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Course: Curriculum Development

Code: 8603 Level: B.Ed SPRING 2018
Assignment No: 02
Q No: 1 Describe the nature of aims, goals and objectives in curriculum development. Explain your
answer with practical examples.
Aims
Aims are general statements that provide direction or intent to educational action. Aims are usually written
in amorphous terms using words like: learn, know, understand, appreciate, and these are not directly
measurable. Aims may serve as organizing principles of educational direction for more than one grade.
Indeed these organizing principles may encompass the continuum of educational direction for entire
programs, subject areas or the district.
Curriculum Aims:
All students know what they need to achieve to succeed in life
Staff and students have high expectations and strive for excellence
Learning and teaching takes place in a safe and purposeful environment
Students are encouraged to have enquiring minds and seek opportunities to become global citizens
Staff challenge and support students’ paths to success
Goals
Goals are statements of educational intention which are more specific than aims. Goals too may encompass
an entire program, subject area, or multiple grade levels. They may be in either amorphous language or in
more specific behavioral terms.
Objectives are usually specific statements of educational intention which delineate either general or specific
outcomes. There are advantages and disadvantages to different types of objectives.
Behavioral objectives
Holistic objectives
No behavioral objectives
Problem solving objectives
Expressive activities that lead to expressive outcomes.
All of the above are legitimate ways to write curriculum and lesson plans. However, currently, most
objectives are written in behavioral terms. Behavioral objectives usually employ observable verbiage and
can be divided into specific domains — cognitive (head), affective (heart), and physical (hand)
Curriculum Objectives:
Creative and flexible approaches to learning and teaching
Offering an innovative curriculum developed with the aspirations and interests of the student at the
centre
Making effective use of ICT and new technologies to motivate and inspire students
Nurturing close partnerships with local and international organizations, giving students a wide range
of opportunities to experience the world of work
Providing opportunities for students to extend their learning outside of the formal curriculum,
including an entitlement to four hours per week of enrichment activities from Year 7.
Course aims
The course aims are the raison d'être of the course. In the context of an organised unit of education, such as a
course module or course programme, an aim is a (relatively) long-term goal. Sometimes an aim sets a goal
for the teacher to achieve in relation to the learners, sometimes course aims explicitly list long-term goals for
the learner and at other times there is a joint goal for the teacher and learner to achieve together. While the
aim may be phrased as a goal for the teacher within the scope of the course it can also imply goals for the
learner beyond the duration of the course. In a statement of an aim the third person singular form of the verb
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with the subject course, programme or module is often used as an impersonal way of referring to the
teaching staff and their goals. Similarly the learner is often referred to in the third person singular even when
he or she is the intended reader.
Course objectives
An objective is a (relatively) shorter term goal which successful learners will achieve within the scope of the
course itself. Objectives are often worded in course documentation in a way that explains to learners what
they should try to achieve as they learn. Some educational organisations design objectives which carefully
match the SMART criteria borrowed from the business world.
Learning outcomes
Since both aim and objective are in common language synonymous with goal they are both suggestive of a
form of goal-oriented education. For this reason some educational organisations use the term learning
outcome since this term is inclusive of education in which learners strive to achieve goals but extends
further to include other forms of education. For example, in learning through play children are not made
aware of specific goals but planned, beneficial outcomes result from the activity nevertheless.
Therefore, the term learning outcome is replacing objective in some educational organisations. In some
organisations the term learning outcome is used in the part of a course description where aims are normally
found. One can equate aims to intended learning outcomes and objectives to measured learning outcomes. A
third category of learning outcome is the unintended learning outcome which would include beneficial
outcomes that were neither planned nor sought but are simply observed.
In Pakistan
Like many other countries, Pakistan’s education system comprises of the Primary, Secondary, Higher
Secondary, Intermediate, Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Doctorate levels. The first three levels are in
schools, whereas the remaining four can be pursued in colleges/universities or a combination of both.
Students in Pakistan are famous for memorizing whole lessons instead of actually understanding their
concepts; the drive to attain “maximum marks” compels them to brush basic understanding and analytical
abilities aside to generate sufficient merit for admission into reputable public and private-sector institutes;
ironically, they use the same approach for the remainder of their academic life.
The education problem in Pakistan has much to do with the archaic, grossly orthodox and monotonous
content found in the curriculum of various compulsory subjects. For example, English is littered with
syllabus which looks colonial by age, Pakistan Studies is filled with distorted, biased narratives of history
and Science subjects have copy-pasted compilations from various yet objectively different sources,
exhibiting great inconsistency and redundancy.
The curriculum in schools is developed by provincial textbook boards, suiting their particular needs and
requirements. This brings us to another issue in which respective provincial textbook boards develop
syllabus which contain content promoting provincialism. Students in each province are given briefers about
other provinces but their own province as highlighted as somewhat “superior” and “more rich in history”
than their other counterparts. Thus since the very first lesson, a child is taught that the province he is living
in is better off than others. Similarly, there are narratives on the History of Pakistan which seem credible,
such as Muhammad bin Qasim’s invasion in Sindh, etc, but the way in which minority communities are
humiliated and mentioned in bad words in these books is simply derogatory and an insult to the non-Muslim
community (particularly the Hindus). Intolerance, thus, also emerges in Pakistan Studies curriculum.
In colleges as well, curriculum is developed by academics. They lack in quality because of improperly-
defined course objectives. What students are told to gain from a particular course is impossible because the
syllabus which they are given is chock-full of information poorly rewritten from existing books authored by
Western scholars. A ‘nationalized’ approach towards understanding and achieving course objectives,
particularly in view of Pakistan’s potential strengths and capabilities, is missing.
When undergraduates from colleges (or from schools, in case of O/A levels) enter universities, course books
authored by foreign authors are recommended to them. Their teachers/professors and notes deliver to-the-
point information on each concept but ultimately, the student is given the freedom to decide which books he
would like to opt for to complete his course, from the list of ‘Recommended Books’.
This is where the dichotomy in curriculum leads to severe confusion. Students who are accustomed to
reading specific locally-developed or Cambridge/Oxford textbooks are left out in the wild (options of
curriculum) and told to survive for themselves on huge, stuffy 600-paged books and extract “useful
knowledge” from them. What their teachers/professors lecture in classrooms is drastically different from
what is listed inside their recommended books. As a result, these university students have either one of two
options: follow their subject teacher and make brief notes or follow the book. Since teachers/professors in
Pakistan have their own little following of students, they provide occasional tips to students on what exam
papers will contain; thus a student who has to choose one option naturally opts for the teacher because they
wouldn’t want to remain isolated and “left out” from the batch in general who will somehow manage to
advance.
The Federal Ministry of Education is responsible, for among other things, curriculum development. The
National Bureau of Curriculum and Textbooks (NBTC) has the mandate to supervise curriculum and
textbooks. It approves and maintains certain standards for the curriculum from the primary to higher
secondary levels.
It also has the responsibility to ensure that provincial curriculum development efforts are well-coordinated
for ensuring national cohesion and projecting a unified Pakistan in the hearts and minds of students.
The objectives of curriculum development in Pakistan are derived from recommendations made in the
National Education Policy. That such a policy has been recently clearly outlined and revised keeping in view
the country’s current situation is yet hidden from the public eye. It is damning to note that the last education
policy to be formulated in Pakistan was in 2009 (6 years ago).
The key factors determining scheme of studies in Pakistan are:
1. National Education Policy
2. Market Demand
3. Global Issues
Once these factors are kept in view, subject experts along with psychologists and academics publish syllabi.
But as mentioned above, the inconsistency among provinces when it comes to a fair and balanced
representation of provinces alongside the federation of the state are missing; this raises some serious
reservations:
1. Is national cohesion and integration of provincial interests ensured while developing national curriculum?
2. Is a standard framework for curriculum development actually implemented in institutes across Pakistan,
or have provincial textbook boards been given de facto authoritative status to act on their own?
One of the major issues faced in the curriculum development and implementation process in Pakistan is
regulation. The syllabus often goes against do’s and dont’s issued in official curriculum development
manuals. The most embarrassing example surfaced recently when “Seraikistan” and “Hazara” were
mentioned as provinces in textbooks. Authorities have so far claimed they will take ‘strict action’ against the
people who committed these blunders; we will have to wait and see what measures are put in place to ensure
such a thing is never again repeated.
The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) is an autonomous, constitutionally-empowered
institution of funding, overseeing, regulating and accrediting higher education initiatives in Pakistan. With
reference to Section 3, sub-section (1) of the Federal Supervision of Curricula Textbooks and Maintenance
of Standards of Education Act 1976, the Government of Pakistan mandated HEC as the competent authority
to supervise curricula and textbooks beyond Intermediate (Class 12) level. In this regard, a National
Curriculum Revision Committee (NCRC) was constituted. Vice Chancellors of all public and private
universities, R&D organizations, colleges and industries, etc were asked to nominate their representatives
for appointment in the newly-established NCRC.
The last time NCRC published revised curricula was in 2012-13; some of the most commonly opted subjects
whose curricula was revised include Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, Math, Pakistan Studies and
Mass Communication. But a closer look at the Pakistan Studies revision (2012-13) for a 4-year BS program,
for example, shows how the focus on a purely Islamic orthodox approach towards national politico-socio-
economic issues still persists. Perhaps the only major revisions made are the list of recommended books.
This is not to suggest that Islamic ideals and values should be removed from the course altogether; on the
contrary, it should be presented in a way that non-Muslim Pakistanis can also relate to it without the cost of
their own religious identities.
The only time Islamic Studies’ curriculum was revised was during the 2008-09 period. Considering the
amount of tribulations Pakistan has faced since that period, especially in the form of religious extremism and
militancy, should focus not have been placed on completely revising the Islamic Studies curriculum to
promote inter-sect and inter-faith harmony and peaceful coexistence?
One has to ask elected representatives on why the NCRC stopped revising curricula after 2013. Has the pace
of educational advancement stopped or have the authorities and all concerned stakeholders decided to call it
a day? Will we witness a new National Education Policy during the current government’s rule?
Q No: 2 Define the curriculum development evaluation process in Pakistan. Develop a logical strategy
for designing and evaluation of education programme for Primary education.
The curriculum development process systematically organizes what will be taught, who will be taught, and
how it will be taught. Each component affects and interacts with other components. For example, what
willbe taught is affected by who is being taught (e.g., their stage of development in age, maturity, and
education). Methods of how content is taught are affected by who is being taught, their characteristics, and
the setting. In considering the above three essential components, the following are widely held to be
essential considerations in experiential education in non-formal settings:
Essential Considerations for Curriculum Development:
1. issue/problem/need is identified (issue ® what),
2. characteristics and needs of learners (target audience ® who),
3. changes intended for learners (intended outcomes/objectives ® what the learners will be
able to do),
4. the important and relevant content ®(what),
5. methods to accomplish intended outcomes ®(how),
6. evaluation strategies for methods, content, and intended outcomes ®(What works?).
The CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT MODEL shows how these components relate to each other and
to the curriculum development process. It begins when an issue, concern, or problem needs to be addressed.
If education or training a segment of the population will help solve the problem, then curriculum to support
an educational effort becomes a priority with human and financial resources allocated.
The next step is to form a curriculum develop-ment team. The team makes systematic decisions about the
target audience (learner characteristics), intended out-comes (objectives), content, methods, and evaluation
strategies. With input from the curriculum development team, draft curriculum products are developed,
tested, evaluated, and redesigned -if necessary. When the final product is produced, volunteer training is
conducted. The model shows a circular process where volunteer training provides feedback for new
materials or revisions to the existing curriculum.
PHASES AND STEPS IN CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
Further illustrates how the 12 essential steps progress from one to the next. It also shows the interaction and
relationships of the four essential phases of the curriculum development process:
( I) Planning,
(II) Content and Methods,
(III) Implementation,
(IV) Evaluation and Reporting.
It is important to acknowledge that things do not always work exactly as depicted in a model!
Each phase has several steps or tasks to complete in logical sequence. These steps are not always separate
and distinct, but may overlap and occur concurrently. For example, the curriculum development team is
involved in all of the steps. Evaluations should occur in most of the steps to assess progress. The team learns
what works and what does not and determines the impact of the curriculum on learners after it is
implemented. Each step logically follows the previous. It would make no sense to design learning activities
before learner outcomes and content are described and identified. Similarly, content cannot be determined
before learner outcomes are described.
In the experience of the author, and confirmed by other curriculum specialists, the following curriculum
development steps are frequently omitted or slighted. These steps are essential to successful curriculum
development and need to be emphasized.
Essential Curriculum Development Steps Needing Emphasis
1. Needs assessment: if not conducted, wonderful curriculum could be developed, but
the appropriate needs of the target audience may not be met.
2. Involving youth: the target audience and volunteers (or staff) who will be the
implementors of the curriculum must be involved (i.e., they participate as full
members of the curriculum development team).
3. Recruiting and training volunteer facilitators: competent and skilled curriculum
implementors are critical (the printed word cannot teach experiential group process, it
doesn't provide feedback).
4. Evaluating and reporting on the impact of the curriculum: is critical for securing
human and financial support from key policy decision makers and for assessing
whether the curriculum has achieved the intended outcome. Two types of evaluation are included in the
Phases and Steps illustration:
(1) Formative provides feedback during the process of developing the curriculum,
(2) Summative answers questions about changes (impact) that have occurred in learners because of their
learning experiences. Summative evaluation provides evidence for what works, what does not work, and
what needs to be improved.
In every step of the curriculum development process, the most important task is to keep the learner (in this
case, youth) in mind and involve them in process. For example, the curriculum team members, who have
direct knowledge of the target audience, should be involved in conducting the needs assessment. From the
needs assessment process, the problem areas are identified, gaps between what youth know and what they
need to know are identified, and the scope of the problem is clarified and defined. The results may prompt
decision makers to allocate resources for a curriculum development team to prepare curriculum materials.
Q No: 3 Analyses the curriculum of teacher education programme in distance education. Identify
essential communication skill for teacher that should be a part of curriculum and how?
The history of teacher education in Pakistan starts with the establishment of the country. However, this area
has been facing various challenges such as lack of consistent policy, inconsistency in curriculum, low
resources, lack of quality teachers, low quality of teaching process, lack of standard, etc. Today, a range of
public and private institutions are engaged in preparing school teachers. In Pakistan, like many other
countries, public institutions are the main source for developing teachers through pre-service and in-service
programmes. However, many studies have raised the question on the quality of delivery mechanism of the
institutions while forwarding recommendations for improvement.
Historically, different reforms have been brought to improve the condition of teacher education in the
country. Currently, teacher education in Pakistan is passing through a transition as an innovation has been
initiated by the Government of Pakistan with the support of USAID through their Pre-Service Teachers
Education Programme (STEP) project. This reform is attempted in order to improve the quality of teacher
education by including different innovations.
In this regard, a new curriculum has been developed for pre-service programmes such as a two-year
Associate Degree in Education (ADE) and a four-year BEd (Hons). Effort has been made to design the
curriculum keeping in view the modern educational principle along with the contextual relevancy. These
programmes are gradually replacing the previous pre-service and in-service programmes such as Primary
Teacher Certificate (PTC), Certificate in Teaching (CT) and the one-year Ed programme. In addition, an
effort is being made for the accreditation and standardisation of teacher training institutions through this
initiative.
The ADE and BEd programme has been initiated in some colleges and will be gradually implemented in
remaining colleges throughout the country in the coming years. In addition, to attract the best mind towards
the teaching profession a stipend is also offered to student-teachers for providing them financial support.
The significance of such educational innovation cannot be overlooked for improvement of teacher
education in the country. However, there are areas that need serious considerations for the effectiveness and
sustainability of the new reform initiatives.
Firstly, the new developed curriculum is based on the modern educational principles. Teachers are provided
a course outline with the expectation that they will explore the teaching learning material for classroom
instructions. However, it was observed that some of the teachers are struggling with identifying teaching
resources due to the unavailability of the reference books and lack of Internet facility in
theircolleges/institutions. This situation may affect the teaching-learning process of the ADE courses. Hence
there is a need to provide the reference books and Internet facility to the faculty members in order to make
the teaching-learning process smooth.
Second, Internet is considered as one of the important sources for identifying teaching-learning material.
However, it was observed that some of the faculty members are not literate in computers and Internet. So
they are facing challenges in accessing the teaching-learning resources that are available on the Internet or in
soft version. Therefore, the faculty members of colleges need to be helped in acquiring workable computer
and Internet skills.
Third, the new curriculum demands new teaching strategies such as collaborative, inquiry and activity-based
teaching approach. However, a majority of the faculty in the teacher institutions are not oriented with the
teaching strategies demanded by the ADE and BEd programme. Therefore, the professional development of
the faculty at teacher training institutions should be given priority along with the curriculum development.
Furthermore, there is a sense of uncertainty about the sustainability of the new initiatives after completion of
the Pre-STEP project. Many educational initiatives in the past died away with closure of the projects.
Therefore there is a dire need to develop a clear road map for the continuity and sustainability of reforms. It
was also observed that some school teachers are being deputed in teacher education colleges due to lack of
adequate number of teachers in there. Due to the different approach of pedagogy and andragogy, these
teachers treat the prospective teacher like children, which demotivates them. Thus when the school teachers
are deputed in colleges they should be oriented with the andragogy of teaching an adult.
Finally, a sense of insecurity can be observed among the student-teachers about their job prospects after the
completion of their ADE or BEd honours. How will they stand apart from the teacher who has done one year
BEd and other courses, is a question to ponder upon. A clear policy is required about job opportunities for
the prospective teachers so that they can focus their studies.
These issues need to be addressed in order to sustain and maintain the quality of the new reforms. A vigilant
plan and sincere implementation will, of course, be helpful in transforming the teacher education practices in
the country.
In short, the importance of quality teacher education cannot be overlooked for improving the quality of
teaching-learning in the school. The new educational innovation will, definitely, lead to improve teacher
education practices in Pakistan. However, there is a dire need to look reflectively at how to sustain the
initiatives and make it productive.
Q No: 4 Compare approaches to curriculum development adopted in Japan, China and Thailand.
Also evaluate the curriculum development process in Pakistan. Suggest necessary changes required
for quality education at higher education in Pakistan.
Curriculum development in Japan has gone from teaching survival skills, both practical and cultural, to
emphasizing self-fulfillment and standards-based achievements. This evolution mirrors that which has
occurred in other developed countries.
The term curriculum comes from the Latin currere, which means to run or proceed and refers to the
experiences that shape children as they grow to mature adults. In modern times, curriculum includes
statements of desired pupil outcomes (currently referred to as “standards”), descriptions of materials, and the
planned sequence that will be used to help students attain specified educational objectives. Curricula are
embodied in official documents (typically curriculum "guidelines" for teachers) and made mandatory by
provincial and territorial ministries of education.
The higher education focus of a curriculum is on what content should be taught and when it should be taught
during the school or academic year. Teachers have traditionally possessed a considerable amount of
discretion in deciding how this should be done. Learning objectives — not the instructional approaches —
were mandated by provinces and territories. In practice, however, there has been no clear distinction
between curriculum content and pedagogy since the manner in which a topic is taught often determines what
is taught. For this reason, and for others, there is need to distinguish the official or planned curriculum — the
formally approved program of study — from the de facto or lived (sometimes called hidden) curriculum —
the norms, values, and beliefs that are often learned within classrooms and the broader social environment.
Attempts to change education by revising its mandated curriculum have often failed. This is likely due to the
fact that touted curricular innovations are not always implemented in classrooms in an extensive or effective
manner that would sustain such improvement. Because of a widespread reliance on textbooks as a basic
teaching resource, textbooks often constitute the de facto content of the curriculum. In such cases, publishers
hold a powerful role in curriculum development and implementation.
The federal government does not determine what students should know and be able to do in any subject at
any level of schooling. Rather, the implementations of standards for students' performance have been left to
state and local authorities. Within the China, there are 16,000 school districts, each of which is administered
and financed by a local community, and 50 state departments of education. In fact, local control has been the
defining characteristic of Chinese education since the construction of the first oneroom schoolhouse. As a
result, the level of standards of schools tends to reflect the socioeconomic status of the communities in
which they are located: the wealthier the community, the higher the expectations and the higher the
academic standards.
The impetus for the general movement towards higher standards in the area of education can be traced to the
increasing importance in the Chinese economy of information as opposed to industry. This movement has
created the need for a work force with higher-level skills and knowledge than in the past. The perception
that this need is not being met has resulted in persistent and severe criticism of the quality of Thailand’s
public schools and dismay about international comparisons that consistently rank of students at or near the
bottom in academic achievement. Added to these criticisms is the allegation that schools are partly to blame
for the steady erosion of the Thailand position as the world's preeminent economic superpower. (A Nation at
Risk 1983) All of these require, the critics maintain, that academic standards be raised.
One of the driving forces behind the movement for higher standards, as mentioned, is the poor
performance of Chinese students on international studies of academic achievement compared to their peers
in other industrialized countries. In a 1991 International Assessment of Educational Progress, 13-yearolds in
the China ranked near the bottom of the list with an average of 55 percent and 67 percent correct answers on
the math and science assessments. Only two countries in the comparisons turned in worse performances,
while a wide variety of countries scored significantly better. For example, 13-year-olds in Hungary, Korea,
the former Soviet Union, and Switzerland posted average scores ranging from 70-78 percent. Germany and
Japan were not represented in this survey, but results of the Second International Math and Science Study
put students from both Germany and Japan well ahead of Chinese students in both science and math.
These international comparisons and pressure from the business sector in the China have focused attention
on ways in which public education can be improved. As a result, the discussion of standards for learning and
teaching has grown in magnitude in the China in recent years as policymakers, legislators, educators,
parents, and community leaders have all grown increasingly concerned with students' achievement levels.
Developing a well-thought-through, challenging school curriculum is central to the running of any school,
and this is a topic I am always keen to discuss.
Schools are making significant changes to their curriculum to prepare for new examinations. Next month,
primary pupils will for the first time sit tests assessing them on the new national curriculum. New GCSEs in
maths and English are already being taught, and will be examined for the first time next year. And this
September, secondary schools will see the first teaching of 20 new GCSEs, and 11 new A levels.
The subject of school curriculum is also timely from a historical perspective. This year marks the 40th
anniversary of Jim Callaghan’s ‘Ruskin speech’, a landmark speech in which Callaghan in many ways set
the direction of reform for the next 4 decades. Back in 1976, Callaghan alluded to the significant concerns
that existed amongst parents and employers about the form many school curriculum had taken during the
‘experimental’ atmosphere of the mid-1970s. He suggested that there is, I quote, a “strong case for the so-
called ‘core curriculum’ of basic knowledge” in schools.
In doing so, Callaghan was making a bold foray into an area of school life which had been dubbed the
‘secret garden’, to which educationists had previously been granted exclusive access, and politicians and the
public had never seen fit to tread.
But, as Callaghan said at the time, £6 billion is spent every year on education, so in his view public interest
in how this money is spent was, I quote, “strong and legitimate”. I believe the same is true today, though the
figure of overall expenditure rather higher.
The government’s curriculum reforms, which began in 2010, have been a lengthy and thoroughgoing
process, but necessarily so. Many changes which began 6 years ago are only now hitting the ground in
schools. With that in mind, today is an opportune moment to revisit the original justification for these
reforms.
Q No: 5 Write short notes on the following:
a) Education and Rural Development
Pakistan is the sixth most populous country on the globe and the second largest country in South Asia with a
population of 109363831.29 people living in rural areas according to the World Bank report 2012; having a
literacy rate of 44 percent overall (58 percent for men and 29 percent for women). This alarming situation of
literacy is a result of low financial priority to education as well as of ill-conceived policies of education,
particularly in rural zones. To ensure substantial development in rural areas,during the past few decades, a
range of cohesive steps have been taken at both governmental and non-governmental levels. Among them is
one of the most important factors: the distance education.
Distance education is referred to as an institution-based formal education where the learning group is
separated and interactive telecommunication systems are used to connect learners, resources and instructors.
Apart from the obvious purpose of teaching more people more effectively, distance learning systems have
been used to impress donors, placate ministers, justify consultancies and even sell technologies.
Many institutes in Pakistan are steadily increasing their capacity to engage in distance learning and
appropriate technological innovations are being used in this context. Since 1986, the Women’s Secondary
Education Programme of Allama Iqbal Open University has been providing the rural women with courses to
meet secondary school equivalency and to increase income generating opportunities through building
practical skills. Pakistan Institute of Modern Study is a countrywide institute to promote distance education
and give competency based, skill oriented and non-academic certification and diplomas in the field of
research, management, computer, information technology, technical and vocational education to assist under
privileged communities in making necessary socio-economic changes.
As a matter of fact, distance education has proved as a catalyst behind rural development. The
distance learning and educating models and practices must be more adapted to the social, cultural, political
and economic circumstances of the learners and their environment. It is also worth suggesting that there
must be an integration of gender analysis into the planning and implementations of distant learning
initiatives.
Rural Development ensures the modernization of the rural society and the transition from its traditional
isolation to integration with the national economy. It is concerned with increased agricultural production for
urban and international markets. This is essential so as to generate foreign exchange, and to attract revenue
to finance public and private consumption and investment. In order to encourage increased production rural
development may offer a package of inputs and welfare services for the rural masses. Such inputs and
welfare services include physical inputs (such as the provision of feeder roads, water and electrification),
social inputs—(namely health and educational facilities) and institutional inputs such as credit facilities,
agricultural research facilities, rural expansion services among others.
More than half of the world’s population and more than 70 per cent of the world’s poor are to be found in
rural areas where hunger, illiteracy and low school achievement are common. Educating a large number of
people in rural areas is crucial for achieving sustainable development. Poverty reduction strategies are now
placing emphasis on rural development that encompasses all those who live in rural areas. Rapidly changing
technologies and increasing globalization also suggest that better education and training have become
essential for sustainable livelihoods and the competitiveness of the rural economy.
For many years, the approach followed by policy-makers and education specialists has been to focus on
practical and occupational agricultural skills training provided mainly at the secondary and tertiary levels.
Yet, education for rural development requires a holistic approach going beyond the narrow boundaries of the
traditional agricultural education and training concept
b) Productive Skill Development and Curriculum
In order to prepare students to enter the workforce or further their education, two-year college programs
should provide experiences that go beyond chemistry knowledge alone to develop other critical skills
necessary for effective and productive professionals. Strategies for helping students acquire skill sets needed
for successful careers include offering courses dedicated to student skills, integrating student-skill-focused
activities into regular curricular offerings, and engaging students in research and internship experiences.
Regardless of the approaches used, programs should also assess student skills and adjust the curriculum as
needed to maximize their development.
The curriculum should include the skills and knowledge of greatest importance to the program’s partners.
Hands-on experience should be emphasized and employability skills, such as troubleshooting, searching and
interpreting chemical literature, laboratory safety, communication, teamwork, and ethics should be
integrated into the curriculum. Students should achieve a mastery of these and other skills required by
employers prior to graduation.
Neglect of learning and curriculum appears to have occurred because it was believed by federal government
ministers and bureaucrats that the establishment of competency-based standards and a CBT system would
ensure quality of learning and performance. This belief was ill-founded for a number of reasons, not least
because CBT has not been effective or effectively introduced. In practice, industry-based competency
standards have been difficult to establish (Beevers, 1993), and there has been failure to recognise that
business and industry frequently have different standards for the same task or service. For example
businesses working within the same area may have higher, middle and lower range standards, ranging from
high class work through to ‘cheap and nasty’, and barely adequate. This is reflected, for example, in the
inconsistency in assessment standards between teachers in specific areas in VET who have all had relevant
industrial experience (Cornford, 1997b). Another important contributing factor, which again demonstrates
the lack of understanding of teaching-learning processes, has been failure by the Australian federal
government to develop or implement mechanisms to monitor quality of training in any substantial way for
CBT or other courses which have been accredited by the Australian National Training Board or other
government agencies.
In any discussion of current English curriculum revisions, it is important to acknowledge the major influence
of previous curriculum documents. The 1983 Statement of Aims placed the receptive and productive skills of
understanding language and using it effectively as one of its main aims. The previous official syllabus
statement for English had been contained in the Secondary Instruction Regulations of 1945, based on the
aims for the teaching of English recommended in the Thomas Report. When W.L.Renwick, Director-
General of Education, wrote in the foreword to the Statement of Aims that “a statement can be written which
has grown out of what New Zealand teachers of English themselves think of about the teaching of English,”
he made deliberate reference to ‘our’ syllabus, not one “influenced by the authoritative statements of people
whose experience of teaching English was gained not in New Zealand but in the United Kingdom.”
Described not as a syllabus but a “syllabus guideline,” the Statement of Aims was not concerned with topics
for study in English, but with how effective language learning, as reflected in the English curriculum, should
be structured.
c) Aims of Curriculum Evaluation
The term “evaluation” generally applies to the process of making a value judgment. In education, the term
“evaluation” is used in reference to operations associated with curricula, programs, interventions, methods
of teaching and organizational factors. Curriculum evaluation aims to examine the impact of implemented
curriculum on student (learning) achievement so that the official curriculum can be revised if necessary and
to review teaching and learning processes in the classroom. Curriculum evaluation establishes:
 Specific strengths and weaknesses of a curriculum and its implementation;
 Critical information for strategic changes and policy decisions;
 Inputs needed for improved learning and teaching;
 Indicators for monitoring.
Curriculum evaluation may be an internal activity and process conducted by the various units within the
education system for their own respective purposes. These units may include national Ministries of
Education, regional education authorities, institutional supervision and reporting systems, departments of
education, schools and communities.
Curriculum evaluation may also be external or commissioned review processes. These may be undertaken
regularly by special committees or task forces on the curriculum, or they may be research-based studies on
the state and effectiveness of various aspects of the curriculum and its implementation. These processes
might examine, for example, the effectiveness of curriculum content, existing pedagogies and instructional
approaches, teacher training and textbooks and instructional materials.
d)Objectives Movement in Pakistan
The first behavioral approach to instructional design was the objectives movement. Objective means the
pedagogic intentions of a particular course of study to be achieved within the period of that course and in
principle measurable by some assessment device at the end of the course. "An objective is a description of a
performance you want learners to be able to exhibit before you consider them competent. An objective
describes an intended result of instruction, rather than the process of instruction itself". Valette and Disick
suggest that "objectives should stress output rather than input and that such output should be specified in
terms of performance". It was the objectives movement that introduced a behavioral approach to education.
This movement has been very influential and highly disputatious both in general and language education. In
the scope of general education the works of Mager (1962, 1984) were quite influential.
"Robert Mager is considered by many to be the father of modern-day behavioral objectives" His 1962 book,
Preparing Instructional Objectives, has had a major influence on the development of learning and training
programs. Mager argued for the use of specific, measurable behavioral and performance objectives that both
guide designers during courseware development and aid students in learning process. To Mager, the
behavioral objectives should have three major components: behavior, condition, and standards. ")
[Behavioral objectives] must unambiguously describe the behavior to be performed, optimally in terms of an
action word or verb of observable behavior, 2) they must describe the conditions under which the
performance will be expected to occur, and 3) they must state a standard of acceptable performance (the
criterion)" [15]. To sum it up, the behavior should be specific and observable in conditions under which the
behavior is completed and the standard is the level of desirable performance, including an acceptable range
of correct answers.

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