Curriculum Development

As an emerging educator the education philosophy embraced will have great impact on the teaching and learning process, beliefs about students, beliefs about knowledge concepts as well as the belief about what is worth knowing. This is so, as each of us perception or the construct of our education philosophy differs as the source may be stemming from differing schools of thought. According to Wiles & Bondi, major philosophies of life and education have traditionally been defined by three criteria; what is good, what is true and what is read. It must be understood that our perception of these criteria differs and thus reveals a unique pattern of response. Wile & Bondi continue to posit that these responses when categorizes and tabled becomes formal philosophies – our philosophy.
There are a myriad of definition on the term Philosophy. John Dewey purports that a philosophy was a general theory of educating. Boyd Bode on the other hand saw a philosophy as a source of reflective consideration; while Ralph Tyler likened philosophy to “a screen for selecting educational objectives. To this end I would define the term Education Philosophy as it relates to curriculum development as one’s position on learning, the process of learning, people / persons involve in learning as well as the product of learning.”
Given the fact that our schools exist to facilitate learning, our role as facilitators must only serve to enhance the teaching and learning experience for our students. To this end we must ensure that our methods used cater for all the learners. A rich teaching and learning experience and preferable one that is eclectic in nature only serves to bolster or enhance the understanding or grasping of concepts being taught, thereby, creating a good opportunity to realize the objectives of the lesson. It is of utmost importance that one’s philosophy embraced is anchored in a sound belief about a positive teaching and learning experience. I am of the opinion that the