system; these problems may start from any of the steps in the curriculum
development process. Therefore, the curriculum process is not a linear process; it is in fact
complex and interdependent.

5. For instance, Wheeler (1978) presented steps as cycle with each step influencing the other:

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 Edu 321 – Curriculum Studies I 2008

6. Kerr (1968) depicted the relationship between the components in the following way:

7. The reason for providing these illustrations is to show you the interrelationship between the
major components of curriculum development: e.g. feedback obtained from evaluation may
warrant change in content, which may again necessitate changes in both learning experiences
and objectives.

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 Edu 321 – Curriculum Studies I 2008

8. We shall now examine the meaning of these steps and the process involved in each; starting
with selection of aims and objectives:

Selection of Aims, Goals and Objectives

1. Every curriculum is aimed at developing in the learners certain competencies or abilities. The
curriculum process must therefore clearly identify the aims that the curriculum is intended to
achieve. This statement and identification of aims are very important for curriculum decision
making because all other actions in the curriculum must be guided by a consideration of these
aims.

2. Curriculum aims range from the very broad to the more specific. In fact, that is why we use
the terms aims, goals and objectives to refer to them. Aims are broad statements which cover
all of the experiences provided in the curriculum; goals are tied to specific subjects or group
of contents within the curriculum; while objectives describe the more specific outcomes that
can be attained as a result of lessons or instruction delivered at the classroom.

3. There are certain factors we need to consider when selecting aims, goals or objectives for the
curriculum, these are:

a. Analysis of our culture: we should take into account our cultural values, norms and
expectations when selecting aims, so that we may only include those objectives that are
relevant to our immediate and future situations;

b. The present status of the learner: what has the learner already known? What are his/her
characteristics? What is he/she ready for?

c. The state of our knowledge of the subject matter or content: knowledge is always
expanding as new developments are added on to the existing state of knowledge. We
should examine these developments to see if they contain things that are of real value to
the learner and society.

d. Relevance to school’s philosophy of education: each nation has its own philosophy of
education which its schools try to implement. Nigeria’s philosophy of education is
contained in its National Policy on Education. We should ask whether the objectives we
select are relevant to this philosophy;

e. Consistency with our theory of learning: at any time in any society, there is a dominant
conception of learning i.e. our understanding what learning is and how it takes place. For
instance, the National Policy on Education anticipates that the Nigerian child is active,
exploratory and imaginative. Therefore, learning processes designed for him should be
those that actively engage him in the learning process and help acquire skills that will
equip him to continue learning long after he has left school (i.e. life-long learning).

Our next lesson will cover the remain steps (pls. Read Uga Onwuka, p. 221)

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