Course of: Secondary School curriculum & instruction

Course code:-PGDT-413

By:-Tekalign Asrat Tuji

August 2021
 Outlines of the course:

1. Concept and Nature of Curriculum

2. Steps in the Process of Curriculum Development
3. Model in Curriculum Development
4. Trends of Curriculum in Ethiopia
5. Concept of Education
6. Principles, Methods and Techniques of Teaching
7. Planning lessons, Organization & Classroom Management
 UNIT ONE
CONCEPT AND NATURE OF CURRICULUM
1.1. Nature and Meaning of Curriculum

The word curriculum has been defined and described by different

theorists in their own way.
Thus, there is no one definition that is absolutely perfect or exclusive.
Conceptual meaning of Curriculum
Literal meaning of curriculum is derived from Latin word (currer)
meaning a chariot race, run way or path, laid way. I.e. laid to reach
the goal.
It is the sum total of all good learning experiences that scholars have
in order to achieve goals of education which determine the direction of
1
 Definitions of Curriculum

Cunningham states that, curriculum is a tool in the hands of the artist

(teacher) to mold his material (student) in his studio (school).
Ralph Taylor & Hilda Taba also states, it is a plan for action or a
written document that includes strategies for achieving desired goals or
ends.
It is an organized set of formal education and/or training intentions
(David Pratt)

2
 Nature of Curriculum

Curriculum can be considered as:

1. Content/subject matter: Curriculum was nothing but the different
subjects taught in schools.
Greeks considered curriculum as liberal arts. i.e. trivium (grammar,
rhetoric& logic) & aquarium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy& music).
2. Program of planned activities: It can be the overall activities of
planned by teacher as to how to teach, what to teach, how to motivate,
what devises are required to draw their attention, and so on.
3. Intended learning outcomes: Jobson (1977) and Posner (1982)
contended that curriculum as the intended learning outcomes.
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 Nature of Curriculum
Continued… Curriculum can be considered as:
4. Cultural reproduction: Curriculum is the reflection of culture of a
particular society. Concepts will be incorporated with the curriculum,
which in turn reflects their belief and all cultural aspects
5. As experience: Dewey says that curriculum as a single experience,
which is a continuum of means and ends and also he says that these two
are inseparable.
6. Discrete tasks and concepts: This can be related to training or
industry where individual gets exposed to different tasks to master over
the task and attain the concepts.
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 Nature of Curriculum
Continued… Curriculum can be considered as:
7. Agenda for social reconstruction: Dewey says that schools should
provide an agenda of knowledge which guides students to enrich society
and the cultural institutions, beliefs and activates that support it.
8. As currer: An individual gets in to his own entire past events,
recollects, and tries to reconstruct his own fixture.

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 Definition based on the functions of school

Subject oriented-educators: curriculum is a set of school-subjects to

be taught by teachers and learnt by students to promote intellectual
capacity.
 Function of the school is to cultivate mind, to promote intellect.

Objective-oriented-educators: curriculum is a series of structured

learning outcomes to be attained by learners through instruction.
 Function of the school is to bring about behavioral changes.

Experience-oriented-educators: curriculum is the sum total of

planned effort of school (to provide students theoretical and practical
experiences and activities both inside and outside school),
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 Continued…Definition based on the functions of school

 Everything planed by educational institution.

 Function of the school is enhancing the production of skilled man
power (through the provision of different experiences).
Child-centered-educators: curriculum is what can effectively engage
in the mind of children.
 Function of the school is helping children promote thoughts and
beliefs, hopes, choices, feelings and wishes.

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 Generally, Definition based on the functions of school
Educators Functions of the School Definition

Subject Oriented To cultivate mind Curriculum is a set of school-

To promote intellect subjects to be taught by teachers and
learnt by students to promote
intellectual capacity.

Objective-oriented To bring about behavioral Curriculum is a series of structured

Changes learning outcomes to be attained by
learners through instruction

Experience-oriented Enhancing the production of Curriculum is the sum total of

skilled manpower (through planned effort of school (to provide
the provision of different students with theoretical and practical
experiences) experiences and activities both inside
and outside school), everything
planed by educational institution

Child-centered Helping children Promote Curriculum is what can effectively

thoughts and beliefs, hopes, engage the mind of children
choices, feelings and
wishes
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 Reasons for complexity of define curriculum/challenges

1. External boundaries: interrelation with other disciplines.

 It borrows idea from other fields, there is almost no field which has no
relation with curriculum.
 Curriculum knowledge is so diffused in several sources, and it is
elusive.

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 Layers of Curriculum
 Frazee and Rudnitski (1995) suggest that our definition of curriculum
should at least four layers:
(1) Intended curriculum, (3) Hidden curriculum, and
(2) Expressed curriculum, (4) Experienced curriculum.
1. Intended (planed) curriculum:- it is the written curriculum
document.
 On societal level it can be national curriculum or regional syllabus.
 At local level, it can be school district's curriculum guide, textbook
or even teacher's plan.
 It is what is intended to be taught, how it is intended to be done, and
under what intended circumstances.
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 Continued…Layers of Curriculum

 The intended curriculum is rarely followed exactly by the teacher.

 The teacher adds personal style, best experiences, tried methods and
personal stories.
2. Expressed Curriculum:- It has been called the enacted or manifested
curriculum elsewhere (Erikson & Shultz, 1992).
 We use the term expressed because we feel that teachers express
themselves through the enactment of the curriculum in their teaching.
 The teacher who has a good sense of humor will make jocks, while
the teacher who chronically barks orders will express the intended
curriculum in just that manner
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 Continued…Layers of Curriculum
 Each classroom is microscopic version of society, since the teacher’s
philosophy is extremely important.
 Thus, the word expressed” curriculum” gives personal meaning to the
articulation of curriculum.
3. Hidden Curriculum:- it is a side effect of the planned curriculum,
cannot be ignored during implementation and evaluation.
 Phillip Jackson (1968) first coined the term “hidden curriculum” in his
book “Life in the classroom”.
 He is used the term to indicate that the social requirements of
learning at school are often hidden but are extremely important.
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 Continued…Layers of Curriculum

 According to Seddon (1983), hidden curriculum involves the learning

of attitudes, norms, beliefs, values and assumptions often expressed as
rules, ritual and regulations.
They are rarely questioned and are just taken for decided, and any
curriculum should include these aspects of instruction.
Hidden curriculum is the curriculum that is unobserved taught by the
interactions of the teachers with the students.
 These interactions teach students just as much as the intended
curriculum intended to teach, and some of these hidden lessons may
have more long-lasting and universal effects.
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 Continued…Layers of Curriculum

Students experience of the hidden curriculum throughout the day in all

their interactions and relationships in the school.
Thus the experienced (practiced) curriculum is the sum total of the
intended, expressed, and hidden curricula, and is different for each and
every student.
 Students bring their own personalities, background knowledge and
belongings to every learning experience.
 Each interprets the other layer of the curriculum in a very personal
way

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 Continued…Layers of Curriculum
 The expressed curriculum/the received curriculum/, what students
learn? considered as the interest of the learner.
 The hidden curriculum were all hidden messages which students
might receive from their experiences of the school.
NB. The intended (planed) curriculum is almost the same as across
different institutions of the same level.

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 1.1.2. Scope of Curriculum
 Beauchamp (1974) divided curriculum knowledge in to planning,
implementation and evaluation.
 Sequel also (1966) pointed out that curriculum movement was
characterized by four persistent and significant problems.
 These are:
1. The nature of knowledge
2. The nature of knowing
3. The domain and limits of the new specially (that is curriculum) and
4. The translation of curriculum principles and theories into educational
practice
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 Continued… Scope of Curriculum
 H.Caswell (1966) identifies three problems of central concern to
most of the curriculum movement:
1. The creation of a constant relationship between goals on the one
hand and specific objectives to guide teaching on the other
hand
2. The assurance of sound sequence or continuity in curriculum &
3. The delivery of balance in the curriculum
 In general curriculum viewed as field of study comprising its
own foundations and domain of knowledge as well as its own
research theory and principles.
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 1.1.3. Curriculum as a discipline
 Curriculum is a discipline, because it fulfill the following characteristics.
 Olive F.P (1997) suggests the following characteristics of a discipline

A) Principles:- the field of curriculum has developed a significant set of

principles, like Balance in curriculum, Sequencing of courses, Continuity of
ideas, Behavioral objectives, Chronological approaches.
B) Knowledge and Skill:- The field of curriculum has adapted and borrowed
subject matter from a number of disciplines.
 Organization of curriculum depends upon knowledge from organizational
theory and management which are aspects of administration.
C) Theoreticians and practitioners: A discipline has its theoreticians and its
practitioners/curriculum planers, consultants, coordinators.
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 1.1.4 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CURRICULUM

 Origin of Curriculum as a field of Study

 Johann Frederick Herbert (1776-1841), psychologist made many
contributions for the foundation of curriculum.
 Curriculum field had its own roots in the Herbertians movement of the late
19 century.
 The period from 1900 to 1920 was one of considerable ferment in educational
ideas.
 John Dewey (1859-1952) has exerted a wide influence on educational theory
and practice through his writings, teaching and experimental school that he
established at the University of Chicago in 1896.
 Bobbitt published "the curriculum" in 1918.
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 Continiued...

 The 1920 are usually regarded as formative years of the curriculum field ,
Ohio State University published "curriculum construction in 1923.
 In 1926 National society for the study of education (NSSE) published as its
Twenty-sixth year book a two volume work entitled "The foundation and
Technique of curriculum construction".
 In 1922, Denver launched a "system wide curriculum improvement project",
and in 1923.
 The 1930s Colleges and schools of education, recognizing the significance of
curriculum study of education, founded departments of curriculum.
 In 1938 the first department of curriculum and teaching was established at
teacher's college, Columbia University.
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 Continiued...

 Years of Hiatus (Pause) of the curriculum field

 The quarter-century from 1926-1949, when Ralph Tyler published "Basic
principles of curriculum and instruction", were dry years for curriculum
design.
 The Renaissance of Curriculum Design
 Teachers college of Columbia University established as a Department of
Curriculum and teaching in 1938.
 Ralph Tyler 1949 published a book entitled basic principles of curriculum
and instruction.

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 Continiued...

 Major textbook on curriculum appeared over the next decade.

 Those by Smith, Stanley, and Shores (1957) and Taba (1962) became models.
 The maturation period of the field
 Major advances (progress) were made in the 1970s in the fields of
curriculum.
 Major corporations became involved in curriculum projects.
 Linkages were formed between curriculum in the schools and programs in
other sectors (industry, business, army, etc) the field also began to develop an
international character.

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 Continiued...

 International instructions such as the organization for economics

 By the end of the 1970s it was possible to say that curriculum design was at
least on the beginning of emerging as applied science (the goal sought by
NSSE E Schwab).

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 1.3. Foundations of Curriculum
 Curriculum foundations are those basic forces that influence and stages in
the content and organization of curriculum components.
 Most commonly accepted foundations of curriculums include, the following
areas:
1. Philosophy of Education
2. Theory of Learning (psychological) Foundation
3. Society and Culture (Sociological) Foundation
1. philosophical foundation of curriculum:
What is philosophy?
 Philosophy is a search for comprehensive view of natures.
 It is an attempt to universal explanation of the nature of things.
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 Continiued....Foundations of Curriculum
 Philosophy is an important foundation of curriculum because it

influences its goals, aims and contents, as well as the organization of

its curriculum.
 Philosophy deals with values in life and education tells us have these
values can be realized

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 Continiued....Foundations of Curriculum
Types of philosophy
1. Social Philosophies
1.1. Idealism:
1. Reality:-Spiritual, Moral, or mental, unchanging
2. Knowledge-Rethinking latent ideas. Value-Absolute & eternal
3. Teacher's role:-To bring dormant knowledge & ideas to
consciousness to be a moral & spiritual leader --directive role.
4. Learning Emphasis on:-Recalling knowledge and ideas abstract
thinking as the highest form.
5. Curriculum emphasis on:-knowledge based, Subject based ,Classics
or liberal art hierarchy Philosophy, theology & mathematics are most
important
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 1.2. Realism

1. Reality:- Based on natural laws objective and composed of matters

2. Knowledge:- Consisting of sensation and abstraction
3. Value:- Absolute and eternal based on natures laws
4. Teacher's role:- To bring latent knowledge & ideas to
consciousness to be a moral & spiritual leader, Directive role.
5. Emphasis on Learning:- Exercising the mind logical and abstract
thinking are highest form
6. Emphasis on Curriculum:- Knowledge based, subject based arts
and sciences, hierarchy of Subjects, humanistic and scientific
subjects.
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 1.3. Pragmatism (practicality)

1. Reality:- Interaction of individual with Environment always changing

2. Knowledge: Based on experience use of scientific methods
3. Value: Situational and relative, subject to change and verification
4. Teacher's role: To cultivate critical thinking and scientific Processes Non
directive role facilitating conditions not to transmit information because
knowledge is moral of natural
5. Emphasis on Learning: Methods for dealing with changing environment
and scientific explanations
6. Emphasis on Curriculum: No permanent knowledge or subjects
Appropriate experiences mat transmit culture and prepare individual for
change, problem solving topic.
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 1.4. Existentialism
1. Reality:- Subjective (reality is personal) & multiple
2. Knowledge:- Knowledge for personal choice
3. Value- Freely chosen, based on individuals perception & human will
4. Teacher's role:-To cultivate personal choice and individual self definition
opposite thinkers rather than unbiased or Convergent thinker to make a
whole man
5. Emphasis on Learning:-Knowledge and principles of the human
condition acts of choice making.
6. Emphasis on Curriculum:- Choices in subject matter electives, emotional
a esthetic and philosophical subjects Self expressive activities and
experimentation
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 2. Educational Philosophies

2.1. Perennialism
1. Philosophical Base:-Realism

2. Aim of education:-To educate the rational person, to cultivate, the

intellect
3. Knowledge:-Focus on past and permanent studies mastery of facts and
timeless knowledge
4. Role of education:- Teacher helps students think on rationally: based on
Socratic method oral exposition, explicit teaching of traditional values
5. Curriculum focus:-Classical subjects literary analysis constant
curriculum
6. Related curriculum Trends:-Great books 30
 2.2. Essentialism

1. Philosophical Base:-Idealism, realism

2. Aim of education:-To promote the intellectual growth and the

individual to educate the competent person
3. Knowledge:-Essential skills and academic subjects mastery of
concepts and principles of subject matter
4. Role of education:-Teachers authority in his or her subject field
explicit teaching of traditional values
5. Curriculum focus:-Essential skills (three Rs) and essential subjects
(English, science, History, math's and foreign language)
6. Related curriculum Trends:-Back to basics cultural literacy
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 2. 3. Progressivism
1. Philosophical Base:-Pragmatism
2. Aim of education:-To promote democratic, social living
3. Knowledge- focus on active relevant learning
4. Role of education:-Teacher is guide for problem solving and
scientific inquiry
5. Curriculum focus:-based on students interests involve the
application of human problem and inter-disciplinary subject matter
activities and projects
6. Related curriculum Trends:-Relevant curriculum humanistic
education radical school reform
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 4. Reconstructionism

1. Philosophical Base:-Pragmatism
2. Aim of education:-To improve and reconstruct society education for
change and social reform
3. Knowledge:-Skills & subjects needed to identify problems of society
4. Role of education:-concerned with contemporary and future society
5. Curriculum focus:-Emphasis on social sciences and social research
method examination of social economic and political problems focus
on present and future trends as well as on national and international
issues
6. Related curriculum Trends:-International education-conceptualism
equality of educations opportunity. 33
 3. The psychological foundation

 Psychology is concerned with the question of how people learn.

 What are the important of cultural experiences on students learning?
 How should curriculum be organized to enhance learning?

The descriptive analysis of psychological pioneers focused around

integrating questions such as the following
• What is knowledge?, What is education?, What is schooling?
 Learning theories may be broadly categorized into:
1. Mental discipline
2. Behavioral view of learning
3. Connectionism theory
4. Gestalt theory of learning.
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1. Mental discipline:- is a theory of learning which was also known as
faculty psychology.
 According to this theory the mind was made up of a series of
faculties, each of which was related to a particular foundation or
ability
 Learning was thought to be the exercising of various faculties
regarded as muscles, which needed exercise to grow. Memory was
one of the faculties.
 Curriculum content was often chosen on the basis of how well it
would discipline and exercise the mind rather than because of its
value in the life of the students. 35
2. Connectionism:- it is a theory of learning based on connection of the
various elements of the nervous system in causing behavior.
 Thorndike theorized, that behavior was caused by connection formulated in
the neural passage, learning was the process of formulating new or
connections.
 Thorndike formulated three laws as a part of his theory:

1. The law of effect:- it is the strengthening or weakening of a connection

based on the consequence brought about the connection
2. The law of readiness:- is an aspect of the law of effect. It has to do with
the tendency of the physiological neurons to operate or to conduct in order
for connection to be made.
3. The law of exercise:- relates to repeating or failing to repeat a connection.
36
3. Behaviorism theory:- Behavior was dealt with and explained in
terms of observable reactions.
 Learning is explained by behaviorist theory as a conditioned response.

 There is much concern for reinforcement, association, and habit

formation.
 Learning occurs when a particular response is desired and a stimulus is
found to produce it.

4.Gestalt theory of psychology:- Gestalt theory was developed as a

contrast to the over emphasis on trial and error and the lack of emphasis
on insight in behaviorism.
 It emphasis is placed upon perceiving a whole in order to understand the
importance of a specific. 37
3. Social foundation of curriculum

 Cultures affect and shape the schools and their curriculum.

 Schools, through their teaching of the curriculum can adjust the
society, and society can mold the school and its curriculum.
• Social foundation-refers to society as a foundation for curriculum.
• To be a society, a collection of people must have something in
common-culture.
• To understand the structure and function of curriculum, it is necessary
to understand: Culture, essential elements of the culture, and how the
elements are organized and interrelated.

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 Culture is the fabric of ideas, ideals/values, beliefs, skills, aesthetic objects, ways
of thinking, customs and institutions, marriage, mourning, funeral ceremony,
dressing, games, stories, heroes for worship, music, caring children and family, etc.
 Culture is dynamic as well as static. All in all, it refers to what people think, feel,
believe and do. And curriculum is always a reflection of what people think,
feel, believe and do.
 Types of cultural values
 Various cultural values which we may incorporate in the curriculum can be
categorized in to:
• Cultural Universals:- values held and appreciated by all adult members of a
society
• Cultural Specialties:- values held and appreciated by a portion of adult members
of a society. Often vocation based, e.g. customs and habits unique to farmers,
intellectuals, upper class, lower class, professional ethics, etc
• Cultural alternatives:- values held and cherished by small number of people in
39a
 Curriculum and culture:-When we intend to transform society, we have to
change curriculum.
 Culture and social institution

1. Family:- Family is the first social institution and socializing agency for
children. Hence, family influences curriculum and curriculum influences
family

2. Church and Mosque:-the history of education reveals that the church and
the mosque have long functioned as educative institutions.
 Social purposes of curriculum

 Schools are expected to play several social roles. Some of these are:

■Preservation and transmission of cultural heritages

■Transforming/improving the culture :- progressive role, democracy this to

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 Stakeholders in curriculum

 Stakeholders in curriculum can be seen from different perspective.

 First, those who may be benefited from the curriculum like students, parents

and community.

 Secondly, who are directly or indirectly involved in the process of curriculum

planning, organization, implementation and evaluation process.

 School arena participants:- Teachers, Students, principals, curriculum specialist,

education officers, supervisor, and members of school board parents.

 Out of the school /political arena:- Federal government and state government

which have great responsibilities/organization education policy and facilitating

the implementation of the already developed curriculum

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 Unit Two: Steps in the Process of Curriculum Development
2.1. Need Assessment (Diagnosis of Needs)

 Purely educational definition of need by Taba (1962) is a gap between

present status of an individual and the desirable (wanted) objectives.
 For Tyler (1949) need is the gap between the present status of the
learner and the accepted norms
1. Diagnosis of Need:- it is the first task in curriculum development. it
enable educational needs be defined and priorities set.
 Sources of information for Need of Diagnosis

1. Parents:- would tell what they aspire for their students.

2. Politically influential individuals and pressure groups.
3. Students:-
42
 Continued…
4.Teachers:-Teachers know very well about the needs, interests and
difficulties of their students.
 They are also the ones who implement the developed curriculum.

5. Academic specialists:- They are subject specialists who are experts

with higher level of training experiences in various disciplines.
6. Employers:- Different institution and organization that employ
graduate of the educational institutions have a strong interest in the type
and nature of what the students learn in schools.
7. Graduates:- Graduates are those who have undergone through the
existing educational programs.
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Pratt (1980), Oliva (1997), McNeil (1996), and Tyler (1949) consider the
following as basic sources of curriculum.
1. The need of the learner, 2. The need of the society, and 3. The need of
subject matter
Olive (1997), learner needs can be seen in two major categories.
1. Learner needs by level and Learner needs by type:
 The levels of students' needs of concern to the curriculum planner may
be identified as human, national, state or regional, community, school
and individual
• Needs of students by "Types" Four broad types of needs can be
established: 1. physical, 2. socio 3. psychological, 4. educational, and
developmental tasks.
• The need of society by Levels -We can classify the levels of needs of
society from broadest to narrowest: human, international, national, state,
community and neighborhood.
• Needs of society by Types:- The following types of societal needs has
implication for the curriculum (Political, Social, Economic, Educational,
Environmental, Defense, Health and Moral and spiritual). 44
 Methods for Obtaining Data

1. Questionnaires: A well planned and carefully prepared questionnaires can be

used in need assessment. They can be used for a wider coverage. They are less
expensive and relatively simple.
2. Interviews: Interviews help for an in depth exploration of needs.
 In fact, interviews are expensive as compared to questionnaires since it allows
encountering fewer respondents, effectiveness depends on the skills of the
interviewers.
3. Public Hearings: Public hearings are form of community meetings where by
members of the community discuss and debate about the kind of education to
be after to their children.
4. Analysis of social indicators: Social indicators are data about major issues,
concerns and problems, in the society. These are statistical evidences on
employment, consumption, health, crime and delinquency, population, social
services and other related matters.
5. Observation: Observation can be employed in order to study the behavioral
patterns of youths in different situation.
6. Documentary Analysis: Documentary analysis is a method of studying
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 2.2. Formulation of Aims, Goals and Objectives

• Educational aims:- are general and open statements made at a philosophical

level and they provide direction to more specific action designed to achieve future
product or behavior.
• Aims provide general guidelines for teacher they are not dreamy visions of a
distant sate, they can be modest or they can be ambitions.
• Educational goals:- Goals in contrast to aims, are not open statements, they are
specific statements written so that those responsible for program creation can use
them as guidelines to achieve particular purpose. Goals are derived from various
aims.
• Objective:- The objective is used in a more specified sense.

• It normally refers to an intended or pre-specified outcome of a planned program

of teaching and it is expressed in terms of what it is hoped the student will have
46
• Objectives can be general objective or specific objective (intended
learning out comes).
• General objectives are broad statements that describe what students will
be able to do after a given learning processes has been completed.
• Using general terms as usually states them:- know, understand,
comprehend, appreciate and so on. General objectives can be applied to a
specific course and formulated on a semester or annual basis.
• Specific objectives are precise statements that describe what a student
will be able to do at the end of certain instruction stated in terms of
specific and observable student performance.
• Specific objectives use action verb such as tell, write, solve, discriminate,
and use. Etc. to indicate the intended terminal behavior of students.
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 Importance of Instructional objectives

• They help teachers focus upon their real intentions.

• They provide a clear direction for teachers in terms of what is

to be taught.
• They assist teachers in selecting relevant content, methods,
assessment, and resources.
• They can be communicated easily to parents and students.
• They enable a teacher to judge the quality of his/her teaching.

• They enable a teacher to provide assessment produces which

are directly related to objectives,
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 Taxonomy of Educational Goals and Objectives

• A commonly used model or design of curriculum development is

based on taxonomy of educational objectives buy Benjamin Bloom
and a group of colleagues from the University of Chicago.
• Bloom's taxonomy presents a system for classifying educational
objectives in to three broad categories called (cognitive, affective
and psychomotor domain).
• These domains are in turn further classified into sub-categories.
• Cognitive domain is concerned with behaviors related to thinking
while the affective domain is concerned with attitudes and values and
the psychomotor domain with learned muscular response.
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 Criteria for formulating objectives

 Issues should be given due consideration in formulating educational objectives:

1. Matching (similar):-Objectives should relate to the goals and the aims from which
they are derived.
2. Worth (value):- it relates to the importance of objectives. It also relates to whether
attaining an objective has value to the student at present and in the future.
3. Wording:- Objectives should be brief and free of excessive wordiness and are easy
to understand
4.Appropriateness: educators must consider the students who are to receive
instruction and the context within which the curriculum is delivered. age,
educational background, personal needs and interests of the student must be
considered.
5. Logical grouping:- Objectives should be grouped logically so as to make sense
when units of instruction and evaluation are being determined.
6. Periodic revision:- No objective can be treated as permanent; objectives need
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 2.3. Selection of Contents and Learning Experiences

2.3.1 Contents
 Content refers to elements of information selected from the various
field of knowledge (farming, manufacturing, voting, social values
etc) and systematized to constitute educational objectives.
• It implies concepts, facts, principles, rules, skills, attitudes etc
to be learned by the learners (Derebssa, 2004).
• Content selected should contribute to the students’ knowledge or

level of understanding.

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 2.3.2. Learning experiences
• Learning experience refers to the interaction between the
learner and the external conditions in the environment to
which the learner reacts.
• It is what the students’ do that they learn, not what the
teacher does.
• The teacher can provide an educational experience
through setting up an environment and structuring the
situation so as to stimulate the desired type of reaction.

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 Relationship of Content and Experiences

• No curriculum can ignore content and experiences.

• Subject-centered design stresses content, it also considers the delivery
of the content.
• Learner-centered designs focus on the centrality of the students and
their experiences, but they too consider the experiences in relation to
content.
• In general, in reality content and experiences do not exist separately
• One could speak of effective learning only if both content and
process are fruitful (Taba, 1962).

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 2.3.3 Criteria for selection of content

Derebssa (2004) states that curriculum planners are expected to apply

the following criteria in choosing curriculum content.
1.Validity:- It refers to the authenticity (actual use) of the content
selected.
The validity of the selected contents and learning experience must also
be checked against the extent that the contents coincide with the goals
and objectives of the curriculum.
2.Comprehensiveness:- This refers to the scope of the curriculum
experiences selected.
All the objectives stated in the curriculum should have corresponding
contents or experiences. 54
3. Variety:-A wide range of objectives requires a wide range of
experiences.
 In order to satisfy different interests and realize their purposes, a wide
and varied curriculum experiences should be used.
4. Suitability (Appropriateness)-This has to do with the match between
the curriculum experiences and readiness (background) of the learner.
 In order that effective learning takes place, the learner should
psychologically, physically and socially be ready for an experience.
5. Balance of breadth and depth:- reasonable balance of breadth and
depth by selecting a sufficient range of ideas which have the greatest
applicability and the greatest power to transfer and spending enough
time on studying the ideas.
55
6. Continuity:- learning is a continuous process, as an organism
functioning as a whole.
In the progression from one idea/set of idea to another of greater
complexity, there must be some continuity in development in such a way
that the later experience bears some relation to what has gone before.
7. Relevance to life:- Educational experiences should have maximal
relation to life.
8. Interest:-content of the curriculum must be selected with the students’
interest.
 Students maturity, the prior experience and the way they are expected
to interact within society.

56
9. Utility (helpfulness):- It refers to the usefulness of the content.
content learned will enable students to use that knowledge in job
situations and other activities.
10. Learnability:-This criterion relates to the appropriate organization
and sequencing of content.
11. Feasibility:- It needs curriculum designers to consider content in
light of the time allotted the resources available, the expertise of the staff
and the nature of the political climate.

57
 2.3.4. General principles in selecting learning experiences

Derebssa (2004) presents the following principles:-

1. For a given objective to be attained, a student must have experiences that give
him opportunity to practice the kind of behavior implied by the objective.

2. The learning experiences must be the ones which enable the student to obtain
satisfactions from carrying out the kind of behavior implied by the objectives

3. The desired reactions to the learners’ experiences should be within the

possible range of students’ involved ability.

4. There are many particular contents and experiences that can be used to attain
the same educational objectives.

5. The same learning experience will usually bring about several outcomes

58
 2.4. Curriculum Organization

2.4.1. Definition of organization

• Organization in the curriculum context is the process of putting
together content and learning experiences in an orderly way that
creates coherence among these components to maximize learnings
• It is usually believed that curriculum should be organized properly in
order to meet its objectives satisfactorily.
• Some educators take curriculum organization and curriculum
design as synonymous.
• For instance, in dictionary of Education, both are defined as "the way
in which component parts of the curriculum have been arranged in
order to facilitate learning and teaching and to enable schools to
formulate feasible daily and weekly schedules".
59
 Continued…
 If contents and learning experiences are not organized,
learning becomes something done disorderly and
incidentally.
 Organization is, thus, seen as an important issue/problems
in curriculum development.

60
 Function of organization

• In order to achieve maximum results from the selected

contents and learning experiences there should be a
relationship of the experiences over time and also a
relationship from one area to another /from subject to
subject/.
• These two types of relation-ship are known as the vertical
and horizontal by the criteria of relation across subjects.

61
 2.5.3. Organizing principles
Criteria for Effective Organization

 Curriculum specialists identify four major criteria to met in

building effectively organized group of contents and
learning experience. These are:-

1. Maintaining curriculum continuity

2. Establishing sequence.

3. Establishing Integration and

4. Establishing scope.
61
1. Continuity:-
• According to olives, it is the planned repetition of content at
successive levels, each time at an increased level of complexity.
• To Tyler continuity refers to the vertical reiteration of major
curriculum elements.
• According to Taba providing for cumulative progression of
learning naturally requires that curriculum experiences be
planned so that there is an increasing complexity of material to
deal with, accompanied by a requirement for increasingly mature
mental reactions. 62
2. Sequence:- Sequence putting the content and materials in to some
sort of order of success in.
 It answers the question like ,What should determine the order of
succession ,What is to follow what? And why?, What is the most
appropriate time to acquire certain learning?
 The content sequencing is done on the basis of the subject matter logic
while the learning experiences are sequenced using psychological
approaches
Logical sequencing
• “what is to follow what?
• Logical sequencing as showed is a matter of specifying the learning
structure of any subject.
• In order to determine what comes before and what follows after by
analyzing the subject matter interims of the type of learning involved.
• Chronological principle is arranging facts and ideas in relation to time
sequence.
• E.g. the battle fields in Ethiopian history can be arranged 63in
Psychological sequencing:-
• The learning experiences are arranged based on principles of
psychological sequencing by giving more attention to the learning
activities in relation to the learner’s abilities, interest, aspirations and
background rather than the course and content coverage.
In this sequencing approach learning experiences can be arranged the
following certain organizing principles like.
• Learning should precede form simple to complex.
• Learning should proceed from concrete to abstract.
• Organize learning experience to proceed form the immediate to the
remote.
• Learning proceeds from the whole to the part.
 Planning learning sequences requires a way of organizing content as
well as learning experiences.
 Both the content and learning experiences need to be broken in to
appropriate steps so that an active understanding becomes possible .
64
Continued… Criteria for Effective Organization
3. Integration:-according to Tyler, Integration is the horizontal
relationship of curriculum experiences.
 Organization of the experiences should be such that they help the
student increasingly to get a unified view and to unity his
behavior is relation to the elements dealt with its purpose.
• Its importance emanate from the recognition that learning is
more effective when facts and principles from one field can be
related to another especially when applying knowledge.
• Integration is unification of subjects to bring about combined
learning . 65
Continued… Criteria for Effective Organization
 Similarly psychological principles are used for sequencing.

4. Establishing Scope: Scope refers to breadth or latitude of the

curriculum and it shows what must be provided to students in
different grade level is in a school.

66
 2.6 Basic Designs in Curriculum Development

 A given curriculum consists of different elements/ components.

 However, equal emphasis is not given to these elements while organizing

curriculum.
 Some emphasis content, others emphasize on learning experiences, still others
objectives and so on.
 Hence, depending on the emphasis given to each of the curriculum
components, four curriculum organization approaches/ patterns can be
discerned:
1. Subject centered/ academic scholar design
2. Social efficiency/ technological design
3. Learner -centered design and
67
 2.6.1. Academic Scholar / subject-centered design

 Gives primary importance to content rather than to the process of education

and output of education,

 Focuses on mastery of content ,

 Gives little attention/ importance to students' needs

 Emphasizes on logical organization of curriculum (rather than psychological

organization of curriculum)

 Is the most popular & widely used for e.g. in our country.
 Subject-designs:
1.1 Separate Subject Design
1.2 Discipline Design
1.3 Broad Fields Design
68
2.6.1.Separate Subject Design; The design stresses content and neglects
student's needs, interests and experiences.
 In delivering such a curriculum, teachers tend to foster students' passivity
for learning
2.6.2. Discipline Design; Evolved from the separate subject design. Focuses
on academic disciplines.
 Educators have indicated that a discipline is a specific knowledge that has
the following essential characteristics:
 A community of persons, an expression of human imagination, A domain,
a tradition, a mode of inquiry, A conceptual structure, a specialized
language, A heritage of literature, A network of communication ,
evaluative and affective stance, and an instructive community
69
2.6.3. Broad Fields Design

 Emerges as a remedy for fragmentation and departmentalization of

knowledge observed in the subject design connects the fragmentation
& compartmentalization of knowledge dissolves subject boundaries
by squeezing related subjects together.
Example: biology, chemistry and physics as natural science.
:History& geography as social studies.
 It has also the drawbacks: it has the problem of balancing breadth
and depth.

70
2.6.4. Correlation Design

• It Is in between broad fields & separate subject designs. It looks for

linkage among separate subjects to reduce fragmentation of
curriculum content.
• It favors participatory/collaborative curriculum design; it requires
teachers to plan their lessons together.
E.g. a science teacher may collaborate with a social science teacher to
write the history of some particular scientific theory.
• The drawbacks: Ensuring the collaboration among
teachers/Curricularists is difficult.

71
 2.6.2. The Social Efficiency / Scientific Instrumental or Technological Design

 Based upon technical & scientific principles, School is considered as

purposive institution.
 Practical knowledge & skills are focused, productivity, fitness to the
world of work.
 Learning is product-oriented. Hence it is objective-oriented design.

• The curriculum is developed by curriculum technologist/expert; while

students & teachers are passive in curriculum development process.
• Little consideration is given for the principles of child development
• Least emphasis on learner's affective aspects.
• But encourages conducting needs assessment.
• Emphasizes on analytical organization of curriculum.
72
• Educational purpose:-Advocators of the social efficiency ideology
conceived the task of the school to meet the needs of the society efficiently.
• Education is seen as production and learners as raw materials that would, at
the end become educated products.
• The drawbacks: Since the curriculum is designed by curriculum
developers, teachers and students do not take part their role is to bring
about pre-specified behavioral change.
• It relies on activities of adults; it makes the teaching learning process
mechanical, it emphasizes on skill and less attention is paid to the affective
domain.
• The Strengths: Need assessment, scientific procedure, Utility value of
knowledge and skills are some to mention 73
 2.6.3. The Learner- centered Design

 Gives primary emphasis to students or learning experiences rather

than to content & objectives.

 The needs & interests of learners are focused

 Emphasizes on psychological organization of curriculum (rather than

logical organization of curriculum),

 Gives emphasis to utilization of audio-visual materials: pictures,

diagrams, good lay out, etc.

 The process is more important than the outcome.

 Basis for selecting learning opportunities:

74
 Continued…The Learner- centered Design

 One way to select was identifying a concern, theme or topic such as self
judgment, and then to select procedures or exercise that appeared to be
related.
 Organization: It stresses on coherence- coherence refers to increased unity
of ideas, feelings and behaviors. In helping learners to integrate emotions,
thoughts and actions.
 Evaluation: The humanist as evaluator, emphasizes process rather than
product.
 Humanistic evaluators do, however, ask whether activities are helping
students became more open, independent human being.
 Role of the educator: The educator's role is to the educational environment
such that his/her personal resource can be tapped. 75
• Given such an environment, individuals will naturally develop into a
fully functioning person.
• Able to take self initiated actions and responsibility for these actions
and are capable of intelligent choice and self-direction furthermore,
having acquired knowledge relevant to the solutions of problems,
these persons are critical learners.
• The curriculum is organized according to the needs & interests of
learners.
• There are different types of learner- centered design are: - Child-
Centered, Experience-centered, Romantic/radical/and Humanistic
design
76
3.1.Child-Centered Design; Emphasizes felt needs & interests of the
.
child.
3.2.Experience (activity) Design; No preplanned course/ curriculum;
people learn only what they experience.
 Like the child-centered design the experience design uses the
concerns of children as the basis for organizing the work of school
/curriculum.
3.3.Romantic (Radical) Design; No curriculum development before
students enter classroom; students need more freedom, choices of
what they want to learn.
 School should only give facilities & opportunities for learning
77
3.4.Humanistic Design/Phenomenology;
 learning is the organization of parts in to a meaningful whole (Gestalt
psychology)=holistic learning,
 It Focuses on student's self concept,
 Focuses on confluence education (melding the affective with the
cognitive domains)

78
• To sum up, the child-centered and the experience- centered design
.

agree with the selection of learning experiences based on the felt

needs and interest of the child,
• On the other hand, the romantic design gives responsibility for the
student to pick and decide what he/she wants to learn.
 The Drawbacks: Available education materials may not be
appropriate since formal education has been content-centered,
 It Requires higher order skill and creativity on the part of teachers,
 May not prepare children for life adequately,
 Lacks a definitive organizational structure

79
 2.6.4. Problem-Centered Designs

 Gives primary importance to the alleviation of social problems.

Emphasizes on problems of both the individual & society
 Emphasizes on organization of curriculum based on need
assessment /identification of life problems such as health,
unemployment, production, ethics/ moral, transportation,
architecture,, communication, etc.
 Gives primary emphasis to the relevance of the curriculum.

Sub-designs:
4.1 Life situation Design:
4.2.Core Design /social -functions core
4.3 Social Problems & Reconstructions Design- 80
 Continued… Sub-designs:

4.1 Life situation Design: emphasis is given to repeatedly occurring problems

through focusing on transfer of learning to life based problems. (Learning

i.e. applicable for life). The curriculum should focus on recurring

(persistent) life problems. E.g. Health, aesthetic expression, Social

participation, natural phenomena. Focuses on problem- solving approaches

of teaching-learning. Uses student's immediate concerns, & problems of the

society

• Drawbacks: Has the problem of determining the scope & sequence

4.2.Core Design /social -functions core; Centers on general education. Subject

matter core design focuses on the common needs, problems & concerns that are

observed from the day- to – day living (common) activities of the human race.
81
 Continued…Sub-designs:

4.3 Social Problems & Reconstructions Design-

 Focuses on contemporary social problems & reconstructing the

society so as to create a more justice society, new culture.

 Focus on the development of group value, culture.

 Deemphasizes individual & personal development/ growth=school

should help the individual to develop as a social being.

 Put more emphasis on the social & cultural aspects.

 Individual growth is suppressed by group value & decisions.

82
 2.5. Curriculum Implementation, Evaluation and Change

3.1.1. Meaning and Nature of Implementation

Implementation: Is changing what has been planned into use or practice.
 This takes place at various levels (but mainly at school level)
 Changing something into some other is difficult.
 Particularly changing curriculum in to practice (implementation) is so
difficult.
• Implementation refers to the means that we use to get the curriculum to
what we want it to do (Beauchamp, 1975 cited in Hlebowitsh, 2005).
In stating the difficulty/complexity of curriculum development, scholars
argue that curriculum development is a stormy voyage. Its complexity
reaches climax at the stage of implementation. 83
• Marew (2000) asserts that most people identify the key
factors as the program being introduced, the people
involved (authorities, teachers and students) and the
organization in which they work.
• To facilitate implementation of a major change, they must
deal primarily with people, program and/or the
organization.
• Many countries have failed to implement their programs
because they ignored the people factor and spent time and
money modifying only the program or organization. 84
 2.5.2 Factors affecting curriculum implementation

• Some people identify three key factors: the program being introduced, the
people involved (authorities, teachers and students) and the organization in
which they work.
• Others identified two main concerns: the need for congruence between purpose
and action, and the need for teachers to apply what we might call sound
curriculum knowledge.
• The teacher is the only one who can transform purposes into action, so we must
be concerned about whether the teacher is doing this effectively.
• As curriculum developer, we want our curriculum to be honest to its design and
to be recognizable in practice.
• Second, irrespective of purposes, the implementation of the curriculum has to
go forward with confidence that the teacher’s selection of learning experiences
will be responsive to what is consciously rationalized as sound instructional
and pedagogical judgment.

85
Snyder cited in Hlebowitsh (2005) describes the main distinctions
between three different perspectives on implementation.
1. Fidelity approach to implementation.
 It is concerned strictly with the degree of exactness that exists between the
planned curriculum and the implemented experience.
 Those who embrace a fidelity perspective interpret any departure from the
originally planned experience without any clear justification.
2. Mutual adaptation which stands by the notion that curriculum development
is interplay between the design of the curriculum and the practice of the
curriculum.
 This perspective suggests that unplanned adjustments and changes to the
curriculum are not viewed as deficiencies rather they are helpful for the
effective implementation of the planned curriculum.
3. Curriculum enactment which represents the polar opposite of the fidelity
approach.
 It puts a great deal of priority on the classroom-based (micro-curricular)
movement in the school experience.
 In effect, teachers working with the students become the designers and the
86
 2.5. 3. Features of effective implementation

Hlebowitsh (2005) also describes five features of effective

implementation of curriculum as follows:
1. Group deliberation

• Curriculum development is a group exercise, involving

various participants who make some contributions to the
overall structure and operation of the school experience.

87
 b. I b-Service programs

• It is believed that the conventional wisdom of in-service programs is to

use them as training programs for teachers, often for the purpose of
helping to improve upon basic instructional and pedagogical skills.

• Because teachers are the main implementers of the curriculum, this is an

understandable convention.

• Teachers could be used as means for the broader improvement of the

curriculum.

• Thus we might find an in-service program functioning to identify

problems of common concern in the curriculum or supporting the
formation of groups working on particular tasks, such as identifying,
89
 C. Social and political realities

• Historical examples include the powerful influences exerted by

national events on the school curriculum.
• Cold War anxieties were dramatically sensitive with the launching or
improvement in defense-sensitive fields, including primarily the
sciences, mathematics, and foreign languages.
• Today, sociopolitical conditions continue to have their effect on
practice.
• Sometimes local political realities also affect the implementation of
the curriculum.

90
 D. Time and resources

• Teachers are busy people and they often cite shortage of time and
paucity of resources as barriers to the implementation of the
curriculum.
• Requirements to teach a certain subject obviously cannot be fulfilled
unless the school has enough available materials to meet the
requirements.
• Quality of time dedicated to teaching and learning that is most
important (Hlebowitsh, 2005).

92
 E. Setting directions and purposes

• Hlebowitsh confirms that it is important to note that the task of

setting direction and purpose in the curriculum has more to do with
just the nature of the objectives themselves.
• One crucial and often overlooked factor has to do with the ability
of the principal or the curriculum leader to solidify the school
community’s support for the mission of the school from which its
direction and purposes are set.
• The curriculum becomes a ground for problem-solution which
certainly contributes to its sense of mission and purpose.

93
 2.5.4. The meaning and nature of curriculum change

• Curriculum change can be defined as any modification in the aspects of

curriculum, educational philosophy, values, objectives, organizational
structures, teaching strategies, assessment and learning outcomes.
• The numbers of concepts related to curriculum changes are numerous.

• However, they can be grouped into two categories:

1. Those pertaining to the nature of change, and

2. Those related to the process or phases of change.

• Nature of change includes change, innovation, reform, and Movement

• process or phases of change covers development, diffusion,

dissemination, planning, adoption, implementation and evaluation.
94
 Curriculum change ;It is the most generic concept which applies to any
alterations in instruction or in the educational goal.

 Innovation’ is most frequently used to refer to specific curriculum changes.

Innovation can range from single subject changes to more comprehensive
changes.

 ‘Reform’ also relates to particular changes, but it usually concerns with more
comprehensive and fundamental curriculum change. Reform involves
restructuring of the school system, whole sale revision of the curriculum

 They are based on major value changes or redirections, and are often initiated in
the political system.

 ‘Curriculum movement’ has more of historical connotation and is used to

characterize periods of change by their main common themes.
95
 2.6.5 Processes of curriculum change

 The processes of curriculum change have been described through

three broad phases' initiation, use and assessment.
 At the initiation phase, terms like development, diffusion,
dissemination, planning and adoption can be used.
 In reference to actual use, implementation is the main concept with
distinctions between fidelity and adaptation.
• At the assessment phase, institutionalization and evaluation are most
prominent.

96
1. Initiation phase
 ‘Curriculum development’ consists of the decisions taken in the
construction of a new or revised curriculum involving its goals,
materials, instructional activities, assessment
 For more comprehensive changes, development may consist of policy
formulation, general directions, and frameworks within which any
number of curricular innovations may occur.
 ‘Diffusion’ and ‘dissemination’ refer to the spread of information
about curricular changes.
 Technically, diffusion means the natural spread of information to
ones attention for potential use.
97
2. Actual use; the attention was given to the implementation studies to
discover what was really changing in the classroom and what factors
influenced the extent of change.
3. Assessment; This is the last phase in the process of change where
questions are raised about the extent to which innovations, reforms
and so on, become embedded in the system & what consequences are.

98
 2.5.6 Factors determining curriculum change and curriculum priorities

 Curriculum change is most likely to occur when one or more of the

following conditions were exist:
1. Social and technological changes,
2. Economic changes,
3. Political changes, and
4. Fundamental changes in values and beliefs.

99
2.5.7. Kinds of Curriculum Changes:
Educators classified change into different kinds.
According to Warren Bennis as cited in Derebssa (1999) changes classified as follows:
1. Planned Change: It is a change in which those involved have equal power and
function in a prescribed curriculum.
 Planned change is taken to be an ideal change.

2. Coercion (forced): One group determining the goals and intentionally excluding
others from participating characterizes.
 In this type of change, the group power is controlled and it maintain unequal power
balance.
3. Interaction Change: In this type of change, mutual goal setting and fairly equal
power distribution among groups take place.
 Yet, those involved often lack deliberateness of effort; they are uncertain how to
99
Types of changes
John (1996) has identified five types of changes as described below:
1. Substitution:-in this type of change one element may be substituted
for another already present, for example, substituting a new textbook for
an old one. This is the easiest and most common type of change.
2. Alteration: This type of change occurs when a change is introduced
into existing materials and new content, items, materials or procedures
that appear to be only minor and thus are likely to be adopted readily.
3. Perturbations: These changes could first disrupt a program, but can
then be adjusted purposefully by the curriculum leader to the on-going
program within a fairly short time span.
100
 Continued…Types of changes
4. Restructuring: These changes lead to modification of the system
itself-that is, of the schools or school district.
 New concepts of teaching roles, such as differentiated staff or team
teaching, would be a restructuring type of change.
5. Value Orientation Change: These are shifts in the participants’
fundamental philosophies or curriculum orientations.
 When a school begins to be staffed with new teachers who value
student personal growth or social reconstruction more than academic
achievement, value orientations are changed.

101
2.5.8. Resistance to Change
 There are various factors that resist to change the curriculum.
Some of these factors are:
I. Inertia: The feeling of full of vigor among the teachers, the
administration or the community is one of the barriers to change.
Some people are opposed overload, time is allotted. little financial
incentive for accepting an innovation.
ii. Insecurity: People feel insecure about things which they are not sure
about their practical advantage. They also prefer to stay with certain
known deficiencies than uncertain new change.
iii. Rapidity of Change: people who anticipate another change in
curriculum soon may resist change.
iv. Lack of Knowledge: At times people resist change and its
implementation because of lack of information about the nature of
the new program.
V. Lack of Support: People also resist change if there is no provision of
financial or time support.
102
 2.5.9. Improving receptivity to change

• Curriculum activity involves people thinking and acting.

• Curriculum leaders are to realize that human equation is of paramount
importance and understand how people react to change.
• Curriculum implementation is also a group process involving
individuals working together.
• Curriculum leaders need to recognize that they cannot always avoid
this conflict; rather they need to manage it.

103
 Bruce Joyce has identified the following guidelines to increase
receptivity to curriculum innovations.
1. Curriculum activity must be cooperative- If any program is to be
implemented and institutionalized, it should be perceived by all parties as their
program.
 This sense of ownership is achieved by involving people directly and
indirectly with the major aspects of curriculum development and
implementation.
2. Some people like to change but some people do not like to change_-
Resistance to any new idea is often natural.
 Curriculum leaders should anticipate it, and should prepare procedures for
dealing with it.
3. Innovations are subject to change - Nothing should be viewed as
permanent.
 A new curriculum is presented as a response to a particular time and context
4. Proper timing is a key to increase people’s receptivity to an innovation -
If the school community is demanding that a new program be created to
respond to a perceived national need, then a new program addressing that
need is likely to meet with success and acceptance. 104
 2.6 Curriculum Evaluation

• Curricula have to be “evaluated” to checked the success and failure of the

educational plan that enables us to judge whether the designed curriculum is
effective or in-effective in the implementation process.
• The term evaluation is defined in a variety of ways.
• Some curriculum planner defined it is in relation to assessing the achievement
of instructional objectives as curriculum evaluation.
• In this way they define evaluation as a synonym for terms like test,
examination, assessment and measurement.
• Gronlund (1971) defined it as the systematic process of collecting, analyzing
and interpreting information to determine the extent to which pupils are
achieving instructional objectives.
• Cronbech defined “evaluation as the systematic collection and use of
information to make decision about educational program”. 105
 2.6.2. Nature and Rationale of curriculum evaluation

 Nature - Modern educational evaluation began with the work of Tyler

in 1949s by asking random question to learners about the contents of
their courses.
 In his works, he showed the importance of evaluation in education
promoting idea that evaluation is necessary to see whether the
educational objectives are mastered.
 In Tyler’s view, evaluation process doesn’t only be conducted after
implementing the plan but it starts when the planner checks learning
experiences.

107
Rationale (the reason )
 The importance of curriculum evaluation is to make a more inclusive
check as to whether plan or choices for learning experiences actually
function to guide the teacher in producing the sort of outcomes desired.
• Assesses the curriculum choices made in every level of development
and the appropriateness in relation to the educational goals.
• It also helps to check the validity of the basic hypothesis upon which
the instructional program has been organized and developed and checks
the effectiveness of particular instruments being used in the
implementation process
• Evaluation is helping the planner to see whether the educational plans
developed for learning experiences 108
Continued….
• Curriculum evaluation which follows systematic approaches to
evaluation tries to provide answers to such questions, like:
1. Is the scope of the curriculum adequate?
2. Is the curriculum relevant?
3. Is there balance in the curriculum?
4. Is the curriculum integration desirable?
5. Is the curriculum properly sequenced?
6. Is there continuity of programs?
7. Are the curricula well articulated between the levels?
8. Are types of learning transferable?
109
 In general, major function of curriculum evaluation:

1. Is the curriculum fulfilling the purposes for which it was designed?

2. Are the purposes themselves valid?
3. Is the curriculum appropriate for the particular group of students?
4. Are the instructional models selected the best choices in the light of
the goals sought?
5. Is the content the best that may be selected?
6. Are the materials suitable to achieve the instructional purposes?

110
 2.6.3. Uses and types of curriculum evaluation

2.6.3.1. Uses of Curriculum Evaluation

 It provides a basis for rational action;
 It provides positive and certain direction to the efforts of both students
and teachers;
 It stimulates people to make desirable changes in content and
procedures;
 It helps in the development of remedial procedures; and
 It serves as a basis for report, classification, group, promotion and
retention.

112
 Major Types of Curriculum Evaluation

 There are two types of curriculum evaluation. These are formative

evaluation and summative evaluation.
1. Formative Evaluation:-Formative evaluation is an evaluation that
takes place while the classroom teaching and learning are going on.
 It continues in almost every part of the day-to- day instruction.
Question, quizzes, test and observations during the teaching and
learning activities are forms of formative evaluation.
 Major purpose of formative evaluation is the identification of
problems and learning difficulties in implementing the curriculum.
 After the difficulties and limitations are identified, remedial measures
are taken to avoid the problems. 113
In short, the purposes of formative evaluation are to:
1. Seek data regarding changes in students as a result of the course
2. Look for multidimensional outcomes
3. Identify aspects of the course in which revisions are describe,
4. Try to find out how the course produces its effect and what factor
influence its effectiveness
5. Use (during trial stage) the teachers’ informal reports of observed
student behavior in aspects of the course
6. Observe several results of the new program ranging far beyond the
content of the curriculum itself; attitudes, general understanding,
aptitude for further learning and so forth.
114
 2. Summative Evaluation

 Summative evaluation provides a set of descriptive statements about

the overall worth of a program.
 It is done to assess the effect of a completed program.
 It provides information to use in deciding whether to continue,
discontinue, or disseminate the program.
Purposes of summative evaluation are:
• To select from several competing curriculum programs or projects
those that should continue and those that are ineffective, and To
decide on the long term values of curriculum offerings.

115
 2.6.4. Techniques and procedures of curriculum evaluation

Techniques of Evaluation

 Any technique employed in evaluation has to be based upon pre-

determined educational objectives which can be described in terms of

behavioral thought and not in established norms.

1.Observation-Observant directors/supervisor will be looking constantly

for evidence on changes in students’ behavior.

 To get concrete information, the directors/supervisor should observe the

written work of teachers/students at their tasks, their participation in

discussions, their questions, and their association and behavior with

other people within and out of the classroom. 116

 Continued…

2. Interviews and Discussions:-Interviews and discussions give clues to

pupils’ interests and reactions to his/her school as well as out of school

experiences, motivations and aspirations.

3.Self Evaluation:- Educators believe that it is good for teachers and

students to participate in evaluating their own progress, their own

problems and their growth.

117
 2. Procedures of Curriculum Evaluation

1.Identifying the objectives -The main task of evaluation is to check

how far the objectives are achieved. To do this, the objectives have to be
clearly defined.
2.Identifying the situations:-The second procedure refers to the
identification of the situations which will give the teacher/student the
chance to express the behavior that is implied by educational objectives.
3.Establishing evaluation instruments:-This step refers to the
identification of evaluation tools/instruments and to see how far they fit
into the types of objectives that are to be appraised and how far they
agree to the situation meant to produce the expected behavior.
118
 Continued…

4.Collecting the data:-This refers to the achievement of relevant

information. The information should have the nature of conveying some
message about the curriculum being evaluated.
5.Interpreting the data:- Interpretation of the data needs to be
analytical enough to expose the strengths, weaknesses and their program.
 The interpretation should also indicate possible ways to finding the
means to improve the shortcomings of the curriculum.
6.Value judgment:-The last step of evaluation procedure refers to the
use of evaluation results to modify and improve the curriculum.

119
 2.6.5 Validity and reliability in curriculum evaluation

 Validity and reliability are among most criteria to be utilized in

checking whether an evaluation instrument is proper for examining
realization of an objective and the situation in which the objective is
to be realized or not.
1.Validity in curriculum evaluation:-Validity in evaluation refers to the
capacity of the evidence to describe what was designed to describe.
 It indicates closeness of agreement between what the instrument
measures and the function it is supposed to measure.
 Validity shows the degree to which an evaluation device actually
provides evidence of the behavior desired.
120
 2. Reliability in Curriculum Evaluation

 Reliability deals with the consistency with which instrument of

evaluation measures whatever it is made to measure.
 In detail, reliability requires that repeated sets of evaluation
instruments, when administered by different evaluators or by the same
evaluator but at different time duplicate one another.
 However, reaped serves of measurements will not result into exact
(perfect) duplication.
 They ordinarily show some consistency. The degree of reliability of
data obtained from a certain curriculum evaluation carried out at a
given time is extremely important in that it:
1. Indicates whether the obtained evaluation result is because of chance
factor or due to actual effects of the carried out curriculum
2. Shows whether the evidence received is due to lack of precision in the
instruments applied or not
3. Points out what eye a judgment to be passed has to be tentative or
permanent. 121
 2.6.6 Models of curriculum evaluation

 Curriculum evaluation takes into account in the philosophical basis of

curriculum design model.
 Mc Neil (1996) described curriculum evaluation based on the four
curriculum design approaches: humanistic, academic, technology and
social reconstructions curriculum design models.
 Therefore, according to Mc Neil, curriculum evaluation models
include consents model and pluralistic models of curriculum
evaluation.
 According to Tyler, the curriculum evaluation models include
behavioral model, decision making model, and goal free evaluation
model. 122
 Consensus Models (Traditional ) and Technical Evaluations

 Traditional curriculum evaluation model is used to evaluate the

effectiveness of academic discipline curriculum.

 Technical evaluation model is used to evaluate the technologists

curriculum.

 In a general sense, curriculum evaluation to a technologist is an attempt

to through light on two questions.

1. Do planned learning opportunities programs, courses, and activities as

developed and organized actually produce desired results? and

2. How can the curriculum offerings best be improved?

123
 Classroom teachers often have an additional set of evaluation questions to
guide them in making decisions about individuals on the following bases:

• Placement: at which level learning should the learner be placed in order to

challenge but not frustrate?

• Mastery: has the learner acquired enough competencies to succeed in the

next level?

• Diagnosis: what particular difficulty is this learner experiencing?

 Purpose of traditional evaluation
1. to decide on the value of the curriculum intervention within a course.
2. Records- absences, disciplinary referrals, requests for transfer- are
frequently used with this design, although test scores and other data can
also serve
3. to decide on the long term value of curriculum offerings. 124
 Humanistic and Social Reconstructions Evaluation
(Pluralistic Model)
 Pluralistic procedures are less frequently used than the (research) and the
technologist procedures applied by teachers in course improvement by
school management in rational decision making, and by government
evaluators in monitoring the curriculum for accountability purpose.
• Pluralistic evaluation model tend to be used when research and technological
models are less attractive for reasons of politics, cost or practicality.
• These newer models are chiefly used with curriculum that is out of the main
stream and are associated with aesthetic education, and multicultural
projects.
• A variety of people outside experts, journalists, psychologists, as well as
directors, teachers and students may participate in the conducting of the
125
 The Connoisseurship Model

 Elliot Eisries has argued for an evaluation process that will capture of
educational life than test scores do.
• What has happened during the school year in a given school?
• What were the key events?
• How did students and teachers participate?
• What were the consequences?
• How could the events be strengthened?
• What do such events enable to learn?
 The fundamental thesis of this approach is that the problem of
communicating to some publics such as parent, board, state agencies
about what has happened in school (bad or good) can be usefully
conceived as an artistic problem.
126
 Behavioral objective Evaluation Models

 The behavioral objective evaluation model is within the context of the

objective based curriculum model which has be introduced and
popularized by Ralph Tyler.
 The actual task of evaluation from the curriculum point of the
behavioral objectives model is to find out how far the predetermined
objectives are achieved.
 The simplest logic of the objective model for curriculum evaluation is
that education should be judged according to the stated intentions.
 Evaluation in behavioral objective model largely relies on summative
evaluation, testing, and grading, classifying and measuring student’s
achievements. 127
 5. Decision Making Model

 Saylor (1981) defined educational evaluation as the process of

delineating, obtaining, and providing useful information for judging
decision alternatives.
• Context evaluation- which contributes to definition of objectives,
• Input evaluation:- which is necessary for decision making on matter
of curriculum design,
• Process evaluation:- which guides decision making on operation, and
• Product evaluation:- which provides data for judging attainments
and hence for revision, termination, or continuation.

128
 Goal Free /Process Evaluation Model

• Process evaluation model is less concerned with the attainment of

predetermined objectives and more concerned to improve the
activities of the teaching- learning process.
• The evaluators in goal free-evaluation are to be unbiased observer,
evaluation should focus on the actual effects against a profile of
demonstrated needs of students.
• In goal free-evaluation, Robert E. Stake has proposed a framework
for evaluation that provides the most comprehensive answer to what
to evaluate?

129
He distinguishes three aspects of the educational process.
• Antecedents: that is, any condition existing prior to teaching and learning which
may relate to outcomes.
• Transactions: such as interactions that occur between teachers and pupils, pupils
and pupils, pupils and curriculum materials and task or pupils and the physical
social, and educational environment.
• Outcomes: which are to be interpreted in the widest sense to include outcomes
that are immediate and long-range.
• This shows that there are six potential data: Intended antecedents, observed
antecedents, intended transactions, observed transactions, intended outcomes
and observed outcomes.
Hence, data can be collected from standardized tests through systematic
observation, schedules inventories, and preceded questionnaire, unstructured
130
 1.Components of curricular materials

• The syllabus:- contains the major educational objectives, contents,

methods, and the allotted time of a certain subject or subjects for a
grade level.
• Student textbook:- contains the detailed contents of education of a
single subject or discipline for a particular grade level.
• Teacher’s guide:- contains detailed contents of education. It provides
guidelines concerning what activities should be carried out and how it
has to be demonstrated or presented.
 Some of the following major factors have to be considered to produce
effective and relevant curriculum. These include:
1. The government educational policy;
2. The educational objectives of the country;
3. The objective reality in schools in terms of various inputs
(personnel, teachers, equipment or material, financial organizational
conditions at schools…) 131
 2. Evaluating instructional materials

In evaluating curriculum materials the following points should

be taken into consideration
1. Give due attention to the international declarations of
Education for All (EFA) or basic learning needs, emphasizing
major guidelines.
2. Government policy decisions.
3. Evaluation of the materials-syllabus, student text, and
teacher’s guide.
The educational program, subject, type of material and grade
level to be evaluated should be identified. For example:
4. Educational program: first cycle Primary education’
5. Subject: Mother tongue (for example Afan Oromo).
6. Grade level: grade 10
7. Instructional material: student textbook. 132
 3. Content Analysis of Instructional Materials

Syllabus
 Are there stated general subject area objectives in the syllabus?
 Are the objectives stated in the Education and Training Policy?
 Which of the subject area objectives do not reflect the objectives stated in
the Education and Training policy?
 Which of the objectives in the syllabus do not enable to cover the
fundamental of most important knowledge, skills and attitudes in the
subject matter?
 Are the grade level objectives appropriate to the maturity level of the
pupils in terms of physical, mental, as well as social growth?
 Which of the grade level objectives are not related to solving daily or
future life problems?
 Identify and discuss the objectives stated for the grade level that cannot be
realized (made practical within the existing local school condition). 133
Continued…
 Are there contents in the syllabus that are not logically sequenced
from simple to complex, from concrete to abstract, etc.?
 Comment on whether or not contents of the syllabi are designed in an
integrated approach by citing examples and page numbers.
 Comment on the appropriateness, variety, adequacy and relevance of
the suggested teaching methods.
 Comment on the appropriateness, variety, adequacy and relevance of
the suggested assessment techniques,
 Comment on the adequacy of the period allotment,
134
 Regarding the textbook:

 Similar to the syllabus, one can critically examine the corresponding

textbook accordingly.
 Identify the topics and/or subtopics in the textbook that are not
related to the objectives stated in the syllabus.
 Identify and list down the parts of the textual content that are not
appropriate to developmental level of the pupils in terms of mental,
physical growth and social development as well,
 Which of the textual content is not relevant for tackling
everyday/future problem,

135
Continued….
 List the contents/ topics of the textbook that do not cover the
fundamental or principal aspects of the subject matter,
 Which parts of the content are not up-to-date? Suggest contents
which you think are up-to-date and should be included in the
textbook.
 Do the contents of the textbook promote the use of problem
solving approach.

136
 Examine and point out whether or not gender balance is maintained
in the textbook regarding.
 Comment on the nature of the exercises presented in the textbook
according to the following aspects:
 Adequacy, appropriateness, Variety and Promotion of problem
solving skill.
 Investigate and comment whether the exercises/activities in the
textbook have the quality of assessing pupils’ knowledge, attitudinal
development and skills.
 Identify and comment on the instruction of the exercises that are not
clear/ if any,
 Examine and point out the weaknesses you observed in pictures,
charts, diagrams, etc., in the textbook.
 Comment whether the language in which the textbook is written has
the quality of readability with regard to: Simplicity , sentence size
(how long or short) Diction (vocabulary selection) and Consistency
of the above variables.
137
 Criteria to be considered while evaluating instructional materials

• Objectives: usually objectives are stated in the syllabus and teacher guides,
and their quality is evaluated based on the following:
• Relevance: refers to the need responsiveness of the materials to pupil’s daily
life.
• Attainability: achievability of objective with the real conditions of the typical
teaching learning process.
• Appropriateness: suitability of the objective to pupils’ physical and mental
growth.
• Fundamentally: coverage of the most important knowledge and skill in the
subject matter.
• Coverage of the three domains: refers to the cognitive, affective and the
138
1. Content in the three materials (syllabus, textbook and teacher guide).

Up-to-datedness: accommodation of new knowledge and skills in the subject.

Accuracy: correctness of all the information in the three materials.
Practicability: The translation of the objective into action the realistic character of the
objective with regard to pupils, teachers and the school.
Grading: the logical sequencing of content from known to unknown, from concrete
abstract, from easy to difficult.
Balance: the inclusion of the content of learning from the cognitive, affective and
psychomotor domains in a balance and systematic way.
Depth: the extent to which the material encourages critical thinking. Instructional material
development usually is carried out from simple to complex and from concert to abstract.
The end product is the development of critical thinking.
Differentiating ability: potential of contents to suit slow, average and fast learners.
Integration: the fitting of parts of body of knowledge and skills with grade, across grades
and between subjects.
Continuity: concept development is a continuous process. It cannot be completed at one
grade level. Thus, a discussion of concepts recurs not only in follow up chapters but also in
consecutive grades.
Gender balance: equal treatment of both sexes, avoiding traditional stereotypes of gender
139
Language:
 Comprehensibility: pupil’s ability to grasp or understand the
essence of content.
 Difficulty of terminology
 Appropriateness of sentence length
 Grammatical structure
Illustrations:
 Relevance of illustrations, Clarity of illustrations
 Labeling of illustrations
Evaluation
 Variety of exercises, Usefulness of exercises
 Clarity of exercises
 Appropriateness of exercises
140
 Chapter three
Models of curriculum development

 Curriculum development refers to structure/ patterns serving as

frameworks /guidelines to a certain action required while developing
a curriculum.
 Among the models of curriculum development the three basic models
are:-
• The objectives model
• The process model, and
• Situational analysis model

141
 2.2.1. The objectives model

 This model is influenced by behavioral psychology and makes use of

the objectives expressed in behavioral terms.
 According to the objective model, rational curriculum planning begins
with a specification of educational aims and then proceeds to break
them down into behavioral objectives.
 Statements intended learning out comes, which are sufficiently
precise and unambiguous to enable measurement.

142
 2.2.1.1. Specific Models of Curriculum Development (Objective
model)
1. Tyler Model:-Tyler's model (1949) is one of the best known objective model.
The different names of this model are: Tyler's rationale; Ends-means model; and
Objective model.
Tyler put the major tasks and issue to be dealt during the process of curriculum
development is asking question form as follows:
1. What educational objectives should the school seek to attain?
2. What educational experiences can be provided that is likely to attain these purposes?
3. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?
4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained?
5. Determining educational objectives
6. Selection of educational experiences
7. Organization of educational experiences and,
8. Determining relevant evaluation strategies
In addition to serving as a guide line for development in curriculum, Tyler's model also
has served as starting point for other models, like Taba's model and other is wheeler's
143
 2. Taba Model

 Hilda Taba (1962) took what is known as a grass-root approach to

curriculum development.
 Taba advocated that teachers take an inductive approach to develop a
curriculum (starting with specific lessons and building to a general
design) as opposed to the deductive approach (starting with the
general design and working toward the specific lesson).
 Tuba noted seven major steps to the grass-root model in which
teachers would have major inputs.
1. Diagnosis of needs
2. Formulation of objectives
3. Selection of content
4. Organization of content
5. Selection of learning experiences
6. Organization of learning experiences
7. Determining relevant evaluation strategies
144
 3. The Wheeler model

 Wheeler's model, which as converted Tyler's original ideas into a

cyclic form and offers a five stage model of the curriculum process,

 his model is cyclic rather than liner and it links up evaluation with
other stages.

• Wheeler (1967), curriculum development begins with setting of

objectives at various levels.

• First, there are aims from which intermediate goals are derived.

• These goals are again further broken down into sub- levels and stages.

• At last, there are the most specific, achievable and measurable

instructional objectives. 145
 . 2. selection
learning
of

experience
1.Aim, Goal and
Objective

3. Selection of
5. evaluation contents

4.. organization and

integration Learning
experience

146
4. The Lawton’s model
 Lawton (1975) gives emphasis to the relationship between education and
society to design curriculum.
 The base for his model is the view that states of education as the process of
the transmission of culture from one generation to next generation.
 He forwarded five stages curriculum design & development model. These are:
1. Philosophical questions / cultural universals e.g. aim of education and
worthwhile knowledge,
2. Sociological questions / cultural variables e.g. the kind of society we have or
we want,
3. Selection of contents from the culture - according to the location, significant
issues and problems identified in the economic, social and political areas are
elements of the culture of the society, from which contents of the curriculum
is constituted.
4. Psychological questions and theories - these include theories of learning,
instruction and development.
5. Curriculum organization in stages and sequences - here, the major
assumption is that the nature of the subject and the maturity levels of the
learners are useful to sequential arrangement of learning experiences. 147
 3.2. The process model

1. Developing a curriculum using process model involves formulating

teaching methods and materials which are consistent with the
principles, concepts and criteria inherent in such activities..
2. On the other hand, the end product is not specified before hand
using the criteria inherent in the field of knowledge.
3. All stages used in the objectives model are also employed in this
process model except the stating of objectives and organization and
matching of learning experiences with context.

148
 2.2.3 The Situation Analysis Model

 The major emphasis of this curriculum development model is on the

contextual frameworks, it views curriculum development as a means
where teachers modify and transform learner’s experiences through
providing knowledge of each specific situation.
 The model underlines the importance of the curriculum development
process and its inevitable political character; as different pressure
groups and ideological interests seek to influence the process of
education.

149
 There are five main stages in the situation analysis model of curriculum development.

1) Situation analysis- it represents review of the situation and

analysis of the interacting elements. Here, internal and external
factors are analyzed. some the internal factors include ideological
atmosphere, parental expectation, change in the subject, etc
2) Goal formulation- it set based on the situational analysis
3) Program Building- embraces selection of subject matter, the
sequencing of teaching and learning episodes, the development of
staff, and the choice of appropriate supplementary materials and
media.
4) Interpretation and implementation- in this stage practical
problem involved in the introduction of a modified curriculum are
anticipated and tackled as the implementation proceeds.
5) Monitoring, assessment and reconstruction- this is the ongoing
assessment of progress of keeping adequate records based on the
feedbacks from a variety of participants. 150
 UNIT FOUR: TRENDS OF CURRICULUM IN ETHIOPIA
4.1 Introduction
 The history of Education in Ethiopia including curriculum development in Ethiopia has
not been studied thoroughly.
'What do we learn from past curriculum development experiences in order to improve
the existing or future curriculum development in Ethiopia?‘
 Major Phases of Curriculum Development in Ethiopia
1.The traditional education period (4th C-1908) and modem education periods (1908 -
post 1991).
2. First chapter of modern education (1908-1935)
3. No education period: the Italian occupation period (1935-1941)
4. Second chapter of modern education (1941-1974)
• The first curriculum (6-6 structure)
• The second curriculum (8-4 structure)
• The third curriculum (the experimental curriculum)
• The fourth curriculum (6-2-4 structure)
5/The third chapter of modern curriculum (1974- 1991)
151
 Traditional education (4th century-1908): church and Quranic education

• Church education system was originated in Axumite kingdom with

the introduction of Christianity in 4th century.
• However, its evolvement in a very organized way started on the 13th
century when the literature of the church had reached its peak
(Hailegebriel Dagne 1970).
• At the beginning of the fourth century A.D. the church became a
formal indigenous institution/Yeha and Debra Damo in Tigrai became
great church schools of learning (Ministry of Information, 1973).
Quranic schools
 Quranic schools appeared probably in the 11th century in Ethiopia
where its center of learning was! IFat and later moved to Harrar
(Ibid).
 Wollo was also considered as centre of learning (Hussein Ahmend,
1988).
 The primary aim of traditional education is to provide moral and
religious education ".
 The major function of church education, for instance, is to prepare
young men for the service of the church as deacons, priests, scribes
etc.
 According to Hussein Ahmed (1988) the three principal aims of
traditional Islamic education have been:
 a) the teachings and dissemination of Islamic dogma and practice,
 b) the training of the clerical class, and
 c) the spread of literacy.
 Stages of learning in the church education could be divided into
five:
a) Nibab-bet ("school of reading"),
b) Kidassie bet which focuses on the training of the altar priests,
c)Zema-bet ("school of music") which includes Diggwa (church music
composed by st. Yared), Zimmare (songs sung at the end of Eucharist)
and Mewasit (songs related to commemorative services and funerals
respectively), Aquaquam (religious dance and movements, in which
drums and sistra are used,
d) Quene-bet ("school of poetry"). In .this school the subtle arts of
versification is studied,
e) Metshaf-bet ("school of commentary"). The study of Mestahif-bet
include: Old and New Testaments, Likawent (the study of church fathers
and their writings), Metshafe-Menekosat (monastic writings, guideline
that define the monastic life of monks), Mera- ewir (computation of the
church calendar), and arts and crafts. Mestaf-bet is the final stage of
church education. The whole program of church education takes longer
time usually more than twenty-five years.
Hussein specified the subjects that are taught in traditional Muslim education as
follows. Nahw consists of Arabic grammar and syntax. It has specialized
branches of learning like Sarf (morphology), Arud or Maani (prosody),
Bayan (eloquence), Badi (the science of metaphors) and Balaghah
(Rhetoric).
Fiqh is a lesson in Islamic Law or Islamic jurisprudence. Tawhid is Islamic
theology, Hussein (1988) underlined that Tawhid in Wallo is usually taught
intensively during the Islamic month of Ramadan (the main fasting season).
Mantiq, which means logic, is also widely offered in Wallo. Salwat intercessory
prayers, is the additional and recommended subjects, pursued by the majority of
advanced students.
• Khoder (1988: 96-99) states that Islamic learning is not limited to religious
studies but includes the study of all (natural sciences, botany, anatomy, and
• The objective of Church and Quranic education was basically
religious,
• where the curriculum is largely unchanged and uncontested i.e.
the contents are considered true, everlasting and worthwhile
(Adane 1991).
• The medium of instruction in church education is mainly Geez,
while that of the Quranic schools is Arabic.
• Elleni Tedla (1995) also states that 'there are no serious efforts
to study, promote and incorporate indigenous education, the
attention of international organizations, donors and scholars has
been devoted to Africa's modern education'.
 First chapter of modern education -1908-1935

 Modem education was introduced in Africa (except Ethiopia, Egypt and

Liberia) in the late 1800s by European missionaries and colonial

governments (Elleni Tedla 1995).

 Until the opening of Menelik II School in Addis Ababa in 1908, there

was no government (public) education system

 Factors behind the introduction of modem education include:

 The strong relations created with Europe

 The establishment of a central state authority and permanent urban seat of

power,

 Menilik's attitude towards eagerness for innovations.

 The clergy and aristocracy were especially hostile towards the new
education scheme.
 They believed that modem education would be instrumental for introducing
new or alien religious denominations to the country and destabilize the
status quo (Seyoum Tefera 1996; Wagaw 1979).
• However, Emperor Menilik wisely overcame the insurmountable
oppositions by adopting a reconciliatory policy which are (Girma
Amare.1982):
A) Hiring expatriate teachers who are Coptic Christians from Egypt and
Middle Eastern countries to teach in modem schools.
B) Making such expatriates not to interfere in the Church's traditional
educational activities.
 Little attention was given for education during Lij Iyasus's era. Empress
Zewrditu did in fact take certain measures.
 There was no standard policy regarding curricula, textbooks and language of
instruction (Bairu Zewde. 2002: 33): Furthermore, the Ethiopian experience
(culture) in education was not well developed. Rather it was dominated by
foreign experience.
 Curriculum developers and researchers were not available. No evaluation and
researches were made to improve the curriculum.
 Although Menilik was considered as a pioneer of change, the progressives
such as Emperor Hailesellasie and Haile Baikedagn had strong aspiration to
transform Ethiopian through education (Caulk. 1975:3).
 The development of education in Ethiopia was further enhanced after
Emperor Haile Sellassie's coronation in 1930 (Pankhurst 1974).
 CON`T
The Emperor immediately after his coronation gave orders that soldiers
should learn to read and write, and that the priests should busy
themselves by instructing the youth.
• Hailesellassie recruited an American foreign adviser known as Professor F.
Ernest Work even before his coronation - November 1930. The major task
of Work was "to study the situation and to make recommendations for an
educational system" (Caulk 1975). Work's innovative ideas and suggestions
include the adoption of self-sufficient and authentic educational system,
the Ethiopianization of curricula and textbooks (Bahiru Zewdie 2002).
• Work proposed a new structure, six years of primary, six years of
secondary, and four years of university education, with special emphasis
on teachers' training and agriculture (Caulk 1975: 8).
• Work's plan was to raise the absorption capacity of schools to 75 or 80%:
This plan was not of course realized because the educational reform was
beyond the government's economic capacity. Consequently, the plan
was considered as ambitious and hence it did not get an approval
(Caulk 1975).
• (structure) was eventually similar to that of the educational system of
Ohio or any other American state or European country.
 No education period: period of Italian occupation - 1935-1941

a) the schools were closed down and the educated

Ethiopians were liquidated;
b) Fascist Italy's educational policy was adopted where it
aimed at making Ethiopians merely loyal servants of
their Fascist Italian masters. The educational policy of
Italy was based on racism, fascism and militaristic
educational philosophy of Italy. Colonial educational
policy of Italy was "designed to Italianize the African
as much as possible, to produce soldiers for Italy, and
to create a reserve of menial labourers" (Teshome
Wagaw 1979).
• In this curriculum racism, fascism and militaristic
 Second chapter of modern education -1941-1974

In 1941 the task of reorganizing the education system started from

scratch.
Markakis (1974: 147) indicated that the period between 1944 and 1950
was characterized by Severe shortage of resources and manpower
were the main bottlenecks.
To overcome the problems the main concentration in the first phase
(1940s-1950s) of development was on the production of teachers and
various personnel for the state machinery (MOE, 1996: 90). This task
was mainly done with British assistance.
The introduction of modem system of government and administration
required people trained (qualified civil servants, trained professionals
and technocrats) in the art and science of government
The curricula and textbooks used in these schools were not standardized .
The structure of education during Hailesellassie period can be classified into four:
a) The First Curriculum (6-6 Structure), b) The Second curriculum (8-4 Structure),
c) The Third curriculum (Experimental curriculum), and d) The Fourth curriculum
(6-2-4 structure).
 The First Curriculum (6-6 Structure

The duration of elementary education was six years in 1941-47. During

this time foreign advisors and teachers were instrumental in the
formulation of directives given to the nation's schools (MOEFA 1950:
30-32).
In 1948, the Boards of education through a committee formulated a
uniform curriculum for elementary school (grades 1-6) for the whole
Empire was approved (MoEFA 1950).
• Accoding to Ayalew (1964), the language goals and the number of
textbooks, teaching aids, and other classroom materials were
unsatisfactory.
• Learning in Amharic for non-Amharic speakers had created difficulty
• Bible for teaching Amharic posed a challenge for non-Christian
students.
• English as medium of instruction above grade three posed a
problems
• Since 1947 success in London Matriculation Examination was the
requirement for secondary graduates (MoEFA, 1950: 34).
 The Second Curriculum (8-4 Structure)

• At the beginning of the 1950s, grades seven and

eight became part of elementary schooling
(Teshome 1979: 120). This structure change i.e.
from 6-6 to 8-4 was made in 1949. The reasons
for extending primary level are (Ayalew 1964):
First, in order to overcome learning difficulties
created by English it was necessary that students
should have good background of English before
joining secondary schooling.
• Second, in almost all countries after World War II
there was a desire to extend and expand the
period of elementary education.
 The Third Curriculum (The Experimental curriculum)

In 1955 the Ministry of Education had started to change curriculum

(Ayalew 1964).
However, it was decided by the Board of Education that the
curriculum guidelines should be first tried out at five selected
schools before specific changes were introduced in other schools.
In fact the Americans had greatly made influence on the Ethiopian
education from 1952 until 1974 (Tekeste 1995). As of 1954 they
began to shape the Ethiopian Education policy through Education
Advisory Group ­assimilated into the Long-Term Planning
Committee (Tekeste 1990: 6).
Some of the recommendations made by the committee particularly
on basic education include .
a) the introduction of community schools. for basic education;
b) the curriculum should be designed to fit the student for better life in his
community; c) the educational objectives should be geared to the quickest
possible spread of universal fundamental education;
d) students should display effective command of communication in Amharic.
 CON`T

Habtemariam(1970), the result of pilot study reveals

the following.
First, both teaching and learning were improved
when Amharic became the medium of instruction.
Second, lack of suitable books and teaching materials
were reported. In order to alleviate this problem,
a Textbook Production Unit was established in
1956 within the Ministry of Education..
Ayalew (1964: 23) commented that the curriculum
was dominantly theoretical in content and was
rather unrealistic for immature pupils. There was
also lack of textbooks written in Amharic.
 The Fourth Curriculum (6-2-4 structure)

Various reasons necessitated the change of 8-4 curriculum where

some of them are as follows:
• First the quality of textbook preparation was questionable
(inadequacy of texts to reflect the curriculum; the inclusion of too
much irrelevant contents in the texts; a failure to consider research findings for
writing texts; insufficient explanation; lack of organization; the use of too much
technical or scientific terminology in the text (no qualified linguists were not
involved in this task.)
• Second, since the various advisors and experts who had worked in
the education sector had largely been unfamiliar with Ethiopia
and its specific problems the value of their recommendation
decreased.
• Third valid evaluation of student achievements was inexistence.
• Fourth there was lack of access in teaching sufficient English to
make it the medium of instruction during the final years of the six
year elementary school.
 CON`T

The structure of curriculum was six years of elementary period,

two years of junior secondary cycle, and four years of senior
secondary cycle. The new grade structure (6-2-4) came into full
operation in 1963-64.
The objectives OF the changes as follows.
First, in junior secondary school English became the medium of instruction.
Second, a four year course in the senior secondary school offers a choice of
specialization between purely academic courses, agricultural courses,
commercial courses and industrial arts courses leads to Ethiopian school
leaving in Certificate Examination.
Third, specialized and vocational education were offered after grade ten which
took two to four years. The basis for change on the secondary level' was
'Tananarive Conference', which was held in July 1962 (Ayalew 1964). According
to Ayalew (1964), this conference, which was organized by the UNESCO, was
appreciated for defining the importance of secondary school curriculum to
developing nations, enumerating its objectives and discussing its areas of
necessary adaptation.
 CON`T

However, challenges in implementing the 1963 curriculum include the following.

First, this curriculum incorporates a much wider programme of activities from the old
school curriculum. The inclusion of agricultural, commercial and industrial arts
studies presupposes the sampling adequate apparatus, equipment, and materials
for effective practice work.
Second, the efficiency of the programme depended upon the ability of students to
utilize the medium of instruction.
Third, qualified teachers of English were required in both elementary and secondary
schools.
According to Teshome Wagaw (1979: 183), the objectives and experiences of
education were not connected with the Ethiopian realities. Some of the
constraints include lack of appreciating cultural heritage, unequal opportunity of
education among the regions, the system was highly centralized, and the school
system was too elitist, rigid and unresponsive to the needs of the society.
The problems according to Seyoum Teferra (1996)
a) displaying extremely very low performance in achieving universal literacy by the
year 1980;
b) students of modem school were disrespectful of their society and its
institutions;
c) the inclusion of very little Ethiopian content in the curriculum; and
d) the existence of unemployment opportunity facing secondary school graduates.
 CON`T

IN 1969, the Government established the National Commission on Education,

which is charged with the responsibility of formulating an overall prospectus
for Ethiopian Education (Teshome 1979: 183).
• The commission conducted hearings with students, parents, government
officials, teachers, school directors and private individuals, however, no
tangible results were made.
• study known as Education Sector Review (ESR).
• Consultations, symposium, and conferences were held by the review
committee in order to draw the terms of reference, assess and evaluate
progress and finalize the whole task. In this Committee there were eighty-one
members (fifty-one were Ethiopians drawn primarily from Haile Sellssaie I
University and different Government organizations while the others were
non Ethiopians drawn from UNESCO, ILO, the Ford Foundation, and Harvard
University development Advisory Service (ibid).
• Then, one of the proposed changes was to introduce a 4-4-4 structure.
Although this study could be taken as one of the commendable studies,
however, the participation of the public was little. This in turn led for the
failure of its implementation. it became one of the factors for the collapse of
the imperial system in 1974.
 The Third Chapter of Modern Education -1974-1991
• Derg considered education as a key to development, particularly
reflecting the socialist ideology. This view was reflected in the
programme then known as National Democratic Revolution (NDR),
which was adopted in April 1976 (MOE 1977: iv). This framework
was further elaborated in the five volume policy documents -
General Directives of Ethiopian Education produced in 1980
(Tekeste 1990). Some of the statements are read as follows (MOE,
1977).
• It consisted of academic, vocational and technical subjects. Elementary and
Secondary school teachers as well as university and college instructors took
part in the preparation of this curriculum. The curriculum during this period
was centralized. All curricular materials used in all primary and secondary
schools of the country were developed in the Curriculum Department (this
department was established in 1975) of the Ministry of Education (Curriculum
Evaluation and Educational Research Division, 1987: 3).
 CON`T

Although efforts were made to align the transitional curriculum with

the new outlook of socialism.
a) The general objectives of education should focus on education for
production, education for scientific consciousness and education for
socialist consciousness.
b) The content of education should be connected with polytechnic
education that emphasizes practice, production, the objective
reality of the society.
c) The structure of education 6-2-4 has to be changed to 8-2-2.
The General Polytechnic Education programme was based on Marxist Leninist
pedagogy. Creating Marxist-Leninist and all round-developed personalities
became the leading catchword (Curriculum Evaluation and Educational Research
Division 1-987:6). The ultimate 'objective
- produce citizens who possess: solid fundamental knowledge of all areas of social
life, socialist attitudes and convictions and are fully prepared for the building of
socialism.
Developing creative, scientific and technical abilities and skills that can play their
role in the construction of a socialist society was the other target in view (MOE
1984).
 CON`T

Various studies were made to assess the efficacy of this

program.
First, the experimental program was not an experiment in scientific
terms in which variables were controlled.
Second, field trials were normally conducted in 30-50 classes;
however, in this program hundreds of classes were used making
the program hardly manageable as a field trial and did not allow
to improve the quality of the materials.
Third, no hypothesis was prescribed.' Most objectives were not
stated clearly that made the evaluation of the program difficult.
Fourth, there was the involvement of curriculum experts in developing syllabus,
textbooks & kits. In this experimental program, the model followed was that of
the German Democratic Republic. Prior to beginning this program an intensive
preliminary studies and participation of public and academic did not take
place. there was no clear understanding among the different departments of
the Ministry. its slim memories (ICDR 1996).
 CON`T
Decision Was Made To Conduct An Evaluative Research In 1983.
Some Of The Reasons For Conducting This Evaluative Research
Were:
• the expansion of secondary education beyond the
capacity of the economy (particularly creating
unemployable graduates),
• the deterioration of quality of education, the existence
of meager educational resources, shortage of qualified
teacher’s, etc. (Seyoum 1996: 10).
• Thus, in 1983, the Ministry of Education launched
a project known as the Evaluative Research on
the General Education System of Ethiopia
(ERGESE), which was completed in 1986.
 CON`T

This study came up with various useful findings (MOE,

1986):
First, textbooks do not reflect national educational objectives.
Second, Amharic as a medium of instruction in primary school
(grades 1-6) has created difficulties for students whose mother
tongue is not Amharic.
Third, using English as medium of instruction from grade seven up to
grade twelve created difficulties both for teachers and as well as
students.
Fourth, the stages of the education ladder i.e. primary (1-6), junior
secondary (7-8) and senior secondary (9-12) were not
satisfactorily integrated and coordinated.
Fifth, the textbooks then used were poor in quality; there was lack
laboratory equipment, and above all, there was incompetence
among the teaching staff.
 CON`T

• In order to overcome these problems the Ten Year plan was taken as
a preferred alternative. This plan was intended to promote
polytechnic education; to make the curriculum relevant; to intensify
the eradication of illiteracy; to strengthen Amharic as the medium
of instruction at primary level; to improve teacher education, to
upgrade the teaching profession, and to provide education to the
physically and mentally handicapped (PMGSE's analysis in Seyoum
1996).
• During this period there were two structures of education, viz. the
Transitional and Polytechnic experimental programs. The structure of
the transitional programme consisted of a 'Three-tier' system (6-2-4)
that was not changed after the Revolution (McNab 1989). The other
structure was connected with the anticipated education. There was
an intention to replace this structure with polytechnic education that
was thought to consist of 8-2­-2 structure. Though there had been an
attempt to implement some of the new changes by 1991 with the
collapse of the regime, the Ten Year Plan had not come into effect.
 Con`t

• The period from early 1990 to the end of the Derg

regime (May 1991) was characterized by liberalization
of economic reform, i.e. a 'mixed' planned and market
economy (Pausewang, 1994: 217).
• Although considerable professional efforts were made
to implement the polytechnic education program at the
national scale, and the overall objective was to obtain a
middle-level trained manpower,
• it was not then found feasible in terms of in-puts and
other situational factors to achieve its goals. Particularly,
both lack of sufficient financial investment and its
coincidence with the apparent downfall of the
communist ideology in its country of origins left
everything in vain except
 The fourth chapter of modern education - Post 1991

May 1991, a reform has automatically begun. Two major policy

guidelines were in place:
a) a policy guideline produced based on the Charter adopted by the
'Conference for Peace and Democracy' in 1991, and b) The
Education and Training Policy which was adopted in 1994.
1/Amharic as a medium of instruction would continue in the areas
where it is the mother tongue. 2/ Oromigna, Sidamigna,
Wolayitigna and Tigrigna would be used as media of instruction as
of 1991/92. [Latin script was chosen for Oromigna, Somalgna and
Wolaitigna while the Geez script was retained for Amharic and
Tigrigna]
3/ Studies would be carried [out] on the use of other nationality
languages as media of instruction as soon as possible, while, in the
meantime, education would be offered as in the past.
4/English would continue serving as the medium of instruction for
junior and secondary school, and that it would be taught as a
subject as of grade one.
 CON`T
The policy was aimed at to address the abject problems reflected in the
education sector of the country which are:
i/ the irrelevance of the curriculum with clearly defined objectives, ii) the
high emphasis given for
theoretical knowledge with little connection to day-­to-day life, iii} the
domination of rote
learning, iv) de-emphasizing problem solving, v) overcrowding of schools, vi)
the scarcity of
instructional materials, vii) insufficient training materials, viii) the high
emphasis given to
centralization of education, ix) ignoring the issue of relevance, quality,
accessibility and equity (TGE, 1994)
• Transitional -Government of Ethiopia made the following major
changes: a) decentralization of the education system, b) the use of
nationality languages as media of instruction, and c) adopting a new
structure of education. The Education and Training Policy consists of
objectives of education and training, overall strategy and education
areas of special attention and action priority (TGE, 1994).
 Con`t

General objectives and specific objectives are indicated in the

Education and Training Policy. The General Objectives of education
and training (TGE, 1994: 13) are to:
1) Develop the physical and mental potential and problem capacity of
the individual
2) Bring up citizens who can, take care of and utilize resources wisely
3) Bring up citizens who are endowed with democratic culture and
discipline and who respect human rights, stand for the well being
people as well as for equality, justice and peace
4) Bring up citizens who differentiate harmful practices from useful
ones, who seek and stand for truth, appreciate aesthetic and show
positive attitude towards the development and dissemination
science and technology in society.
5) Cultivate the cognitive, creative, productive and appreciative
potential of citizens by appropriately relating education to
environmental and social needs.
 Con`t
The structure of education indicated in the Education and Training Policy of
Ethiopia is 8-2-2.
a) Cognizant of the pedagogical advantage of the child in learning in
mother tongue and the rights of nationalities to promote the use of
their languages, primary education will be given in nationality
languages.
b) Making the necessary preparation, nations and nationalities can
either learn in their own languages or can choose from among those
selected on the basis of national and countrywide distribution.
c) The language of teacher training for kindergarten and primary
education will be the nationality language used in the area.
d) Amharic shall be taught as a language of countrywide communication.
e) English will be the medium of instruction for secondary and higher
education.
t) Students can choose and learn at least one nationality language for
cultural and international relations.
g) English will be taught as a subject starting from grade one.
 Con`t

20 languages have been employed as medium of instructions

depending on the objective reality of each region (MOE, 2002).
• The responsibility of developing the flowchart and the syllabus
was given to the Institute for Curriculum Development and
Research (ICDR).
• Formative and summative evaluations on the
implementation of curriculum was made in all
cycle. The findings regarding primary school
indicate the following: society participation is
little. Contents were found to be beyond the
maturity level and the learning capacity of pupils
in most cases; pupils' performance was found to
be below average.
 Con`t

Some of the evaluation findings on First Cycle (9-

10) Secondary Education Curriculum reveal the
following:
• first students scored far below average (35.8%) on
profile attainment tests, which is below the
expectation;
• second weaknesses observed regarding the quality of
curricular materials (some of the objectives stated
were not realizable; lack of clear instructions for
exercises; language, difficulty; lack of variety of
assessment techniques and activities; inadequacy of
the allotted periods to cover contents, lack of clarity
of pictures, charts and diagrams etc.)
 Con`t

• The findings of the 2nd Cycle of the Secondary School

(Preparatory Program) curriculum indicate (ICDR, 2005):
The overall profile attainment of the students is below
50 %. The quality of the curriculum materials has major
limitations: lack of stating objectives clearly, sequencing contents
logically, using simple and clear language in the textbooks,
applying appropriate methods in relation to active learning etc.
community unity participation in school affairs is effective.
• The other study made by Flores, the external reviewer
of the 2004 Ethiopian primary school curriculum reveals
the following (ICDR 2004): a) incompatibility of the contents
with students development (age level), b) integration of
curriculum is superficial, c) lack of considering the views of
teachers' in the curriculum, d) the inclusion of obsolete
issues/views in grades 5-8 curriculum materials.
 Con`t

Some of the recommendation made in the same study

include (ICDR, February 2004: 49-50):
I) a users conference held annually organized separately for each subject at
different times is one way to include the participation of stakeholders in the
development of the curriculum;
II) a continuous review of the decentralization of the curriculum should be
conducted in order to identify the strengths and weakness of the policy, and
to suggest solutions for its improvement;
III) there is a need for supplementary material in order to enrich the
curriculum;
IV) a research on textbook writing in accordance with the
developmental level and' maturity of students should be
conducted;
V) teaming up experienced teachers and writers for
writing textbooks; and finally
VI) the need for thematic units that will help teachers
develop integrated unit plans.
 Con`t
An attempt was made to revise the curriculum since January 2004,
where the following steps were considered (ICDR, 2004):
I) Discussing formative and summative evaluations of the curriculum
as well as the findings which were gathered from teachers, students,
parents, and others by the help of focus group discussion;
ii) gathering opinion and comments made by prominent people,
representatives of Civic Society and pertinent organizations; and
iii) gathering comments and suggestions made by professionals aiming
at using comments so that they can improve the syllabus.
• Some authors claim that there was no little or no national debate
in the country's education Endeavour. Contrary to this, the MOE
underlined that experts from different institutions have been
actively involved in drafting the policy (MOE 2002).
 UNIT FIVE: THE CONCEPT OF EDUCATION
The Meaning of Education
Everybody, that is, a biologist, a priest, a philosopher, a psychologist, a states man,
a teacher, a shopkeeper, a merchant, and an artist seems to have his/her own
concept of education which is influenced by his/her own outlook on life and
his/her past experience in a limited field. As a result education has different
meaning in different conditions.
• A. Definition of education
• Below, let see the various definitions catered by educationist resting on the
notion of education.
• Plato (427-347B.C.) “Education is the capacity to feel pleasure and pain at the
right moment”
• Aristotle (384-322B.C.) “Education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound
body”
• Dewey (1859-1952) “Education is the process of living through a continuous
reconstruction of experience”
• Herbert (1776-1841) “Education is the development of good moral character”
• Gandhi (1869 – 1948) “Education is the process of all round drawing out of the
best”
 Con`t

Additionally, other scholars also forwarded

definitions of education as shown below:
• Education is the acquisition of knowledge
• Education is an agency of social progress and
change
• Education is a process of molding character
• Education is process of modification of original
nature of an individual
• Education is a continuous reconstruction of
experiences
 Con`t

The major reasons for the difference in the

definition and interpretations of the term
education may be:
• The complex nature of human personality
• The complexity of human environment
• The presence of different philosophy of life and
education theories
 The salient feature of education
• A few characteristics of education may be: -
• A purposeful process
• A continuous and lifelong process
• A process of individual development
• A dynamic process
• A theoretical and practical
• A way to bring behavioral change
 B. Forms of education

• Education can be delivered in the classroom or outside of classroom such as home,

library, at production center or incidentally while we make chat with our colleagues. As a
result, any form of education can be classified as it is summarized below.
Formal education: This kind of education is usually characterized by
• Planned ,systematic, definite and deliberate effort
• Prescribed courses assignment
• Preparation of schools and teachers and provision of certificate or diploma
Informal education: The kind of education characterized by
• Unplanned , unintentional, spontaneous, unconscious effort
• Not systematic, indefinite
• No school, no teacher, no certificate
• Life long process, that is, the process goes as the life demands
Non-formal: This form of education is somewhat in between the above two and attributed
by:
• Planned but given out side of the formal system
• Focuses on alleviating certain problems
• May have certificate
• Seminar, workshops, correspondence courses, radio programs are means of actualizing
non-formal education
 C. Functions of Education

• Most educationalists consider the following general and major

functions of education.
Education:
• Increases the level of consciousness of people and help them
bring about changes.
• Makes the individual to participate actively in social activities.
• Increases the problem solving capacity of individuals.
• Make people to be free from ignorance poverty, barbaric/very
cruel, & brutal activities.
• Help the individual respect human right,
• Makes people to use wisely their resources.
• Creates the conditions for equality, mutual understanding and
cooperation among people
 5.2 The Concept of Teaching and Learning
What is teaching?
• Teaching may mean different things to different people.
Scholars in the area have come up with many and divers
definitions. For instance, teaching is defined as
• "… any form of interpersonal influence aimed at changing
the ways in which other persons can or will behave"
• ".... an interactive process, primarily involving classroom
talk, which takes place between teacher and pupils &
occurs during certain definable activities"... interpersonal
activity directed toward learning by one or more persons"
• "... teaching denotes action undertaken with the intention
of bringing about learning in another"
 Con`t

there is no one outstanding definition that explicates the concept

teaching. Rather contemporary educators prefer to describe
teaching based on the common attributes suggested by many
authorities than defining it. Accordingly, teaching is:
• an activity or action. You can see teaching take place; you need
not (and, some would argue, should not) infer it from learning.
• a process. It involves a series of actions and decisions of the
teacher.
• an interpersonal activity and/or process. Interpersonal refers to
the fact that teaching involves interactions between a teacher and
one or more students. Most often the interactions are verbal and
two-way.
• intentional. There is some purpose or set of purposes for which
teaching occurs. This purpose is bringing about learning on the
part of the learner.
 What is learning?
• Educational psychologists defined learning as a
relatively permanent change in behavior
(thinking, skill, or emotion) that results from
experience and/or practice. As literature
evidences, there seems consensus among
scholars with respect to explicating the concept
of learning though there are variations with
regard to the way learning occurs. This variation
is highly attributed to the schools of thought that
scholars are advocating.
 5.3 Qualities and Responsibilities of an Effective Teacher

5.3.1 Indicators of effective teaching

• 1. Clarity - This behavior refers to how clear and interpretable
a presentation is to the class.
• 2. Variety - This behavior refers to the variability or flexibility of
delivery during the presentation of a lesson.
• 3. Task orientation - This refers to the degree to which a
teacher is achievement - oriented
• 4. Engagement in the learning process - This is related to a
teacher's task orientation and to content coverage. A teacher's
task orientation should give the students the greatest possible
opportunity to learn the material.
• 5. Success rate - rate at which students could understand and
correctly complete exercises pertaining to the material being
taught.
 5.3.2 Qualities of an effective teacher
a)Enthusiasm – Strong active feeling of interest and admiration of a
teacher about the profession. Teacher's enthusiasms promote
learning by:
• Helping to motivate students.
• Keeping them persistent attacks.
• Helping them feel more satisfied with the teaching.
Enthusiastic Teachers:
• Maintain a quick lesson pace involving high levels of interaction
with students.
• Appear confident and friendly.
• Are creative and varied in their instructional approach.
• Are patient.
• Are insistent that students successfully complete tasks.
• Are aware of and quickly deal with off – task behavior.
 Con`t

b)Warmth and Humor -Warmth is conveyed by being "a real person"

by:
• Demonstrating concerns for students success.
• Being open/ transparent/
• Humor can be spontaneous or planned.
• Teachers should avoid using sarcasm or teasing students.
• Warmth and humor should be used naturally and sparingly. If
over emphasized, actually reduce classroom learning.
c)Credibility and trust worthiness - This create a relaxed, supportive
environment where students trust the teacher to help them be
successful. Effective teachers:
– Are positive people oriented toward & positive about their own& their
students' success.
– Have high expectations for success and are encouraging and supportive
of students.
– Exhibit a professional but flexible demeanor in the classroom.
 Con`t

d) Business like teachers focuses on:

– Promoting Learning in a variety of ways.
– Classroom activities are directed toward helping
students reach the established goals and objectives.
e)Knowledgeable: Knows what to teach, how to
teach, when to teach, where to teach etc.
f) Using instructional time effectively
g) Conducting interactive Instruction
– Using questions.
– Providing clear instruction(order, command)
– Monitoring students' progress
– Providing feedback and reinforcement.
 5.3.3 Responsibilities of effective teacher
• Effective teaching requires who are academically able,
have commands of subjects that they are required to
teach, and care about the well being of children and
youth. It requires individuals who can produce results,
mainly those of students' academic achievement and
social learning.
• Effective teachers have control of the knowledge bases
on teaching and learning and use this knowledge to guide
the science and art of their teaching practice. Effective
teachers command a repertoire of best teaching practices
and have the dispositions and skills to approach all
aspects or their work in a reflective, collegial, and
problem solving manner.
 Con`t

Teachers have responsibilities to pupils they teach,

and to the society by their all functions in and out of
the school environment. With regard to this, they
have the following responsibilities.
• Directing the classroom instructional activities
• Participating in Curriculum Development
• Measuring and Evaluating the progress of students
• Giving Guidance and Counseling Services
• Using Research finding and local resources.
• Participating in community Affair
• Acquainting oneself with rules and regulations of
the school and working accordingly.
 5.3.4 The role of the teacher in the classroom

• Instructional expert: Teachers are expected to have

a good understanding of a discipline, skills and
understandings of they teach.
• Manager: The teacher as a manager must be able
to support whatever the process is not working
efficiently or is in danger of breaking down.
• Counselor: It is a duty of a teacher to help his
students to develop as fully as possible in all aspects
of their potential. Inevitably this will involve him in
responsibilities for his students’ welfare, guidance
and supervision.
 Teaching as a Profession
What is a Profession?
• Farmnt (1994) profession as a body that provides a special service to
the community based on accumulated knowledge, skill and wisdom.
According to Longman Dictionary of contemporary English, profession is
a form of employment or occupation, especially, one that is respected
in society as honorable and is only possible for an educated person and
after training in some a special branch of knowledge.
• In addition to the above definition, profession needs to satisfy some
criteria, which are indicated below:
• A profession involves a body of knowledge and system of skills;
• A profession performs specific functions for personal and social
purposes ;
• A profession is practicable;
• Entry into a profession requires an extended period of preparation;
• A profession is organized ;
• Profession has literature language unique to it;
 CON`T

Teachers' professional codes of ethics are related

to:
• Commitments to the students,
• Commitments to the home and the community,
and
• Commitments to the profession.
 Characteristics of a profession
A profession requires that its members:
1) Commit them to the ideal of service to mankind rather than to personal
gain.
2) Undergo relatively long periods of professional preparation to learn the
concepts & principles of the specified knowledge which earns the
profession its high status.
3) Meet established qualifications for admission and keep up to date
through in service growth.
4) Establish and adhere to a code of ethics regarding membership, conduct
and practice.
5) Demand a high order of intellectual activity
6) Form organizations to improve the standards, the services, self discipline
in the profession and the economic well being of its members.
7) Provide opportunities for advancement, specialization and independence
8) Regard the profession as a life career and consider membership in the
profession as permanent.
 CON`T

Condition and characteristics which support teaching as a

profession
1) Most teachers are working for the sake of giving service to
mankind rather than for great personal gain.
2) Teachers are required by law to complete certain
requirements for certification and entrance into the
profession.
3) Teaching requires skill, understanding and creativity.
4) Teachers have professional publications to help them keep
up to date.
5) Teachers engage in a variety of in service activities
6) Teaching is well regarded as a life career
7) Teachers have standards & ethics through national or local
education associations.
 UNIT SIX: PRINCIPLES, METHODS AND TECHNIQUES OF TEACHING
Introduction: Methods of Teaching

Meaning of teaching method

Teaching methods are unified arrangement & selection of
curricular elements comprising, developmental level of
students, educational outcomes, & techniques. Teaching
methods include procedures, devices and direction of
instructions selected to help the teacher achieve the
objectives or to internalize the content or the message.
 Methodological Principles
Principles provide teachers with sufficient information and create a
conductive environment is making instruction clear,
understandable, applicable & durable. All the principles are
applicable in teaching all subjects at all levels. Overall, the major
methodological principles are given below:
• The principle of integrating learning experiences: ……..By avoiding
fragmentation of knowledge, a high degree of meaningfulness can
be developed.
• The principle of interdependence: …………..growth, development,
improvement and refinement of knowledge are the product of
collective effort. Similarly, the sharing, exchanging and enrichment
of learning experiences, skills and outlooks are possible through
interdependence.
• The principle of utilization of materials that appeal to the senses
(audio-visual or multi-media materials): ……. knowledge is sense
perception.
 CON`T

• The principle of verbalization in learning: It involves the attempt to define

concepts or ideas or principles in one’s own words as distinct from memorizing
formal definitions of them.
• The principle of active observation: …….. "knowledge acquisition begins with the
practical use of the senses". To apply this principle, teachers must encourage
students to actively observe cause-affect relationships, encouraging them to form
habits of asking & trying to get answers to questions.
• The principle of conceptualization in learning: ………… the development of
knowledge is dependent upon the unity of sensory (perceptual, practical
experiences) and rational (abstract, reasoning) knowledge.
• The principle of popularizing the use and habitual reference to scientific
processes and procedures: …. students are exposed to practical first hand
experiences. Teachers must encourage students to ask, investigate, experiment
and later make conclusions and generalizations based on their findings and
discoveries.
• Provision for the kind of learning that promotes continuous search for truth: …….
states that knowledge grows and develops through continuous polishing refining
and improving as there is no final stage for knowledge.
• The principle that holds provision for individual learning: ……..knowledge which is
brought to the individual through experience or sense perception is enriched,
 CON`T

• The principle of following steps inherent in the acquisition

of knowledge: ………………. include sensing, perceiving,
understanding, analysis, and synthesis resulting in concept
formation; hypothesizing, inferring, and forming theories and
testing experimenting, proving or refuting.
• The principle of providing first hand and direct experience
for applications of acquired knowledge: ……….. knowledge
arises out of practice (experience) and is tested in practice
(application). To acquire behavior students must be engaged
in behavior.
• The principle that holds knowledge & skills are acquired
and not inherited: ………."the starting point of knowledge is
ignorance or uncertainty." In the application of principle the
teachers should take into account that every individual with
no brain damage is capable of learning.
 6.2 Classification of Teaching Methods

• Traditional Vs Modern Methods of teaching

Traditional methods of teaching- In these methods of
teaching, the teacher:
conducts recitation (learning by heart or memorization
by mechanical repetition) of what is to be learned;
is assumed to know – all and source of knowledge;
motivates learning by warning of failure &punishment;
gives lessons / tasks without involving students;
evaluates the performances of students by hearing the
recitation/reproduction of what was learned.
 CON`T

Modern methods of teaching- In these methods of teaching

• Attempts to involve the students actively and develop skills and
values in addition to the acquisition of knowledge.
• The students’ participation in the teaching – learning process,
especially in planning, organizing and performing the different
tasks under the guidance of their instructor(s) is very high.
• Much attention is given to directing students’ efforts towards
learning by doing rather than through memorization or
recitation of the learned materials.
• Encouragement and guidance in the activities are given instead
of warning of failure and punishment.
• The modern methods include problem – solving, group
discussion, project work, student’s independent activities /study,
etc.
• The modern methods are based on the data collected.
 CON`T

The classifications of methods of teaching also include:

• Teacher’s presentation methods (autocratic nature
of a teacher);
• teacher – students’ conversation; (question answer
format, group discussion); &
• Student’s independent work methods (self-planning,
self-responsibility & self –action, students learn
according to their pace...). The methods include the
assignment, project and problem solving methods.
• Other classifications put the different methods as
student – centered, teacher – centered and active
learning methods.
 Major Methods of Teaching: Mechanism, Applications, Advantages and
Disadvantages

• The Lecture Method: It is the oldest teaching method, which is identified as a method of
explanation or clarification of contents to students verbally.
• The group discussion method: In group discussions, students usually discuss on a topic, make a
review, clarify points, make corrections, apply their earlier knowledge and skills and reinforce
their learning.
When should a teacher use the group discussion method?
• When the teacher expects the ideas of students to analyze a problem and decide on a plan of
action;
• When the teacher feels that there is the need to expand the total amount of information
obtained in the class by drawing out suggestions& opinions from many students, not from the
teachers;
• When the teacher wants to make his/her students to get an understanding of a program, a
principle or a policy;
• When the teacher wants to incorporate the discussion method as an essential part of most
other methods;
Forms of Group Discussions: The different learning groups can be classified as:
• Buzz group
• Panel discussion group
• Seminar group and
• Brain storming group
 CON`T

• The Buzz – Group Discussion

It is a discussion situation whereby the class students are divided into small groups of three to six
students for a brief discussion. A buzz group discussion is necessary when:
it is difficult to get a class start to discuss in a larger group;teachers want some suggestion from the
entire class
when the teachers want to make class action based on the recommendations from all.
students seem to be getting tired or bored.
students hesitate to make critical comments in a large group;
The Panel Group Discussion
Panel group discussion is a discussion between a group of three to six people who have a special
knowledge and interest in the topic to be discussed.
A panel discussion group has a chairperson, panel members, and audience.
More often the teacher who has invited the panel members acts as a chairperson.
It must be clear that the audience have no opportunity to express their views. They participate as
listeners.
The audience’s questions will be addressed to the panel members through the chairperson before they
come to the panel discussion.
Panel discussion shouldn’t last more than an hour. The topic for discussion may involve different
people from different discipline.
The panel members could be an educator, a social worker, an economists, etc.
 CON`T

The panel chairperson responsibilities

The chairperson (teacher) contacts members of the panel before the meeting.
He/she briefs them about the purpose of the panel discussion, the background of
the learners, and some important points, which need to be covered about the
topic during discussion.
The chairperson gives an introduction, which should include the topic and, the
purpose of the discussion, the names and qualifications of the panel members
and the time limits of the discussion.
The chairperson presents questions prepared with the help of the students to the
panel on the topic.
The chairperson provides opportunities for all panel members to express their views
and he/she summarizes the points made by the speakers.
Seminar
A discussion after a student or group of students is made to prepare original
paper(s) on different topic(s) and is made to present it/them. It is a method
where the discussion will be conducted after the presentation.
The method is common in teaching at higher learning institutions where the
students are more matured than in the lower grades.
The advantage is the involvement of students in the discussion. They learn how to
listen to what others talk and express their own ideas.
 CON`T

The Brainstorming group

• This is a discussion session by the whole group of a class to forward
solution to a problem creatively. It is a conference technique whereby a
group seeks as many answers to a problem posed as possible by
collecting all the ideas contributed spontaneously by its members. The
purpose of the discussion is simply to elicit a number of ideas about and
responses to a problem. Here four basic rules to be observed:
• Criticism is forbidden and adverse judgments of ideas must be with held
until late.
• Free-wheeling is accepted, i.e. the wilder/natural/unusual the ideas the
better. Unusual ideas are encouraged;
• Quantity is wanted. This is because the greater the number of ideas,
the greater likelihood of devising solutions to problems;
• In addition to contributing ideas of their own, participants should
suggest how the ideas of others can be improved or how two or more
ideas can be synthesized.
• Later a judging committee screens these ideas.
 CON`T

Advantage of discussion
• In discussions, different views and opinions are forwarded. This enables students to
comprehend an issue from different angles;
• It exposes students to valuable experiences which develop their skills of listening and
speaking (communication skills)
• It gives the students an opportunity to analyze and synthesize facts at a higher
intellectual development.
• It provides the possibility of constant feedback between the teacher and the students.
When the response is erroneous or inappropriate, immediate modification can be
introduced and justified
• It helps students to learn and function efficiently in a group setting.
• As it is fewer teachers – centered, it allows students a chance to develop their ideas.
• In general, group discussion enhances personal growth and competence. Students
develop their communication skills, professional attitude and intellectual abilities.
Limitations of discussion
• The shortcomings of the discussion method are related to preparation, and
presentation of group discussions have to be planned properly before the discussions.
If group discussion is not well planned and directed, it consumes time unnecessarily.
Only few students may dominate the situation. Thus, the group discussion method
becomes productive, if the teachers plan and conduct it properly.
 ..

Role-playing method: Role playing method is

unrehearsed/spontaneous/unprepared dramatization
in which the players attempt to take situation clear to
themselves and to the audience by playing the role of
participants in the situation. The special features of
this method are:
• The instructor and the student in the class serve as
observer& critics
• It is experiential leaning
• It involves observation, discussion and analysis
• It is learning through entertainment
• It involves the skills of dealing with other people and
helps in understanding students’ feelings and reactions
 …………

Role playing method serves as a means for

changing attitudes, and developing confidence.
It also provides opportunities to see oneself. It
brings reality to classrooms and it does so
dramatically and convincingly (solves the
problem of time and space).
• Shortcomings of role-playing
• Expensive and difficult when practicing in real-
life situation
• Students may misinterpret it and emphasizes its
entertainment value than that of its educative
value.
 …………..

The questioning & answering method

It is an informal assessment technique, which is used with large groups
of students. The method could be content and process, lower order
and higher order, convergent and divergent or factual and problem
solving (heuristic) question methods.
• Effective question and answer method
• Formulate clear and precise questions
• Adapt questions to the students’ level of maturity & capacity;
• Make all students to participate actively;
• Give enough time to think-over& should demand complete answers;
• Listen to the given answer carefully and evaluate it;
• Use praise and other encouragement;
• Use pause /wait time effectively between Tr Q and st’s Rs and sts’
Qs and Tr Rs
• Use the techniques of paraphrasing, rephrasing& redirection.
 …………….

The project method

• It is a method where students are usually given an
individual topic for an in depth analysis. Here students
often have to work independently, do a kind of
research and report either in writing or verbally to a
group. The project could involve a group of students
working together on the aspect of same problem. It is
a co-operative study where students are grouped &are
made to produce tangible product. It is done with
relatively little direct interaction with the teachers.
The projects could be on construction of model
houses, growing crops, collection of insects, rocks,
preparation of food, cultural materials, models, etc.
 …………..

Specific criteria to make projects useful

• Timely-environmental and seasonal factors need to be
considered:
• Useful - the practical aim of the project must be
identified. It must fulfill a long-standing need. The
learning experiences in a project must be capable of
being applied in life;
• Challenging - project should neither be too simple and
easy nor too long and difficult.
• Economical - projects should not unnecessarily tax
energy and money of students.
• Enhancing cooperation: it should allow students to
think/plan independently & cooperatively.
 … …

The advantages of project method

• it provides a conducive environment for learning through practice and independently;
• it gives satisfaction and happiness to students;
• it provides situation to create unity of different subjects;
• it provided sufficient opportunities to the students to work cooperatively ;
• it cultivates virtues like tolerances, independence, open-mindedness, etc.
• it stresses problem - solving, thinking and reasoning;
• it provides freedom to work enthusiastically on self-chosen projects;
• it solves disciplinary problems for students (no time to involve in anti-social acts);
• it makes learning durable, enjoyable& learn in a natural way.
Limitations of project Method
• A project method is a time-consuming activity
• It is very expensive in terms of getting required finance & materials
• It requires highly trained teachers who are well rounded in many fields of study.
• The materials required for project method may not be available easily and cheaply.
• It is difficult to identify the share of work of individual members of the group if it is a
group project.
• Over use of a group project method creates a dependency of an individual on a group
 ……………

The problem solving method. The problem solving method is

• Conscious, planned and purposeful effort to arrive at some solutions
• It is the combination of many methods where trial and error approach is
applied
• It requires self directed learning.
• Learners make their own discoveries
• It helps students develop their reasoning power
• It includes inquiry and project method.
Steps in problem solving method
• Identifying and defining the problem. Make a clear conception of the
problem and state it in a manner that it leads to a solution.
• Formulating a hypothesis /basic questions to answer the questions.
• Collecting and organizing the data and information
• Making analysis of data collected.
• Drawing conclusions on the basis of findings
• Applying the findings (results).
 ……….

Team teaching method. The idea in this method is that teachers deliver their lesson in
team. Team teaching method may be hierarchical team or synergetic team. In this
method, there are three ways to organize the team:
• The unit specialist team approach (Composed of team qualified in diverse
subjects
• The differentiated team approach (diversified discipline)
• Ad-hoc team approach
Advantages of team teaching
• stimulates discussion among teachers who are responsible for a group of students;
• develops a strong sense of involvement & responsibility among students;
• gives adequate opportunities to the students for free discussion/expression;
• Provides opportunities for the development of human relations which are
essential for social adjustment.
• provides opportunities for the students to get better knowledge, make proper use
of resources, staff, etc.;
• helps teachers to evaluate the work of one another, & to improve their own
teaching
• Provides a flexible class size and help to provide guidance for the learners as well
as inexperienced teachers, etc.
 Active Learning Methods(ALMs)
• It refers to techniques where students
do more than simply listen to a lecture.
Students are DOING something including
discovering, processing, and applying
information. Active learning "derives
from two basic assumptions: (1) that
learning is by nature an active endeavor
and (2) that different people learn in
different ways" (Meyers and Jones,
1993.)
 ………..

The following are active learning methods:

• Think-Pair-Share.
• Collaborative learning groups(CLGs)……the teacher assigns students to
heterogeneous groups of 3-6 students.
• Student-led review sessions-Here instead of the traditional instructor-
led review session, the students have do the work.
• Games
• Analysis or reactions to videos
• Student debates
• Student generated exam questions
• Mini-research proposals or projects; a class research symposium
• Analyze case studies
• Keeping journals or logs-In this active learning method, have students
make journal or log entries (keep records) periodically (on paper or
computer, in or outside of class). Write and produce a newsletter
• Concept mapping-Here students create visual representations of
models, ideas, and the relationships between concepts.
 UNIT SEVEN: PLANNING LESSONS, ORGANIZATION
AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Meaning of Instructional Planning
• A plan is a blue print or a mental operation for a better
implementation of what has been thought at some moment.
An instructional planning is an operational plan for effective
implementation of the designed curriculum. Instructional
planning involves the preparation of necessary to meet the
individual needs of the classroom members. It is the process
of:
• Determining what to teach, how to teach, why to teach and
when to teach.
• Deciding or fixing the amount and kind of instruction to be
thought
• Overall, every instructor, no matter he is competent and
experienced, needs to plan his teaching.
 Reasons /advantages of instructional planning
There are some basic reasons as to why planning is important in teaching.
From teachers’ point of view
• Direction – Planning enables the teacher to have definite direction and
purpose.
• Time budgeting- Planning helps to finish the course on time, and
• Confidence- planning helps the teacher to be confident of his/her teaching.
• Classroom management- planning enables to ensure better classroom
management.
• Substitute teacher- planning facilitates the work of substitute teacher.
From Students’ Point of View
• i) Enthusiasm- enables students to be confident, & enthusiastic in learning.
• That is, if students understand that the teacher is well prepared, they will
develop a tendency to be enthusiastic and careful. They will not be careless
and dissatisfied toward learning
• Direction- enables students to have clear direction. Planning offers direction
towards the achievement of learning outcomes.
 2 Fundamental Questions in Planning

• Before the preparation of an instructional plan, the

following questions should be answered carefully. These
are:
– What are the learning goals?
– What are the required topics?
– What are the required learning activities?
– How many students are in the class?
– How much time is allocated for the class?
– How is the material going to be tested?
– What instructional methods would work best given the known constraints?
– What resources are necessary to carry out this instructional plan?
– What are the reasons for students to learn this material?
– How is this material linked to other blocks of instruction in the course?
– What do students need to do to prepare for this block of instruction?
– How can I evaluate the learning after this block of instruction?
 7.3 Types of Planning (Levels of instructional planning)

A lesson plan could be divided into the following classification:

• Long range planning – A long range plan includes yearly plan or semester plan
(at subject & course level)
• Intermediate-range planning – is instructional planning which involves
decisions about how courses can be broken into chunks, parts, or units where
each unit has a particular theme or focus. Think about the unit planning as
involving the following three phases:
• At the beginning of the unit, include strategies for setting learning objectives.
• During a unit include strategies as: Monitoring progress toward learning goals,
Introducing new knowledge, Practicing, reviewing, and applying knowledge.
• At the end of a unit, include strategies for helping students determine how well
they have achieved their goals.
• Short-range planning – includes daily plans or simply lesson plans. Some call
this as periodic plans (We will have detail and further explanation below under
the title Daily Lesson Plan)
 Con`t

• 7.4 Lesson Plan-A lesson is a small unit of instruction dealing

with a very specific topic that is taught in duration of a single
period. It is also considered as the actual plan of specific action
which includes the working philosophy of the teacher
understanding of the pupils, knowledge of the material to be
taught and knowledge about the methods of teaching. A
Lesson plan can be perceived as:
• A blue Print
• A guide map for action
• A Comprehensive chart of classroom teaching learning
activities, an elastic but systematic approach for the teaching
of concepts, skills and attitudes etc.
Kasambira (1993) defined as “A daily lesson plan is a short,
carefully developed and usually written outline to help teacher
to achieve the objectives of a specific topic, skill or ideas.”
 Con`t

• Sources for planning a lesson-Most teachers draw their

lesson plan from the unit plan they already prepared.
Department heads/colleague teachers can help through
making follow up supervision, and suggest techniques in
order to get ways of improving instruction.
• Besides this, curriculum guides, syllabus, learners
characteristic, school facility and resource etc. can also help
as a source in developing lesson plans.
• Lesson preparation -Preparing a lesson plan includes the
arrangement of all the resources and materials to be used in
the lesson, including the writing, ordering, delivery and
checking of equipment, arranging tables and chairs in the
classroom setting, and making notes, important skills
involved in preparation that are worthy of attention to the
effectiveness of the lesson.
 Components of Lesson Plan
The specific elements to be included in the lesson plan format are debatable.
But most scholars suggest that a daily lesson plan need to involve the
following components
• 1. Topic: The topic states the concept to be presented to the class and limits
the scope of material to be presented.
• 2. Specific objectives: Such objectives should be briefly showing the main
aims of the daily lesson plans.
• Introduction (set induction): Lesson plan needs an effective introduction that
will have several purposes.
• Presentation (the lesson development)
• Closure (Conclusion or Culminating activities): It is important to build a
concept, as it is to have a strong introduction.
• Evaluation
• The timetable:
• Instructional materials / teaching aids:
• Remark: this component is reserved for the teacher to make any notes or
comments regarding the day’s lesson.
 Instructional Objectives
What are instructional objectives?
Instructional objectives may also be called performance objectives, behavioral
objectives, or simply objectives. All of these terms are used
interchangeably. Objectives are specific, outcome based, measurable, and
describe the learner's behavior after instruction.
a) Specific: Objectives are very specific. This means that they should describe
precisely what the learner is expected to do.
b) Outcome based: Objectives are outcome based. This means that the
objective is going to state what the learner should be able to do after the
instruction is complete. The process of how the instruction happens is not
considered in an objective.
c) Measurable: Objectives are measurable. This means that objectives should
describe learning outcomes that can be measured. Meaning, objectives
should be seen or heard.
d) Describe student behavior: Objectives describe student behaviors. This
means that objectives should relate what the student should be able to do
after the instruction.
 II. Importance of objectives
• Instructional objectives are key to effective
instruction, there are three reasons that
instructional objectives are so important:
• Serve as a guide for students. Objectives tell
students to what is expected of them.
• Serve as a basis for the selection of instructional
media & materials and procedures.
• Determine the appropriate ways to evaluate the
learning.
 III. How does one write an instructional objective?
Heinich and his colleagues (2002) suggest that well written objectives
have four parts. They call these parts the ABCD's of instructional
objectives.
a) Audience -The audience is the group of learners that the objective is
written for. This is usually written "the learner" or "the student",
however, it could be written as specific as "
b) Behavior-The behavior is the verb that describes what the learner
(audience) will be able to do after the instruction. This is the heart
of the objective and MUST be measurable AND observable.
c) Conditions -Conditions are the circumstances under which the
objectives must be completed. What equipment or tools can the
student have access to such as a calculator, map, the book, class
notes, etc?
d) Degree -The degree identifies the standard that the learner must
meet to reach acceptable performance.
 IV. Why Should Teachers Classify Objectives?

• Teachers should classify objectives because the

type of objectives attempted dictate the
selection of instructional methods, media and
evaluation used in the lesson.
• These learning outcomes are classified into one
of three domains (categories): cognitive,
psychomotor or affective.
 Con`t

• Cognitive Domain: The Cognitive Domain receives the

most attention in instructional programs and includes
objectives related to information or knowledge.
Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues (1956) developed a
widely accepted taxonomy, referred to as Bloom's
Taxonomy (method of classification on differing levels of
higher order thinking) for cognitive objectives.
• The remembering level is followed by five increasingly
difficult levels of mental abilities: understanding,
applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating (the highest
level).
 Con`t

Remembering: … requires the student to recall or recognize specific

information. ..verbs appropriate .. Define, fill in the blank, identify, label, list,
locate, match, ..
Understanding: ..Verbs appropriate …Convert, describe, explain ,interpret,
paraphrase, put in order, restate, retell in your words, …..
Applying: ….. implement (use) the information. Verbs ….. Apply, compute,
conclude, construct, demonstrate, determine, draw find out, give an example,
illustrate, make, ……
Analyzing: …. break the information into component parts ….Verbs …..Analyze,
categorize, classify, compare, contrast, debate, deduct, determine the factors,
diagnose diagram, differentiate, …….
Creating:…. generate new ideas, products … Verbs appropriate ….Change,
combine, compose, construct, create, design, find an unusual way, formulate,
generate, invent, originate, plan, predict, pretend, produce,……
Evaluating: .. make a judgment about materials or methods. Verbs…. Appraise,
choose, compare, conclude, decide, defend, evaluate, give your opinion, judge,
justify, prioritize, rank, rate, select, support, value
 Con`t

Psychomotor Domain: The Psychomotor domain includes objectives that require

basic motor skills and/or physical movement such as construct, kick, shape,
make.
C. Affective Domain: The Affective Domain includes objectives pertaining to
attitudes, appreciations, values and emotions.
Problems in Lesson Planning-Some possible problems in connection to instructional
planning could be:
• Lack of training.-this cause teachers to have lack of skills in planning,
• Belief in planning-it means lack of positive attitude towards planning,
• Lack of follow up from the side of the concerned bodies-lack of supervision,
• Lack of resources-lack of resources cause implementation problems, and
• Feasibility problems-practicality of the lesson planning process.
Some studies also indicated about problems related to instructional planning
• The major constraining influences were found to be funding, workload and lack
of time. Strong facilitating influences were found to be the academics'
backgrounds and their beliefs concerning teaching, academics, student needs,
and learning. Other facilitators were heads of schools, interpersonal relationships
with people in departments, beliefs about knowledge, students, teaching
resources and 'ideal' curricula.
 Con`t

Lesson Plan Formats

• There is no one best format for lesson, which is
acceptable by all educators and teachers. The
format depends on individual needs, teaching
situation and school philosophy, nature and
purpose of the content etc. But it has to be noted
that the format used has implications about the
classroom practice; mainly with respect to
students’ involvement.
 7.7 Classroom Organization and Management
7.7.1 Definitions, purposes, and patterns of classroom
organization
• Classroom organization is a deliberate creation of the
learning environment by considering the instructional
objectives and the specific activities to be done by each
student to achieve the desired results. Classroom
organization as a conscious arrangement of the classroom in
its totality to achieve the instructional objectives can be seen
in terms of:
• Patterns for arranging participants (small group versus whole
class presentation);
• Resources used or resources of information;
• Rules of appropriateness and the major patterns of the
classroom seating arrangement
 Con`t

The major patterns of the classroom seating arrangement

include:
• Students sit in rows facing the teacher and the blackboard
(row& column)
• The cluster pattern arrangement: It is characterized by the
formation of little clusters of students in different positions in
the classroom. It is very much convenient for buzz-group
discussions. In cluster grouping, the size of each group should
not be more than six members.
• The cluster seating pattern advantages
• It makes students to communicate easily with each other;
• It is easier for students to work as a team and to help each
other as peers;
• Movement from one cluster to another is not restricted;
• It makes the management of the classroom discipline easy
 Con`t

The Horse-Shoe Pattern Arrangement -This is an arrangement where the

teacher sits in the center, half way along the diameter. This arrangement
provides the following advantages:
• It can be used when the lesson entails a lot of discussion;
• It enables the teacher to help and check every member easily;
• It enables students to consult with each other;
• It is easy to rearrange the group without wasting time.
The round table arrangment pattern -It is a good arrangement for discussion
lessons. It can be round or square. Unlike the horse – shoe arrangement,
the authority of the teacher is completely decentralized and formal
leadership roles are played down considerably. There is usually no group
leader in this arrangement. Its advantages include:
• arrangement of convenient environment for recording and listening on tape;
• only one object could be used as display for a lesson. It can be placed at the
center for all to see and comment upon;
• In general, classroom organization as an arrangement of activities, students,
and classroom resources for instruction, differs from time to time and
activity to activity.
 Meaning and characteristics of classroom management

Classroom Management involves the management of contents, methods, time, materials,

equipment, space, students’ behavior, and social relations in the actual teaching learning
process. It includes creating positive attitudes and motivation of students, providing them with
purposeful tasks, keeping them at ease in the classroom and communicating the objectives of
the session clearly.
Features of Effective Classroom Management -Carefully planned, varied and interesting activities in
the process of classroom management;
• Supporting and monitoring student activities;
• Effective use of time;
• Setting and apply ground rules accepted by the students; and
• Establish good relationship with students (respect, praise, show concern, etc)
Areas of Classroom Management-Classroom management involves managing:
• Contents of the lesson (s)
• Methods of teaching (the ability to select the methods and apply them in concrete situation)
• Time allocated to a given lesson;
• Materials and space: Teachers at all levels are expected to manage the materials and spaces set
for the instructional activities; and
• Managing students’ behavior and their social relationships through a democratic way (good
interpersonal relations, mutual help and concern & identify individual differences and
accommodation)
 Con`t

Problems in Classroom Management-Classroom management

could be affected by inappropriate students’ and teachers’
behavior, inadequate resources and instructor
mismanagement. Problems can generally be categorized:
1. Teacher-related problems
Lack of having proper plan
Late coming to classroom
Treating students based on race, gender, ethnic, religion and political
backgrounds.
2. Student-related problems
Late coming to the class
Aggressiveness, disturbance, lack of interest, poor time concept, etc.
3. School-related problems poor facilities, poor orientation,
unclear rules& regulation, etc.
 Methods to overcome teachers, students& school related
problems
1. Teacher-related
– Developing proper plan
– Develop proper timing
– Act professionally and ethically
2. Student- related
• Understand rules and regulations and act accordingly
• Secure continuous orientation& counseling
3. School-related
• Orient to use the available resource efficiently and
effectively, search and consult allocation of resources
• Develop awareness on resource capacity of the
institution
 Con`t

• Other techniques of classroom management

The Preventive Techniques
• The provision of freedom;
• Sharing responsibilities
• The provision of incentives
• Establishing and maintaining good interpersonal relationships
• Making effective/good teaching
• Co-operative rule making
• Explaining procedures
Curative / Remedial Techniques
• Eye – contact:
• Closing – in or proximity, physical closeness: touch and signal
• Humor- present attractive and educative stories and jokes
• Separating misbehaving children
• Restructuring
• changing the teaching method;
• Teacher’s analysis:
• Open discussion