Curriculum Studies and Design/UPM3

1. CURRICULUM: AN INTEGRATIVE
INTRODUCTION
BY EVELYN J. SOWELL
CH 5 STUDIES OF SOCIETY
AND CULTURE
Presented by:
Tam Suet Yet
Santha Devi Arumugam

2. LITERACY ISSUES FOR THE 21ST
CENTURY
 Society dictates purposes of education for the
school curricula.
 How do society and culture relate to curriculum?
 To what extent can society affect curriculum?
 How do societal-cultural changes affect curriculum
processes and choices of learning emphases?

3. WHAT IS LITERACY?
 Once referred solely to one’s language abilities.
 Ability to use one’s native language, closely related
to culture.
 In the U.S. defined as one’s English language
ability.
 Other forms of literacy required today due to
economic changes eg cultural, science and
information.

4. TYPES OF LITERACY
 Language literacy
- definition open to interpretation (Sowell,1996).
- if one does not speak English/Malay is he/she
considered illiterate?
 Cultural literacy
- social groups gather according to
language, ethnic background,
religion.

5. - shared beliefs or culture create norms.
- subjects like civics and content based syllabus for
language to learn about other cultures, reduce
prejudice, foster tolerance and understanding in a
multicultural society (CDC).

6.  Science literacy
- knowledge of a variety of techniques for
approaching and working on problems
- understanding of scientific-mathematical
features of a problem
- ability to work with others on a problem
- ability to cope with real world problem
situations

7.  Information literacy
- ability to assemble, analyse, interpret and draw
inferences and conclusions about information from
a variety of sources (Adams & Bailey, 1993, Lenox
& Walker, 1994)

8. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR LEARNERS’
LITERACY?
Initially :
 Families
 Schools
 Religious organisations
Now :
 Schools play a major role
 Economic need and changing social
values, busy and absentee parents an
accepted phenomena
 Social institutions still important

9. ECONOMY AND THE MALAYSIAN
LABOUR MARKET
 Employment
- graduates (high pay for highly eduated, upward
mobility)
- non-graduates(working-class status,either white
collar/blue-collar skilled or semi-skilled positions,
repetitive tasks, upward mobility limited)
(JobsMalaysia, 2010, Ministry of Human Resources)

10. EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC CHANGES ON
THE WORKFORCE
 Changes are due to development and advances in
information technology
 mostly affects unskilled workers, less
manufacturing jobs
 Loss of jobs
 Retrenchment
 Need for spouses to work, take up additional jobs

11.  Literacy in the workplace -jobs that pay well require
special training or education.
 Strong relationship between literacy skill and
occupation.

12. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS :
FAMILY, RELIGION AND EDUCATION
 Family, religion and education
- handle concerns and problems related to
physical, emotional and intellectual needs of
children & youth.
- influenced by changes in economy
- rising standard of living, people aware of
inequalities in living standards (communication)

13. 2 million foreign workers in Malaysia
 Locals unwilling to work in construction
sites, pumping fuel, cleaning toilets, working
in restaurants. Low pay? Demeaning?
 Malaysian employers do not want to hire
fresh graduates
- poor command of English
- unrealistic expectations of salary
- poor character, attitude, personality..

14. - frequent job switching
 Influence of higher educational institutions
- producing graduate manpower, not nurturing talent
and building intellectual capital.
(Tneh, David, 2010, National University of Singapore)

15. WHAT IS REQUIRED?
 A more holistic and flexible education system
 Realising that the co-relation and interdependence
between education, employment and the economy
cannot be disregarded, important for the moral and
social wellbeing of the people (Tneh, 2010).

16. Child care and socialization practices
FAMILY-SOCIETY RELATIONSHIPS
• Initially, an economic organization depends on household
ie: raising a family, good and production demand
• Transferred to private sector business
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Ie: taxation
• Parents who work affects children – stress between spouses &
stress between children/parents bond
- divorce
- remarried families co-exist
- violence: child/spouse abuse
- grandparents
THE SITUATION IN MALAYSIA
Can the curriculum do something to children who are victims of
such circumstances?
Can they still sit for SPM/ PMR/ UPSR?

17. FAMILY-RELIGION-SCHOOL RELATIONSHIPS
• School was at first not compulsory
• Up until WW2. religion, school and family are social institutions
• Social capital – social networks that display concern for children
ie: volunteer group
family members
youth group leaders
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adults
religious organizations
• However, at present, adults continue self-pursuits instead of childbearing
responsibilities.
• Solely left to educators and schooling

18. DEMOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND OF LEARNERS
(MALAYSIA)
 Population: 25,715,819 (July 2009 est.)
 Ethnic groups: Malay 53.3%, Chinese
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26.0%, Indigenous 11.8%, Indian 7.7%, Others
1.2%
 Religions: Islam (60.4%), Buddhism
(19.2%), Christianity (9.1%), Hinduism
(6.3%), Other/None (5.0%).
Languages: Bahasa Melayu (official), Chinese
(various dialects), English, Tamil, Indigenous.
(taken from US Department of State. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2777.htm)

19. LIVING CONDITIONS
 Peninsular vs Sabah Sarawak
 Urban vs Rural Areas
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 Exposure
 Living means for extra coaching
 Tuition
 Musical/ Art Lessons
 Games/ Sports
 Books/ Television Programmes
Malaysia Literacy Rate: 91.9 %

20. SOCIETY & CULTURE APPLIED IN CURRICULUM
PROCESSES
 All children after 6 should go to school.
 Educational and curriculum development:
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independence to 1990
 The National Education System of Malaysia was
 inherited from the British colonial government.
 Education Act of 1961 achieving national unity and
development through education
 Reforming Society – purpose of education (schools
actually shape changes society)
 Uses societal problems, issues and concerns as
content – set goal for betterment of society

21. KBSM + KBSR
 KBSR -reducing the previously heavily content-
oriented curriculum, to concentrate on the three Rs.
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 Specifies a child-centered approach-more student
participation and focuses on individual differences
of students.
 Teaching activities are designed to especially
encourage participation and verbal communication
 Learning is to be gained through a variety of
experiences

22.  KBSM - a continuation of the KBSR
 Enable them to make choices in selecting subjects
of their interest.
 KBSM aims to continue providing general education
(taken from Educational development and reformation in Malaysia: past, present and
future Rahimah Haji Ahmad Professor and Dean, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Malaysia)
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 Projected roles for classroom users of curricula –
interactive methods in delivering the curriculum.
The question is: Our we doing it right?
As we think about….

23.  Social demands
 Culture effect
 Scope and complexity of curriculum
 Professional development of teachers
 Effective communication in a classroom
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 Resources – time, people
 Evaluation – cultivating cognitive achievement
through tests, scales & portfolios
 Acknowledge consistency in social & cultural
realities

24. TSY/CURRICULUMDEVELOPMENT2010
The End ……
QUESTIONS????????