Models of Curriculum Development

Rational or Objective Model

Rational or Objective Model was given by Tyler and was later modified by Hilda Taba. Tyler recommended that curriculum planners identify general objectives by gathering data from these sources: The learners, contemporary life outside the school, and the subject matter. After identifying numerous general objectives, the planners refine them by filtering them through two screens: the educational and social philosophy of the learning. The general objectives that successfully pass through the two screens became specific instructional objectives. In describing general objectives Tyler referred them as “goals”, “educational objectives” and “educational purposes”. Tyler’s Rational /objective model is based on 4 questions:

•What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?

•What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes?

•How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?

•How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained? 

On the basis of these questions the process of curriculum development will have following four steps:

1. Stating objectives

2. Selecting learning experiences

3. Organizing learning experiences

4. Evaluation

The Rational model was then modified by Hilda Taba. She hold a view that in developing a curriculum, teachers should take an active part. She believed that generalized learning objectives ought to be organized around curriculum which facilitate students in discovering principles efficiently. Her model was based on following 7 steps:

1. Find the requirements of the learners. 

2. Identifying goals to be learned by the teachers. 

3. The contents and objectives should be match. 

4. According to the interest of the children the content should be categorized. 

5. The methods of instruction should engage the learners. 

6. The actions of learning should categorize to recall the learners what they learned. 

7. In the process of evaluation both the teacher and student involved.

The requirements of the learners are the first preference to the curriculum, according to Taba. Walker holds that, the curriculum development model of Hilda Taba is descriptive, inductive and nonlinear. 

Strengths of the Rational Model

The strengths of Rational model are given below:

1. It provides curriculum developer with a clear direction and a guide for the  process of curriculum development and this clear direction or guide can simplify the process.

2. It provides a logical sequence of curriculum elements.

Weaknesses of Rational/Objective Model

Following are the weaknesses of the rational model:

1. Objective model is fixed. But in terms of the reality of curriculum development process, it is rarely a fixed or linear process.

2.  This model overlooks the unpredictable nature of teaching and learning. While the model prescribes specific objectives to be achieved, learning occurs beyond these objectives due to factors that could not be foreseen. The model cannot account for the many complex outcomes of learning.

3. Another criticism on rational model is that educational objectives need not to precede the selection and organization of learning experiences.

4. The rational model of Tyler have been criticized for not adequately explaining the sources of their objectives.

Cyclic Model

The Cyclic Model was given by Wheeler. As the name suggests, this model is cyclic. Wheeler devised a model which was based on logical/sequential development. Wheeler’s version of the cyclical model consisted of five logically sequenced phases, those are:

1) Selection of aims, goals and objectives.

2) Selection of learning experiences to help achieve these aims, goals and objectives.

3) Selection of content through which certain types of experiences may be offered.

4) Organization and integration of learning experiences and content with respect to the teaching-learning process.

5) Evaluation of each phase and the attainment of goals.

Step one involves the selection of aims, goals and objectives as relevant to the specific content area. The aims, goals and objectives represent the baseline data needed for the other steps in the entire process to be considered. Step two involves the selection of activities which occur in the classroom in order to ensure that the material specified in step one is delivered. Step three involves the selection of content through which different experiences may be offered. Content in this context, means the subject matter of teaching/learning. It involves much more than simply facts and could include attitudes, values and skills. Step four involves the organization and integration of learning experiences or methods as they are connected to the teaching/learning process. Step five involves an evaluation of the different phases and an examination of whether the goals have been attained. This can be done through formative or summative means and adjustments can be made if the goals have not been attained.

Wheeler has converted Tyler’s original ideas into cyclic form. Wheeler (1978) believes that curriculum decision making can start from any point and can come back to any of the points. If the curriculum developer has developed a curriculum and the new researches or new information appears that need to be added in the curriculum, then, cyclical model allows curriculum developer to make modification in each element of the curriculum by repeating the cycle.

An important difference between Rational and cyclic model is that the cyclical model views the curriculum process as circular or a continuing activity, rather than the fixed and rigid processes which the rational/objective model of curriculum is associated with. The key element of cyclic model is that the process of curriculum development is seen as a cycle. That is, it has no particular beginning or end.

The Cyclic model was again modified by Nicholls and Nicholls. He indicates that with this model “there is no starting-point…it is a never ending process”. The Nicholls and Nicholls model of curriculum has five points. Those five points are:

1) Situation analysis.

2) Selection of objectives.

3) Selection and organization of content.

4) Selection and organization of methods.

5) Evaluation.

The five steps provided by Nicholls and Nicholls appear relatively straight forward and practical. Certainly the model is less complex and more flexible when directly compared to traditional rational/objective model and reflects Nicholls and Nicholls’s view that if students are to be effective learners that learning must be thoroughly planned. A common criticism of the cyclical model is that, although it claims to be cyclical, there must be a starting point and an end point.

Strengths of Cyclic Model

The strengths of Cyclic model are given below:

1. It provides a logical sequence of curriculum elements.

2. It provides sufficient baseline data for stating objectives.

3. It can effectively cope with changing circumstances. For example, if new information appears, the curriculum can be modified to add the new information in it.

4. It provides flexibility in a sense that it is able to cope with the changing circumstances. 

Weaknesses of Cyclic Model

Following are the weaknesses of the Cyclic model:

1. It is difficult to locate. Like, in Pakistan, we follow the curriculum that is 14 years old because the curriculum developers are not updating it by adding updated information in it. Thus, this model cannot be adopted in all the countries.

2. It is not different from objective model. It just converts the linear sequence of objective model into the cyclic form.

3. It takes time for curriculum developer to do an effective situational analysis.

Dynamic Model

The Dynamic Model was advocated by Walker, Skilbeck and Stenhouse. It views the process of curriculum development as dynamic in nature. The process of curriculum development can be initiated from any point unlike the objective model where the beginning is always the setting of objectives.

In the dynamic model, curriculum is not considered as linear or sequential; it can start with any element and proceed in any order. The curriculum elements are seen as flexible, interactive and modifiable in this model.

Walker(1972) felt that the objective or Rational models were unsuccessful and devised a model, which has three phases.  These are platform phase, the deliberation phase and the design phase. In the platform phase, platform statements made up of ideas, preferences, points of view, beliefs and values that are held by curriculum developers are recognized. In the second stage, the curriculum developers start discussing on the basis of the recognized platform statements. This stage is complex, randomized set of interactions that eventually achieves an enormous amount of background work before the actual curriculum is designed. In the final phase (design stage), curriculum developers make decisions about the various components or elements of the curriculum.

Steps of Dynamic Model

1. Analyze the situation

2. Define objectives

3. Design the teaching-learning program

4. Interpret and implement the programme

5. Assess and evaluate

Strengths of Dynamic model

The strengths of the dynamic or interactional model are following:

1. This models provide a realistic way of handling curriculum development because in this model, the curriculum developer is free to start from any point by keeping in view the information of the situation for which curriculum is to be designed.

2. In this model, there is no restriction of stating objectives first, which allows developers to be more creative. The model allows the developer to change the order of planning, to move to and fro among the curriculum elements.

3. Another strength of the model is its flexibility during curriculum development process. The flexibility is in the sense that developers may begin at any point in the curriculum process that is appropriate to their needs.

Weaknesses of Dynamic Model

The weaknesses of the dynamic model of curriculum development are following:

1. The dynamic models seems to be confusing and lacking in providing  a clear direction. It has no  fixed direction or sequence which can make curriculum developer confused as what to do.

2. Objectives provide guidance and direction,  then, they must be stated in order to be effective in designing content and teaching methods. In this model, there is no restriction that the curriculum developer should state objective, then, how do you know where you are going if you pose few or no objectives?