Curriculum
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The text of this definition is taken verbatim from Bobbitt, so the text should not be edited. However, if somebody has the original handy they could restore the original formatting as it appears in Bobbitt's book, in case any emphasis, etc. is missing here.
Definition 1
The word curriculum is Latin for a race-course, or the race itself, —a place of deeds, or a series of deeds.
As applied to education, it is that series of things which children and youth must do and experience by way of developing abilities to do the things well that make up the affairs of adult life; and to be in all respects what adults should be.
-- Bobbitt, 1918
Add a definition or nuance this text
Definition 2
In education, a curriculum (plural curricula) is the set of courses and their contents offered by an institution such as a school or university. In some cases, a curriculum may be partially or entirely determined by an external body (such as the National Curriculum for England in English schools). In the US, the basic curriculum is established by each state with the individual school districts adjusting it to their desires. Each state, however, builds its curriculum relying heavily on the input of national groups selected by the United States Department of Education, for example the National Council of Math Teachers for mathematics instruction. In Australia each state's Education Department sets the various curricula.
Note that the term curriculum may relate to the range of courses that students can select from (as defined above) but may also relate to a specific learning programme. In the latter context, the curriculum describes the collective teaching, learning and assessment materials that are available for that particular course.
A crucial part of the curriculum is the definition of the course objectives which are often expressed in terms of learning outcomes and normally includes the assessment strategy for the programme. These learning outcomes (and assessments) are often grouped into units (or modules) and the curriculum, therefore, comprises a collection of such units, each specialising on a specific part of the curriculum. So a typical curriculum would include units on communications, numeracy, information technology, inter-personal skills together with more specialised provision.
In K12, the curriculum's scope and sequence must be "mapped" against the scope and sequence of previous and subsequent years as well as against other subjects.Wikipedia definition
Definition 3
“Curriculum” is the course of experience in which human being(s) take(s) form; i.e., curriculum is the course of (trans-)formative experience
- This is similar to Bobbitt's 1918 definition in that curriculum is a course of experience that includes
- experiences that are outside of school, as well as inside of school, and
- experiences that are not directed (by school, church, etc.) as well as those that are directed.
- This is different from Bobbitt's definition, in that
- curriculum is the course of experience that actually takes place. What we study in "Curriculum Studies" is not limited to anybody's ideas about the ideal experiences that would produce ideal adults (as Bobbitt defined it).
For example, Learning to Labour by Paul Willis is a study of the Lads' actual lived curriculum--however anyone might feel about the desirability of that curriculum.
- This definition also differs in that Bobbitt's conception
was one of adults being produced from children--rather than of children coming to form as adults, and
- was concerned with the production of individual adults--in contrast with curriculum conceived as the course of experience in which human being takes form both in the formation of human persons, and in the formation of the groups, communities, cultures, and societies which take form through the formation of their members.
- curriculum is the course of experience that actually takes place. What we study in "Curriculum Studies" is not limited to anybody's ideas about the ideal experiences that would produce ideal adults (as Bobbitt defined it).
"Curriculum" may be compared with "Bildung":
- Similarities / Commonalities:
- "Curriculum" and "Bildung" both refer to human formation, or to human being(s) coming to form [when I first heard this phrase--"coming to form"--used by Madeleine Grumet about 25 years ago, it struck me as a rather perfect English gloss of "Bildung" --Tony Whitson]. In French and Spanish, cognates of "formation" are used regularly in much the same sense as Bildung; and the word "Bild" itself means "image" or "form" [ I welcome comments or corrections here esp. from speakers of those languages -- Isn't there supposed to be a way of inserting some kind of box for comments? -- Tony Whitson]
- other similarities/commonalities ?
- Differences:
- The classical idea of Bildung is freighted with traditional notions of what kind of man (yes, "man") a cultured and educated European should be. This parallels Bobbitt's idealist restriction of "curriculum." To the extent that Bildung retains its limitation to formation as idealized, rather than formation as it actually transpires, then Bildung would differ in that respect from the broader notion of curriculum. If Bildung can be used descriptively, and not restricted to idealized notions of desireable formation (whether the classical prescriptive ideal, or more progressive critical alternatives), then this potential difference would not arise.
- other differences ?
- Other Questions / Discussion points on comparison of Curriculum and Bildung:
- ???
- Similarities / Commonalities:
- note that "Curriculum Vita" is used in English as an outline of the curriculum of (somebody's) academic life. It typically does not outline the whole curriculum of their whole life. Such documents might be better titled "Curriculum Vitæ Academicæ," for "Curriculum of [My] Academic Life."
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