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Why should you want to reform the secondary curriculum?

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Why the secondary curriculum may be in need of reform	This page offers some common reasons why the secondary curriculum may be in need of review or reform. A major issue is iikely to be that the existing currculum was designed to provide a subject-centred education for a small elite needed to manage the economy and run the country. While this will still be required from the revised system, it will also have to address the needs of a much wider ability range.


The teaching methodologies inbuilt in the existing syllabuses may not promote effective learning and acquisition of skills.	Most secondary curricula in Africa are often, in fact, examination syllabuses. This determines the kind of knowledge taught. Skills, because they remain largely unassessed, receive little emphasis in the classroom even when their mastery may be a stated curriculum objective. Careful curriculum design, linked to effective assessment and learning materials, has been shown to be major factor in improving pedagogy.
The existing curriculum, for historical reasons, may be greatly overloaded	Curriculum changes over time tend to add to subjects and to add new subjects. Changes very seldom, if ever, remove subjects or sim them down. Hence the tendency over time for curicula to become bloated, both with too many subjects and within subjects.
The existing curriculum may not address the needs of the majority of students now entering secondary education, or likely to enter in the future	This is perhaps the most significant driver of secondary reform. The 'new' secondary student will not necessarily have the academic aptitude or interests that are typical of past students. They have different needs, their abilities will develop at different rates andtheir future roles in society will be different. They will require new kinds of programmes and new kinds of pedagogy. Failure to reform the curriculum to meet the needs of these 'new' students will lead to an increasingly high failure rates and these students will not realise their potential.
The existing curriculum may not adequately reflect the teaching and learning philosophy that the education system aims to promote	Most secondary curricula in Africa and subject-centred. A subject-centred curriculum says to the learner; 'you will receive as much help as possible to master the subject content for the grade; if you do not you will fail and may have to repeat the grade'. it is exclusive. This contrasts with a learner-centred curriculum which says 'you will be given as much assistance as possible to help you overcome any learning problems you may have to realise your potential and master as much of the curriculum as you can within the grade or phase.' It is inclusive. Most secondary curricula in Africa have the stated aim of being learner-centred but in reality may not be.
The existing secondary curriculum may not adequately address the changing social and economic needs of the country.	Much of Africa, is experiencing a period of steady economic growth. Sustaining this will require a flexible and technologically literate labor force at all levels. There is much evidence that existing curricula do not address these needs adequately. More evidence may be needed to throw more light on this as part of the process to develop the new curriculum framework. It is not the very top academic cadre that contributes most to GDP growth but the much larger cadres of competent middle-level technicians. It is these groups in society that current systems do not serve well. The expanded secondary curriculum will need to be designed to meet their needs as well as those of the academic elite.
The existing curriculum may not sufficiently flexible to address emerging fields of knowledge.	Existing curriculum commonly date from the 1970s or earlier. Much of their content and the pedagogy ithey promotes betray their age. Periodic updating often adds modern content but little is removed to make room for it leading to the overload. This process is more and more unable to accommodate the increasingly large changes demanded of it by emerging fields of knowledge, particularly those related to science and technology. A new curriculum not only allows a new start to be made to ensure that these areas are included, but also permits a more dynamic design so that future changes can more readily be accommodated.
Key curriculum characteristics required of the 21st century curriculum may be missing.	Existing curricula of many countries that are either developing or in transition tend to be static, in which learners, driven by the need to succeed in a high-stakes examination, are forced to learn a mass of knowledge that is largely abstract, fact-centred, decontextualized and irrelevant. The conservatism of the curriculum often contrasts dramatically with the rapidly changing demands made of the 21st Century workforce. The challenge is to create a curriculum that builds metacognitive abilities and skills so that individuals–and the country–are better placed to adapt to the changing workplace and their changing roles in society.
The unit costs of the existing system may prove unsustainably high as it is expanded	The unit costs of existing secondary curricula are often unsustainably high. Managable expansion demands that these must be lowered to around a maximum of twice the primary unit costs. An analysis may be desirable of why unit costs are so high (low PTR, low teaching loads, small numbers in many optional subject classes, high cost of many of the subjects as they are currently taught–and examined–particularly technical, vocational and science subjects, etc). The redesign can then address these issues. Another major cost driver is often a high repeat rate. More cost effective mechanisms of addessing learning difficulties exist.
Dont throw out the baby with the bathwater	Many African countries have education systems that have served them well over the years. The positive elements of the old systems should be noted and built into (and indeed improved) in the reformed system. One positive element, for example, may be that the system has produced several generations of well-educated leaders and managers and it is important that this capacity for academic quality in the system is not lost as it expands. A good flexible system should ensure that this not only that this element of the system remains but is enhanced by mechanisms such as higher level studies and fast tracks. There are examples worldwide of how this can happen.