2. Curriculum vs Syllabus
The syllabus is the document handed
down by the government that mandates
what must be taught and how it must be
assessed. It also makes suggestions for
how it must be taught
The curriculum is developed by the
teacher or teaching team and is made up
of the experiences students will have in
the course
(This distinction has been broken by the
National Curriculum – which is really a
syllabus)
3. Definitions of ‘curriculum’
That which is taught in schools
A set of subjects
Content
A program of studies
A set of materials
A sequence of courses
A set of performance objectives
A course of study
4. Everything that goes on within the school,
including extra-class activities, guidance, and
interpersonal relationships
Everything that is planned by school personnel
A series of experiences undergone by learners in a
school
That which an individual learner experiences as a
result of schooling
Definitions of ‘curriculum’
5. Schubert - Images of Curriculum
(a) curriculum as content or subject matter,
(b) curriculum as a program of planned activities,
(c) curriculum as intended learning outcomes,
(d) curriculum as cultural reproduction,
(e) curriculum as discrete tasks and concepts,
(f) curriculum as an agenda for social
reconstruction, and
(g) curriculum as "currere" (interpretation of lived
experience)
6. Hidden Curriculum
Things students learn in school that are
not part of the written curriculum
Includes things like behaviour,
collaboration, teamwork, testwiseness
Also includes ‘rules of the game’, implicit
expectations, prejudices
Can be positive and negative
7. Curriculum Development
Ideally a collaborative process
Based on the syllabus
Don’t reinvent the wheel
Do use your freedom
On-going adaptive process
