CURRICULUM THEORY: BACKGROUND AND CHARACTERISTICS - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The theory curriculum is an academic discipline that is responsible for reviewing and shaping the contents of the academic curriculum. That is, it is the subject that is responsible for deciding what students should study within a specific educational system.

This discipline has many possible interpretations. For example, the most limited in their perspective are in charge of deciding exactly what activities a student should do and what they should learn in a specific class. On the contrary, the broadest studies study the educational path that students have to follow within the formal educational system.

Franklin Bobbit

Curriculum theory and its contents can be studied from different disciplines, such as education, psychology, philosophy and sociology.

Some of the fields that this subject deals with is the analysis of the values ​​that must be transmitted to students, the historical analysis of the educational curriculum, the analysis of current teachings, and theories about future education.

Historical background

The analysis of the educational curriculum and its contents has been a relevant subject since the first decades of the 20th century. Since then, many have been the authors who have contributed to its development and the variants that have emerged.

The appearance of this matter began shortly before 1920 in the United States. In this year, an attempt was made to homogenize the content of the studies in all the schools in the country.

This was due, above all, to the advances made thanks to industrialization, and to the large number of immigrants who arrived in the country. Thus, the scholars of the subject tried to give a dignified education to all the citizens of the country equally.

The first work on curriculum theory was published by Franklin Bobbit in 1918, in his book entitled "The curriculum." Because he belonged to the functionalist current, he described two meanings for the word.

The first of these had to do with the development of useful skills through a series of specific tasks. The second referred to the activities that had to be implemented in schools to achieve this end. Thus, schools had to imitate the industrial model, so that students would prepare for their future work.

Therefore, for Bobbit the curriculum is simply a description of the objectives that students must achieve, for which a series of standardized procedures must be developed. Finally, it is also necessary to find a way to assess the progress made in this regard.

Development of the theory

Later, Bobbit's curriculum theory was developed by a large number of thinkers of different currents. Thus, for example, John Dewey saw the teacher as a facilitator of children's learning. In his version, the curriculum must be practical and serve to meet the needs of children.

Throughout the 20th century, the defenders of the functionalist current were debating with those who defended that the educational curriculum should think above all about what children needed. Meanwhile, the way of implementing this aspect of education changed as the times changed.

In 1991, in a book entitled "Curriculum: crisis, myth and perspectives", the doctor of philosophy and science of education Alicia de Alba analyzed curriculum theory in more depth.

In this work, he defended that the curriculum is nothing more than a set of values, knowledge and beliefs imposed by society and the political reality in which it is developed.

According to this doctor, the main objective of the different components of the educational curriculum would be to impart a vision of the world to students, through tools such as the imposition of ideas or the denial of other realities. On the other hand, it would also continue to serve to prepare students for working life.

characteristics

We will now analyze the characteristics of three of the main currents of curriculum theory: academic, humanistic, and sociological.

Academic conception

According to this version of curriculum theory, the goal of education is to specialize each student in a specific field of knowledge. Therefore, it focuses on studying increasingly complex topics, in such a way that each person can choose what most catches their attention.

The organization of the curriculum would be based on the specific competences that each "expert" must acquire in order to correctly carry out their work. A great emphasis is placed on science and technology.

The role of the teacher in this variant is to provide students with knowledge and help them solve problems and doubts. Students, on the other hand, must research the topics in which they specialize and be able to apply their new learnings.

Humanistic conception

The curriculum in this version of the theory would serve to provide maximum satisfaction to each of the students. Thus, studies have to help the person reach their full potential and long-term emotional well-being.

To achieve this, a friendly and safe climate must be created between the students and the teacher. The latter should act as a guide, instead of imparting knowledge directly as in the other two branches of curriculum theory.

The knowledge that is learned is, therefore, flexible and different depending on the tastes and needs of each student. Studying is understood as a rewarding and useful experience in itself, even if the knowledge acquired has no practical application.

Sociological conception

Finally, the sociological conception (also known as functionalist) understands studies as a way to prepare students for the world of work. Therefore, it is in charge of preparing them to fulfill the role that society requires of them.

Thus, the role of the teacher is to impart discipline, and transmit the theoretical and practical knowledge that young people will need to become good workers.

Franklin Bobbit

The first author to talk about curriculum theory, Franklin Bobbit, was an American educator, writer, and teacher.

Born in Indiana in 1876 and died in the city of Shelbyville, within the same state, in 1956, he focused on achieving efficiency within the educational system.

His vision of the curriculum belonged to that of the sociological current, understanding that education should serve to generate good workers. This kind of thinking was widespread after the Industrial Revolution.

References

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2. "Curriculum theory" in: Professional pedagogy. Retrieved on: June 07, 2018 from Professional Pedagogy: pedagogia-profesional.idoneos.com.
3. "Curriculum theory" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: June 07, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.
4. "Historical antecedents of curriculum theory" in: Scribd. Retrieved on: June 07, 2018 from Scribd: es.scribd.com.
5. "John Franklin Bobbit" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved on: June 07, 2018 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.