Innocent Mutale Mulenga, Conceptualization and Definition of a Curriculum

Abstract

Some years ago in my first semester of graduate
studies, my mentor, Paul Ogula, introduced me to the
idea that curriculum is “the world in drag,” the way
we dice up the experience of the world into tidy but
arbitrary packages until it is again recoded as it enters
the ceremonies, structures, and rituals of schooling.
I puzzled over this idea for some time, working to
reconcile my initial understanding of curriculum drawn
from my years of classroom practice as a secondary
school teacher. Even in defining curriculum at its most
basic understanding one will find himself surrounded
by a myriad of definitions. This paper offers a basis
for scholars aiming at theoretical and experiential
guidance for conceptualization of the word curriculum.
Rooted in the literature of philosophy of education,
some assumed meanings of curriculum and the
theoretical and experiential views of several scholars,
the author illustrates the foundational elements and
dimensions of curriculum that ought not to miss in a
valid definition of the word.