GUJARAT-CURRICULUM OUTLINE

PART 1: RATIONALE

Desirable and feasible

-          Vision: constitution, state vision, of society, of child, of school [next workshop]

-          Beliefs and assumptions: child, learning, teacher, why education, equity/diversity

-          Knowledge: what is knowledge (+ whose knowledge) , approach to subjects – what they mean, how they are learnt…

-          Ground realities:

PART 2

Subjects: what is to be learnt and why, how, what kind of classroom for this subject…

Objectives at different stages

[based on PART 1]

PART 3: IMPLEMENTATION

-          Pedagogy

-          Materials [textbook, library, TLM, CALM, etc.]

-          Classroom organisation (especially differential classroom + special training)

-          Planning

-          Evaluation (CCE)

-          Training + Teacher Support

-          Monitoring and Supervision

[DETAIL]

Three Parts of Curriculum

Any curriculum document has three parts:

1.      Rationale

2.      Description of subjects and learning outcomes

3.      Implementation imperatives

1. Rationale

This clearly provides the reasons for everything that is included and is required to be done. Some of the sources from which the rationale is drawn are:

1.1  Vision

1.1.1        State's vision (e.g. State Vision 2020)

1.1.2        A. Vision of the child

B. Vision of the citizen

       C. Vision of the society we want

1.1.3        A. Vision of the kind of classroom/

              B. Vision of the kind of school we want

1.2  Beliefs and assumptions about

1.2.1        Children

1.2.2        learning (including how children learn),

1.2.3        teachers,

1.2.4        Equity,

1.2.5        aims of education (including what we mean by all-round education)

1.3 Approaches to knowledge

1.3.1 In general

1.3.2 For specific subjects (in language: which languages should a child know, how many and why?)

1.3.3        Across subjects (e.g. integration or interlinkages)

1.4 RTE mandates and how they would reflect in the curriculum

1.5 Other aspects you might consider necessary

1.6 Ground realities

1.6.1 Situation of the state in general

1.6.2 Specific situation of children

1.6.3 Situation regarding

A. teachers,

B. school and

C. education system

1.6.4 Hence what needs to be emphasised / included (e.g. approach to multilingual situation)

1.7  Implications of the above for what should be included and implementation aspects (such as pedagogy, textbooks, assessment etc.)

2. Description of subjects and learning outcomes

2.1  This part describes for each subject its importance (i.e. why it has been included) and what is worth stressing in the discipline, how knowledge is to be organised,  the subject specific way of learning (or what the classroom for this subject would be like), nature of materials and their use, what should be assessed.

2.2  The stage at which the subject would start would be indicated (e.g. start English in class 1 or 4? Or science, as separate from EVS , in class 3?)

2.3  The linkages across the subjects would be discussed. Where integration or overlapping is suggested, this would be delineated.

2.4  Learning objectives for terminal stages (e.g. grade 3, 5, 8) would be listed (with some details if required). They would be in sync with the description of the subject.

2.5  The syllabus can be developed from this later. It is a more specific document which lays out in clear terms the sequence of amount of learning for each subject in each class. It includes the percentage of time distributed to different topics / objectives, including guidelines for assessment (i.e. what should be assessed, in what proportion).

3. Implementation imperatives

3.1       Pedagogy and learning progression:

3.1.1 In order to attain the above, what teaching-learning methods and processes would be     used; what will the critical relationships be (teacher-student, student-student, student-material, student-environment, including the community)

3.1.2 How will diversity among students be addressed? Will they all progress at the same pace, or differentially? How will the needs of children in special training be addressed?

3.2 Materials and their use

3.2.1 Textbooks: their role and nature, numbers (e.g. merge two subjects or have separate books), guidelines for their development and use), etc.

                        Other materials: such as locally available material, prepared material, supplementary material or workbooks and the like. Where learning packages are being used, there would be details regarding these.

                        Library and its use

                        Computer aided learning materials and their use (where applicable, and where states are seriously examining their use)

3.3  Management of learning:

3.3.1 Classroom organisation / management: How will the resources (e.g. space, time, materials) be utilised to optimise learning? How will multi-grade/multi-age contexts be handled? What will be the role of children in running the class? And should learning continue to be organised in form of the same old 'periods' or is another way of organising time required (e.g. flexible sessions, since in any case it is the same teacher with the class for much of the time?)

3.3.2        Planning (for teaching): How should the teacher plan her class? The old formats may not work now

3.3.3        Evaluation: RTE mandates moving toward CCE. How will this happen>

3.4  Systemic requirements (in light of all the above)

3.4.1  Standards for school (as laid out in RTE, and others that the state may prescribe)

3.4.2  Standards for teaching learning process / teacher performance (as emerging from all the sections above). This should conform to the RTE mandate of school atmosphere and learning process that involves children in activity and exploration.

3.4.3        Standards for teacher training (in order to enable the teachers to attain the performance standards for training described above)

3.4.4        Standards for school management (including role of HM), supervision, parents / community representatives / PTAs / MTAs / SMCs, and academic support (i.e. for all stakeholders involved)