Journal on Curriculum and Syllabus. What do they mean and how do they differ?

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Journal on Curriculum and Syllabus

When I ask myself what curriculum means to me, I always indicate that it means the set of courses, and their content, offered at a  or university. However, the word "curriculum" as it is defined from its early Latin origins means literally "to run a course." If one thinks of a marathon with mile and direction markers, signposts, water stations, and officials and coaches along the route, this beginning definition is a metaphor for what the curriculum has become in the education of our children. Some high schools have curriculum specially designed for students who plan to work in a trade after finishing high school. In those cases, a high school may offer certification in secretarial or construction skills when a student follows a specific curriculum. In colleges, specific courses make up the individual’s curriculum, allowing one to obtain a degree or certification in a certain field. In this way, the curriculum is individualized to the person’s desire for a certain type of expertise. Not following the prescribed curriculum may mean not obtaining a degree. Many people still equate a curriculum with a syllabus. The people that still equate curriculum with a syllabus they are likely to limit their planning to a consideration of the content or the body of knowledge that they wish to transmit. 'It is also because this view of curriculum has been adopted that many teachers in primary schools', Kelly (1985, p. 7) claims, 'have regarded issues of curriculum as of no concern to them, since they have not regarded their task as being to transmit bodies of knowledge in this manner'.

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Then what is syllabus? Syllabus is a detailed and operational statement of teaching and learning elements which translates the philosophy of the curriculum into a series of planned steps leading towards more narrowly defined objectives at each level. In general, the components of syllabus consist of objectives (or competencies in competency-based syllabus), instructional contents, learning experiences, and evaluation. The main reasons why we have to develop syllabus are to address students’ needs, to actualize the institutional goals and objectives, to develop content standard (standard competencies and basic competencies into teachable materials used in teaching and learning process in related schools. ...

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