Distinction between Curriculum and Other Related Terminologies

Curriculum and Syllabus

Most often people tend to equate the word “syllabus” with Curriculum”. This should not be so. As can be understood from explanations already given, the curriculum is wider in scope than “syllabus”. A syllabus is part of a curriculum but it is not the Curriculum. The syllabus is the content of the school subjects offered in the school, and it is a sub-set of the curriculum. Such subjects include Mathematics, English Language, Biology and so on. A syllabus normally contains what students will learn in the various school subjects in a year or for a longer period of schooling leading to certification. It is a long-term plan of work for students.

It is normally prepared for the classroom teachers by a body such as the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) or the Examination Council of Zambia (ECZ). At the university level, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) reviews and approves syllabi (plural of syllabus) from all Zambian universities designed by themselves.

Curriculum and Scheme of Work

Again, the curriculum of a school is not the scheme of work. As the name implies, a scheme of work is a breakdown of the contents of what students are expected to learn in a given period. In other words, a scheme of work is the systematic arrangement of subject matter and activities within a given time period, such as a term or a semester.

Whatever the learners are expected to learn are broken down into instructional units (which include activities) and are normally prepared by the classroom teacher. It is usually a guide in planning what is to be done per week over a term or semester and for the three terms or two semesters in an academic year as the case may be.

Curriculum and Course of Study

A course of study is an educational programme leading to the award of a certificate at the end of the programme for a particular set of learners.

For example, a Secondary Teachers’ Diploma (STD) is a course of study. Another example is a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) programme in English, in a Teacher Education programme. Another example still is the Master of Science Programme (M.Sc.) in Public Health offered in the Faculty of Science at Rusangu University.

A course of study therefore refers mainly to a programme of learning that are offered to students – with various course contents – at the end of which they are awarded a certificate indicating the type of course of study they had undergone. To understand this better, a friend might ask another what course he/she offered at the College or University. The answer could then be any of the following: a B.A. Ed course in Language Arts; an STD course at the College of Education, an M.Sc course in Public Health etc.

Curriculum and Lesson Note

A lesson note (or note of lesson; or lesson plan) is a guide for teachers to assist them in the orderly presentation of a lesson to the learners in order to facilitate learning. Teachers draw the plan for teaching a particular lesson from the scheme of work. That is, just as the scheme of work is a breakdown of the syllabus so the lesson note is a breakdown of the scheme of work into daily lessons, which are planned by the teacher.

In this plan, the teacher explains the step-by-step procedure which he/she would follow in presenting the lesson to the learners. It usually contains the activities expected of the students as well as the teachers during the period of the lesson. The lesson note (or note of lesson, or lesson plan) is therefore not “curriculum”. The classroom is the implementation point of the programme of learning, which is just one of the three major components of the curriculum. Thus, the lesson note is an important aspect of curriculum implementation, especially the programme of learning component of the curriculum.