The concept of a curriculum

The curriculum was equated in the past with the syllabus and the timetable. A curriculum document included a statement about content, the subjects covered and the courses that students should attend. This concept of a curriculum has been widened to include:

Each of these aspects of a curriculum is explored in more detail in Chapter 11. A curriculum can be thought of as made up of all the experiences learners have that enable them to achieve the specified learning outcomes (Grant 2010).

Approaches to the curriculum

All of the above elements are important and need to be taken into consideration when a curriculum is planned. Particular attention is paid sometimes to one aspect:

While these hopefully represent caricatures of curriculum planning they unfortunately occasionally represent what happens in practice. Today, in both undergraduate and postgraduate education we should be far removed from ‘a magician approach’ to curriculum planning. As described in the next chapters, development of a curriculum is a systematic process that involves a series of planned steps with attention paid to all of the elements. The curriculum is seen as an expression of intentions, mechanisms and context of the education programme that requires input from all of the stakeholders including teachers, students, administrators, employers, the government and the wider public.

The planned, the delivered and the learned curriculum

A distinction can be made between:

• The ‘planned’ curriculum that is documented and agreed by the curriculum planners and teachers and embodies their intentions and aspirations – the curriculum on paper.

Fig 10.1 The ‘planned’, the ‘delivered’ and the ‘learned’ curriculum.

• The ‘actual’ or ‘delivered’ curriculum, which is the reality of the students’ or trainees’ experiences and what is delivered or happens in practice – the curriculum in action.

• The ‘learned curriculum’, which represents the students’ knowledge, skills and attitudes that result from their learning experience.

A mismatch between the ‘planned’ and the ‘delivered’ curriculum may be due to a teacher’s lack of familiarity or acceptance of the specified curriculum, or to the fact that the realities of any course will never fully match the hopes and intentions of the planners. Occasionally the problem may arise from a deliberate intent by teachers to emphasise what they think is important and should be taught rather than what is specified in the curriculum. Teachers can sabotage a curriculum. They need to be committed to it and accept the underlying principles. It is the teacher’s responsibility to keep any differences between the planned and delivered curriculum to a minimum. Where there are significant differences, the reason for these should be analysed and action taken as necessary. Logistical problems, problems with students or trainees or inherent issues with the planned curriculum should be addressed.

Part of the ‘learned curriculum’ is the ‘hidden curriculum’. This can be thought of as the outcomes that are not part of the explicit intentions of those planning a curriculum. These may be knowledge and skills but more importantly may be attitudes and beliefs. The formal curriculum is described in the course documents, prospectus and study guides. The hidden or unofficial curriculum is determined by the educational environment and relates to the students’ experiences as described in Chapter 18. There may be conflict, particularly in relation to ethical decisions, between the hidden curriculum and what they are taught in the formal curriculum.

Reflect and react