WHAT WE KNOW

ABOUT CURRICULUM
(Tutorial 1)
CTYT
NFI
IJM
KNAW
No. 1 Definition of Curriculum
A plan for achieving goals
A plan for providing sets of learning opportunities for
persons to be educated -J. Galen Saylor
Curriculum is an organised set of formal education and /
or training intentions-David Pratt
From: Curriculum Foundations, Principles, and Issues
Curriculum is a plan for an education programme outlined by the
government to guide or to help the teachers, educators, schools in
teaching and learning.
No. 2 Elements of curriculum
1) Purpose
- Meaningful to the students achievement

2) Content

3) Method / Learning Experiences

4) Evaluation
- Feedback for the teachers and school
- We need to understand whether the curriculum is working or
not
No. 3 Which curriculum perspective
holds that:
a) Knowledge is personal and subjective
Existentialist
How student A learns is different with how student B learns

b) Knowledge is based on evidence
Empiricist
Teacher giving assessment to the students to know whether the students
understand what he has taught them (get evidence from the worksheet)

c) Teachers are sources of ideas and information
Rationalist
Teacher-centered
Teacher does all the ideas (the focus person in the classroom)

d) Learners must experience knowledge
Pragmatist
Inquiry-based
Hands-on
No. 4 Which subject (school
setting)would appeal to those who
have pragmatics or existential view of
the world
Pragmatics: focus on hands-on problem solving, experimenting, and
projects, often having students work in groups (socially constructed)
Science, Kemahiran Hidup (KH) school setting
Teaching Resources IPG setting

Existentialism: focus on creating opportunities for self-direction and
self actualization, education is less formal
Language Arts & Arts
BIG, drama (support personal growth), literasi bahasa IPG setting
No. 5 On which curriculum
perspective would you say your
system is based?
We think that Malaysian curriculum is a mixture of idealism,
realism, pragmatic and existentialism.

a. Idealism (Rationalist) - experienced through sight, touch, smell,
taste, and sound, that is changing, imperfect, and disorderly.
b. Realism (Empiricist) - focus on mastery of facts and basic skills
through demonstration and recitation (mathematics & science
experiments)
c. Pragmatics - apply their knowledge to real situations through
experimental inquiry (science)
d. Existentialism - focus on creating opportunities for self-
direction and self actualization (language arts & arts)
No. 6 Who decides the content,
methods, purpose and evaluation of
your countrys curriculum
The Ministry of Education
The stakeholders (teachers, students, parents, community)
Non Government Organisations
World bank
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO)
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Local Universities
Government agencies (Performance Management and Delivery Unity
[PEMANDU])
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)