Factors Affecting Curricular Decisions

Factors Affecting Curricular Decisions

Introduction

People are naturally resolute in their life endeavors. In this regards, in the bid to make ends meet, every human activity is therefore directed towards a particular end.

For this reason, human life is always given a clear direction to take. Giving life a clear direction is the role of education. Education, in its simple terms, refers to the process of developing and modifying human behavior while at the same time integrating human growth and continuous reorganization of experiences. Teachers who are entrusted with this process thus have to prepare a way through which they will be able to instill knowledge to their students effectively. According to %+%8% developing a comprehensive curriculum is the only way teachers get to decide the type of literature to teach. If this is so, what then influences the curricular decision? Policies, practices, and resources both at state and national level plays a significant role in curricular decisions and the overall teacher’s bid in deciding the kind of literature to teach to particular students.

Policy Decisions

Most curricular decisions emanate from the States level. Government policies at the national and the State level are always involved in determining the public school curricula. These education stakeholders and in particular the ministry of education come up with a curriculum that clearly outlines the content or literature and the sequence of topics. This is to say, as a whole, the type of science, mathematics, and technology content to be taught to students is already predetermined. Policy decisions go beyond to encompass education standards, curriculum frameworks, as well as accountability measures. The same policy decisions school completion requirement, graduation requirements, access to classroom, laboratories, and information technologies and the exam the students are to be offered. This, in turn, defines the literature that the teacher has to teach the students.

Community Values and Cultures

Just like the school is part of the community, it is evident that the community is part and parcel of the school proceedings. Whatever the school offer, it must seek approval from the society and the community in which it is operating. Community values and culture such as traditions and expectations regarding what schools should teach are taken into consideration by teachers. Such values and culture in a significant way influence the kind of resources to be allocated to the various subjects offered in the schools.

Instructional Materials and Programs

Teaching cannot be effective without proper instructional materials. As noted by %+%8%8, instructional materials refer to the resources that teachers use to establish students understanding the subject. By subject, %8883 means specific concepts and skills that are provided for in the curriculum. Textbooks, workbooks, laboratory manuals, manipulative such as three-dimensional solids, laboratory supplies and equipment, videos, laser discs, CDs, software, and websites are perfect examples of instructional materials that teachers largely depends on. These resources are essential and play a crucial role in deciding the approach and the literature to teach. They offer support to teachers in helping them to understand what to teach and how to teach it. Firms entrusted with the role of supplying these materials also play a significant part in shaping what most teachers teach. This is to say the instructional materials at the teachers’ disposal helps the teacher to decide on what literature to teach among other curricular decisions. According to %+87%8, teachers occasionally selects the constructional materials that go along with their beliefs concerning teaching regardless of the directives and the guidelines provided by the education stakeholders. The public, teachers, community preferences federal agencies, nongovernmental agencies are the stakeholders responsible for deciding the instructional materials that teachers need to use to teach their students.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, what teachers teach and what students learn in school depend not only on the teachers themselves but also an array of other factors. Policies, practices, and resources both at state and national level plays a significant role in curricular decisions and the overall teacher’s bid in deciding the kind of literature to teach to particular students. Students deserve the best from their teachers. In this regards, teachers need to be equipped in such a way that they will be able to instill meaning knowledge to their students and help modify their behavior and integrate growth as well as a continuous reorganization of experiences. The government-both Federal and State, the community and all the other stakeholders, have the responsibility of ensuring that teachers are provided with a productive environment to enable them to perform their duties. The education curriculum needs to be developed in such that it favors both the teachers and the students. Instructional materials also need to be of quality and their ability should never be limited.

 

Work Cited

 

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