Topic 5: current issues in curriculum implementation

Definition of curriculum implementation

-

Putting into practice the officially prescribed courses of study, syllabus &
subject
How the planned or officially designed course of study is translated by the
teacher into syllabuses, schemes of work & lesson to be delivered to
students.

Curriculum implementation
-

The process involves helping the learners acquire knowledge or

experience
Cannot take place without the learner (learner as the central figure)
Teacher as implementing agent

Factors that influence curriculum implementation

1. teacher
-

Autonomous role
Select & decide what to teach from the prescribe syllabus
Indisputable role & influence in the process of implementation
Translate curriculum intentions into reality
Teacher must be involved in planning & development so they can
implement & modify the curriculum for the benefit of their learners

2. learners
-

They influence teacher in selecting of learning experiences

Need to consider the diverse characteristics of learner in
implementation

3.resourse materials & facilities

-

Adequate resources materials (textbook, teaching aids) & physical

facilities( field, classroom) able to create an environment where
implementation can take place, & enable teacher & learner play
their role satisfactorily in curriculum implementation process

4. interest group
-

Provide school with financial resources to purchase required

materials.
Demand the inclusion of certain subjects in curriculum
Influence learners to reject courses they consider detrimental to the
interests of the group

5. school environment
-

Sosio-economic background of school, resources

6. culture & ideology

-

Resistance from community on government ideology

7. instructional supervision
-

Supervisory function of the school head

Supervision through:
1. deploying staf
2.allocating time to subjects taught at the school
3. providing teaching & learning materials
4. creating a conducive atmosphere for efective teaching &
learning

8. assessment
-

Teacher tends to focus on subjects that promote academic

excellence & little else

Current issues in curriculum implementation

1. literacy
2. access
3. equity
4. multilingualism
5. technology innovation
6. unity
7. special need
1. literacy
-

Encompasses a complex set of abilities to understand & use the

dominant symbol system of a culture for personal & community
development
Ability to read & write
Ability to understand visual form of communication (body language,
pictures, maps etc)
Represent lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from a
critical interpretation of the written or printed text
Key to all literacy: reading development

2. access to education
-

Ability for people to have equal opportunity in education regardless

of social class, gender, ethnicity, background etc
Latest: equal opportunity for physical or mental disabilities
Equitable access:
Full & complete access to free, quality of education for every
child
Basic human right
Eg:
Education For All (EFA) to ensure all children have access
to & complete a full course of primary schooling
World Education Forums Dakar Framework For Action:
stresses the right of girls, ethnic minorities, children in
difficult circumstance
A World Fit For Children

3. equity in education
-

Encompasses a wide variety of educational models, programs, &

strategies that may be considered fair but not necessarily equal.
- It directly correlated to the quality of life the students will live on
future
- Issues:
1. socio-economic equity in education
Income & class
Family with higher economic status (SES) is privileged
with more opportunities than those of lower SES
Higher SES can aford better education eg: better
tutors, better programs etc
Parents of higher SES are willing to donate money to
improve their childrens chances of acceptances
Creates unfair advantages & distinct class barrier
Costs of education
High cost for prestigious schools & university
Higher edu become too expensive
Qualified students with low- income cannot attend
bcos of school & Uni high cost
Segregation: lower income sdnts for lower quality
school
Tracking
Tracking sorts students into diferent classes or groups
based on abilities or future plan
Stunts the students development to excel

 Objective of tracking: to create environment which

match the students abilities with the curriculum &
peers in class
Create inequality: students viewed & treated diferently
depending on track they take, curriculum & quality of
teaching vary from each track, lower track provided
with inferior resources, teachers etc.
2. racial equity

Providing students with full opportunity for participation in all

educational programs regardless of their race

3. gender equity

Harassment, restoration to freedom, lack of opportunities

compared to boys
Human right: promotes freedom, empowerment, & yield
important development benefit
Causes of gender bias in edu:
Community level obstacle: bias displayed for education
outside the school environment. Eg: child marriage &
predetermined gender roles
School & educational level obstacle: inappropriate
attitudes & behaviors, lack of female teacher as role
models, lack of gender-friendly environment

4.multilingualism
-

Complete competence & mastery in another language (speaking,

writing, signing)
Learn multiple lang. bcos of international interactions
Diglossia: regional lang. is used in informal, orally while state
language is used in more formal situation. (eg: Sorbian & german)
Ambilingualism: nearly impossible to predict which language will be
used in a given setting, can be found in small state with multiple
heritages like Malaysia & Singapore
Bipart-lingualism: more than one language can be heard in a small
area, but the majority speakers are monolinguals, who have little
contact with speakers from neighboring ethnic group

5. technological innovations
-

Types of tech. used in classroom

1. computers: used to assign tasks, illustrate visual contents,
search for information.

2. creating class websites & blogs: to post assignments,

communicates
3. use of digital microphone: enable students to listen to the
teacher clearly, help teacher not to strain their voice, afordable
4. mobile device: eg:smart phone, academic purposes, similar to elearning or long distance education,
5. smart interactive whiteboards: display visual image, illustrate
points using pen or finger.
6. online media: real time example, academic references
7. online study tools
6. unity in education
- Steps taken by ministry: all ethnicity are fairly represented in the
teaching materials, to organize school- based programmes that
explicitly focused on building unity (RIMUP)
7. special needs
-

Educating students with special needs in a way that addresses their

individual diferences & needs
Involves individually planned & systematically monitored
arrangements of teaching procedure, adapted equipment &
materials, & accessible setting
Designed to help learners with special need achieve a higher level
of personal self-sufficiency & success in school & within the
community.
Sign of learning disabilities: trouble learning the alphabet or
rhyming words, awkward pencil grip, trouble following multiple
directions, confusing mathematical symbols & numbers, emotional
& social issues, not following social rules.
How to deal:
1. individual needs
Customized special education program to address individual
needs.
Students with special need receives varying degrees of
support based on individual need
Special education program need to be individualized
2. special school

Specifically designed, stafed, & resourced to provide

appropriate special education
Provide individualized education, addressing specific needs.
Low student to teacher ratio
Have facilities to cater the students need
Special classroom / self- contained classroom: for mainstream
school, separate classroom dedicated solely to educate
students with special need, stafed by trained teacher,

3. instructional strategy
Are classified as being accommodations or modifications
Accommodations: reasonable adjustment to teach practices
so that the students learn the same materials but in a more
accessible format. Eg: change of the presentation, response,
setting or schedule. (eg: use large print textbook for visual
impairments)
Modification: changes or adapt the materials to make it
simpler. Eg: change what is learned, difficulties of the
materials, level of mastery.