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"Curriculum…
is not a concept; it is a cultural construction. That is, it is not an
abstract concept which has some existence outside and prior to human experience.
Rather, it is a way of way of organising a set of human educational practices"
(Hesch 1987, p. 5)
"The
implications of the above definition need to be made explicit.
1. A curriculum is intentions, or plans.
2. A curriculum is not activities but plans, or a blue print, for activities.
The word program will be used to refer to learner activities that result
from the implementation of a curriculum.
3. A curriculum contains many other kinds of intentions, such as what
learnings learners are to develop, the means of evaluation to be used
to assess learning, the criteria according to which learners will be admitted
to the program, the materials and equipment to be used, and the qualities
required of teachers.
4. A curriculum involves formal intentions, that is, intentions deliberately
chosen to promote learning.
5. As an organised set of intentions, a curriculum articulates the relationships
among its different elements (objectives, content, evaluation, etc.),
integrating them into a unified and coherent whole. In a word, curriculum
is a system" (Pratt 1980, p. 4).
Language as
Social Practice has enhanced my knowledge of curriculum through a number
of means including the major essay about the social purposes of language
and the tools used to convey this idea. I have included the plan for this
essay in my e-folio to demonstrate this new understanding of curriculum:
Language
as Social Practice Powerpoint Presentation
Another example
of this new found understanding of the concept of curriculum is a summary
of the different text types and their grammatical features, according
to the digital text - BUILT: Building Understandings In Literacy and Teaching:
BUILT
Text Type Grid
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