Curriculum Essentials: A Journey
Curriculum innovation is the key to promoting creativity and innovation in education. Curriculum provides a framework that sets out the knowledge, skills, and values that students need to learn. However, some practices in education have become outdated, and learning experiences must be redesigned to be more relevant to student interests, abilities, and cultures. Moreover, with a diverse population of students with different abilities, innovations must be linked to curriculum goals and provide for an array of learning experiences.
Curriculum change is inevitable in any society. These changes occur because there is no perfect curriculum, and there is often a need to adjust to the economic, technological, social, political, and ideological needs in the society. Curriculum change can be perceived at three levels: minor changes involve rearrangement of subject content, learning activities, or addition of topics or methods in the curriculum project; medium changes involve integration of subjects or new approaches to the existing subjects, while major changes involve a complete overhaul of the existing curriculum.
Curriculum change can only occur when certain agencies are involved in the process. These agencies include institutes of education, curriculum development centers, research institutes, schools, colleges, universities, departments of education, publishing companies, school districts, school boards, and communities.
Innovation involves the introduction of something new in curriculum that deviates from the standard practice, often because society has changed and so must the curriculum. To meet these changes, innovations are created. An innovation must fit in with the goals and objectives of education which usually reflect the needs, interests, values, and problems of the society. An innovation must be appropriate, economical in terms of time, space, and resources and be aligned with the philosophy of the society and the school, and rooted in sound educational theory.
Ronald Havelock (1969) identified three main models of innovation: Research, Development, and Diffusion (RD&D) model, Social Interaction (SI) model, and Problem-Solving (PS) model.
The RD&D model is effective where curriculum development is done on a large scale and ideas have to reach wide geographical areas and isolated users. It is a highly organized, rational approach to innovation.
The SI model operates through social interaction and emphasizes communication. It stresses the importance of interpersonal networks of information, opinion of leadership, personal contacts, and social integration. The model also has its roots in the notion of democratic communities “helping students to be as well as to become.” The SI model also stresses the relationship of the individual to other people and society, and the instructional methods used by teachers in the classroom to facilitate group work.
The PS model involves students in solving real-life problems. The PS model is student-centered, and students are encouraged to interact with each other in a structured setting. When implementing this strategy, students often serve as facilitators of content and help their peers construct meaning.
In conclusion, curriculum innovation is essential for education to promote creativity and innovation. Curriculum change is inevitable in any society, and it can only occur when certain agencies are involved in the process. Innovations must be appropriate, economical in terms of time, space, and resources, and be aligned with the philosophy of the society and the school, and rooted in sound educational theory. The RD&D, SI, and PS models are effective models of innovation that can be used to promote curriculum innovation in education.
