This document discusses curriculum implementation, defining it as the actual use of a curriculum in practice by teachers with real students in classrooms. It explores factors that affect implementation like characteristics of the change, school and district levels, and external influences. It also examines problems describing and measuring implementation and provides examples from Hong Kong and the UK of effective implementation strategies like long lead times, moderate goals, accountability, and capacity building.

2. Introduction
Curriculum starts as a plan. It
only becomes a reality when
teachers implement it with real
students in a real classroom.

3. Definition of Curriculum
Implementation
According to Fullan and Pomfret;
The term “implementation” refers to
the “actual use” of a
curriculum/syllabus, or what it
“consists of in practice”.

4. Terms
Attitudinal Implementation
a) Consonant
b) Dissonant

5. Institutionalization of Curriculum
When a new curriculum is completely
accepted by teachers in a school and the
activities associated with it are a matter o
routine, that the phase
“institutionalization” is said to have been
reached.

6. Curriculum Enactment
It emphasizes the educational
experiences that students and teachers
jointly undergo as they determine
what the curriculum will be like in
each classroom.

7. Fidelity of Use
Some subjects in schools are considered to
be important core areas and are given
detailed treatment in syllabus documents.
For these subjects, teachers may be
expected to cover particular content and to
follow a certain instructional sequence.

8. There are some subjects where
teachers can exercise their creative
flair and implement very special,
individual version of a curriculum.

9. Factors Affecting
Implementation

10. In early 1980s Fullan produced a list
of factors affecting implementation
which is frequently quoted in the
literature.

11. Characteristics of the Change
Characteristics at the school
district level
Characteristics at school level
Characteristics external to the
local system

12. Parsons also enlists
some factors in
promoting successful
implementation
practices:

14. a) Technical Perspective: teacher training
b) Political Perspective: balance in power
and determining the curriculum
implementation
c) Cultural Perspective: cultural
transformation is the major factor for the
implementation
House (1979) uses three perspectives
to explain implementation practices of
curriculum.

15. McLaughlin found that
curriculum implementation
in schools depend on
i. Local Capacity
ii. Motivation and
Commitment
iii. Internal institutional
conditions
iv. Balance between
pressure and support

16. Some authors for example
Porter (1993), Blank (1993)
and Schmidt (1996) et al.
support the more rigid view of
curriculum implementation.

17. According to them educational
standards and school
indicators are more important
in the implementation of
curriculum.

18. Problems of Describing
Implementation
It is difficult to describe the
implementation of new curricula.
What will you focus; whether
curriculum materials, teaching
methods, students’ learning or all
three things?
If ALL THREE THINGS , what will be
your criteria?

19. Problems of Measuring
Implementation
Measuring implementation is more difficult
than trying to describe it. It includes:
 Data collection
 Who is doing the measuring?
 Who is to receive the results?

20. Measuring Student Activities and
Achievements

21. Measuring Use of Curriculum Material

22. Measuring Teacher Activities

23. Examples
Hong Kong
United
Kingdom

24. Hong Kong:
In Hong Kong (2000), the Curriculum
Development Council produced a major
reform document “Learn to Learn”. The
education department wisely decided upon
a long lead time for implementing the new
curriculum, and targets for different
elements of curriculum reform are
moderate and achievable.
The progress to date is most impressive.

25. United Kingdom
The Blair government’s education
reforms,1997, focused especially on higher
standards for all students.
Fullan and Earl describe the implementation
strategies of U.K government as an effective
combination of accountability mechanisms and
capacity-building strategies. They contend that
these implementation strategies have been very
successful.

26. Conclusion
How a planned curriculum is implemented as the
enacted curriculum in any school is a complex
process. The only certainty about curriculum
implementation is that there is no one right way of
going about it for all teachers in all schools. The
ongoing issues concerning curriculum implementation
are not likely to be resolved, but growing awareness
of the complexity of the process is evident and hence
more reason for both caution and guarded optimism.