Curriculum Development: Constraints and Resources

This article discusses the factors that influence curriculum development, such as learners, teachers, and institutional and socio-cultural contexts. It also provides strategies for developing an effective curriculum.

Running head: TEACHING LANGUAGE 1
Curriculum Development

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Constraints and Resources
The goal of a successful education program and an effective curriculum is always
required to meet the needs of the society, culture and the population being served. This becomes
an important reason for developing the curriculum which can be challenging at times. But the
successful development of a curriculum requires to consider the factors that may influence the
development of the curriculum.
Learners
Learners are one of the most important factors impacting the curriculum development.
The individual mental level of the students can have difficulty in attempting the coursework
designed. A lower score in any of the subjects and specifically in English might impact on the
curriculum development. The native capacity of the learner is of prime importance in
determining the effectiveness of the curriculum.
Teachers
As opined by Marcellino (2015), teachers act as a support system for students and
responsible for teaching according to the curriculum. Since teachers are equipped with necessary
skills and knowledge, they can effectively contribute for empowering and also altering the
curriculum. As suggested by Stronge (2018), it is true to the fact that no curriculum is perfect,
but teachers can create lesson plans according to the needs of the students. For the development
of any course, language is very important and the proficiency in English will provide
opportunities to students while studying and even after completing their education.
Institutional context
The micro factors such as teachers, students, school environment, life activities and
philosophy can impact the curriculum development. Academic’s social environment on the
curriculum development. The type of change the curriculum wants to bring will be influenced by
the philosophy of education. The individual capacities of the learners also determines their
engagement in the society as a person.
Socio-cultural context

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An effective planner and teacher characteristics form an important factor for curriculum
development. Technology is broad and expansive and helps in curriculum development but it
depends on the teachers if they utilize technology as an instructional aid. As opined by Glatthorn,
Boschee, Whitehead & Boschee (2018), social factors such as race, gender, ethnicity, status and
children with disabilities also influence every aspect of Curriculum development. Society’s
expectations is closely related to the curriculum.
Curriculum Plan
The current curriculum focuses on how an Intermediate Level learners will receive help
to develop proficiency in English language. This plan will seek to provide advanced language
learning experience by way of the curriculum that would build the knowledge and skills of the
students. As English is considered to be a common language of communication around the globe,
it becomes important for schools and education providers to modify their curriculum by
including English as a compulsory subject. As opined by Blackmore, Gribble & Rahimi (2017),
when students are proficient in English in their academic career, they have better opportunities of
getting well paid jobs in international companies. The only constants are funding and social and
political factors influencing the implementation of changes in the curriculum of students. In
terms of English ability level, students can range between average to above average and this can
be improved by adopting strategies in planning the curriculum for English language in the
school.
The first strategy would be preparing a holistic plan for the intermediate level curriculum
by focusing upon the learning in the junior levels and extending their learning by making English
as a compulsory language. If there is a continuity maintained between junior levels and senior
level English education, it would be easy to achieve better results. Students will be given
opportunity to brush their English skills through daily classroom activities such as role playing,
dialogue conversation, and recitations. The strategy would be make students competent in
English by integrating it into daily learning and teaching specifically improving their speaking
and writing skills. The program will be divided into advanced classes and lesser advanced
classes. In advance classes, students will be introduced with basic grammar such as difficult
grammar tasks and longer writing tasks. However, in less advanced classes, tenses, passives and

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their application in writing and speaking will be taught. Both the programs will be different in
terms of teaching and difficulty but will enhance the abilities of the students.
The students will be addressing their skills if they are able to write more than 200 words
of essay by the end of the sessions. Despite the differences in both the teaching styles, the basic
learning goal will be achieved. Since the curriculum is prepared for the betterment of the
students, flexibility must be increased in the design pattern to leave a scope of improvement.
Where appropriate, the curriculum content and timings can be rearranged by the teachers. The
classroom based education will be utilizing different teaching materials. Students will be
provided with books for Standard English tasks and books for advanced English tasks. Teachers
will be providing skill books on grammar and writing depending on the interest and ability of the
student. However, students also have the responsibility to learn on their own and therefore self-
access learning materials such as online educational programs, quiz solving and online reading
programs can be provided to the students. This will provide the students with further challenges
and practice the teachings in class.
Since the students are being prepared to be job ready for the future, they will be taught
about writing job application letters and training on attending job interviews will be provided.
The curriculum will adopt a student-centered approach in order to make students involved in
learning create better opportunities for themselves.
Goals and Objectives of Curriculum
Goal 1
 The aim of the course is to incorporate English Learning in the curriculum of Senior
Secondary students.
Objectives
 The objective will be to look into the current curriculum requirements and accordingly
make the changes.
 Combine the efforts of students and teachers to understand their learning and teaching
needs respectively.

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 Build trust among the students to empower them for being future ready by improving
their skills in English
Goal 2
 The goal will be to foster relevant English teaching skills among the students in order to
make them proficient in the subject and become employable in the future.
Objectives
 The primary objective will be to enhance the reading, writing and speaking skills of
students.
 To keep room for further scope of improvement in the course material.
 The level of difficulty and design of the curriculum will be different for both Advanced
and less advanced classes.

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References
Blackmore, J., Gribble, C., & Rahimi, M. (2017). International education, the formation of
capital and graduate employment: Chinese accounting graduates’ experiences of the
Australian labour market. Critical Studies in Education, 58(1), 69-88.
Glatthorn, A. A., Boschee, F., Whitehead, B. M., & Boschee, B. F. (2018). Curriculum
leadership: Strategies for development and implementation. 3rd ed. California, USA:
SAGE publications.
Marcellino, M. (2015). English language teaching in Indonesia: A continuous challenge in
education and cultural diversity. TEFLIN journal, 19(1), 57-69.
Stronge, J. H. (2018). Qualities of effective teachers. 4th ed. Minnesota, USA: ASCD.