CURRICULUM

IMPLEMENTATION
 SUB TOPIC

1. IMPLEMENTATION CONSISTENCY &

CURRICULUM
2. CURRICULUM IMPACT
3. CURRICULUM TAUGHT : APPROACHES / UNIT /
DAILY LESSON PLAN
4. TESTED CURRICULUM FORMAL OR INFORMAL
 Definition of Curriculum Implementation
Implementation in this context refers to how the written curriculum is presented
to students and how teaching, learning and assessment actually happen.
Education systems, schools and teachers make numerous decisions as they
translate the requirements and advice of curriculum documents into meaningful
and effective learning activities in the classroom.
Good quality curriculum content is important to good learning outcomes for
students, but this content needs to be supplemented and supported by
effective implementation.
A good quality curriculum not only prescribes what should be taught and
learned in the various subjects and grade or stage levels, but also how that
curriculum should be taught and assessed.
 Students
A good quality curriculum encourages and expects students to:
understand the purpose of classroom activities and participate actively in them;
know what they will learn and why, what the expectations of them are, and how
they will know that they have learnt well;
be open to new ideas;
be curious and willing to ask questions;
engage in assessing their own and other students learning;
as well as learning the content and associated skills, understand how they
accomplished this and try to become better learners; and
support and respect other students efforts to learn.
 Teachers
In the teaching and learning process, the other side of the coin is the teacher.
Planning and writing the curriculum are the primary roles of the teacher. A teacher
is a curriculum maker.
He/she writes curriculum daily through a lesson plan, unit plan or yearly plan.
The teachers prepare activities for the students to do.
The teacher addresses the goals, needs, interests, of the learners by creating
experiences from where the students can learn.
The teacher designs, enriches and modifies the curriculum to suit the learners
characteristics.
As a curriculum developer, teachers are part of textbooks committees, faculty
selection boards, school evaluation committee or textbook writers themselves.
 Schools & Administrators
In school organization, there is always a curriculum manager or school
administrator. In fact, for school principals, one of their functions is being a
curriculum manager.
The school administrators play an important role in shaping the school
curriculum because they are the people who are responsible in the
formulation of the schools vision, philosophy, mission and objectives.
They provide necessary leadership in evaluating teaching personnel
and school program. Keeping records of curriculum and reporting learning
outcomes are also the managers responsibilities.
The school administrators have the responsibility of running the entire
school effectively. They have to oversee the smooth transition of the
child from one grade level to another and they should see to it that the
curriculum is implemented vertically or horizontally with very minimal
overlaps.
 Parents
Effective parental involvement in school affairs may be linked to parent
educational programs which is central to high quality educational experiences
of the children.
In most schools the Parent Association is organized.
 Education systems and authorities
Supporting teachers and schools in being innovative and creative.
Education systems and authorities should support teachers and schools in their efforts to understand and
implement the curriculum. A good quality curriculum may require teaching approaches to be more
innovative.

Ensuring assessments, formative as well as summative, reflect the curriculum.

A good quality curriculum needs to be supported by appropriate methods and strategies for assessing
student achievement as defined by the curriculum.

Providing the resources and equipment necessary to implement the curriculum successfully.
To be effective and successful, a good quality curriculum requires resources and equipment. Education
authorities should ensure that these are available, and that they are distributed equitably.

Allocating time in flexible ways.

There are different approaches to specifying the time to be allocated to each subject or Learning Area.
CURRICULUM IMPACT
 CURRICULUM TAUGHT
APPROACHES / UNIT / DAILY LESSON
PLAN
To teach target skills effectively, the following teaching approaches are suggested :

(1) Modelling
Children learn by imitating other people's behaviour. Modelling therefore underlies most of the
learning activities. The teacher can either demonstrate the behaviour to be learnt or point out the
target behaviour performed by other children and encourage the children to imitate it.

(2) Task Analysis

Task analysis is a way to break down target skills into smaller steps according to the children's abilities
and learning needs. The teacher can then teach the steps in a planned sequence. Task analysis should
be used with flexibility to help the children with further difficulties in learning the planned steps. The
technique can also be applied to a blocking step to further break down the planned steps into even
smaller steps for easier learning. Once the difficulty is overcome, the original teaching steps can be
resumed until the target skill is achieved.
 CURRICULUM TAUGHT
APPROACHES / UNIT / DAILY LESSON
PLAN
To teach target skills effectively, the following teaching approaches are suggested :

(3) Chaining
This means breaking down a target skill into a series of steps to describe the action to be performed in
sequence. The sequence can be written in a forward or backward order, depending on the nature of
the target skill to be learnt. For example, most dressing and undressing skills can be taught by
chaining. The more effective approach to teach dressing skills is backward chaining because this
would ensure that the children will be able to complete the task. Forward chaining would be more
appropriate in teaching target skills such as operating a washing machine or writing ones own name.

(4) Discrimination Learning

When the target skill to be learnt involves choosing the right answer, discrimination learning is a more
effective approach. For example, a child is given several choices (including some distractors) from
which to pick out the correct answer. In this approach, it is necessary to control both the
characteristics and the number of the distractors used. At the initial stage, the difference between the
distractors and the target choice should be as great as possible and the number of distractors used
should be as small as possible. That means the strength of the distractors should be low (e.g. a circle
and a big square, then a circle and a square, and finally a circle and an eclipse). As the child begins to
master the initial step, the number of distractors used can be increased gradually.
 CURRICULUM TAUGHT
APPROACHES / UNIT / DAILY LESSON
PLAN
To teach target skills effectively, the following teaching approaches are suggested :

(5) Information Gathering

Children may sometimes lack the information required to analyse the problems they encounter. The
teacher should teach them to gather relevant information from various sources, e.g. teachers, parents,
newspapers or the library and help them develop a more objective and systematic way to deal with
problems. Activities, such as organizing a birthday party or a picnic, would help the children understand the
procedures of information gathering and its importance.

(6) Induction
This is an approach to help the children form a holistic concept from the characteristics of different things.
The children are thus trained to observe the various characteristics of things --their similarities, differences
as well as relationships and then exercise induction.
 CURRICULUM TAUGHT
APPROACHES / UNIT / DAILY LESSON PLAN
To teach target skills effectively, the following teaching approaches are suggested :

(7) Discussion
This approach is often used in group teaching. Through discussions, the children learn to look into
problems and are thus motivated to think. Through discussions, they express their own views and at the
same time listen to other children's views, so that they can review their own. The teacher needs to ensure
that each child is given equal opportunity to participate in discussions. Thus, discussions can promote
greater interaction among the children. More important still, they help the children to realise the importance
of accepting other people's views while expressing their own.

The following are ways to teach target skills :

(1) Prompting
(2) Shaping
(3) Fading
(4) Generalization
 CURRICULUM TAUGHT
APPROACHES / UNIT / DAILY LESSON PLAN
The following are important considerations in formulating teaching approaches for children :

1. Observing the childrens behaviour, planning goals and targets appropriate to their ages, levels of
development and interests and building on their areas of strength.
2. Using situations familiar to the children and those which they can experience in their everday life.
3. Using activities which are as practical as possible.
4. Making the children feel secure and willing to express themselves and giving them opportunities
to learn by doing.
5. Breaking down a task into simple steps to facilitate learning.
6. Providing the children with opportunities for direct sensory contact, for manipulating real objects
or relating learning experiences to real life situations.
7. Using various media extensively and varying the teaching approaches and techniques according
to individual learning needs.
8. Using encouragement and reward to reinforce the children's motivation to learn.
 TESTED CURRICULUM
FORMAL OR INFORMAL
The tested curriculum is the one embodied
in tests developed by the state, school system, and
teachers. The term "test" is used broadly here to
include standardized tests, competency tests, and
performance assessments.

Data that provides an analysis of students

achievements in comparison to expectations
 FORMAL AND INFORMAL ASSESSMENTS
Assessment is a vital part of curriculum design and the teaching /
learning process.
Informal testing which may take place in the classroom is designed
to give students feedback on their progress in a particular unit of
study as well as to help teachers determine whether learning is
taking place as a result of their teaching strategies.
 Formal assessment is used in reporting to parents via the
Assessment Feedback Letters (AFLs) and end of Semester
Reports.
Formal assessment can take many forms including practical
assessments, in-class tests, investigations, research
assignments/ reports and formal examinations.
 Students receive an AFL after each piece of formal assessment
in their Core Subjects.
A formal Semester Report is given after the examination
period at the end of each Semester. Students will receive
Standards Report as well as a School Report for streamed Core
Subjects.
All assessment tasks should comply with the principles of assessment:
1. Valid: Assessment should provide valid information on the actual ideas, processes and products
expected of students.

2. Educative: Assessment should make a positive contribution to the student learning process.

3. Explicit: Assessment criteria should be explicit so that students are aware of the expectations of
the assessment.These expectations should be clear and public.

4. Fair: Assessment should be fair to all students and not discriminate on grounds that may be
irrelevant to a students achievement of the outcome.

5. Comprehensive: Assessment types must be varied so that a judgement on student progress and
achievement is based on multiple kinds and sources of evidence.