6.5.6 Criteria Used In Selection of Subject Matter for the Curriculum
Self-sufficiency: "less teaching effort and educational resources, less learner's effort but more results and effective learning outcomes, most economical manner (Scheffler, 1970)
Significance: contribute to basic ideas to achieve overall aim of curriculum, develop learning skills. The content of significance applies where content is judged in terms of how essential or basic it is to the discipline or theme under study.Where content is considered to be of value to the subject area, it is deemed to be significant and thus worthy of inclusion in a curriculum. For most curriculum developers this criterion involves an appropriate balance between concepts, ideas and facts. The significance criterion may be applied to any body of content considered for inclusion in, a curriculum. For example, it may be used where content is based upon themes, problems, activities, such as in primary schools, or the most common form, subjects and disciplines.
Validity: meaningful to the learner based on maturity, prior experience, educational and social value. Content may be regarded as valid when it is authentic or true, and to a large measure this means whether the content is accurate.Accurate or true information says what it is supposed to say. For example, content that purports to cover the geography of Pakistan should do just that and not include India geography or Canada economics.The criterion of validity of content may also be measured in terms of the relationship between content and objectives. For content to be valid it must reflect the stated objectives. If objectives claim one thing while the content selected for the curriculum teaches something different then it is regarded invalid.For example, if an objective seeks to achieve student understanding of Pakistan's political structure, and the ensuring content deals only with one political party, then the content would be invalid.
Utility: usefulness of the content either for the present or the future. This criterion is individually oriented, reflecting the concept of the value or usefulness of the content to individual learners experiencing the proposed curriculum. By applying the criterion of utility to the content selection process, developers can expect a curriculum to be more relevant and hence valuable to the real world.
Learnability: within the range of the experience of the learners. The leamability criterion is particularly appropriate to curricula that have to meet the needs of large numbers of students with diverse backgrounds and a wide range of ability.
Interest: the interest of learners in the curriculum's content is generally considered to be an important criterion in the selection of that content by curriculum developers.
Social relevance: this criterion suggests that content for inclusion in a curriculum should be selected on the grounds of its relevance to the social development of individual, but within the context of a community-oriented perspective.Thus this criterion is concerned with content relating to moral values; ideals social problems, controversial issues and so forth that would assist students to become more effective members of their society. Curriculum developes may well incorporate content that reflects; ✔Democratic principles and values ✔Understanding of cultural groups ✔Social awareness and criticism ✔The facilitation of social change.
Feasibility: can be learned within the tile allowed, resources available, expertise of the teacher, nature of learner