CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS AND PRODUCTS

Several movements in recent years have had an impact on curriculum development. To gain a sense of the dimensions of these problems and their impact, let’s briefly review some movements that have either changed the role of curriculum planners or caused modification in the ways in which schools organize for curricular development.
Curriculum planners are buffeted by several strong social and political forces, some arising from pressure groups and some from the public in general. Some of the desires of the both the pressure groups and the public generally have been enacted into law, primarily at the federal level.
Among the significant contemporary issues facing curriculum workers are 1) alternative choices in education, 2) emphasis on the basics and academics, 3) bilingual education, 4) cultural literacy, 5) provision for the handicapped, 6) health education, 7) racial/ethnic integration and cultural diversity, 8) religion in the schools, 9) protest over schoolbooks, 10) sexism, and 11) whole language.