My Concept of Curriculum

I posted this blog at the internal blog of UPOU when I was still taking the course EDUC103.  The original post is dated May 9, 2013  I kind of liked this post and I am sharing it to the "public" now.
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I have been teaching for almost five years now, and in the academe, the word “curriculum” gets thrown about quite loosely – curriculum this and curriculum that – and I, as a teacher, admittedly, have a limited concept of the word. I am a Business Administration graduate, and we did not have a subject on curriculum development or any subject related to teaching for that matter. At the beginning of each semester, teachers are given their subject loads. For old subjects (that is, subjects taught for years in the department), there are already ready-made syllabi and/or course outlines that the teachers follow. My previous understanding of curriculum is that it includes all the subjects that a student has to take/study in order to finish the course he/she is taking. In each particular subject, there are required topics that the student has to know. In each subject, there are also required class activities that are related to the subject. For instance, if the subject is advertising, the students have to have a workshop or a seminar on recent advertising trends.

Even though I wasn't really aware of the deeper meaning of curriculum, I knew that it involves more than just the subjects and activities that a student has to participate in. When other teachers would converse, for example, one would say, “School A has a better curriculum compared to School B”. For me, it meant that the School A must have better resources (books, computers), and a better teaching style compared to School B. In other words, resources and teaching styles are also included in the term curriculum.

Obviously, my idea on the term curriculum is very limited. Module 1 of Educ 103 enlightened me in so many ways. In the different definitions of curriculum (Page 2 of Module 1), almost all definitions of curriculum has the words experiences, events, and learning opportunities, and this, to me, sounds more interesting than my previous understanding of curriculum. When I hear the word “subject” or “classes”, I picture a classroom setting with a teacher giving a lecture, and the students taking down notes. But the words experiences, events, and learning opportunities, I picture the students immersing themselves into knowledge and actually enjoying it. In the case of business students, for instance, I picture them experiencing the real business world (like observing the activities in a department store) in order for them to learn. The UNICEF Curriculum Report Card also uses the words “what happens to students” in defining the term curriculum, which means that, again, curriculum is more of an experience rather than what is simply written on paper.

I also liked how the different “stages” of a curriculum is explained in the module. (I am not sure if the word “stages” is the appropriate term). Planned curriculum is the curriculum prepared by the school authorities (or any other higher governing body). Implemented curriculum is the curriculum that is carried out by the teacher in the classroom. Achieved curriculum is the curriculum that the students actually experience. Lastly, there's the hidden curriculum that is neither written nor planned but is practiced inside the classroom. This shows that a curriculum are not merely those written on paper, but it is active and moving – it changes as it is being planned, implemented, and achieved. Undoubtedly, this is a more interesting explanation of the term curriculum (compared to that of my understanding before).