APPROACHES TO

SCHOOL
CURRICULUM
THREE WAY OF APPROACHING A
CURRICULUM
1. CURRICULUM AS A CONTENT OR
BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

2. CURRICULUM AS A PROCESS

3. CURRICULUM AS A PRODUCT
 THREE WAYS OF APPROACHING A
CURRICULUM
• CURRICULUM CAN BE APPROACHED OR SEEN IN THREE WAYS. IT
CAN BE DEFINED AS A CONTENT, A PROCESS OR AN OUTCOME.
• 1ST APPROACH – approach it as a content or a body of knowledge to be
transmitted.
• 2nd Approach – approach it as a product or the learning outcomes desired of
learners.
• 3rd Approach – approach it as a process or what actually happens in the classroom
when the curriculum is practiced.
 CURRICULUM AS CONTENT OR BODY
OF KNOWLEDGE
• If curriculum is equated as content, then the focus will be the body of
knowledge to be transmitted to students using appropriate teaching method.
There can be a likehood that teaching will be limited to the acquisition of
facts, concepts and principles of the subject matter; however, the content or
subject matter can also be taken as a means to an end.
• All curricula have content regardless of their design or models.
• In most educational setting curriculum is anchored on a body of knowledge
or discipline.
 Four ways of Presenting the Content in the
Curriculum:
• 1. topical approach, where much content is based on knowledge and
experiences are included;
• 2. concept approach with fewer topics in clusters around major and sub-
concepts and their interaction, with relatedness emphasized;
• 3. thematic approach as a combination of concepts that develop
conceptual structures, and
• 4. modular approach that leads to complete units of instruction.
 Criteria in the Selection of Content
There are some suggested criteria in the selection of knowledge or subject matter. (Scheffer,
1970 in Bilbao, et al 2009)

• 1. Significance
Content should contribute to ideas, concepts,
principles and generalization that should attain
the overall purpose of the curriculum. It is
significant if content if content becomes the
means of developing cognitive, affective or
psychomotor skills of the learner. As
education is a way of preserving culture,
content will be a significant when this will
address the cultural context of the learners.
• 2. Validity
• The authenticity of the subject matter
forms of its validity. Knowledge
becomes obsolete with the fast changing
times. Thus there is a need for validity
check and verification at a regular
interval, because content which may be
valid in its original form may not
continue to be valid in the current times.
 Criteria in the Selection of Content
• 3. Utility
• Usefulness of the content in the
curriculum is relative to the learners
who are going to use these. Utility can
be relative to time. It may have been
useful in the pas, but may not be useful
now or in the future.
• 4. Learnability
• The complexity of the content should
be within the range of experiences of
the learners. This is based on the
psychological principles of learning.
Appropriate organization of content
standards and sequencing of contents
are two basic principles that would
influence learnability.
 Criteria in the Selection of the Content
• 5. Feasibility • 6. Interest
• Can the subject content be learned • Will the learners take interest in the
within the time allowed, resources content? Why? Are the contents
available, expertise of the teachers meaningful? What value will the
and the nature of the learners? contents have in the present and
future life of the learners? Interest
is one of the driving forces for
students to learn better.
 Guide in the Selection of the Content in the
Curriculum
• 1. Commonly used in the daily life.
• 2. Appropriate to the maturity levels and abilities of the learners.
• 3. Valuable in meeting the needs and competencies of the future career.
• 4. Related to other subject fields or disciplines for complementation and
integration.
• 5. Important in the transfer of learning to other disciplines.
 Basic Principles of Curriculum Content
• In 1952, Palma proposed the principle of BASIC as a guide in addressing CONTENT in
the curriculum.
• B- ALANCE fair distribution of the content across the subject
• A- RTICULATION seamless flow of content vertically or horizontally in the
curriculum
• S-EQUENCE arranging of contents from easy to difficult
• I-NTEGRATION allowing the transfer of content to other fields.
• C-ONTINUITY enduring and perennial content, from past to future.
 CURRICULUM AS A PROCESS

Curriculum links to the content;

It is the interaction among the
teachers, students and content.
Content is the substance of the
As a process is seen as a scheme
Curriculum, how the contents will
about the practice of teaching.
be communicated and learned will
be addressed by the process.

To teachers, the process is very critical. This is the other side of the coin: Instruction, Implementation and Teaching
 When Curriculum is approached as a
PROCESS, guiding principles are presented.
1. Curriculum Process in the form f teaching methods or strategies are means to achieve the end.
2. There is no single best process or method. It’s effectiveness will depend on the desired learning outcomes, the
learners, support materials and the teacher.

3. Curriculum process should stimulate the learner’s desire to develop cognitive, affective, psychomotor domains in
each individual.

4. In the choice of methods, learning and teaching styles 5.Every method or process should result to learning
should be considered. outcomes which can be described as cognitive, affective
and psychomotor.

6. Flexibility in the use of the process or methods should be considered. An affective process will always result to
outcomes.
7. Both teaching and learning are the two important processes in the implementation of the curriculum.
CURRICULUM AS A PRODUCT

The Product from the curriculum is a student •The real purpose of education
equipped with the knowledge, skills and values to is to bring about significant
function effectively and efficiently. changes in student’ pattern of
behavior.

Curriculum product is •These learned or achieved

learning outcomes are
expressed in form of outcomes demonstrated by the person
which are referred to as the who has meaningful
achieved learning outcomes. experiences in the curriculum.

All of these are result of

planning, content and processes
in the curriculum.