Issues in the curriculum at elementary level 6-10
6. Economic issue
Economic issues are of paramount concern. There is a need to equipping students with the basic knowledge and skills in order:
- To be self-sufficient and productive citizens in a increasingly globalized, rapidly changing, and uncertain. competitive and highly technological economic environment.
- To provide the human resources necessary to ensure sustainable national development.Emphasis should be given on science and technology, the use of information technology and the inculcation of good work ethics as key areas in its elementary education.
This concern is also reflected in the frequently expressed goals of:
- Improving the quality and scope of vocational education
- Strengthening science and technology education
- Introducing or expanding the use of information technologies in the classroom
- Focusing on the teaching of a wide range of social and personality skills so as to develop the pupils' capacity for flexibility, creativity, initiative and lifelong learning.
7. Global issues
Other areas of concern in the curriculum involving issues of global significance include environmental change and degradation, population control, gender issues, and intercultural understanding and co-operation.
There is a need to developing a curriculum that foster respect for and preservation of cultural traditions and indigenous values and ways of life, while preparing young people to be part of the modern global society. The main concern about curriculum is to find a balance between traditional/national and modern/ global elements in the curriculum.
8. Curriculum reforms
The issue that Pakistan is also facing in design, implementation and follow- up of curriculum reforms is limited financial, human and material resources. Lack of professional expertise is a major negative factor. This deficiency is experienced at all levels of the system, whether concerning administrators, researchers, specialists in curriculum design, supervision, assessment and evaluation, or professionally trained principals and class teachers.
9. Teachers Training
Inadequate pre- and in-service teacher training provision is an issue affecting to a greater or lesser degree. There is unsatisfactory situation regarding teacher quality and to the poor level of preparation of teachers for curriculum change. This inevitably results in classroom practices remaining unchanged. In Pakistan there is very limited participation of teachers in the curriculum development process. This may be at least partly due to the fact that most teachers lack adequate qualifications and training for such a role.
10. An inadequate research base
Curriculum development and education reform in general are process that requires expertise and continuous national production of new knowledge about these processes. Too often education reform is left to the hands of quasi-experts or persons whose expertise is in another field.If education authorities want to succeed in its intended education reform, and if renewed content of teaching and related curriculum are about to make a difference in students' learning, there needs to be well resourced and adequately equipped research structure in place.Curriculum development and change should be researched based, otherwise this leads to weaknesses in curriculum design and closely linked follow-up, and over-dependence on external expertise. It becomes difficult to respond to the country's most pressing educational needs. Now the main issue is:
- How can we train different parties involved in the process as researchers and practitioners?
- How can we establish school/institution-based research for curriculum development?