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There are several definitions for the term “curriculum.” Its contested nature reflects the continuous debate that is taking place over the purposes of education and the means and process through which these purposes can be achieved. Traditionally, educators held the view that curriculum refers to a body of subjects or subject matters set out by teachers for students to learn. Tyler views curriculum broadly as “all of the learning of students which is planned by and directed by the school to attain its educational goals.” [1] He argues that the following four fundamental questions should be answered in developing a curriculum:
1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?
2. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes?
3. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?
4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained?[2]
Smith, Stanley, and Shores define curriculum conservatively as the set of potential experiences which are set up in a school for the purpose of disciplining children and youth in a group’s ways of thinking and acting.[3] Stark, by contrast, offers a comprehensive working definition for curriculum that includes:
1. The specification of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to be learned;
2. The selection of subject matter or content within which the learning experiences are to be embedded;
3. A design or structure intended to lead to specific outcomes for learners of various types;
4. The processes by which learning may be achieved;
5. The materials to be used in the learning process;
6. Evaluation strategies to determine if skills, behavior, attitudes, and knowledge change as a result of the process; and
7. A feedback loop that facilitates and fosters adjustments in the plan to increase learning.[4]
Therefore, curriculum covers the whole process of instruction educational objectives, contents, methods, and evaluation.
A curriculum seldom stays the same; it changes with time. Usually, changes occur whenever there are changes in any of the four major components of the curriculum. More frequently changes occur in the contents or methods. According to Halliburton, a curriculum becomes obsolete because (a) the role of education changes with respect to broad historical and social needs, (b) new trends occur within the higher education system itself, and (c) the discipline undergoes paradigmatic shifts in accepted assumptions.[5] As a result, a major shift in the educational philosophy has major implications for the curriculum.
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