This seminar discusses Obanya's functional curriculum theory, which argues that Africa's curriculum needs to have three goals to help the continent contribute more to the global economy: 1) Developing African pride and understanding African culture, 2) Access to global knowledge and practices, and 3) Personal development skills. The document then defines curriculum and outlines its key components: the program of studies, activities, and guidance. It discusses curriculum implementation, evaluation, and the need for the curriculum to meet societal needs and allow for flexibility over time. The overall seminar focuses on Obanya's curriculum theory and framework, defining curriculum, and outlining implementation, evaluation, and responsiveness to society.

1. SeminarPresentationatIloko ModelCollege, Iloko-Ijesa, Osun State
A Purpose-Driven Curriculum
Obanya’s Curriculum Theory
The theoretical framework of this seminar is hinged on Obanya’s (2004) functional
curriculum theory which posits that for Africa to get to the level at which it can contribute to the
world pool of knowledge, ideas, inventions, human and financial capitals and become fully
participating member of the global economy, it has to embrace a curriculum that is tripartite in
nature and practical. This could be done following these goal-setting:
a) Developing the deepest sense of pride in being African through a deep understanding of the
pride of Africa; the mother tongue or the community language, the African world view, Africa’s
contribution to world civilization over the ages, the nature and literature of Africa, the creativity
of African in various form, great Africans, past and present contemporary Africa’s plan for its
future in the emerging global community.
b) Access to a wide world of people, knowledge, techniques, ideas and practices; the official
languages and their literatures, mathematics, science and technology, informatics, tools and
methods of social analysis western and orient philosophies and religion.
c) Personal development for contributions to social transformation: A variety of core skills for
life-long learning, vocational awareness and vocational activities, entrepreneurship, creativity,
communication and interpersonal conduct, self awareness etc.
According to Obanya (2004), these three goals should be pushed simultaneously from the
beginning with their horizons broadening in responses to the level of maturity of the learner.
Elements from any of the goals can also be utilized to inject functional value to existing
programmes. According to him, functional content education simply says that the situation in
which the child is growing, and the one she/he is going to live in should determine the way
education is carried out, including what is taught and how it is to be taught and learned.

2. Concept and Meaning of Curriculum
Curriculum development is not a new concept in our educational system today. However,
issues of Curriculum, either in an explicit or an implicit are inextricably linked to current
thinking and action on educational system around the world (Ajibola 2008). The encyclopedia of
educational research gives the following definitions of curriculum as all the experiences a learner
has at school under the guidance of the teacher. To him the teacher plays a vital role in
translating curriculum objectives. The Dictionary of Education defines curriculum as the total
learning activities or educative experience offered by an institution through its total institutional
programmes designed to achieve the prescribed objectives. Historically, the word curriculum
was derived from the Latin root Currus which means a race course or a Chariot. “Currus”
originates from word “Currer” (to run). Thus the term curriculum in its original context means
runaway or racecourse. Offorma (2005) sees curriculum as a planned learning experiences
offered to a learner in school, adding that it is a programme of studies made up of three
components: Programme of Studies, Programme of Activities and Programme of Guidance.
Programme of Studies: These are the programmes the school organizes for students
within the classroom setting. It is basically academic. It is between the teacher and students.
Teachers are the executors of the programmes. They have the curriculum, the objectives and
directions of the study. Students are the target and receptors of the programme.
Programme of Activities: They are the extra-curricular activities. They include sports,
debate, excursions, public speaking etc. The school organizes this programme to boast the
physical, psychological, skills, talents and other aspects of students’ potentials. Teaching and
non-teaching staffs can be engaged.
Programme of Guidance: The programme is deliberately designed by the school to
advice, guide and counsel students on their major personal challenges. Experts on the field of
Guidance and Counselling, Educational Psychology and Psychotherapy are employed to
implement this programme.
School curriculum is designed around the needs of the society based on current
observations and future projections and aims at meeting the needs, interest, aspirations, values
and opportunities of the society. As the society changes, educational programmes must become
innovative, dynamic and flexible to accommodate the changes.

3. The broad aims of secondary education within the overall Nigerian education policy are:
preparation for useful living within the society and preparation for higher education. Based on
inarticulate policies, inadequate research, and poor planning, curriculum implementation has
become ineffective and lacks any useful feedback mechanism anchored in review, analysis and
redesign processes. School curriculum is expected to equip learners with skills that will make
them self-reliant, creative, and innovative and prepare them to enter into jobs and progress in
them.
The Implementation of Curriculum
Curriculum implementation entails putting into practice the officially prescribed courses of
study, syllabuses and subjects (Chikumbi and Makamure 2000). Putting the curriculum into
operation requires an implementation agent. The teacher is identified as the agent in the
curriculum implementation process. Curriculum implementation therefore refers to how the
planned or officially designed course of study is translated by the teacher into syllabuses, scheme
of work and lessons to be delivered to students. Implementation is said to take place when the
teacher-constructed syllabus, the teacher personality, the teaching materials and the teaching
environment interact with the learner. Implementation further takes place as the learner acquires
the planned or intended experiences, skills, knowledge, ideas and attitudes that are aimed at
enabling the same learner to function effectively at the society. The learner is therefore seen as
the central figure of curriculum implementation process. (Ofoha, Uchegbu, Anyikwa,
Nkemdirim, 2009)
Obanya (2004) defined implementation of curriculum as day-to-day activities which
school management and classroom teachers undertake in the pursuit of the objective of any given
curriculum. Obanya (2007) contends that effective curriculum is the one that reflects what the
learner eventually takes away from an educational experience, which he termed ‘the learned
curriculum’. Obanya noted that in many cases, there would be gap between the intended
curriculum and the learned curriculum, and defined effective curriculum implementation as
concerned with narrowing such a gap as much as possible. An effective curriculum development
process is not complete without a place for evaluation and review.

4. Evaluation of the Curriculum
The teacher, teaching method, and infrastructural facilities are reviewed to see how they
influence curriculum implementation in secondary education. In the evaluation, the outcome of
the curriculum implementation is appraised. The appraisals include, but not exclusive, the passes
recorded in the external examinations such as WASSCE, NECO, GCE, Cambridge etc. Others
are: the ratio of the students that gain admission into the higher institutions, especially
universities; the performance of the students in national and international competitions; ability of
the students to defend their acquired knowledge; their contributions to the national and
international discussions; their capacities to face and solve critical personal challenges using
their acquired knowledge etc.
There is no law that forbids private educational institutions from designing their
workable and purposeful curriculum. Public school curriculum is streamlined towards the
political inclination of the government in power. The curriculum will be designed towards the
philosophies and goals of the school. The curriculum is purposeful if it has measurable goals,
model of implementation and evaluation.
References
Ajibola, M. A., 2008, Innovations and curriculum implementation for basic education in Nigeria:
policy priorities and challenges of practices and implementation, Research Journal of
international studies. Issue 8 (November, 2008) pp 51-58.
Chikumbi T.J. and Makamure, R., 2000, Curriculum Theory, Design and Assessment The
Commonwealth of Learning, Module 13, www.col.int/stamp/module13.pdf (Accessed 23
August, 2016)
Obanya, P., 2007, Thinking and Talking Education, Ibadan: Evans Brothers (Nigeria publishers)
Ltd
Obanya. P., 2004, Education for the Knowledge Economy, Ibadan: Mosuro Publishers.
Offorma, G.C., 2005, Curriculum for Wealth Creation, Paper presented at the seminar of the
World Council for Curriculum and Instruction (WCCI), held at the Federal College of
Education, Kano, Nigeria

5. Ofoha, D., Uchegbu, C. N., Anyikwa, B., and Nkemdirim, M., 2009, A critical appraisal of the
mode of implementation of Nigerian secondary school curriculum: towards socio-
economic empowerment of youth, Education Research Network for West and Central
Africa (ERNWACA) 2009 Edition