The document discusses the nature and importance of curriculum development. It defines curriculum as including all learning experiences offered to learners under the school's direction. Curriculum can also be seen as a plan for achieving goals, or the total efforts of the school to bring about desired outcomes. Developing curriculum is important for several reasons: it helps realize educational objectives; makes efficient use of time and energy; facilitates the acquisition of knowledge through an organized structure of content; and helps develop students' personalities, knowledge, skills and attitudes. The curriculum also provides guidelines for preparing textbooks, conducting examinations, organizing teaching/learning, and deciding instructional methods. Overall, having a well-developed curriculum is essential for effectively guiding the education process.

1. Nature of Curriculum,
Need and Importance of
Curriculum Development
Dr.M.Deivam
Assistant Professor
Department of Education
The Gandhigram Rural Institute (Deemed to be University)
Gandhigram, Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu

2. Curriculum: Definitions
• Curriculum includes all the learning experiences
offered to all the learners under the direction of the
school – C.Ronald
• It is a plan for action or a written document that
includes strategies for achieving desired goals or ends
– Ralph Taylor & Hilda Taba
• It is the total efforts of the school to bring about
desired outcomes in and out of school situation –
Alexander & Saylor

3. Nature of Curriculum

4. Content / subject matter
• Curriculum was nothing but the different
subjects taught in schools.
• In fact content or subject matter does not stop
just by the facts and information but involves
many more things right from planning to that
of reconstruction.

5. Program of planned activities
• It can be the overall activities planned by the teacher
as to how to teach, what to teach, how to
motivate, what devises are required to draw their
attention, and so on; all that is planned in advance
before the real teaching – learning process
commences.

6. Curriculum as an Objective
• B.F. Skinner views the curriculum as being
formulated according to behaviouristic
objectives.
• The curriculum is the series of experiences
which children and youth must have by
way of attaining activity-based
objectives.
• W. W. Chatters (1923) viewed curriculum as
a series of objectives that students must attain
by way of a series of learning experiences

7. Intended learning outcomes
• Johnson (1977) and Posner (1982) contended
that curriculum as the intended learning
outcomes. i.e, there is a clear shift from
means to ends as criticized in the earlier
approach. Here the specified ends are before
the planner; they go by their precise
planning by their intentions and achieve
the same.

8. Cultural reproduction
• The curriculum is the reflection of the
culture of a particular society. They
identify appropriate skills and knowledge for
e.g values, religion, and political system etc.
Concepts will be incorporated with the
curriculum, which in turn reflects their belief
and all cultural aspects.

9. Curriculum as experience
• Dewey says curriculum as a single
experience. He says that these two are
inseparable. Curriculum provides
experiences to respond and react and
reflect on various processes of
learning. It depends on the learner as what
he experiences.

10. Discrete tasks and concepts
• This can be related to training or industry
where individual gets exposed to different
tasks to master over the task and attain
the concepts. For instance rules of grammar,
mathematical problem, other mechanical
skill-oriented tasks in various professions,
expose the learner to the relevant tasks
to acquire the concepts.

11. Agenda for social reconstruction
• Dewey, says that schools should provide
an agenda of knowledge which guides
students to enrich society and the cultural
institutions, beliefs and activities support it, i.e
the students are prepared well with
adequate knowledge and skills to adopt
in their future life.

12. Curriculum as currere
• It is not meaning a mere race course.
Meaning Gurmet (1980) says here the
individual are expected to re-
conceptualize their own
autobiography. An individual gets into his
own entire past events, recollects, and tries to
reconstruct his own future. By sharing this
with others they also become better in
understanding themselves.

13. Curriculum as a system
• Curriculum can be considered as a system for
dealing with people and the processes or
organization of personnel and
procedures for implementing the system
(Babcock, McNeil, Untruth).

14. Need and Importance of
Curriculum Development

15. a. Realisation of Educational Objectives:
• An organisation of education is based on
the curriculum. The curriculum
development is done in view to realise
the objectives of education. Thus the
curriculum is the means for
achieving the educational objectives.

16. b. Proper use of Time and Energy:
• It provides the guidelines to the teachers
as well as to students, what a teacher
has to teach and what the students
to learn?

17. c. Acquisition of Knowledge:
• The curriculum is the mean for the acquiring
knowledge. Actually human knowledge is one
but is divided in to subject for the convenience
and organisation point of view. Thus the
curriculum is designed for the different
subjects.

18. d. Determining Structure Of Content:
• Every subject’s content has its wide structure
which is to be taught lower level to the higher
level. Thus the main task of curriculum
development is determining structure of
content for a particular stage teaching. Thus the
curriculum of different subjects is
designed from primary level to
university level.

19. e. Development of Personality:
• The curriculum is also important and
significant from personality development
of the student. The curriculum is designed
which helps in development in good qualities in
students. It helps in developing physical,
social and moral qualities of learners.

20. f. Preparation of Text Book:
• The curriculum provides the guide line
and bases for preparing text book
for the use of students and subject
teacher. If the curriculum is changed or
codified, the test books are also changed.
A good text has wide coverage of
curriculum content of subjects.

21. g. Conducting Examination:
• Our education is examination centred. The
students have forced obtain good mark in the
examination.
• Thus examination paper is prepared as
per curriculum of the subject and
students also prepare the content for the
examination. Thus, curriculum is basis of
teaching, learning and testing.

22. h. Organising Teaching And Learning
Situation:
• The teaching and learning situation are
organised in view to the curriculum
teaching work is also assigned with
help of curriculum

23. i. Decision about Instructional method:
• The instructional method is selected
and used in view of the curricular.
The same content is taught from memory
to reflective level. It may be teacher
centred or learner centred.

24. j. Development of Knowledge, Skill
And Attitude:
• The nature of curriculum provides the
basis for the developing knowledge,
skills, attitude and creative ability. It
also helps in developing leadership
qualities.

25. Thank you all