REFLECTION
ON OBJECTIVE
APROACH
INSTRUMENTAL APPROACH
RALPH TYLER: The Objective
(instrumental) Approach
• He was born in 1902 and died in 1994.
• He articulated (pronounced) the trichotomy of knowledge, social preparation
and personal development.
• He believed that the needs of subject discipline, the society, and the learners
together should determine the educational objective.
• In his opinion, good curriculum strikes the right balance amidst the three
perspectives.
• His views on curriculum is also referred to by others as instrumental.
• The instrumental approach emphasizes the importance of systematic design
process.
OBJECTIVE APPROACH
CONT…
• Based on thorough analysis, clear and measurable objectives for
the design process are formulated.
• These objectives provide reference points for the design process
(that is, planning by objectives).
• Tyler assumed learning to be the ultimate purpose of schooling,
consequently, curriculum should be designed in such a way that
efective learning takes place.
• He held the view that educational decisions should be made
objectively by experts with specialized knowledge.
His propositions on curriculum
planning are the following:
• Decide what educational purpose the school should seek
to attain.
• Determine what educational experiences can be provided
that are most likely to attain the indicated purposes.
• Find ways to organize the educational experiences
efectively.
• Determine whether the educational purposes are being
attained.
GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF
OBJECTIVE APPROACH
Objecti Plannin
Method
ves g
Evaluat Activiti
e es
LAWRENCE STENHOUSE: THE
PROCESS APPROACH (1926-1982)
• He believed that curriculum was a ‘messy process’, as teachers ought to
research while they teach.
• They also have to evaluate as they research, and they may change course in
the process of teaching.
• He contend that curriculum should be descriptive rather than prescriptive.
• He maintained that curriculum should be subject or open to ongoing
change.
• Curriculum should call for adaptations in the light of what happens in
practice.
Process Approach Cont…
• Stenhouse advocated for curriculum development and reform that
stressed the quality of the educational process and the values that
defned it.
• He argued that a plan changes in the process of implementation.
• He referred to the complexity of the multivariate situation in which
curriculum research and planning must operate.
• A curriculum should be written as a suggestion and not as a prescription.
• A curriculum is a process that that cannot be predetermined because it
changes with context and people involved.
Process Approach Cont…
• He valued the development of individuality through a
creative and critical engagement with culture.
• He was an early advocate of inclusive education and was
committed to making education available to all learners
that was both challenging and empowering.
• His idea of “the teacher as researcher” lay at the heart of
the process approach to curriculum.
Paolo Freire: Pragmatic approach intertwine
with a socio-political purpose (1921-1997)
• He argues that curriculum is not value neutral.
• He maintains that teachers have to look carefully at the hidden
aspect of curriculum.
• Education has the power to oppress or liberate the learners.
• He wanted to move away from context free education in which
learners and teachers are viewed separately.
• He gave voice to those who did not have voice and were oppressed.
• He came up with the concept of pedagogy of the oppressed.
Pragmatic approach cont…
• Freire promulgated educational ideas and methods to ensure liberation
through education.
• He contend that language (like education) should be context sensitive,
ought to have phonetic value, and whenever possible should begin with
simple, applicable, and appropriate words that serve a purpose in process
of understanding.
• He emphasized the signifcance of dialogue as important for all concerned
in education.
• He viewed dialogue as cooperative activity and can be seen as enhancing
the community and building social capital.
Pragmatic approach cont…
• Paolo Freire valued the inclusion of well defned aims in the curriculum.
• These aims need t provide further direction for what is intended to be achieved
through the implementation of the curriculum.
• His opinions of well-defned aims are:
The aims should be suite to the likely context of the target group in which the
subject will be taught and learnt;
Clear and specifc;
Understandable and useful;
Aligned with the purpose; and
Should be based on and linked to a particular theoretical framework.
