Foundation of Curriculum

Foundation of Curriculum:

The curriculum of any country reflects of society because the member of any society are confronted by the problems of inducting the immature member into their culture and ways of group. The individual at birth is a cultural her barium as he has none of the habits, ideas, attitudes and skills characteristic to its adult society he learns all these either through an informal way or from the educational institutions through a formal way.

 The schools help in disciplining children and youth in-group ways of thinking and acting. This set of experiences is referred to as curriculum. To understand the structure and function of curriculum, it is necessary to understand what are the foundations? It can be studied under three headings:  

    2.1 Philosophical foundation.
    2.2 Psychological foundation.
    2.3 Sociological foundations.

2.1 Philosophical Foundation

Philosophy is the search for truth. It is concerned with eternal reality and general principles of life. Curriculum is the dynamic side of philosophy. It provides the practical means for realizing the ideals of life curriculum modifies the behavior of the children, and philosophy provides the basis for the teachers to modify their behavior. 

Philosophy also provides a rationale for the methods and strategies to be applied in the classroom. It also gives a frame of reference to evaluate the curriculum.
Philosopher have made significant contribution I clarifying the relationship between the nature of knowledge and curriculum development. High premium is place on the role of knowledge in human affairs.

 The increasing need for depth of education in the disciplines, the changing nature of the society and knowledge, and the importance of both scientific and humanistic approaches to the domain of knowledge. There is an emphasis on ways in which man creates concepts of reality, builds strictures of knowledge about reality, and makes interpretation of experience. 

Knowledge is viewed as dynamic and changing and high value is placed on invention, discovery and restructuring of knowledge in new patterns. Openness to experience and logical consistency are brought together and focused on the use of concepts to build knowledge out of interpreted experience.
A philosophy of education is a set of values which acts as a guide in decision-making concerning educational practice.

 Guides based on philosophy help in determining the purposes of subject matter, the extent to which changes in society to which schools help in promoting social change )18pp 14-15)
Philosophical Implications on Curriculum Philosophy has got a direct implication on curriculum. As it provides guidelines in the selection of objectives content, learning experiences and evolutions, some justification for its implications given by Rud Yard K., Bent and Urrah are as follows:

Many traditional values, customs and knowledge acquired in the past should be preserved by teaching them to each successive generation.
Some subject matter should be included which has intellectual rather than utilitarian value. It is needed to help pupils learn how to reason, solve problems, acquire mental skills:

 how to learn the approaches utilized in seeking eternal truth; how to analyze the structure of knowledge and modes of inquiry.
Knowledge of the present as well as the past is needed. Pupils can study the curriculum in which they live. They must learn how to accept and adapt themselves to changes as they occur.
Pupils need to acquire skill in laboratory techniques and the experimental process so that knowledge can be advanced.

Schools should be leaders in directing changes rather than maintainers of curricular activities.
Secondary school curriculum should include a sufficient number and variety of learning activities to make it possible to educate each pupil to its highest potentialities. (32p.41)

2.2 Psychological Foundations

No two individuals are alike in nature. There are differences in their innate potentialities. So they cannot be made alike through education. Based on the above facts, the curriculum should be adopted to the taste and talent of the individual learner.

Psychology is said to form the basis for all the educational programmes. The subject matter selections, the methods of teaching, the techniques of learning, all are the problems psychology in relation to curriculum development process.

Knowledge of child development and learning has not been used in traditional ways in the past in curriculum development process. This fact has been pointed out by psychologists that there is little in existing learning theories which are of help to curriculum builders.
Scholars follow experimental approach to the study of what and how students, learn under various conditions. 

New materials are devised in terms of findings gained from an analysis of teaching and learning problems. Thus, rather than serving as a source of authority regarding what should or should not be done in the instructional programme, knowledge of child development and learning has been put to use in actual classroom studies of learning.

Certain notions or ideas about learning and how to promote it have emerged. The following appear to be reflected in the materials produced by different authors.
The traditional readiness concept of determinant of instruction (until children mature) is rejected in favor of the principle that pupils can be introduced to a subject as early as desired, provided it is presented properly and the pupils have the prerequisite background of experience.
Transfer of learning and future learning are enhanced when emphasis is given to basic concepts, generalizations and processes of inquiry of wide applicability.
 

The guided discovery of relationships by the student results in more efficient and permanent learning than those approaches in which children learn about the conclusions reached by others.
 

Interest and motivation may be generated through the discovery within the subject itself, not in peripheral (matters, as students are guided to raise questions discover) relationships, interpret findings, formulate principles, and engage in other aspects of inquiry.
Meaningful verbal earning involves the organizing or structuring of facts into conceptual schemes or systems that can be used to generate ideas, raise questions, or make new interpretations.
 

Inductive approaches are favored because of their value in promoting discovery through inquiry and in fiving experience in formulating hypotheses, making inferences and interpreting information.
The study of selected topics in depth is more conducive to the discovery of relationships than superficial coverage of relationship than superficial coverage of material.
Depth and breadth of learning are attained through various concepts, processes. Theories, models, and generalizations on higher cognitive levels and in view contexts.
Leaning is enhanced when there is conceptual and process continuity from unit to unit and throughout a programme of instruction.
 

The solving of problems by students aids concept development, develops the ability to put principles to use, and lead to the development of higher-order principles.
Emphasis on the organizing of ideas helps students to develop a grasp of relationships, improves their ability to remember students to develop a grasp of relationships, improves their ability to remember and retrieve ideas, provides a basis for generating new ideas, and promotes transfer of learning. (18pp. 16-17)  
 

Hence it can be concluded that the contribution of psychological sources to the foundations of curriculum is significant and growing. The scope for applying its concepts. Principles, processes and values to curriculum development are becoming increasingly more meaningful.
If the purpose of psychology is the study of human behavior, then psychologists are concerned with describing, explaining predicting and investigating the behavior of human beings. Curriculum, therefore, can draw upon psychology, particularly educational psychology, for at 

least five areas of information:

Educational objectives.
Student characteristics.
Learning processes.
Teaching methods.

2.3 Socio Cultural Foundations

According t Murray print (1993), it is hardly surprising that society and culture exert enormous influences on the formation of the school curriculum or indeed any curriculum. After all as it was society that devised schooling to ensure the survival of he cultural heritage, we would expect to see an extensive influence of society and culture upon curriculum in schools.
Curriculum developers serve the function of translating traditional assumptions, ideas, values, knowledge and attitudes into curriculum objectives, content, learning activities and evolution. Of these curriculum elements,

 sociological sources have their greatest impact on content. In acting this way, curriculum developers both transmit and reflect the culture of which they are part. Thus, it is not possible to talk about a culture-free curriculum. Rather, one should consider a curriculum as a situation where judgments are made as to what aspects of culture are to be included and way?
The societal and cultural influences that affect curriculum developers are evident in both conscious and unconscious ways and their impact is profound.

 For instance in Pakistan education, manifest through the curriculum, reflects Pakistani society and culture, and that reflection is a result of curriculum developers being an integral part of that society and culture in both of the above ways. I this sense the curriculum more ‘reflects’ society than leads society to change.
 

Indirectly society and culture influence curriculum developers simply because they are members of a particular society. Culture values, attitudes and beliefs are acquired by individuals unaware of that process, yet, once acquired, these cultural traits become consolidated and affect t our social behavior. And when the process of cultural traits within developers influence the very selection of objectives, content, methods and evaluation that constitute the curriculum they are devising. 

For example, a group of school teachers who decide to enhance the literacy component of an existing curriculum. On completion one could analyses the result to determine why they undertook the task, what objectives were formulated, what content was evaluated? In many instances, when probed deeply enough, the teachers would be unaware of the basis of their decisions. If story reading was a component of the revised curriculum, what proportion would? Be real reading? Way? And how would that be assessed? What stories were selected for students? Why? These are typical question that should be asked of curriculum developers when they construct curricula, and which reveal indirect influences of society and culture.
Alternatively, curriculum developers may be well aware of societal and have the deliberate intention in mind (or not) of reproducing aspects of that culture in the curriculum. The issue then becomes whether the curriculum should mirror society or whether it should become a tool for change? Those educators who consider schooling in the vanguard of change would opt for a curriculum that leads future generations in particular directions. More conservative educators argue for a traditional perspective which sees schools as reflecting society and thus retaining the existing status of life.

Social conditions, value, and changes are included in some projects in the context of current issue and problems, such as population changes, urbanization, conservation problems, democratic values and processes, ideological conflicts, and international problems although one can find in proposed programmes. Some topics and units that deal with vital social problems and issues, these are usually embedded in the context of the supporting disciplines; they are not approached as isolated problems and issue; they are considered in relation to concepts and key ideas drawn from the disciplines.
Still another way in which the social setting is utilized as a source of content may be found in the illustrations of contemporary situations that are selected to illumine concepts and main ideas from the disciplines. For example, in mathematics programmes there may be problems of social significance in which students can use mathematical concepts that are being developed. Or in science and social science programmes, socially significant situations may be used to extend and deepen concepts and generalization.
It can be concluded therefore, that social and cultural forces have a profound effect upon the curriculum in both indirect and direct ways. The exact degree that a society and its culture should influence the education system though the curriculum is a more debatable issue. Certainly curriculum developers, when considering the nature of their task, within educational enterprise should not forget that they are a product of their culture and that every decision that they make will be culturally related.
The following guidelines are given by Rud Yard (1969) for curriculum decision-making derived from societal needs and goals.
All educational goals emerge from the needs of society.
A specific need or a goal of society becomes an educational objective when it sis accepted as such by the school and attempts are made to attain it.
If a societal goal is to become an educational objective, it must be possible to achieve it through instruction and pupils must be able to attain it. Educational facilities must be available and appropriate methods must be devised for the purpose.
In case of a conflict between the aims of majority and minority groups, decisions are usually made for the benefit of the larges number.
Educational aims are based on both the study of sociological and political theory, the practice in a culture, and the desire for preservation and advancement in that society. (32p 35).