Dr. Sultan Muhammad Khan
Keywords;
Socio Cultural Foundation of
Curriculum, The Role of the Cultural in the formation of curriculum development,
The Role of the Socio
Cultural in the curriculum development,
Foundations of Curriculum
Foundations are the forces that
influence the minds of curriculum developers.
In this way they affect the content
and structure of the curriculum. The five most important foundations of the curriculum
are;
1. Philosophical foundation of
Curriculum
2. , Psychological foundations of
Curriculum
3. Socio Cultural Foundation of Curriculum
4. Historical Foundations of Curriculum
5. Economical Foundations of Curriculum
Socio Cultural Foundation
According to Murray print (1993).
The society and culture exercise massive powers on the formation curriculum and
the reason behind that it was society who created schooling to safeguard the
survival of their cultural heritage, and survival of their species.
The purpose of curriculum planner
and developers to translate traditional norms, philosophies, ethics, knowledge
and attitudes in the objectives of curriculum, the content, learning processes
and the evaluation of elements of the
curriculum. Sociological factors have highest impact on the content of
curriculum and that is the reason that curriculum developers and planner both
reflect and transfer their own culture in curriculum. Therefore a curriculum
without the reflection of culture is not possible for that reason one should
consider what characteristic of the culture should be the part of curriculum
and what not.
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The social and cultural inspirations
that affect curriculum designers consciously and unconsciously are apparent
from the curriculum and their influence is deep. For example in Pakistan the
curriculum is more reflective of the society and curriculum is design in a way
that leads society to change. The society manifest through the curriculum and
education, and the outcomes of the curriculum developers display the role of
both of the above in curriculum development.
Because curriculum developers are
the part of the society therefore they indirectly effected by the society and
culture. Their cultural standards,
attitudes and beliefs leave deep impact on the individuals because the
curriculum designers influence the selection of objectives, subject matter,
teaching learning methods and the process of evaluation.
Example: A group of teacher
formulated a new course for teaching in schools to enhance the quality of the
subject in curriculum. After the completion of the subject matter when analyze
again one could not determine some lesson were eliminated and some were
included in the course, how the old content was evaluated even the teacher who
constructed the curriculum for the subject was unable to clearly say what was
the basis of their decisions. If story reading was a component of the revised
curriculum, what proportion would be real reading? And Why? And what would be
the method for the assessment of that lesson? What stories were selected and
why these are questions need to be asked from the curriculum developers
on the other hand, may be curriculum
developers are well aware of society needs and they have planned intention to
incorporate all those things in the curricula which the society need in the
curriculum but the question is that the curriculum should student centered or
society. Curriculum should be a tool for guiding the student’s potentialities
in directions or to develop those potentialities without any restrictions.
Some Social values, changes and
conditions are included into some extent in some of the curriculum projects in
the context of current social issues and problems, such as rapid growth of
population, democratic values, urbanization, and management problems could be
found in proposed program. Some vital problems and topics are considered in
relation to concepts and key ideas drawn from the disciplines.
In another way in which the social
situation is used as a source of content and information for the curriculum
formulation may be found in the present-day situations that are selected to
light up the concepts and main ideas from the selected disciplines e.g. In mathematics program there may be some
problems of social significance, for which student may use mathematical
concepts to solve the problem. Or in others societal science program, socially
important situations may be used to encompass and expand concepts and
generalizations.
Therefore it can be concluded, that
social and cultural forces have deep effect upon the curriculum. To find how
much and to which degree the society and culture affect the education system of
that society is controversial issue. Curriculum developer are the part of that
society and culture therefore they should keep in mind that there decision
could affect their culture and society. Therefore their decision should be
culturally related to the society need and values
Guideline given by Rud Yard (1969)
related to curriculum planning decision-making, it derived from societal needs
and goals.
- The goals of education emerge from the needs and wishes of the society
- When a society urge a need or a goal it becomes an educational objective and the school accepted that demand and they attempt to attain that goal by putting it into school objectives.
And when a societal goal become an
educational objective then the school, teacher and student must make their
efforts to achieve it and for that purpose appropriate educational facilities
and methods must be planned.
If there is a conflict between the
objectives and aims of majority and minority groups, the aims of larger group
is accepted.
Educational aims are based on the
study of sociological and political condition of the society and the main
purpose of the curriculum is preservation and advancement of the that society
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Read more articles about Foundations
of Curriculum
Psychological
foundations of Curriculum
Philosophical foundation of
Curriculum
Socio Cultural Foundation of
Curriculum
Historical Foundations of Curriculum
Economical Foundations of Curriculum
