Issues On Curriculum And Effectively Responded On It

Creating sustainable improvements in the school curriculum has been a virtual challenge to the school system, particularly in Africa. Farrant (1980) defines curriculum as "all that is taught in a school including the time tabled subjects and all those aspects of its life". In this vain, this paper is going to discuss issues need curriculum response, it will further look at how these issues would be effectively responded to.

Curriculum managers and educational experts are always looking for better ways to achieve better learning through teaching. However, curriculum innovations seemed to be difficult for many, issues which need to be addressed. Certain aspects need to be clarified in order to overcome the attitude and feelings that create some concerns. Poor academic performance of the learners. Issues on the varied implementation of the curriculum among schools and teachers seem to be the one of the reasons for the prevailing low performance of the schools all over the country. There is perennial complaint about books and other instructional materials. Overcrowded classrooms do not provide a good learning environment. This could be responded to by inspecting curriculum implementers in the day to day curriculum activities at the grass root and supplying the needed material to schools.

Curricular innovations lack the sense of ownership from stakeholders. Sometimes the implementers lack full understanding of the changes or modifications that they are doing. The goal is unclear, thus there are a lot of questions in the implementation as well as evaluation from concerned persons. Because of these concerns, there is little support that comes from other stakeholders. They just leave the school to do it their own thus, giving the classroom teacher the burden. We need a consented effort by all stake holders. Everyone should play his part in implementing the curriculum.

Some curricular innovations are results of bandwagon but are not well supported by the managers. In desire of some schools to be part of global educational scenario, changes and innovations are drastically implemented even if the school is not ready. They have to show that they are also keeping abreast of the development even if their equipment is insufficient. Lack of regular monitoring and evaluation is an issue that needs curriculum response. After a new curriculum has been installed, it is left unattended. Very little means is provided to find out if the implementation is running smoothly or not. When the time of implementation ends, sometimes there is no evaluation aspects, thus the innovation cannot be judged as failure or success for it to be continued or not. At times politicians just impose such a curriculum on its people. Only to discover its bad effect on the education after seeing the type of graduates it has produced. Innovations result to teacher burn out. With so many new changes taking place in the curriculum, many teachers are getting burn out. They get so tired quickly and motivation is very low because they cannot cope up with rapid changes that take place. Some of these innovations are dictates from rich countries who want to try their new ideas on student. They come abrupt and expire quickly.

Meanwhile a dent has been left on our learners and teachers resulting in burnt out teachers. Innovations are not communicated to all. Only the managers or the proponents understand the changes. Those who are directly involved merely follow hook line and sinker. This is called regimentation. If implementers do not support it, then results will be affected. It is important that the grassroots implementers should be involved in formulating it and testing its results at every area in the country. If a curriculum is going to be relevant it must respond to the charges in society. The relevance and effectiveness of a curriculum which will be good for school instruction must thus take into consideration the changes in society; society should be given an opportunity for inclusion of its aspirations. Every educational curriculum should respond to the needs of the society. If it does not meet the needs then, that curriculum is dead. It becomes important that the curriculum is constructed in light of the factors that are present in society and how these factors change over time such as the culture and the availability of resources and the ideology of a nation. One of the issues that need curriculum response is the view that effective curriculum must respond to changes in society.

One of the factors that an effective curriculum must consider is the ideology of a society or nation. An ideology is a way of thinking which forms a basis for an economic or political system. The ideology of the nation will determine the curriculum a country will offer and this will change the way people perceive things. Ideology can be described as the strong beliefs and ideas that a society possesses. Changes in ideological perspectives in society also influence the effectiveness of a curriculum and thus must be considered in any well-meaning curriculum planning, development and implementation process. Roffe, (2010) agrees with this and says "Curriculum planning must be a commitment to an ideology of knowledge, of education, of society and of humanity". Thus society's needs and aspirations must be considered in an effective curriculum, a curriculum must respond to the needs and challenges that society is faced with. What people believe, their ideas and goals must be taken care of by the curriculum planners. For example, in the early when Zambia gained her independence, humanism the ideology of the new government was embedded in the education curriculum systemSecondly, in 1990 the transformation of the country to a multi-party system, privatization and liberalization was the new government ideology and so it was included in the curriculum in accordance with the shift from the former humanistic ideological philosophy that existed before. Such a consideration does help in the effective implementation of a curriculum that must consider such a critical change in society.

Political changes in society must also be considered in order to formulate an effective curriculum. Politics is a science of governing people. Macpherson, and Holt, (2007) states that "As education and training have moved up the political agenda, we have witnessed the entry of industry and politics into 'secret garden' of education. Indeed politics does find itself influencing the effectiveness of education in a great deal. Politics of a nation does determine the curriculum to be followed and this is usually dependant on the political situation in the country at any given time. Such a political influence would affect the education system. Curriculum issues should be left to technocrats only for these are professionals in this area.

Declarations by political parties in power influence the curriculum. For example, the revised curriculum dubbed the ‘two ‘two pathways' curriculum that is being piloted in technical secondary schools proposed by the new Zambian ruling party, the Patriotic front. This education system is aimed at providing two pathways as the name suggests. One will be an academic stream aimed at nurturing the learners who are academically gifted and biased and the other a vocational stream for those who might not be academically gifted but are gifted with hands-on skills. Such changes have been necessitated by the political situation prevailing in the nation and will continue to affect the curriculum. Societal changes also influence the curriculum and must be considered as such. A society is an organization of people with particular interest or purpose. The particular interest people have determines a curriculum to follow. For example, the people of North-western province value pineapple production thus the emphasis on the production of pineapples in the agriculture would be more appropriate there. Religion is yet another determinant whose change influences the effectiveness of the curriculum. For example, Zambia was declared a Christian nation on 29th December, 1991 and that change has continued to influence the curriculum. Christian values are emphasized in the curriculum because of that religious change and it will continue to influence the Zambian curriculum and embrace Christianity as long as that close stays in the constitution.

Institutions or colleges are another factor in the effectiveness of the curriculum. It is also seen that the organization of each individual school and which collectively make up the culture of the school are a factor in the effectiveness of a curriculum. So a curriculum must respond to Institutional changes such as the changes in course emphasis do affect the curriculum and so must be considered to take care of those changes. Kelly (2006) argues that "a teacher understands support and approval is crucial in any innovation, including curricula. Changes in the way schools are run and managed influence the effectiveness of a curriculum and so the curriculum must take this factor into light as the planners attempt to formulate and implement the curriculum. Teachers run institutions and so must be considered in the formulation of an effective curriculum. A particular institution will follow a curriculum of what it feels should be offered to foster its current or reviewed strategy.

Cultural changes in society also influence the effectiveness of a curriculum. Society's values and norms determine the standard of behavior in a given society and thus influence how effective a curriculum will be. By upholding good morals, this inevitably promotes good values and norms not only in the school but the community as a whole. The availability of resources does also influence the effectiveness of the curriculum. These resources can either be human or material resources. The changes in the quality and availability of resources at any given time must be considered in the formulation of the curriculum because its success is affected thus. For curriculum to be implemented in a given institution, the resources both physical and human should be available. Availability of qualified teachers, suitable infrastructure and materials such as text books and teaching aids do affect the success of curriculum development. All in all, a meaningful curriculum must take care of the changes in society in areas such as: ideology, culture, institution and religion. These and other determinants must be taken into consideration in relation to the society in which a curriculum is to be implemented. Curriculum planners must carefully study the changes in society so as to come up with a curriculum that is considerate of the needs of a given society for which a curriculum is intended.

Focus on examinations: In many developing countries education is geared mainly to the passing of examinations on a narrowly selected number of subjects and competencies. Poor achievement in examinations can lead to charges of inadequate curricula or incompetent teaching or both. Untrained teachers: Those who teach are only as good as the training that they receive and use. Large numbers of teachers are ill prepared to deliver the curriculum. Many classrooms have remained teacher centered and efforts to introduce a child-centered approach on a national scale have been fruitless. This needs inspections and provision of school infrastructure reduce teacher pupil ratios. Quality curriculum implementation needs trained teachers. Many trained teachers need to be employed in schools too. Social, economic considerations: In some countries the prevalence of unemployment is attributed to poor curricula. In many counties, demands are made for curricula that will promote entrepreneurship and technical skills, and which enable school leavers to create employment for them, rather than become job seekers. Questions have been raised regarding the extent to which the school can adequately address technical skills development and whether school education should concentrate on the basic competencies needed for adult life. Such competencies would include, problem-solving, decision-making, analysis and communication skills, as well as those which are not trade specific, such’ as designing and pattern-making, etc.

In conclusion we can say that, lack of effective monitoring, lacy of innovation, having no sense of ownership and poor academic performance are some of the issues that needs quick response. Further, these issues can be responded to by government declarations, interests of people or society just to mention but a few.