Types of Curriculum

Definitions of Curriculum

 Definition 1:

Curriculum is such “permanent” subjects as grammar, reading, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, and the greatest books of the Western world that best embody essential knowledge.

Definition 2:

        Curriculum is those subjects that are most useful for living in contemporary society.

 Definition 3:

Curriculum is all planned learning for which the school is responsible.

Definition 4:

Curriculum is all the experiences learners have under the guidance of the school.

Definition 5:

 Curriculum is the totality of learning experiences provided to students so that they can attain general skills and knowledge at a variety of learning sites.

Types of Curriculum

   1.     Hidden Curriculum

The Hidden, or Covert, Curriculum refers to messages communicated by an organization that are implied. The Hidden Curriculum may have more influence than the Written Curriculum because it is based on the norms and values of the organization. The Hidden Curriculum includes ongoing school activities and routines that are not documented and can indicate unofficial preferences for certain subjects. The scheduling or prioritization of certain courses over others can point to a Hidden Curriculum that some subjects are not as important as others.

2. Null

The null curriculum is what is not taught. Not teaching some particular idea or sets of ideas may be due to mandates from higher authorities, to a teacher’s lack of knowledge, or to deeply ingrained assumptions and biases. Teachers and schools may not teach that Christopher Columbus slaughtered many of the native peoples he encountered when he "discovered" the Americas. Many teachers are under pressure not to teach evolution.

3. Commentary

These three types of curricula can allow us to identify the nature and emphases of the curricula in use in various schools and school districts. The implicit and null curricula are of particular interest for identifying the underlying assumptions and biases of specific curricula and programs.

4. Electronic Curriculum

The Electronic Curriculum includes all learning activities that are Internet-based. By acknowledging the existence of the issues to be considered with the electronic curriculum, educators must take into consideration the credibility of information on the Internet. Students must develop critical-learning skills to determine the quality of information they are researching.

5. Received

The received curriculum is not always the intended or taught curriculum.  Each student brings their own background and prior knowledge to the classroom. Student understanding is impacted by each student’s perception of the aligned, hidden, null, spiral, and tested curricula.

Understanding of the received curriculum is critically important as it guides the curriculum and instruction decisions made by teachers and administrators.  Just because content was taught does not necessarily mean it was caught.  In a Professional Learning Community educators meet on a regular basis to assess the received curriculum and to provide information on student understanding

6. Overt, explicit or written curriculum

 is simply that which is written as part of formal instruction of the schooling experience. It may refer to a curriculum document, texts, and supportive materials that are overtly chosen to support the intentional instructional agenda of a school.

Cuban (1992) calls it an intended curriculum (recommended, adopted, official). It serves as a documented map of theories, beliefs, and intentions about schooling, teaching, and learning, and knowledge— evidence in the development of teacher proof curriculum.

7. Curriculum-in-use

 The formal curriculum (written or overt) comprises those things in textbooks, and content and concepts in the district curriculum guides. However, those "formal" elements are frequently not taught. The curriculum-in-use is the actual curriculum that is delivered and presented by each teacher.

 8. Rhetorical curriculum

Elements from the rhetorical curriculum are comprised from ideas offered by policymakers, school officials, administrators, or politicians. This curriculum may also come from those professionals involved in concept formation and content changes; or from those educational initiatives resulting from decisions based on national and state reports, public speeches, or from texts critiquing outdated educational practices. The rhetorical curriculum may also come from the publicized works offering updates in pedagogical knowledge.

9. Societal curriculum

 "...[the] massive, ongoing, informal curriculum of family, peer groups, neighborhoods, churches organizations, occupations, mass, media and other socializing forces that "educate" all of us throughout our lives. "

10. Concomitant curriculum

What is taught, or emphasized at home, or those experiences that are part of a family's experiences, or related experiences sanctioned by the family. (This type of curriculum may be received at church, in the context of religious expression, lessons on values, ethics or morals, molded behaviors, or social experiences based on a family's preferences.)

11. Phantom curriculum

The messages prevalent in and through exposure to media.