TYLER'SMODEL OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

TYLER'SMODEL OF CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

Ralph Winfred Tyler’s most useful works is Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction.

Tyler stated his curriculum rationale in terms of four questions published in 1949.

 Tyler his curriculum rationale in terms of four questions that, he argued, must be answered in developing any curriculum plan of instruction

1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?

2. What educational experiences can be provided that will likely attain these purposes?

3. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?

4. How can we determine whether the purposes are being attained?

These questions may be reformulated into a four-step process:

1-stating objectives,

2-selecting learning experiences,

 3-organizing learning experiences,

4-evaluating the curriculum.

The Tyler rationale is essentially an explication of these steps.

The rationale also highlighted an important set of factors to be weighed against the questions. Tyler believed that the structure of the school curriculum also had to be responsive to three central factors that represent the main elements of an educative experience:

(1) the nature of the learner (developmental factors, learner interests and needs, life experiences, etc.);

(2) the values and aims of society (democratizing principles, values and attitudes); and

(3) knowledge of subject matter (what is believed to be worthy and usable knowledge).

In answering the four questions and in designing school experience for children, curriculum developers had to screen their judgments through the three factors.

Tylor’s Curriculum Development Model

Ralph W. Tyler: Behavioural Model Probably the most frequently quoted theoretical formulation in the field of curriculum has been that published by Ralph Tyler in 1949.

Tyler  model is deductive; it proceed from the general (e.g., examining the needs of society) to the specific (e.g., specifying instructional objectives).

The model is linear; it involve a certain order or sequence of steps from beginning to end. Linear models need not be immutable sequences of steps, however. Curriculum makers can exercise judgment as to entry points and interrelationships of components of the model.

The model is prescriptive; it suggest what ought to be done and what is done by many curriculum developers.

It is also unlike the curriculum of social reconstruction, it is more “society centered.” This model positioned the school curriculum as a tool for improving community life. Therefore, the needs and problems of the social-issue is the source of the main curriculum. Tyler (1990) holds that there are three forms of resources that can be used to formulate the purpose of education, i.e. individuals (children as students), contemporary life, and expert consideration of field of study.

This development curriculum model means more of how to design a curriculum in accordance with the goals and the mission of an educational institution. According to Taylor (1990) there are four fundamental things that are considered to develop a curriculum, which is the

1- purpose of education who wants to be achieved,

2- learning experience to achieve the goals,

3- learning organizing experiences, and evaluation.

Defining Objectives of the Learning Experience

Tyler remarks, “The progressive emphasizes the importance of studying the child to find out what kinds of interests he has, what problems he encounters, what purposes he has in mind. The progressive sees this information as providing the basic source for selecting objectives” .

Tyler was interested in how learning related to the issues of society, and believed studies of contemporary life provided information for learning objectives. He defines the learning objectives in terms of knowledge, communication skills, social and ethical perspective, quantitative and analytical skills, and cognitive/taxonomy.

He proposes that educational objectives originate from three sources:

studies of society

 studies of learners

 and subject-matter specialists.

These data systematically collected and analyzed form the basis of initial objectives to be tested for their attainability and their efforts in real curriculum situations. The tentative objectives from the three sources are filtered through two screens: the school’s educational philosophy and knowledge of the psychology of learning, which results in a final set of educational objectives

Defining learning experience.

Once the first step of stating and refining objectives is accomplished, the rationale proceeds through the steps of selection and organization of learning experiences as the means for achieving outcomes, and, finally, evaluating in terms of those learning outcomes.

The term “learning experience” refers to the interaction between the learner and the external conditions in the environment to which he can react.

Tyler argues that the term “learning experience” is not the same as the content with a course which deals activities performed by the teacher.  Learning takes place through the active behaviour of the student; it is what he does that he learns not what the teacher does.

So, the learning experience of students refers to activities in the learning process. What should be asked in this experience is “what will be done and have been done by the students” not “what will be done and have been done by teachers.”

Tyler recognizes a problem in connection with the selection of learning experiences by a teacher . The problem is that by definition a learning experience is the interaction between a student and her environment. That is, a learning experience is to some degree a function of the perceptions, interests, and previous experiences of the student. Thus, a learning experience is not totally within the power of the teacher to select. Nevertheless, Tyler maintains that the teacher can control the learning experience through the manipulation of the environment, resulting in stimulating situations sufficient to evoke the desired kind of learning outcomes.

There are several principles in determining student learning experiences, which are: (a) students experience must be appropriate to the goals you want to achieve, (b) each learning experience must satisfy the students, (c) each design of student learning experience should involve students, and (d) in one learning experience, students can reach different objectives.

“The most difficult problem is setting up learning experiences to try to make interesting a type of activity which has become boring or distasteful to the student” . He stresses, “Students learn through exploration”. Tyler’s mentor, John Dewey, also advocated that teachers should encourage children to become actively engaged in discovering what the world is like . “No single learning experience has a very profound influence upon the learner,” remarks Tyler .

Organizing of Learning Activities for Attaining the Defined Objectives.

“Organization is seen as an important problem in curriculum development because it greatly influences the efficiency of instruction and the degree to which major educational changes are brought about in the learners,” asserts Tyler.

He believes three major criteria are required in building organized learning experiences:

1.     Continuity,

2.     sequence

3.     integration.

Students need concrete experiences to which the readings are meaningfully connected

Tyler maintains that there are two types of organizing learning experiences, which is organizing it vertically and horizontally.

Organizing vertically, when the learning experience in a similar study in a different level. There are three criteria, according to Tyler  in organizing learning experiences, which are: continuity, sequence, and integration. The principle of continuity means that the learning experience given should have continuity and it is needed to learning experience in advance.

Principles of content sequence means that the learning experience provided to students should pay attention to the level of student’s development. Learning experience given in class five should be different with learning experiences in the next class.

The principle of integration means that the learning experience provided to students must have a function and useful to obtain learning experience in other sectors. For example, learning experience in Arabic language must be able to get help learning experience in the field of other studies.

Evaluation and Assessment of the Learning Experiences

Evaluation is the process of determining to what extent the educational objectives are being realized by the curriculum. Thus, according to Tyler, curriculum evaluation is the process of matching initial expectations in the form of behavioural objectives with outcomes achieved by the learner.

There are two functions of evaluation. First, the evaluation used to obtain data on the educational goals achievement by the students (called the summative function). Second, the evaluation used to measure the effectiveness of the learning process (called the formative function).

. Furthermore, he states, “Curriculum planning is a continuous process and that as materials and procedures are developed they are tried out, their results are appraised, their inadequacies identified, and suggested improvements indicated” . With his emphasis on the individual student Tyler believes that all evaluation must be guided by a purpose and be sensitive to the uniqueness of the individual being assessed.

Tyler  largely determine what he attends to, and frequently what he does . Tyler states, “Education is a process of changing the behaviour patterns of people” . He values the individual learner.