1.

0 Introduction

Curriculum has been defined in several ways by several authorities in education. Potham &

Baker (2009) defined curriculum as all planned learning outcomes for which the school is

responsible ...curriculum refers to the desired consequences of instructions.

To Tyler, (1957) Curriculum is all of the learning of students which is planned and directed

by the school to attain its educational goals. This definition does not include all the

experiences of the child that is not planned which is not facilitated by the school.

Tanner and Tanner (1995) also agree with Ronald Doll (`1978) when they defined curriculum

as a plan or programme of all experiences which learner encounters under the direction of a

school.

Gattawa (1990) also echoes the same thing when he defined curriculum as the ``totality of the

experiences of children for which schools are responsible ``. in view of all the above

definitions giving to curriculum, it is therefore prudent to say that curriculum should always

include all the experiences of the child whether planned or unplanned. The above definition

also suggests that the child could gain experiences from outside the school environment.

All curriculums have their purpose, content, methods or learning experiences and evaluation.

There are two curriculum designs. The basic driving force is the needs, conditions, problems

and aspiration of the society or nation. The centralized curriculum is the the curriculum

design whereby the decisions pertaining to the content, planning process and its

implementation process is taken by a central national office , usually the ministry of

education.
Marsh and Stafford (1998) cited in Chapman & Dunstan (1990) observed that centralization

will depend on components such as; school organization, curriculum and teaching methods,

examinations and supervision, teacher recruitment and compensation, school construction

and finance. Nagel (1977) asserts that a centralized curriculum system is one in which the

central or national government plays a dominant, perhaps exclusive policy role.

1.2 Characteristics of the Centralized Curriculum Design

With the aim of achieving national goals, decision on what is to be learnt i.e. the subject

content is taken at the national level. In this system the ideals of the nation and its

philosophies are inculcated and a well structured syllabus is produced to be used in the

schools.

The centralized system of curriculum design is noted as one which has a uniform mode of

certifying the learners. This certification process is determined and controlled at the national

level. In Ghana and other countries in the sub-region such as Zimbabwe, parastastals are

contracted by the Ministry of Education to award certificates to students based on set criteria.

Another characteristic of this system is that all textbooks which would be used in the schools

are checked by the Ministry of Education through the Curriculum, Research and

Development Division (CRDD) if they are in compliance with the national syllabus before

they are approved to be used.

Although, decision is taken at the national level, there are various curriculum development

teams who work in hierarchical order. The curriculum development in Zimbabwe the various

teams run from the school level, cluster, district, regional and finally to the national level,

whereas in Ghana the curriculum teams ranges from the district level, regional level, then
national level (I), national level (ii) and finally national level (iii). The two patterns described

above are diagrammatically presented below.

In order assess the curriculum implementation process, various inspectorate teams are set by

the Ministry of Education to assess and monitor all activities taking place in the schools

nationally. In Ghana some of these monitoring teams include; District Education Oversight

Committees (DEOC), District Teacher Support Team (DTST), District Director of Education

(DDE) inspectorate team, National Inspectorate Boar d (NIB), Circuit Supervisors (CS) and

so on.

Traditionally subjects offered under this system are centrally based. In this case individual

schools have lean chance of choosing from a given set of subjects. This, however, does not

suggest that the various schools decide entirely what they would offer. It only means that the

schools would have to select automatically the core subjects, but are allowed to choose some

of the elective subjects out of the given list of subjects. For example a technical school can

decide to offer science based courses such as physics, chemistry and biology whilst a

vocational school would decide to offer courses in visual arts and home economics.

With respect to the design and implementation of a centralized curriculum, it takes a much

longer time due to the bureaucracies in the system. Here, before decision reaches the topmost

level for final approval, it might have spent some years at the various lower levels.

Another important feature of this system is that various evaluative instrument are prescribed

by the Ministry of Education. In Ghana for example evaluating students based on the content

of the subjects taught in the schools is executed by the West Africa Examination Council

(WAEC). This body administers standardized exams which would be taken by all students

offering the same course in the nation. All rules and regulations concerning these

examinations are prescribed by the same assessing body.

It is worth noting to know that the entry requirement for accessing a school under the

centralized system is the same for all students, irrespective of where one is coming from in

the country. These requirements are prescribed and documented by the Ministry of Education

and circulated to all schools. This would include an acceptable grade point, number of

subjects one is required to pass whether core or elective.

1.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DECENTRALZED CURRICULUM SYSTEM

One distinctive feature of the non-centralized pattern curriculum design is that though

subjects studied in the various schools could be the same, the content may vary from school

to school, district to district and in other big countries, state to state as in Nigeria. This means

that students could all be offering say Agriculture Science in all the schools, but the content

could be different. For example, whereas emphasis would be placed on fishing activities in

the curriculum of the students in coastal areas, crop farming would be emphasized in the

forest zones. After all the traditional function of education is the transmission of the culture of

the people which include the food they eat, their occupation, festivals, songs and so on.

Fundamentally, it is the local communities who initiate the necessary changes and inputs into

the curriculum design of the non-centralized system. They advocate for a curriculum which

would suit their needs and aspirations and since every community or district has its own

peculiar needs, hence the difference in the content of the curriculum.

Owing to the fact that differences may exist I terms of content or subject matter ranging from

community to community, district to district or state to state, syllabus also differ likewise. In

this case, each community, district or state would have its own approved syllabus.

Furthermore, under this curriculum pattern, evaluation and assessment differs from one place

to another. Since each school, district or state has its own syllabus; it is only prudent to assess
the performance of students based on the content in the particular that was used in the

teaching and learning process.

Unlike the centralized system, very few people are involved in designing a non-centralized

curriculum, as a result the design process and its implementation is very fast.

Under this system there is a close collaboration between teachers, parents and interest groups

in the community and they decide what should constitute the body of knowledge that

included in the curriculum based on their needs and aspirations.

Additionally, all teaching and learning materials such as syllabus and textbooks are produced

locally therefore production is very fast and the schools get to use the materials at the

appropriate time.

Consequently, implementation of the non-centralized curriculum pattern is easy and quick

owing to the fact that bureaucracy is reduced to the barest minimum.

1.3 ADVANTAGES OF THE CENTRALIZED CURRICULUM DESIGN

It is an undeniable fact that in the centralized curriculum design achieving the national goals

is very easy. During the design of this type of curriculum, the developers make sure that the

national aims or developmental agenda embedded. Since this curriculum is used by all

schools in the nation, these ideologies are transferred to the learners quickly, easily and

equitably. Learning has been defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior, therefore

if learning takes place in the students; it means their mind would be tilted to the aims and

ideologies of the nation.

It is quite obvious that the production of teaching and learning materials would be less

expensive due to the mass production, since the more you produce the less the cost or the

cheaper it would be with respect to cost per unit.

One other advantage of this system is the flexibility it has in terms of transferring a student

from one school to another. Usually government workers such as teachers, police officers

would have to be transferred from one district to another or even on regional basis. In this

case their children would have to leave their school and enroll in a school in their new

destination. Since all the schools use the same syllabus, textbooks, etc, they are easily

absorbed in the new area without any hindrance at all.

Under this curriculum pattern admission requirements into secondary and tertiary institutions

are the same everywhere. As result of this accessibility becomes very easy because there are

no barriers regarding the authenticity of certificates. Here students have the opportunity to

access any school of their choice provided they meet the admission criteria of the institution.

With respect to circulation of information to the various institutions, it is very reliable, fast

and efficient since it is controlled by the Ministry of Education which is well resourced and

has the capacity to carry out such activities. Usually information carried to the various

schools are well adhered to because it is coming from a central authority.

Invariably, this pattern has a greater propensity to unite the people in the nation. For example,

Ghana is a nation of culture plurality and there is the need for the citizens to understand each

others culture to promote unity. Under this system teachers and students and school staff can

be transferred from one district or from one region to another. This brings culture bonding

and peaceful coexistence among the various ethnic groups.

Lastly, institutions usually benefit from experts who are drawn from different parts of the

country as members of staff or resource persons.

1.4 DISADVANTAGE OF THE CENTRALIZED CURRICULUM SYSTEM

Although it is said that the centralized system has the ability to achieve national goals, it is

sometimes seen to be insensitive to the needs and aspirations of some groups in the country

especially the marginalized. For instance all a community would need is to get people who

would help them with their agricultural needs but the curriculum would be doing otherwise.

In such situations the peculiar needs of such a group would be seriously undermined.

The designing process of a centralized curriculum system takes a much longer time as a result

of the bureaucratic nature of its structure. This implies that a lot of bottle necks would have to

be dealt with and removed the document progress through the various stages of the hierarchy

before a final agreement is reached at the top level. Sometimes, before textbooks, syllabuses,

curriculum change or innovations are approved of; they lose their value because they might

have been outpaced by modern trends and technology.

Creativity and innovation by teachers and other community members is simply not possible.

This type of curriculum design is so rigidly structured such that it does not give room for

creativity. In most schools in Ghana, students are to be assessed in a whole number of

subjects at the end of a specific time and therefore there is no time to spend on other

important activities which are not examinable.

Inarguably, there is always some implementation challenges with such curriculum design,

owing to the fact that the main implementers are not very much involved in the designing

process. Sometimes, they have little or no inputs and ultimately not much committed during

the implementation.

Another limitation of this system is that there are bound to be some coordination and

communication challenges when parastaltals are involved in the design of the curriculum. For

example, when West African Examination Councils involved in the evaluation process,
sometimes they would test students outside the scope of the syllabus and this will bring a

problem.

In terms of evaluation there is no equity because all students the same examination though

they are taught under different conditions. Some well endowed schools which are well

resourced sit for the same exams as their counterparts in poorly resourced schools in the

hinterlands. No flexibility or adjustment are provided to cater for students in less endowed

schools, thus they are disadvantaged.

Lastly, it has been observed that this system fails to fulfill the true traditional functions of

education, since it seeks to emphasize mainly knowledge (the cognitive) at the expense of the

affective and psychomotor skills. For example, in the African society education plays a two-

facet function which are; the transmission of African culture and the training of character.

Teachers rush the students through the syllabus so that they can pass their examinations and

obtain their certificates, thus there is little time for purely practical work.

1.5 ADVANTAGES OF THE NON-CENTRALIZED CURRICULUM DESIGN

In the first place, there is no doubt that under a non-centralized curriculum system the needs

and aspirations of the local people are met.

Usually, the local community initiates the curriculum design, the decisions and direction of

the curriculum may be heavily influenced by the communitys tradition and philosophy.

This system also creates the enabling environment for creativity and innovation on the part of

the members of the community and the teachers. Here, teachers have the free will to adapt the

curriculum to suit the peculiar needs of the students and the community.

Invariably, students usually learn what is relevant to them and the society in which they live.

This is in consonance with the idealists aim of education which states that Education should
enable the child to achieve self realization and an ultimate discipline and exaltation to life.

Dewey, like Rousseau, maintained that true education is one which is meaningful and useful

(utility) to the child today rather than tomorrow.

Usually a non-centralized pattern takes a comparatively shorter time in terms of the design

process and its final production because it does not have to go through bureaucratic stages;

hence decentralization increases the speed with which non-routine decisions are made with

which innovative technologies are introduced.

Owing to the fact that the local people were a party to the design process, their level of

commitment in terms of implementation is boosted. This stems from the fact that they do not

find it difficult or awkward to implement what they themselves have proposed.

Disparity in terms of examination is reduced since this system uses more of continuous

assessment in their grading system and also examination conducted is favourable even to

those students in the remote places since their peculiar problems are factored in when

considering the time for evaluating performance and the content of the examination

questions.

Decentralization leads to a more competitive climate. As managers are able to exercise more

autonomy, they tend to respond to problems with greater ingenuity (Gison, Ivancevich &

Donnely, 1973).

1.6 DISADVANTAGES OF THE NON-CENTRALIZED CURRICULUM SYSTEM

One major problem with the decentralized system is the difficulty of transferring students

from one school to the other. Apparently, the content of the subjects studied may vary from

district to district so it is often difficult for the smooth continuity of students academic

pursuit when their parents are transferred to another area.

There is the likelihood that the national goals may not be achieved since the local needs of

the community may be very narrow and inadequate to cover the broader perspective of the

national aims.

Furthermore, production of teaching and learning materials poses a difficulty due to the fact

that producing in small quantities may increase the cost of production in terms of unit cost

and `eventually making production expensive.

Also districts which have lower capacity in terms of funding will find it difficult to provide

teaching and learning materials for schools under it.

Another limitation of this system is the lack of adequate expertise as everything is done in the

local community. This system does not give room to involving a wide range of experts from

different regions or at the national level who usually enrich the curriculum content.

1.7 CENTRALIZATION VERSUS DECENTRALIZATION IN AFRICAN SCHOOLS.

Looking at the geographical location of schools and the fact that the teacher has some level of

independence in executing his classroom activities it would look more a decentralized system

rather than a centralized one. However, in most developing nations the education system is

structured in a hierarchy where the apex is the central government ministries where most

important decisions are taken.

Coombs, (1974) cited in Randinelli et al (1990) tried to look critically at the formal structure

and the way the system actually operates. He simply concluded that though the control over

education in many developing countries is formally centralized. Organizational chart can be

misleading. He observed that a clear disconnect between central officials and the local

schools exist since interaction between them were often sporadic visits by inspectors,
directors of education and even when the central ministry is in full control there are often

conflicts between the central ministry and the local district.

In 1987, it was recorded that in Tanzania, the central educational ministry was powerless in

controlling the expansion of private secondary schools outside the capital due to the fact that

local groups were well organized and also asserted themselves. This phenomenon was as the

result of the local people perceiving the governments inability to meet local demands.

Under the centralized system, due to the bureaucracy involved before the Education Ministry

gets the budgetary allocations, often the ministry is unable to provide equipment and

supplies. In Ghana for instance, the Ministry of Education is subject to strong external

controls like the Ministry of Finance and its subsidiary the Controller and Accountant

Generals Department (CAGD) which puts constraints on the ministrys ability to implement

changes or initiate reforms/

Nations such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Ghana are all shifting to the decentralized

system. In Columbia responsibility for primary and secondary education has been

decentralized to the department level where each department maintains a regional fund for

financing education. This enable the community to set standard of quality of their children.

Decentralization is not of course, an end in itself. Rather it is a strategy for restructuring a

school system to accomplish its goals more effectively and efficiently.

1.9 CONCLUSION
1.9 REFERNCES

Chapman D. J., & Dunstan J. F. (1990) Democracy and Bureaucracy in Public Schooling.
Psychology Press.

Dabi-Dankwa, S. N.O. (1996) Educating the African Child: A Manual for Parents and Social
Workers Book 2 Accra Step Publishers.

Donald R, W, (1989) Decentralization in Education: An Economic Perspective, Volume 143.

World Bank Publication.

Gatawa, B. S. M. (1990) The Politics of the School Curriculum: An Introduction. Harare,

Jongwe Press.

Ornstein A., Levine D. U. (2007) Cengage Leaning Business & Economics

Stuart S. N. (19997) Policy Studies Review Annual, Volume: Transaction Publishers.

Tanner, D. & Tanner, L. (1995) Curriculum Development: Theory into Practice 3rd Ed.
Englewood Cliffs. NJ: Merrhl.