Comparison of Education Curriculums - Essay Example

Topic: national Curriculum Name Course Title Course Name Instructor’s Name Date Formal Curriculum The national curriculum is used as the main teaching curriculum for primary and secondary levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This curriculum is under the Education Reform Act, but it does not apply to the independent institutions. This is because these institutions are free to set up their rules and curricula. The aim of the national curriculum is to ensure that the state schools in these regions use a common curriculum for uniformity. The national curriculum is therefore part of the basic school programs together with other teachings such as religious knowledge and sex education (Gathercole et al., 2004). The national curriculum is aimed at making all the children studying in state schools to study the same content. It entails a list of subjects that the children are supposed to study and the expected outcomes from each subject. The national curriculum is categorized into sets of years known as the key stages. In each key stage, there are set objectives and expectations of a child from the teacher. After the completion of each key stage, the teachers prepare an assessment to determine the progress of the pupils. The national curriculum is undertaken using the overt curriculum (Clarke, 2014). The overt curriculum is the written curriculum that is sometimes referred to as the curriculum of control. It is a method of teaching in the formal curriculum (Wilson, 2011). It is, therefore, a method through which the national curriculum is implemented in the primary and secondary levels. It is the foundation through which the state, as well as the district programs, develops their rules. This curriculum is mainly sued to ensure that the goals of education are achieved. This curriculum is very strict because it contains a specific goal that must be attained, it also consists of several clearly defined objectives that the learners are supposed to know them thoroughly. It also provides a guideline through which the set objectives are supposed to follow for their achievement.(Ornstein and Hunkins, 2004) Each institution is supposed to have a formal curriculum that consists of objectives that need to be achieved at the end of a particular stage, the materials that are supposed to be used in learning, the experiences in the learning process and the outcomes of each stage. This curriculum also contains the plans and intended actions that are laid out by the teachers and other instructors concerning the individual subjects and the grading process. Covert Curriculum This is also known as the hidden curriculum or the unstudied curriculum. This form of the curriculum is very different from the rules set by the formal curriculum. Other than the normal intentions of an education system to add value to the learners to change their behaviors and their perceptions of life, this curriculum is composed of procedures that are outside the intended outcomes of education. The teachings achieved from this curriculum may be favorable or unfavorable to the growth of a child especially because any education system should ensure holistic growth (Committee, 2009). This curriculum does not state the expected behaviors explicitly at any stage. As a result, the behaviors and some actions in the schools are not identified or accounted for because no explicit intentions and expected outcomes are laid out. This form eliminates formality in education and ventures into other aspects such as role play, mimicking and helps the pupils to interact with each other in a socially healthy manner. Comparison between Overt and Covert Curriculum The major similarity between national curriculum and the hidden curriculum is that both contain certain common requirements where a pupil is supposed to gain knowledge in terms of spiritual growth, mental growth, and physical education, moral and cultural education. In addition to this, both curricula are aimed at enhancing the growth of pupils by enabling them to have higher opportunities in life, become more responsible and improve their life experiences. There are also certain standards that require to be followed by all the curricula such as the subjects to be studied and the level where the students are supposed to reach. Differences The important subjects that are studied in the national curriculum include English, mathematics and ICT among others. The overt curriculum involves equipping the pupils with skills in reading writing and arithmetic knowledge. The covert curriculum, on the other hand, entails punctuality, repetition, group work and repetition. This implies that covert curriculum is not enough to teach the pupils the holistic ideas needed in their later lives because it does not entail the basic requirements. Overt curriculum, on the other hand, offers the basic requirements and thus it is very beneficial (Arthur et al., 2006). Overt curriculum acts as a standardizing tool is all the state institutions such that all the pupils study the same content. This form of education is very important because it enhances uniformity such that all the pupils at a particular age can interact in terms of what they learn in school. This means that the teachers in different institutions will teach the same thing, and pupils can transfer from one school to another without confusion because they are assured that there will be uniformity and continuity. The assessment exams are also determined ate the beginning of each year to measure the understanding ability of the students and also determine their progress. In the covert curriculum, on the other hand, each institution has its procedures and rules that govern learning methods and procedures. This means that a pupil has to study in one school without any transfer. This system is very static because when a family is obliged to move to another location due to certain unavoidable reasons, the pupil may be faced with difficulties to try to fit in the new institutions (Moyo, 2013). Another difference is in the planning of the learning methods. As indicated earlier, the overt curriculum requires the system to form a set of objectives at every stage and the way such objectives will be achieved (Apple, 2004). Additionally, it also consists of the expected outcomes from the learners. This implies that at the end of each key stage, a pupil will be tested to assess their performance against the laid out outcomes. This information is used in making sound decisions pertaining the pupil and whether they are qualified to proceed to the next stage. In the hidden curriculum, however, there are no set objectives and rules as well as the expectations that the pupils are allowed to achieve. This means that there is no way that the progress of a pupil can be determined as there is nothing to compare to. The teachers, therefore, find it difficult to understand the weaknesses and strengths of their students. For the management to analyze the information being taught in various organizations, they use the overt curriculum to edit or update the syllabi. This is because of the formality that is tied to this form of teaching. This means that the concerned parties can determine the missing links in the system and the areas that need improvement. This system is therefore updated with the changing education needs. For the hidden curriculum, on the other hand, there is no documentation concerning the learning methods. This means that the leaders do not have a reference point in determining the effectiveness of the education system. As a result, updating and improving the teaching and learning methods becomes very difficult and therefore not always appropriate (Paechter, 2000). The covert curriculum is mostly involved in ensuring that a pupil experiences growth in other aspects apart from formal education only. The pupil is taught the importance of other aspects of life such as socializing, interacting with elders and leadership. This means that a pupil is equipped to thrive with other people as opposed to formal education where they are only taught class information with very little if any knowledge on how they can manage their time and lead other people. Although the covert curriculum is not whole as a unit, it is very important in personal growth than overt curriculum. Moreover, the overt curriculum is also not efficient alone because apart from writing and reading skills, a pupil is in need of life skills that enable them to employ the formal skills appropriately while establishing functional relationships with other people. The other difference is based on the issue of equality. In the overt curriculum, all the pupils are equal because they are taught the same information, and they do the same exams. For the covert curriculum, there is an aspect of social inequality wherein the issue of leadership, some students are obliged to acquire leadership skills. This is because, in the relationship teachings, these pupils are not similar. They, therefore, tend to have different social classes (Merry et al., 2013). In a class, one pupil is appointed to be a class representative. Such a student tends to have a high self-esteem as compared to the rest of the pupils. This setting, therefore, develops a system where some students are treated as inferior, and others are superior. In addition to this, pupils have different talents and capabilities. This means that some pupils will excel in certain areas and become very poor in other situations. Just because a student is weak in a certain area, it does not mean that they are inferior because they have other strong points. The social classes may therefore be misleading and undesirable in the growth of children. The overt curriculum is a simple method of teaching and learning. This is because, in teaching each subject such as mathematics, a teacher has the course outline at the beginning of the year. This means that the teachers can plan their time properly, and they can include all the relevant information into the class schedule. This is beneficial because there is no forgetfulness, and the intended content is conveyed promptly. For the same subject in the covert curriculum, the teachers are not provided with objectives, and there are no learning outcomes that are written at the beginning of each year. The teachers may therefore unintentionally leave out some important information when teaching which is not beneficial to the pupils and the teachers as well. It is also not possible to evaluate the teachers’ performance because they are assumed to be effective, and there is no evidence to support this claim (Reigeluth, 2013). There are certain elements in the covert curriculum that are not present in the national curriculum. This includes the organizational characteristics, culture issue and the social-system. The organization arrangement means the criterion that is used to assign the teachers. It also entails the method through which the pupils will be arranged in groups. Team teaching is not conclusive because it is not easy to evaluate individual pupils. Organizational variables are not appropriate in assigning teachers because, at the elementary and secondary level, there is no pattern of management that is superior to another. Such methods are supposed to be eliminated because they may confuse the students and may make them lose trust on their teachers depending on the assignment criteria used (Liao et al., 2014). Conclusion Education curriculum is very important because it creates a set of rules that are used in teaching learners. The most appropriate curriculum for the pupils is the overt curriculum because it offers the basis or the foundation upon which additional knowledge is learned in the later stages. This curriculum instills the sense of responsibility on pupils because there are certain expectations that they are supposed to meet. This helps in hard work and improvement. In addition to this, the national curriculum is very important because it allows pupils to transfer institutions easily, and they can catch up with their new schools. References Apple, M.W., 2004. Ideology and Curriculum. London: Routledge. Arthur, J., Grainger, T., Wray, D., 2006. Learning to Teach in the Primary School. London: Psychology Press. Clarke, S., 2014. Outstanding Formative Assessment: Culture and Practice. Hodder Education. Committee, G.B.P.H. of C.C. Schools and Families, 2009. National curriculum: Oral and written evidence. The Stationery Office. Gathercole, S.E., Pickering, S.J., Knight, C., Stegmann, Z., 2004. Working memory skills and educational attainment: evidence from national curriculum assessments at 7 and 14 years of age. Appl. Cogn. Psychol. 18, 1–16. doi:10.1002/acp.934 Liao, J.M., Thomas, E.J., Bell, S.K., 2014. Speaking Up About The Dangers Of The Hidden Curriculum. Health Aff. (Millwood) 33, 168–171. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2013.1073 Merry, S., Price, M., Carless, D., Taras, M., 2013. Conceptualizing Feedback in Higher Education: Developing dialogue with students. London: Routledge. Moyo, R., 2013. Overt and covert curriculum https://www.academia.edu/8925551/overt_and_covert_curriculum (accessed 10.17.15). Ornstein, A.C., Hunkins, F.P., 2004. Curriculum--foundations, Principles, and Issues. Allyn and Bacon. Paechter, C., 2000. Issues in the study of curriculum in the context of lifelong learning http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001361.htm (accessed 10.17.15). Reigeluth, C.M., 2013. Instructional-design Theories and Models: A New Paradigm of Instructional Theory. London: Routledge. Wilson, L.O., 2011. Types of curriculum. Amsterdam: Second Princ.  Read More