REFLECTIVE ESSAY

Impact of curriculum evaluation, change and innovation

Malaysians curriculum and syllabus have faced quite a few changes and
innovations as has to be to keep up with globalization demands and at the same time
taking into consideration of the core elements which must be preserved. In short, the
changes in curriculum has affected the Malaysias education system in several aspects.
One of it was the change of KBSR to KSSR. The change was a result from the
curriculum evaluation done which indicated that KBSR was no longer relevant to be
used in the 21st century of teaching and learning especially with the advancement of
science and technology. Thus, the need to develop and implement a new curriculum
existed.

Changes in a curriculum is vital to keep up with current nations political, social,

economic, cultural and the most importantly technological states. According to my
understanding, curriculum is a guide consisting of clear expectation or outcomes that
should be achieved by teachers whenever the curriculum is carried out. According to
Eisner (1984: 54) curriculum is a series of planned event that are intended to have
educational consequences. Changes in a curriculum helps to improve teaching
strategies and learning activities, production of leadership skills among teachers,
improvement of team planning and others which will indirectly improve the quality of
education among teachers and learners.

The curriculum change in Malaysias curriculum was the update of KBSR to

KSSR. Back then, the teaching methods used were grammar translation method
(GMT), direct method and situational approach which was very teacher centred.
However, the new curriculum focuses more on learners standard based approach
which had impacted the role of teachers in the classroom. Firstly, teachers are now
exposed to the need of integrating technology into the teaching and learning session
as required in the KSSR syllabus. Besides that, teachers were also exposed to various
21st century teaching strategies and approaches one of it was cooperative learning
technique. Likewise, the changes in the curriculum has
shifted the teachers role from being in the centre of instruction to becoming
moderators or facilitators in the learning process which enables learners to learn much
more effectively through self- discovery method and cooperative learning method. The
changes have led to many positivity in the teaching and learning process. For example,
there were less chalk and talk and more fun interactive learning in the teaching process
which was highlighted in the new KSSR syllabus whereby teacher has to inculcate fun
learning in their teaching. Besides that, the integration of technology was also a mean
to boost the effectiveness of teaching and learning process especially in the 21st
century where pupils are mostly technology savvy and were very less interested in the
usage of textbook and workbook.

Last but not least, the development and implementation of a curriculum without
proper evaluation, innovation and changes will face issues in keeping up with the
current trends and requirements locally and globally. Failure in developing an effective
curriculum will bring forth negative impact towards the education system whereby there
might be possibility of producing learners who are not excellent and incapable in
certain aspects. Likewise, this will also impact the current nations political, social,
economic and cultural negatively. In short, the impact of curriculum evaluation, change
and innovation has indeed turned the Malaysias curriculum into a much more effective
and relevant approach towards teaching.

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References

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