HMEC5213 Early Childhood Curriculum:

Planning and Assessment

TOPIC1:
CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION
Dr Aliza Ali
 Learning Outcomes
By the end of the topic you will be able to:
Describe and specify five basic definitions of
curriculum
Discuss curriculum concept based on philosophical
belief
Distinguish between planned and unplanned
curriculum
Explain the relationships between curriculum and
instruction
Topic 1.1:
Curriculum Definition and Concept

The terms curriculum has different meaning to different people.

The search to clarify the meaning of curriculum reveals
uncertainty, especially the distinctions between curriculum and
instruction and their relationship to each other. This topic will
help you to build a deeper understanding about curriculum.
 The Word Curriculum

• The word “curriculum” comes from the Latin word, currere

meaning: action of running, course of action, race.
• Noun – Curriculum. A course of study; program of studies.
• Plural – Curricula. Eg: The teacher tried many different types of
curricula.
• Adjective – Curricular. Eg: Early childhood educators continued
to develop their curricular practices.
 Five Basic Definitions of Curriculum
(Ornstein & Hunkins, 2014)

1. A plan of goal

2 . All experiences learners have under

the guidance of teachers

3. A curriculum can define as a

system for dealing with people

4. A field of study

5. A subject matter or
content
1st Definition : A Plan of Goal

• Curriculum can be defined as a plan for achieving goal.

• The plan involves a sequences of steps.
• Curriculum is a plan for learning (Taba, 1962).
• Tyler and Taba, seen as a “linear view of curriculum.
• J. Galen Saylor define curriculum as a plan for providing sets of
learning opportunities for person to be educated.
• David Pratt defined curriculum is an organized set of formal
education and/or training intention.
• Jon Wiles and Joseph Bondi view curriculum as a four-step plan
involving purpose, design, implementation and assessment.
• Tanner and Tanner (1975) holds the view that curriculum means
planned instructional experience designed to help learners
develop and extend individual capability
2nd Definition: Dealing with Learner’s Experiences

• Anything planned in or outside of school is part of curriculum.

• This definition is expressed by Dewey viewed curriculum as all
experiences children have under the guidance of teachers.
• Dewey also view curriculum as non academic subject matter
designed in or outside of school as the curriculum and any student
experiences
• Gene Shepherd and William Ragan state that curriculum consists of
ongoing experiences of children under the guidance of the school.
• Elliot Eisner describes the curriculum is as a program that school
offers to students, a preplanned series of educational and an entire
range of experiences a child has within the school.
• Marsh and Willis view curriculum as all the experiences in the
classroom that are planned and enacted.
• Curriculum is the planned and guided learning experiences and
intended learning outcomes (Tanner & Tanner, 1975)
• A curriculum is an interrelated set of plan and experiences that a
student undertakes under the guidance of the school (Marsh & Willis,
2003)
3rd Definition: Curriculum is a System for Dealing with
People

• The system can be linear or non-linear.

• A linear system can be plots out the means to a desire
end.
• Non-linear system permits the curriculum specialist to
enter at various points of the model and work on more
than one component at a time.
• Many managerial and system curricularists adopt this
definition.
• This definition is considered less popular than the first
two
4th Definition: A Field of Study
• Comprising its own foundations
• Concerned with subject matter historical, philosophical
or social issues.
• This view has been popularized by William Reid,
Schubert, and the Tanners.
• With its own foundation, knowledge, domains,
research, theory, principles and specialist.
• Curriculum is theoretical rather than practical terms.
5th Definition: Subject Matter or Content

• Can be in grade level.

• How to organize and integrate information.
• Emphasize the facts and concepts of particular subject
areas (math, science, English, history)
• Most U.S schools subscribe to this definition
• Curriculum is the functioning instrument of education
(Tyler, 1949)
• Is the most accepted among schools because it does
allow for emphasis to be on subject matter dealing with
facts and concepts
 Definition of The National Curriculum

An educational program that includes curricular and co-

curricular activities which encompasses all the knowledge, skills,
norms, values, cultural elements and beliefs to help develop a
pupil fully in the physical, spiritual, mental and emotional
aspects as well as to inculcate and develop desirable moral
values and to transmit knowledge (Education Act 1996)
Parts of Curriculum
 The syllabus content of subjects and the teaching learning
activities

 The educational activities outside the classroom (co-

curriculum) such as sports, societies, uniform bodies and
others,
(para 113, The Cabinet Committee Report 1979)
The Roles of the Curriculum
1. Holistic development of the individual (intellectual, spiritual,
emotional, physical)
2. Inculcation and development of moral values
3. Transmit knowledge
4. Build a united Malaysian society
5. Produced skill manpower (para 114, The Cabinet
Committee Report 1979)
 Curriculum Concept
Based on Philosophical Believe
• A plan for action for students and teachers – Saylor, Alexander
and Lewis
• Daniel Tanner and Laurel Tanner regard curriculum as that
reconstruction of knowledge and experience that enables the
leaner to grow in exercising intelligent control of subsequent
knowledge and experience
• Franklin Bobbitt perceived curriculum as a series of things which
children and youth must do and experience by way of developing
abilities to do the things well that make up the affairs of adult life;
and to be in all respects what adults should be
• All curricula, no matter what their particular design, are composed
of certain elements. A curriculum usually contains a statement of
aims and of specific objectives; it indicate some selection and
organization of contents; it either implies or manifests certain
patterns of learning and teaching, whether because of the
objectives demand them or because the content organization
requires them. Finally, it includes a program of evaluation of the
outcomes – Hilda Taba
 Curriculum Concept Based on Philosophical Believe

Saylor, A plan for action for students and

Alexander & teachers
Lewis

Statement of aim

Hilda Taba
Specific
objectives

Daniel Tanner
Reconstruction of knowledge
and Laurel
and experience
Tanner

Daniel Tanner A series of things which children and youth

and Laurel must do and experience
Tanner
 Early Childhood
Education and Curriculum
• Early childhood education is a term that describes the
education of young children from birth through age seven
• Early childhood education requires to run on a well-defined
framework, to be build upon a curriculum structure that will be
appropriate in every respect
• A developmentally appropriate early childhood curriculum
should guide decisions about what to teach, when and how to
best asses that learning has taken place
 What is Early Childhood Curriculum?
• Early childhood educators define curriculum as all school
related experience that effect the child
• Arce (2000) refer curriculum as all experiences that effect the
child while interacting in a school settings
• Basic ideas about how children learn and think drives the type
of curriculum offered
• We can also define curriculum as what we want children to
learn, how we intend to teach, the sequence of instruction, the
goals or outcomes we desire/expect, and how we will measure
them
• Dewey deems it necessary to design a curriculum based on
children’s experiences and let children be involved in
interesting and challenging problems
The curriculum for young children include:

 All activities and experiences provided for

them by adults
 All the activities they device for themselves
 The language that adults use to them and
what they use to each other
 All that they see and hear in the environment
around them (Drummond et al, 1989)
“ An organized framework that delineates the content
that children are to learn, the processes through which
children achieve curricular goals, what teachers do to
help children achieve these goals and the contexts in
which teaching and learning occurs”
(The National Association for the Education of Young
Children, 1991)
“ Everything that affects the child in the learning
environment, overt and covert. It covers not only
activities, both indoors and outdoors, offered to young
children, but also the attitudes of the staffs towards not
only the children but to each other, to parents and
anyone who visits the setting” (Curtis, 1998)
“ Curriculum is the overall master plan of the early
childhood program, reflecting its philosophy, into which
specific activities are fit” (Essa, 2011. Introduction to
early childhood education)
The National Preschool Curriculum

“An educational program that includes all the

knowledge, skills, norms, values, cultural elements
and beliefs to help full development of the child
physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally”.
[Education Act 1996 (Revised) 2002 (Act A1152) ]
Key Points: Early Childhood Curriculum

In early childhood the curriculum tends to be viewed more

holistically and all aspects of the program are integrated and
related.

Early childhood professionals view the curriculum as dealing

comprehensively with the ‘whole child’ physical, social, cognitive,
and emotional development.

 The foundation of early childhood curriculum is based on

knowledge how children learn, what makes a good learning
environment , and what materials is suitable for young children.
 Planned and Unplanned Curriculum
Planned:
• Formal
• Written
• Acknowledge curriculum
• Translate the school’s goals into the subjects that students are expected to
learn
• Measured objectives of the course and lesson
• Focus on goals, objectives, subject matter, and organization of instruction
Unplanned :
• Informal curriculum
• Not intended or stated
• Hidden curriculum (arises from interactions among students and between
students and teachers)
• Not in written
• Will certainly be learned by students
• Deals with socio-psychological interactions among students, teachers,
especially their feelings, attitudes and behaviours
 Planned and Unplanned Curriculum
Planned

Goal

Unplanned

Interaction among
students and
teachers
Topic 1.2:
Relationship Between Curriculum and
Instruction

What is instruction?

How do curriculum and instruction work together

successful?
Topic 1.2:
Relationship Between Curriculum and
Instruction
• Curriculum and instruction are related but different
• Curriculum and instruction are interlocking and interdependent
• We may simplistically view curriculum as that which is taught and
instruction as the means used to teach what is taught
• Even more simply, curriculum can be conceived as the “what” and
instruction as the “how”.
• Instruction is a subsystem of curriculum, which is itself a
subsystem of the whole system of education.
• Instruction is how the curriculum will be taught and
consideration is given to diverse instructional strategies and
student needs.
• Johnson defined instruction as “the interaction between a
teaching agent and one or more individuals intending to learn.
• Curriculum and instruction may be studied and analyzed as
separate entities but cannot function in mutual isolation
 Curriculum Instruction
The Cyclical Model

• Stressed the essential element of feedback

• Curriculum and instruction are separate entities with a
continuing circular relationship
• Curriculum makes a continuous impact on instruction and
instruction has impact on curriculum
• Instructional decisions are made after curricular decisions
• Curricular decisions are modified after instructional decisions
are implemented and evaluated
 Curriculum and Instruction

What How

Curriculum Instruction

Learning Experiences

Students
 Conclusion

• Instruction and curriculum are interdependent on each other

• If the curriculum lacks diversity in its foundations, subject
matter, lesson planning, creation of student experiences,
instruction will lack in the choices teacher chooses to teach
 Discussion
Describe and specify five basic definitions of curriculum

Discuss curriculum concept based on philosophical believe

Distinguish between planned and unplanned curriculum

Briefly explain the relationships between curriculum and

instruction

Discuss pre-schoolers learning impact in curriculum development

in Malaysia
Thank You