Narrow (traditional)

Broad (modern)

Syllabus, subjects, textbooks

All planned learning experiences

Classroom and examination only

Classroom, library, lab, playground, community, digital

Teacher transmits; learner receives

Teacher facilitates; learner constructs meaning

Content and marks

Whole-person development

Fixed and uniform

Flexible, contextual, revised

Scholar

Position

Bobbitt (1918)

Things children must do and experience to do adult affairs well

Caswell and Campbell (1935)

All experiences under teachers’ guidance

Tyler (1949)

Purposes, experiences, organisation, evaluation

Taba (1962)

A plan for learning: aims, content, patterns, evaluation

Kerr (1968)

All planned and guided learning, inside or outside school

Stenhouse (1975)

A proposal open to critical scrutiny; a hypothesis to test

Term

Meaning

Relationship

Curriculum

Total plan: aims, content, methods, materials, assessment

Widest term

Syllabus

Topic-wise outline with time and exam scheme

Part of curriculum

Course

A unit of study with credits and outcomes

Building block

Textbook

Instructional resource presenting content

Tool, not the curriculum

Type

Explanation

Example

Explicit

Officially stated and planned

Syllabus of EDN-DSEC 503

Hidden

Unwritten values learnt through routines (Jackson, 1968)

Punctuality, competition

Null

What is not taught (Eisner)

Absence of tribal knowledge

Co-curricular

Complements academic work

Seminars, debates

Extra-curricular

Voluntary, outside the programme

NSS, sports

Core

Common essential learning for all

Language, mathematics

Philosophy

Core belief

Curriculum implication

Idealism

Reality is ideas and spirit

Humanities, ethics; teacher as model

Realism

Reality exists apart from mind

Sciences, mathematics, experiments

Naturalism

Follow the child’s nature

Activity, play, learning from nature

Pragmatism

Truth tested by consequences

Projects, problem-solving, life-linked

Existentialism

Individual freedom and choice

Self-expression, arts, own pathways

Critical theory

Education reflects power

Dialogue; whose knowledge counts

Philosophy

Proponents

Curriculum focus

Perennialism

Hutchins, Adler

Enduring ideas, great books

Essentialism

Bagley

Basic skills (3Rs), core subjects

Progressivism

Dewey, Kilpatrick

Learner interest, experience, democracy

Reconstructionism

Counts, Brameld

Curriculum to reform society

Thinker

Idea

Curriculum meaning

Gandhi

Nai Talim

Learning through productive craft; head, heart, hand

Tagore

Education with nature

Creativity, arts, universal humanism

Vivekananda

Man-making

Character, strength, service

Aurobindo

Integral education

Physical, vital, mental, psychic, spiritual

Krishnamurti

Freedom from fear

Inquiry and freedom

Source

Idea

Dewey (1899)

School as a miniature community

Counts (1932)

Dare the school build a new social order?

Freire (1970)

Banking vs problem-posing education

Kothari Commission (1964-66)

Education for national development and integration

NCF 2005

Link knowledge to life; end rote learning

NEP 2020, NCF-SE 2023

Foundational literacy, multilingualism, experiential learning

Theorist

Key idea

Curriculum implication

Piaget

Four cognitive stages

Match content to stage

Vygotsky

ZPD, scaffolding

Collaborative, guided inquiry

Bruner

Spiral curriculum

Revisit concepts at rising complexity

Skinner

Reinforcement

Small steps, quick feedback

Bloom

Taxonomy (1956; 2001)

Objectives at many thinking levels

Gardner

Multiple intelligences

Varied activities and assessment

Maslow

Hierarchy of needs

Safe, supportive school climate

Question

Foundation

Decision in curriculum

Why teach this?

Philosophical

Aims, values, selection of content

What does society need?

Social

Relevance, equity, skills, culture

Is the learner ready?

Psychological

Sequence, methods, materials, assessment