🌟 CURRICULUM CHANGE: TYPES, PROCESS & STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION
I.
TYPES OF CHANGE PROCESS
🔎 Benison (1984) identified seven types of
curriculum change processes based on how change occurs in educational settings.
1. Planned Change
🟠Meaning: A change that is
intentionally designed and implemented with full awareness of its need.
🟢
Explanation: Teachers or educationists realize a gap or limitation in
the present system and plan a change to improve it.
🟣
Example:
A teacher identifies that students
struggle with rote learning. So, she plans and introduces activity-based
learning in her class, step-by-step.
🎓
Like a headmistress implementing a reading hour weekly to improve vocabulary
based on test scores.
2. Change by
Indoctrination
🟠Meaning: A change accepted due to
constant persuasion or influence by others.
🟢
Explanation: Even if there is no personal need felt, change is adopted
based on others' repeated claims or enthusiasm.
🟣
Example:
A colleague often talks about how
effective "Flipped Classroom" methods are abroad. You eventually try
it without fully exploring its relevance.
🎓
Believing in someone’s experience, not evidence.
3. Coercive
Change
🟠Meaning: Change imposed by authority
through rules or orders.
🟢
Explanation: Teachers follow changes due to pressure from higher
officials or institutions.
🟣
Example:
An education board orders all schools
to implement CCE (Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation), and schools are forced
to comply.
🎓
Following orders, not choices.
4.Technocratic
Change
🟠Meaning: Change that results from
advancements in science and technology.
🟢
Explanation: New technologies push educators to change their methods or
materials.
🟣
Example:
Introduction of smartboards or online
learning platforms like DIKSHA or Zoom classrooms post-pandemic.
🎓
Using tech tools due to availability and trend.
5.Interactional
Change
🟠Meaning: Change resulting from
interacting with those using new methods.
🟢
Explanation: Through direct exposure, observation, and experience, you
adopt new practices.
🟣
Example:
A teacher attends a CBSE workshop
hosted at a reputed city school, where she observes how digital whiteboards and
interactive storytelling are used in primary classrooms. She interacts
with those teachers, learns the techniques, and brings the same digital
teaching strategies back to her school.
🎓This interaction sparks a shift in her own
teaching style — from traditional chalk-and-talk to digital and student-centred
learning.!
6.Cumulative
Change
🟠Meaning: Gradual change over time
through small improvements.
🟢
Explanation: Step-by-step development without drastic changes.
🟣
Example:
Over 5 years, a school evolves its
teaching style by slowly adopting audio-visual aids, then interactive boards,
and then blended learning.
🎓
Bit by bit, a revolution begins!
7.Natural Change
🟠Meaning: Change that happens
spontaneously without external pressure.
🟢
Explanation: Teachers or systems adapt to new practices naturally over
time.
🟣
Example:
Without official orders, teachers
start integrating YouTube videos and Google Forms into their lessons because
they find it easier.
🎓
Self-driven adaptation.
II.
THE PROCESS OF CURRICULUM CHANGE
Curriculum change happens in four
stages, each leading progressively toward institutional adoption.
1.Perceiving the
Need for Change
🔹 Explanation:
Change begins when a problem or gap is identified in the current curriculum.
This realization may come from students, teachers, parents, or society.
🔹
Example:
Teachers observe that students are not
developing critical thinking, so they feel the need to include project-based
learning.
2.Planning for
the Change
🔹 Explanation:
Once the need is identified, planning is done to address it. This includes
defining goals, exploring alternatives, choosing feasible options, and
designing steps for implementation.
🔹
Example:
School forms a committee to revise the
timetable, include interdisciplinary projects, and provide teacher training for
it.
3. Initiation and
Implementation
🔹 Explanation:
Here, the planned change is tested and introduced in actual settings. Feedback
and monitoring are crucial.
🔹
Example:
A new English Reading Hour is
introduced. Teachers follow a plan, and student progress is monitored monthly.
4. Institutionalizing
the Changed Curriculum
🔹 Explanation:
The change becomes part of the regular system. Official guidelines, monitoring
systems, and policy updates are included.
🔹
Example:
After pilot success, the reading hour
becomes a mandated practice in all government schools statewide.
III.
STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTING CURRICULUM CHANGE AND INNOVATION
🌟 Chin (1967) classified strategies into
three categories depending on the nature of the change and people involved.
📘 1. Rational-empirical Strategy
🔸 Assumption: People are rational and will
adopt change if convinced with data or experience.
🔸
Approach: Provide evidence and demonstrate effectiveness.
🧠Example: Teachers observe students scoring
better after concept-mapping is introduced. They’re convinced and start using
it.
📚 2. Normative-educative Strategy
🔸 Assumption: People adopt change if they
understand its value and are educated about it.
🔸
Approach: Conduct workshops, seminars, and orientation programs.
🧠Example: SCERT organizes a 3-day training on
Inclusive Education, showing its benefits and how to implement it in
classrooms.
⚖️ 3. Power-coercive Strategy
🔸 Assumption: Change can be enforced by
authority using rules, policies, or mandates.
🔸
Approach: Legal or administrative directives to enforce change.
🧠Example: Government mandates implementation
of gender-sensitivity content in all textbooks, and schools are compelled to
adopt it.
📌 Note: For effective curriculum development and reform, all these processes and strategies must work in alignment with teacher readiness, student needs, and societal expectations.
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