The Development, Evaluation and Implementation of Curriculum / פיתוח תכנית לימודים

Two major criteria should be considered in the process of developing educational programs : the balance between multiplicity of needs and the relevance of the program to the needs of society and students. Each educational system must organize its curriculum work along the lines It regards as most suitable to its special conditions; nevertheless each country will have to provide for three functions : 1) The determination of the specifications for the curriculum. 2) The development and evaluation of learning materials and instructional procedures. 3) The monitoring of the implementation of new educational programs. The first task implies the determination of what should be learned. This should be done by considering the contemporary life outside of school (such as economic, social, political conditions), the needs of the students, the current status of subject matters taught in school, the values of the society and the learning capabilities of the students. Once the subjects or various domains of learning have been identified, the instructional materials must be produced. These usually take the form of textbooks, but often also include various audio and visual materials (non-textbook components). No matter how competent are the persons who write the program; it still needs systematic evaluation. Curriculum experts have emphasized the need to conduct evaluation before the final shape of the program has been fully determined. Evaluation of this type, usually known as formative evaluation, improves the quality of the educational product. Curriculum evaluation can produce suggestions bearing on : 1) The modification of curriculum materials. 2) The conditions under which the program can be expected to function well. The real test of the utility of a new educational program is the success of its implementation. Many well-conceived educational reforms have failed because they were not properly implemented. The adaptation of a new program may become a mere declaration if no adequate steps have been taken to serve its proper implementation. The major preparatory needs are : 1) Adequate teacher in-service and pre-service training programs. 2) The provision of needed equipment, such as laboratories, access to library, etc. 3) Support by the supervisional staff. 4) Adaptation of national examination systems, or of college entrance examinations to the new curriculum. 5) Coordination between the new program and enrichment educational programs such as educational televisio