APPROACHES
CURRICULUM
DEVELOPMENT
R. Shilpa Manogna
APPROACHES TO
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

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Developmental
Approach
Functional
Approach
Ecological
Approach
Community
Referenced
Approach

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Task Analytic
Approach
Systems
Approach
Unit Approach
Some Approach
and
Eclectic
Approach.
Developmental Approach

The main philosophy behind this
approach is the normal
development pattern based
upon known milestones of
normal development.

Skills appearing early in the
developmental hierarchy are
prerequisites for skills appearing
later in normal development.
Functional Approach

Functional curriculum includes
those skills a student would
need in the immediate
environment and in the next
environment.

Skills listed in functional
curriculum are activities that are
utility based and age
appropriate and not
developmentally based.
The functional curriculum includes
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Personal skills,
Social skills,
Domestic skills,
Community skills,
Functional academics, and
Leisure and recreation skills.
Functional Assessment

Functional assessment refers to the
assessment of functional skills that
are most likely to be required in the
everyday life of an adult with mental
retardation.

Functional skills may include any
skills that can influence a person’s
ability to function independently and
productively in the community.
Steps for Functional Assessment

Conduct an ecological inventory.

Assess the current functioning of the
student vis a vis the ecological
inventory, determining those skills
currently possessed by the student and
those that are needed.

From the list of student needs, prioritize
with the students’, parents or guardians
the instructional items to be taught.

From this prioritization, prepare with the
parents or guardians the instructional
items to be taught.
Ecological Approach

Environment or community is
very essential for curricular
development.

Emphasizes to develop in
children the skills needed to live
and function adequately in the
social, vocational and economic
environments in which the
students live.
Five phases for Ecological
(environmental) Assessment.

Initial description of the environment
and perception of the problem.

Expectation of the environment from the
person to be assessed.

Description of the interaction and skills.

Summary of the above data

Assessment of the child for skills and
deficits and setting of reasonable
expectation for the child, based on the
comprehensive information gathered.
Task Analytical Approach

The curricular items selected
are broken down to tasks.

Each task is analyzed in a
sequential manner for teaching
the child.

This breaking down of tasks to
teach the child has the
advantage of analyzing error
and correcting them.
Community Referenced
Approach

In this approach the instruction
takes place in environments where
the activities naturally occur, which
minimizes the generalization of skills
from simulated to natural
environments.

Community skills include street
crossing, using public
transportation, shopping, eating in
restaurants and using other public
facilities such as parks, post office,
banks etc.
Requirements for Implementation
of Community Referenced
Curriculum
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Administrators and parents
need to be informed.
Teachers require more time for
developing and planning of
community referenced
curriculum
Parents’ involvement in every
aspect of developing and
implementing community
training programme is
essential.

Written parental permission
should be obtained before giving
community experience to
students.

Materials and personnel
resources.

Extra funding required. Eg.
Money for travel, buying items
Eclectic Approach
Eclecticism has been derived
from the verb root “elect”.
 To elect means to choose and
pick up.
 good ideas,
 concept and principles from
various schools of thought have
been chosen, picked up
 blended together to make a
complete philosophy.
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Eclecticism is nothing but fusion
of knowledge from all sources.
Eclecticism is a conceptual
approach that does not hold
rigidly to a single paradigm or
set of assumptions.
It draws upon multiple theories,
styles, or ideas to gain
complementary insights into a
subject, or applies different
theories in particular cases.

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It
can
sometimes
seem
inelegant or lacking in simplicity,
and eclectics are sometimes
criticized for lack of consistency
in their thinking.
unity in diversity is found
through eclectic approach.