This document discusses different aspects of curriculum, including curriculum as intention, reality, knowledge, product, and process. It explains that curriculum as intention focuses on what is planned by curriculum designers but may differ from reality in schools due to various factors. Curriculum as reality looks at what actually occurs based on available resources. Curriculum as knowledge focuses on practical skills training. Curriculum as product emphasizes predefined objectives and outcomes. Finally, curriculum as process emphasizes continuous learner development and improving thinking capacities over achieving fixed goals.

1. Curriculum is often defined as the courses offered by a school based on a certain field
or program of study. Both Lovett and Stenhouse provide their own different curriculum
and the aspects they believe should be of a good curriculum. Therefore this paper will
discuss the elements of curriculum.
First, curriculum as intention is planned and prescribed to achieve certain objectives.
This is curriculum as what should happen in school, and what the planners wants to
achieve by the curriculum. The disadvantage of this aspect of curriculum is that the
person who draft this curriculum is not the one who implements it in schools. The
planners usually do not consider all the factors that influence learning and therefore
teachers find it hard to carry out all the objectives of the curriculum because they have
to adjust it to reality instead of the curriculum itself adjusting to reality. The benefit of
curriculum as intention is that those who draft it are most qualified and know which
knowledge and skills learners must get out of the curriculum.
Curriculum as reality is what actually happens in schools despite what the curriculum
prescribes. This is curriculum as experienced by the stakeholders involved which can
be teachers, learners, principals and also parents. Curriculum as reality exposes how
curriculum is not supported with resources. The prescribed curriculum is expected to
be carried out with or without the availability of resources. Teachers are forced to use
shoe-string approach to carry out the curriculum. Learners end up experiencing
different curriculum than what was intended. Rural schools suffer the most because
they are usually under-resourced than urban based schools. Therefore curriculum as
a reality differs in different schools due to the context, resources and situational
existence of the school. This then leads to a gap between what is set to be
accomplished with what is really achieved at the end of the year.
Curriculum as knowledge is curriculum set by a knowledgeable person in a specific
field. This is purely done to train people with the necessary skills and knowledge to
excel in a specific field of study. This curriculum works best in TVET colleges where
they focus more on practical skills than theoretical knowledge. It is usually claimed
that one construct their own knowledge. This curriculum can therefore been seen as
normative rather than prescriptive. As much as the guidelines of what should be taught
are given, one gets to perceive the world in their own way. One can refer to this
curriculum as liberate because one gets to construct their own meaning out of what is
taught. Such curriculum allows for the use of different teaching methodologies
because as much as the objectives have to be met, learners still have to connect the
knowledge learnt to their realities. This can therefore be regarded as an authentic
curriculum.
Curriculum as product refers to curriculum as having an end objective or outcomes.
The intended outcome / the product of a learning experience is prescribed beforehand.
The outcomes are either behavioural or cognitive objectives and are set to be achieved
through the teaching and learning process in schools. The curriculum as a product
comprises of objectives, knowledge, experience and evaluation. The evaluation of
objectives takes place along the course of study as formative and at the end through
examinations and then progression decisions are then made. The individual is in the
centre of the teaching and learning process and is, to some extent, regarded as a

2. receptacle for knowledge. This simply means at the end the individual learner is
expected to meet the set objective in order for the curriculum to be seen as a success.
Examples in this curriculum are knowledge of certain facts, mastery of specific skills
and competencies, and acquisition of certain 'appropriate' attitudes and values.
Curriculum as a process focuses on continuous development and development of a
learners is judged on achievement of certain desirable processes and potentialities.
Knowledge may be the end goal but the learners are involved in a process whereby
learners are involved in developing their own thinking capacities and behaviours. The
objective in this curriculum is development in the way of thinking, feeling and acting.
The process involves assessing the needs of learners, planning for their development,
implementing the educational activities to develop them and evaluating the progress
over time.