Curriculum- concepts and models of curriculum in nursing education

Curriculum- concepts and models of the curriculum in nursing education

Definition: 

It is a very well planned blueprint of the educational activities in an academic year. It consists of assessing the needs and demands of the society, formulating objectives, planning teaching-learning process, implementing and evaluating its outcome. A nursing curriculum is a systematic arrangement of the sum total of selected experiences planned by a school for a defined group of students to attain the aims of a particular educational programme. 

The modern concept of the curriculum:

The modern society needs the children to be equipped with the overall development including curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular achievements. The secondary education commision said that according to the best modern educational thought, the curriculum does not mean only the academic subjects traditionally taught in the school but it includes the totality of the experiences that a pupil receives through the manifold activities that go on in the school- in the classroom, library, playgrounds and in the numerous informal contacts between the teachers and pupils. In this case, the whole life of the school becomes the curriculum which can touch the lives of the students at all points and help in the development of a balanced personality. 

The types of curriculum

Through the readings of Smith and co, the four types are;

1. Explicit curriculum
2. Implicit curriculum
3. Hidden curriculum
4. Excluded curriculum

Explicit curriculum: The mission of the school is delivered through the subjects taught in the school. The school expects the successful students to acquire it.

Implicit curriculum: The lessons that arise with the culture of the school and it is characterized by behaviors, attitudes, and expectations of the school and students.

Hidden curriculum: The things which the students learn because of the way in which the work of the school is planned and organized but which are not in themselves overtly included in the planning or even in the consciousness of those responsible for the school arrangements. 

Excluded curriculum: In which, the specified topics and perspectives are completely excluded from the curriculum.

The development of the curriculum:

It has seven steps;

1. Assessment of the needs
2. Formulation of the objectives
3. Selection of content 
4. Organization of the content
5. Selection of learning experiences
6. Organization of learning experiences
7. Determination of evaluation methods.

Models of curriculum development

The behavioral objective model

This model was developed by Ralph Taylor. He suggested that a curriculum should be able to answer the four fundamental questions. They are

1. What the educational purposes should the school seek to attain, ie, objectives?
2. How can learning experiences be selected that are likely to be useful in attaining these objectives?
3. How can learning experiences be organized for effective instruction?
4. How can the effectiveness of learning experiences be evaluated?

This model gives important to the achievement of the objectives by the student. This model mainly supports four main components such as objectives, content, method, and evaluation.

Stenhouse's process model

It emphasizes on learning experiences or the process of education. He said that it was possible to organize the curriculum without thinking about the expected outcomes of the students. The teacher's role is a learner and has to strive excellence in learning and teaching process. The teacher should appraise the student's work and enhance the self-appraisal ability among the students.

Beattie's Four fold model

It has main three aspects;

1. The curriculum is a key map of key subjects
2. The curriculum is a schedule of basic skills
3. The curriculum is a meaningful portfolio of personal experiences
4. The curriculum is delivering the culture to next generations

It is really important to understand that when you decide the curriculum, all the aspects such as aims, content, teaching process, learning process and evaluation process integrated with the culture, needs, demands, and issues of the society should be included.