What Is Curriculum?

January 25, 2008

Curriculum is literally "the course to be run" but in the sense that a school can use curriculum for student learning, it is more the courses, which include coursework and co-curricular activities that promote student learning and are derived out of a school's mission.

Wiggins and McTighe cite that curriculum is the long-term educational goals that come out of the school's mission for every learner within specific content areas. The core content standards are just codes to work around, and the curriculum is the actual architecture of the content understanding.

Thus there are larger educational goals that are not addressed if the "textbook is the de facto curriculum and coverage is the de facto goal." In fact, Wiggins and McTighe argue that this is merely a list of "stuff" and not curriculum and this all too common way of conceiving curriculum is fundamentally flawed.

Wiggins and McTighe state clearly that "a curriculum is not a list of places to visit, but an engaging and effective itinerary."

Thus curriculum is a plan for understanding content, not just how to teach it.

Design

If the curriculum should be designed backwards from the mission, then the stakeholders that should be designing the curriculum should come from different areas of the educational community. Both teachers, administrators, supervisors and also community voices should be included in the curriculum designing process.

The curriculum should achieve long term goals that help students achieve applicable skills in the world and not just memorization of facts and lists.

Therefore curriculum writing and design can't be done in a bubble.

Control

Control of curriculum development should more closely be tied to feedback of curriculum design. Wiggins and McTighe cite Thomas Gilbert and the fact that feedback is rarely used to adapt and adjust written curriculum. They go on to state that in other endeavors this is not the case, such as in sports. That the best game plan sometimes does not provide the best results, and thus during the game it has to be adjusted based on visible results happening on the field of play.

Thus Wiggins and McTighe argue that curriculum also must adapt to the achievement of students in the classroom. The classroom being like the playing field and the students like the players in the game. If one plan isn't working, adapt a new plan that will achieve the results that are intended.

It must all go back to the long range educational goals that are derived from the mission of the school, so that there is a framework to work from and not a haphazard collection of lists and events to memorize.

The control therefore lies in the teachers and administrators hands to effectively give feedback and monitor the progress of student achievement relative to the curriculum.