Understanding Curriculum

Prescriptive definitions

Some definitions are prescriptive because these define curriculum as “how things ought to be” in the schools. These definitions acknowledge the dominant role of the institution or teacher who is influencing the learners. Here, the institution or teacher is responsible for transforming the learners’ personality in such a way that it is accepted by the society. Educationists like Dewey, Rugg, Tylor, and Triche give a prescriptive definition of curriculum: when they suggest that

• Curriculum is revamping of child’s experience to “the organized body of truth” (Dewey, 1902, p. 11)
• Curriculum prepares learners for “meeting and controlling life situations” (Rugg, 1927, p. 8)

  • Curriculum is sum of “all the learning experiences planned and directed by the school” (Tyler, 1957, p. 79)

• Curriculum is purposeful and embodies “a society’s past, present and future beliefs” (Triche, 2002, p. 1).