Curriculum Development and Educational Planning
Curriculum Development and Educational Planning
This domain asks how a syllabus becomes a learner's experience, who decides, and how systems plan for teachers, buildings and money. Items target the classic curriculum models, the Ghanaian standards-based curriculum, and planning approaches.
Core rules
- Definitions: curriculum = all planned learning experiences (wider than syllabus); syllabus = content outline for one subject and level; scheme of learning = term-by-term breakdown; lesson plan = daily detail.
- Models: Tyler (objectives → selection → organisation → evaluation), Taba (inductive, teacher-driven, seven steps), Wheeler and Kerr (cyclical), Stenhouse (process model, curriculum as enquiry).
- Types: intended (official), implemented (what teachers actually do), achieved (what learners learn), hidden (values carried by routines and relationships), null (what is omitted).
- Ghana's National Pre-tertiary Curriculum Framework (NaCCA, 2018): standards-based; each subject has content standards (what learners should know and be able to do), indicators (observable milestones), exemplars (sample activities) and core competencies - critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, cultural identity and global citizenship, personal development and leadership, digital literacy.
- Planning approaches: social demand (population pressure), manpower requirement (skill needs of the economy), cost–benefit or rate-of-return, and institutional planning (school improvement plans, SWOT, the Education Strategic Plan).
Worked example
A stem gives a content standard - 'Demonstrate understanding of the water cycle' - and asks for an indicator. A usable indicator is: 'Describe the stages of the water cycle in the correct order, using a labelled diagram.' Reasoning: it is observable, measurable, uses an action verb and stays inside the standard; 'Appreciate the water cycle' fails because appreciation cannot be observed or assessed.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing curriculum with syllabus, or the hidden curriculum with the written one.
- Writing indicators with non-measurable verbs (know, understand, appreciate).
- Mixing up Tyler (objectives first) and Taba (needs diagnosis first, working inductively).
- Treating the core competencies as extra subjects rather than cross-cutting skills.