Curriculum Manual 40

EXERCISES - for selection during an introductory work-shop, etc

At this point an all-day workshop to review and apply the principles discussed so far is recommended.
The following exercises could be carried out. (A relevant Bible Study is included in Appendix J.)

A) What expectations do I bring with me to this retreat / conference / seminar / work-shop?

B) Compare 3 construction models (Modern, Traditional European, N. American), noting

the strengths and weaknesses of each.
C) Imagine…(This exercise is about the essentials of a minimum curriculum. It should be
done in pairs.)
Project yourself 10 years hence into the following fanciful “nightmare” situation:
The institution has been taken over by “baddies” and the property sold; 100 of the
most useful Library books were rescued, but nothing else.
A new Taliban government has expelled all missionaries; most went to Central Asia.
The Church leadership is in crisis and new leaders are urgently needed for a
persecuted church community dispersed into small groups.
All the teaching faculty have dispersed.
You and one colleague have got together to start a programme of training for 5 or 6
young Christians who show promise as potential local church leaders.
What would you plan to teach them and in what order?
D) You are asked to “unpack” your curriculum as it is at present and “declare” what it
contains. Do this first for the total curriculum programme (as far as you are aware of it).
Then do it again for your own subject / field of study.
Both times ask yourself these questions:
i. What kind of content does it cover? (e.g. mainly information?)
ii. Where is the training focused? (e.g. on preaching? Church roles?)
iii. What is excluded from our vision? (e.g. social issues, cultural hindrances?)
E) To what pre-determined end do we plan our teaching? What are we aiming to achieve by
our training?
F) Reflect on the benefits of studying in your field or subject. Now choose any 3 areas of
study shown on the sheet: “PURPOSEFUL STUDY: Why Study this Course?”
List in order of importance the three greatest benefits of studying these subjects.
G) Choose a level of leadership in church life, e.g. village padre, town SS superintendent, etc).
List some qualities of this properly trained church “leader” under the headings:
i. What (s)he would know:
ii. What (s)he could do:
iii. What (s)he would see (understand clearly, have insight into, be wise about):
iv. What character qualities (s)he would be showing in her life-style:
H) Apply the learning domains pyramid (knowing, doing, being, seeing) to your own
particular field + one other field of your choice.
I) How should we define or understand “curriculum construction”?
J) Looking at curriculum construction as meeting needs, whose needs might we try to meet?
Whose requirements and whose constraints need we also to consider and in what order?
Write down some specific needs under each of the headings you have made.

K) What Expectations am I taking away with me? (At the end of the workshop)
Curriculum Manual 41

CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION
based on EXTERNAL NEEDS and REQUIREMENTS

Once the principles upon which the curriculum should be constructed have been
agreed, and the approach decided, the next stage is to work through the following steps to
produce a working timetable. This should provide a weekly framework for teaching all that
needs to be learnt while truly reflecting the ethos, or principles, of the curriculum. This process
involves the following general stages:

STAGE 1. Listing the needs and requirements to be met by the training programme,
and its constraints.
STAGE 2. Identifying the subjects to be taught that will relate to these needs.
Reference to the Classification list may help here as menu from which to select topics,
but it should not be considered as a model of what ought to be included.

STAGE 3. Evolving a timetable to provide a structured framework for teaching.

This includes first allocating credit hours (i.e. an appropriate weight to each subject)
in order to achieve a balance in the over-all teaching or training.)

These stages may be reached by taking the following steps:

(STAGE 1)
STEP 1. Make a list of as many “interested parties” as come to mind when you ask yourself:
“For whose benefit is this curriculum being created?”
Consider whose needs and what kind of requirements you are trying to meet,
and whether there are any groups involved that would place constraints on
what you are might be able to teach.
STEP 2. Now list all the needs, requirements or constraints of each of these groups.

These two steps combined might result in something like this:

God’s
Student’s Requirements
Needs 1.
World’s
Church’s 1. 2.
Needs Faculty’s
Needs 2. 3. etc
1. Constra
1. 3. etc
2. ints
2. 3. etc 1.
3. etc
2.
3. etc
STEP 3. Place these groups in order of priority.

STEP 4. The next step attempts to sort out what is appropriate to teach at various educational
levels –
Certificate (facts, examples),
Diploma (interpretations of a text, Biblical studies),
Degree (concepts, theories, evaluations)

Identify for each “need” the appropriate level of learning.

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STEP 5. List, under the headings of the four learning domains, the learning objectives that
may be expected to meet each of the needs listed above. This is a brainstorming
exercise where the following key questions should be answered:

• What information needs to be “known”?

• What skills need to be learnt? (how to “do” things)
• What attitudes need to be adopted? (how to “be” a better person)
• What insights need to be gained? (for greater “understanding” of design and
purpose)

To meet this need, (e.g. God’s R. No. 1) what does the student need to KNOW?
i.e. 1.
2. To meet this need, what does the student need to be able to DO?
3. etc1.
2. To meet this need, what does the student need to BE? (Character,
3. etcattitude)
1. To meet this need, what does the student need to SEE? (Understand)
2. 1.
3. etc2.
3. etc

(STAGE 2)
STEP 6. Identify the subjects or topics to be taught in order to achieve these objectives.
Add in any additional subjects suggested by scanning the CLASSIFICATION list.
Consider why they should be added. (What needs do they meet?)
Check whether or not each of the four learning domains is represented adequately.
Finally ask: is anything missed out that is significant or important for a balanced
coverage of this area of learning?

STEP 7. Decide the method to be used to teach each subject.

For each subject that is listed, it is necessary to decide upon
either:
A course subject under which this learning objective can be achieved
through classes or personal study.
or:
A practical work assignment where training can be provided.

Course Subject Practical Work

Either: to be studied / taught Or: to provide experience / training
by means of……… through doing…
(lectures, (field-work in…,
reading, project, etc)
research, .
etc)
Note the need to decide the method of learning as well as the content.
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STEP 8. Group all subjects, with their learning objectives attached, under Course
headings.

STEP 9. [optional] Decide where subjects from different departments / domains could be
integrated. (See Appendix F)
Note: This is a big and important area of planning. It should only be attempted when there
is sufficient time, experience and commitment to do the work of integration carefully.
Otherwise natural over-lapping of subjects may be a more practical option.

STEP 10. Decide what programmes leading to student accreditation to offer (e.g.
Diploma,
B.Th., M.Div., etc.).

(STAGE 3)
STEP 11. Allocate credit hours.
Note: A Credit Hour usually = 1 classroom period per week per 10- or 12- week
term,
I.e. 10 or 12 classroom “hours”
(Note: an “hour” sometimes means only 45 minutes!).

Decide A) how many credit hours would seem appropriate for each course in theory.
Evaluate the weighting given to each subject in the context of the total
curriculum being planned.
Decide where “balance” means equal proportion
and where appropriate proportion.
Ask: Is the time spent on each subject proportionate to its significance?
B) how many credit hours in total to expect of each programme.

C) how, in practice, to allocate credit hours to each course.

STEP 12. Evolve a Timetable

Use the “Three Year Plan” curriculum chart to plot the curriculum so produced. (See
Appendix C.) If there is not enough room for everything in the timetable it may be
necessary to do some more pruning. The question then is: which are the subjects that
do least to further the objectives of this programme of training? These must go!

Read off from the “Three Year Plan” the subjects noted and plot them onto the “Time-
table sheet.

Revise the “Credit Hours” allocation to ensure that the number of classroom periods is
realistic for both student and teacher.

This raises the question: how many class periods should students be expected to sit
through?
30 x 45 minute periods per week? (Too “heavy”?)…
Or only 10 x 1 hour periods per week? (Too “light”?)
Curriculum Manual 44

REFORM, NOT REVOLUTION!

Change is always threatening. New ideas introduced in a rush often fail, especially if they are
not properly absorbed and digested. Old ways generally contain some merit and they have the
advantage of being tried, familiar and understood! For these reasons it is best to progress
slowly rather than swiftly, allowing everyone time to reflect on what is happening during
change and to adjust at their own pace.

What has been set out in the preceding pages represents an approach that is closer to an ideal
than to what can be realistically achieved at a first attempt, given the pressures of time, the
probable lack of sufficient teachers and just the urgency of the need “to teach the next class”.

So at the first attempt at revising a Curriculum it may be best simply to select from many
possibilities (as shown on the CLASSIFICATION list) and then prioritise, selecting only the
most important subjects (see Appendix B). In making such a selection the four Learning
Domains should also be checked to assess what kind of balance is being achieved by the
suggested reforms.

Another way of developing a preliminary curriculum that is also subject-orientated is to take

one course subject at a time – take an essential subject – and construct from the
CLASSIFICATION “menu” a preliminary course made up of the elements you decide to
include from this list. Against each item you have selected write an educational objective.
(For an example taken from the section on Discipleship see Appendix E.) Bearing in mind the
limitations of a purely subject-orientated course, the resulting course must be thought of as
purely a preliminary start.

A later revision, say after three years of using the earlier attempt, might include additional felt
needs (identified through reflective research and expressed by formulating specific
measurable objectives) and again prioritise. In this selection more attention will be made to
the needs of the student, of the work for which (s)he is being trained, of the church, of the
community, of the nation, and even of the world (e.g. ecology).

Ultimately it may prove possible to construct a Curriculum that begins in each learning
domain with key objectives relating directly to the issues of Christ’s Kingdom. These learning
objectives would address first those issues that affect the honour of God’s name, and then
secondly the human needs of a fallen world, whether of the individual before redemption or of
the redeemed body of Christ visibly manifest in the Christian community. Such a Curriculum
would be need-related and integrated rather than degree-driven and departmental.

In the meantime let us all, students, teachers and leaders alike, “run with resolution the race
which lies ahead of us, our eyes fixed on Jesus” who is our model, mentor and teacher in
working out our programmes in the complex but crucial process of Theological Education.