NEEDS BASED CURRICULUM APPROACH - ACSA …

1 1 NEEDS BASED CURRICULUM APPROACH (Toward a new conception of national CURRICULUM ) Kourosh, Fath Vajargah ,Assistant Professor , Department of Education , Faculty of Education , University of Shahid- Beheshti , Tehran , Iran Paper Presented at ACSA Conference. 29 sep , 2 oct 1999 . perth . Australia Tel - 216423530 ;fax 212403193 Email Ladies and gentlemen I am very glad to take part in the Australian CURRICULUM Studies Association Conference which is on the farming the future," It is also very interesting for me to talk about the CURRICULUM problems. At first, I should say that CURRICULUM system is established in a concentrated manner in Iran. Therefore; all the CURRICULUM decisions are made in the central level (without considering the characteristics of different schools) , and then, are sent to the local officials to be implemented honestly.

2 However, equalized CURRICULUM APPROACH brings about numerous problems, mostly, because of neglecting local and school NEEDS . In order to solve such problems, I tried to find some modified remedies and solutions BASED on the local NEEDS while keeping the national CURRICULUM frame work. Due to the fact that Australia has a flexible educational policy compared with that of Iran. it seems having no difficulties in this respect; However; at the beginning of the 21th century, you are also involved in studing some interesting aspects of national CURRICULUM . Therefore: BASED on my own experiences and studies in planning and implementing of CURRICULUM , I want to present a comprehensive and dynamic model of CURRICULUM NEEDS assessment as a means of keeping and also transferring the national and international human values while considering school, local and regional NEEDS in connection with standardized CURRICULUM .

3 Section one: historical survey and concept definition Recogniton of Basic Concepts CURRICULUM is the most challenging field of study,since after one century of its formal existence as a scientific field of study, there is not,yet,any agreement among the specialists and experts about the elements and dimensions and even the concept of CURRICULUM . CURRICULUM 2 NEEDS assessment as a part of CURRICULUM , has, also, the same problem and there is not, yet, any stable conception of this definition, in spite of its extensive application, its utilization for justification of importance and necessities of CURRICULUM and changing NEEDS assessment into a principle for distribution of facilities and sources in connection with different projects (soriano, 1995, ) Ambiguity in NEEDS definition led many bias - accepted studies to fail in presentation a comprehensive conception of NEEDS .

4 Some of the specialists like Mattimor and Knudson san used some alternative definition such as "situation assessment", and "situation Analysis" (packwood and whitaker, 1988) and also, some other specialists like Kliaton believed that the term NEEDS must be deleted from the literature of education. ( Ibid, ). This reveals that how challenging NEEDS conception may can introduce, however, the most important NEEDS - definition as following: 1 - NEEDS as a want or preference: In the first conception, some people may believe that NEEDS is the equivalent of one s want or one s preference. This definition of NEEDS which is some times called democratic conception," respects the views of majority of people about a specific subject. (suarez , 1996, ) None the less; this conception has been criticized because of three reasons first of all , because the people s views are considered to be subjective, secondly , people are not awared of their real NEEDS and thirdly since the NEEDS concept is not the same as want concept.

5 2 - NEEDS as a deficit or as a problem: In this regard, need is a kind of dificit or a kind of problem in a particular field which is innately harmful. Scriven advocates this definition which is referded as problem - APPROACH . In this view, 'need' implies the situation in which minimum satisfactory level is not attained. The concept of minimum satisfactory level is ambiguous and arguable, since this term is used in some fields such as biology and medicine but there is no evidence in education for it (Borrow ,1991). 3 - NEEDS as a gap or as a discrepancy : In the third and the most acceptable conception NEEDS is considered as the discrepancy between the present situation and the ideal situation, for instance Kaufman (1991) defines NEEDS as a gap between current outcomes and expected outcomes and in this kind of definition, there is a distinction between NEEDS and semi NEEDS .

6 NEEDS are in relation to outcomes. Where as , semi NEEDS are in connection with the means of achieving NEEDS and only after determining NEEDS , one may identify the means of achieving them (kaufman, 1991). 3 As a conclusion, each of the above definitions looks at the NEEDS and NEEDS assessment through a particular point of view. I believe that each of the definitions, depending on the situation, has effective application and one should use situational APPROACH in connection with their application. History and development of NEEDS assessment in the field of CURRICULUM : To have an easier study, the development of CURRICULUM NEEDS assessment will be discussed in both formal and in informal period is any time of studing CURRICULUM in which NEEDS assessment is not a particular domain and in some extent is not distinct from other CURRICULUM discussions.

7 Formal period of CURRICULUM is the time through which CURRICULUM specialists can specify and identify the limitations of NEEDS assessment compared with other domains. 1 - Infromal period of CURRICULUM NEEDS assessment : A general historical study of education shows that in an informal period NEEDS studing is closely related to the development of objectives and information sources. As Tanner mentioned , the emerging CURRICULUM field was being buffeted by confilict and dispution between the traditional sbuject-centered approaches , BASED upon about adult demands and child-centered approaches in CURRICULUM making decisions (Tanner , ). Because of considerable social changes , another group called , social behaviorists were added to the previous battling were the pioneers of paying attention to the society and its basic NEEDS and they ,also, emphasised on the CURRICULUM effectiveness as a means of solving life problems.

8 (Wiles and Bond , 1993). These conflicts which were at the maximum point in 1910s , made such a history of CURRICULUM in which every other time one of the battling views was dominant. The first systematic study of CURRICULUM was published in 1902 under the title of the child and the CURRICULUM by Dewey and he identified three basic learning factors such as , learner (the immature , undeveloped being) , society (values and adult s objectives) and subject matter as the main factors of educational process. (Tanner , Ibid , p415). Franklin Bobbit in 1918 wrote the book the CURRICULUM considered NEEDS studies and proposed a model under the title of activity analysis . Beacause Bobbit believed education should prepare children to be productive adults , he focused on adult life as the source of CURRICULUM NEEDS assessment.

9 BASED on such analysis , he produced a list of over 900 objectives , some of which were to be the starting point for the school CURRICULUM (king ,1981 , p 125). 4 After these views , from 1933 to 1944 , a study entitled eight years study was conducted. Researchers in this study developed a model BASED upon the following three fundemental resources ;1) the social demand APPROACH ,2) the adolescent - NEEDS APPROACH , and 3)the specialized subject matter APPROACH (Giles , pp22-28). The necessity of considering psychological NEEDS , gradually , was expected in CURRICULUM . This procedure was started with sigmund Freud and continued with the views of William Featherston(1950) , Abraham maslow(1954) , Danial Perscott(1963) , and Erikson. They were the advocates of considering psychological NEEDS in CURRICULUM (unruh and unruh, 1998).

10 Psychological NEEDS were added to the CURRICULUM in 1950s and , therefore , CURRICULUM NEEDS assessment got very complicated. The publication of Basic Principle of CURRICULUM and Instruction" by Ralph Tyler' in which he presents his rational model of CURRICULUM , brought about a new prospective for CURRICULUM . Besides emphasizing on triple data sources (society , learner and subject matter), he makes a distinction between psychological NEEDS and educational NEEDS . He believes that psychological NEEDS are not in the domain of CURRICULUM . In the psychological NEEDS conception , NEEDS means not having equilibrium where as , the task of curricularist is considering NEEDS as a gap , or discrepancy on educational NEEDS (Tyler , 1949).