The Purpose of Curriculum
The Purpose of Curriculum
Four kinds of purpose
- Global: broad, general aims for the whole program.
- Behavioural: specific, observable ends a learner can demonstrate.
- Evolving: aims that emerge and shift as learning unfolds.
- Expressive: open experiences without a fixed end result.
The learner a curriculum aims to build
- Change agents.
- Confident individuals.
- Enthusiastic contributors.
- Responsible citizens of strong character.
A curriculum is the means and materials a learner interacts with, but those means always serve some purpose. The purpose answers the simplest and hardest question a developer faces: what is all this teaching for? The answer is rarely a single thing, because purposes come in different kinds.
Four kinds of purpose
Curriculum purposes can be sorted into four kinds. They differ in how tightly they pin down the result they aim at.
A global purpose is broad and general. It sets a direction for a whole program without naming exact results, such as helping learners become well-rounded people. It gives a sense of where the curriculum is heading.
A behavioural purpose is the opposite. It names a specific, observable result that a learner can be shown to have reached, such as solving a type of problem or writing a particular kind of paragraph. It is narrow on purpose, so progress can be checked.
An evolving purpose is not fixed at the start. It emerges and shifts as the learning unfolds, allowing the curriculum to follow where the work leads rather than locking everything in advance.
An expressive purpose sets up a rich experience without prescribing a single end result. It invites learners into an activity and accepts that different learners will take different things from it. The value is in the experience, not in arriving at one fixed answer.
| Kind of purpose | What it fixes | Example feel |
|---|---|---|
| Global | A broad direction | “Become a thoughtful citizen” |
| Behavioural | A specific, observable result | “Solve two-step word problems” |
| Evolving | Nothing fixed; it emerges | Aims that grow with the project |
| Expressive | An experience, not a result | “Spend a day exploring a museum” |
Global sets a broad direction; behavioural names a specific result
A global purpose points the whole program a way, like “become a thoughtful citizen.” A behavioural purpose states an observable end a learner can be shown to have reached.
A rich experience with no single fixed result
It invites learners into an activity and accepts that each will take away something different. The value sits in the experience itself rather than in arriving at one prescribed answer.
The learner a curriculum aims to build
Purposes are not only about content; they are also about the kind of person the curriculum hopes to form. A curriculum can be built so that learners grow into:
- Change agents: people who can act on the world and improve it.
- Confident individuals: people who trust their own ability to think and do.
- Enthusiastic contributors: people who take part willingly in work and community.
- Responsible citizens of strong character: people who can be trusted with the duties of adult life.
These qualities sit behind the subject lists and the lesson plans. A developer who keeps them in view designs differently from one who thinks only about covering content. The first asks not just “what will the learner know” but “who will the learner become.”
Change agents and confident individuals
The fuller list adds enthusiastic contributors and responsible citizens of strong character. These qualities sit behind the content, shaping who the learner becomes, not just what they know.
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