At school, as in high school, the entire educational process must be confirmed by certain documents. In this article I want to talk about one of them. It will be about what is a curriculum.
Definition of a concept
First of all, you need to decide on the concepts that will be used in this article. The main one is the curriculum. I must say that this is an official document. Its purpose: to determine the number of subjects, as well as hours allocated for their study. Also, the curriculum will spell out the arrangement of hours by week, a breakdown of these hours into various types of classes (for universities): lectures, seminars, laboratory works. An important point: the curriculum is compiled and approved by the Ministry of Education.
Filling
So, it is also worth considering in more detail what the curriculum is filled with.
- This document defines the length of time (year, semester) allocated to the study of this subject. Vacation days are also prescribed.
- The plan has a complete list of subjects that will be read to students.
- Each subject will have its own breakdown into hours (their total number; hours allocated for lectures, seminars, laboratory works).
- Official moments: name of the course, indication of specialty codes, signatures of officials certifying the document.
Nuances
It is worth remembering that the curriculum is drawn up once every 5 years. It requires changes only if adjustments have been made either by the Ministry of Education, or by the department itself. Every year, however, a working curriculum should be drawn up that will give more detailed information about a particular subject.
Key recommendations
It is worth saying that all curricula and programs should be drawn up in accordance with the principles prescribed by the Ministry of Education. So, when compiling them, you need to adhere to the following points:
- The curriculum should be drawn up according to the following documents: GOS VPO and PLO (these are educational standards, which are official documents).
- All disciplines of specialties should not exceed the volume that was regulated by the educational standard.
- All individual student work - laboratory, term papers, graphic works, essays, as well as certification moments (exams or tests) - are included in the general hours allotted for the study of a particular subject.
- An educational institution may change some points at its discretion. However, federal disciplines always remain unchanged. For example, the number of hours allocated to physical education is constant.
Features
When compiling a curriculum (2014-2015) for universities, it is worth remembering that the number of disciplines that a student must pass during the year should not exceed 10 exams and 12 tests. It should also be borne in mind that the department may change some points at its discretion:
- Regulate the volume of hours devoted to the study of a particular subject (required within 5-10%).
- Independently form plan cycles, while leaving the cycle of normative disciplines partially untouched (this will include history, philosophy and other compulsory subjects intended for study by all students, regardless of specialty).
- Each teacher can compose copyright programs for readable disciplines, while recommending a certain number of hours for their study (the department necessarily takes these recommendations into account).
- The division of hours for the study of an object from a cycle of disciplines specialized for a particular department occurs at the discretion of the administration of the department, but it is necessary in sufficient quantity for a complete study of the subject.
Individual plan
Another very important document is an individual curriculum. It is compiled for a specific student who is studying in a special, individual system. For schoolchildren, this is possible due to illness, the student (s) can either work or be on maternity leave.
Principles
It is worth saying that an individual curriculum must necessarily implement the following principles:
- It is compiled on the basis of a general educational program, which the student must be carried out without fail.
- In the individual curriculum, changes are allowed relative to the curriculum, but within 5-10%.
- It is possible to make changes to the plan only in the third section (disciplines by profession), with respect to normative disciplines, changes are impossible.
Both the regular curriculum and the individual one are sealed with a set of signatures and always a wet seal. Only in this case, the curriculum is considered an official document, according to which the learning process can be conducted .
Basic curriculum
It is worth mentioning that the work plan for the academic year should be drawn up not only for students of higher educational institutions, but also for schoolchildren. So, it’s worthwhile to understand such a concept as a basic curriculum. This document is also being developed based on the federal standard. It offers an annual distribution of hours to study all school subjects. Features: it is worth remembering that the federal basic plan for primary school students (1-4 grades) is prepared for 4 years of study, for students in grades 5-11 - for five years.
Distribution of federal plan components
It should be said that the curriculum of the school should be distributed in accordance with certain rules. So, the federal component will contain about 75% of all subjects, the regional component - necessarily at least 10%, the component of the educational institution - also at least 10%.
- Federal component. It contains all the compulsory subjects for students to study, prescribed by the Ministry of Education.
- Regional (or national-regional) component. In this section, subjects that are important for a particular region, but not for schoolchildren throughout the country, can be studied. Example: mother tongue of certain nationalities.
- A component of an educational institution can deepen the study of certain subjects. Example: a school with in-depth study of foreign languages additionally gives several hours to study these subjects.
In the final 11th grade, additional hours will help to stand out for the pre-profile preparation of students.
Structure
Well, at the very end, I want to consider a little the structure of the curriculum (i.e. those items that must be present there).
- Title page. However, this is not a separate leaflet, as in a term paper or essay. This is the so-called "anatomical" educational institution. Here should be indicated the name of the school or university, department, specialty (with codes), etc.
- Next item: summary of time budget (weekly). Here the time allotted for training, tests and exams, vacation time is signed.
- The plan of the educational process, where the distribution of hours in the subjects is prescribed.
- Special point: practice (production, pre-diploma (for university students)).
- A separate item is the state certification.
- A block of signatures that are sealed with a wet seal.
All of these points are mandatory when preparing curricula. The structure of the curriculum is not subject to change and cannot be adjusted at its discretion.