Professional Education · Curriculum and Instruction
Curriculum Development — Part 3 of 3
Criteria, Theorists, Philippine Context, and Current Trends
Content Selection Criteria
When curriculum developers decide what to include, four criteria are commonly tested:
- Validity — the content is authentic and accurate to the discipline it represents.
- Significance — the content is essential to developing the intended skills, concepts, or values.
- Continuity — concepts recur and deepen across levels (the “spiral” reinforcement principle).
- Learnability — the content is developmentally appropriate for learners’ maturity and readiness.
Sample LET Item — No. 1
The concept of fractions is first introduced in Grade 3 using simple halves and fourths, then revisited in Grade 5 with more complex operations, and again in Grade 7 within algebraic contexts. Which content selection criterion is being applied?
A. Validity
B. Significance
C. Continuity
D. Learnability
Answer: C
A concept recurring across grade levels with increasing depth — from simple fractions, to more complex operations, to algebraic contexts — is precisely the spiral reinforcement principle that defines Continuity. Choice D, Learnability, is the usual distractor here because the scenario does involve different grade levels, which feels age-related; but Learnability is about whether content matches a learner’s current developmental readiness at a single point in time, not about the same concept reappearing and deepening across years. When a stem emphasizes repetition with increasing complexity across levels, the answer is almost always Continuity.
Theoretical Foundations You Should Know
A handful of curriculum theorists appear repeatedly in LET items, usually through their models or signature contributions:
| Theorist | Contribution |
| Ralph Tyler | Foundational four-step model: defining objectives, selecting learning experiences, organizing those experiences, and evaluating outcomes (Tyler, 1949). |
| Hilda Taba | Extended Tyler’s work; emphasized teacher participation through her “grassroots approach,” arguing those who teach the curriculum should help shape it (Taba, 1962). |
| Peter Oliva | Framed curriculum development as a cooperative, ongoing process involving teachers and curriculum specialists as the core planning team (Oliva & Gordon, 2013). |
Sample LET Item — No. 2
A division office insists that classroom teachers, not just curriculum specialists at the central office, should be consulted when revising the K-12 curriculum guide, since teachers are the ones who understand learners’ actual classroom needs. This position is most closely aligned with whose approach?
A. Ralph Tyler’s four-step model
B. Hilda Taba’s grassroots approach
C. Peter Oliva’s systems approach
D. The Enhanced Table of Specifications
Answer: B
Taba’s grassroots approach specifically argues that teachers, as the people who deliver the curriculum daily, should have a direct hand in shaping it — which is exactly the position described in the stem. Choice A is a common trap because Tyler is the most famous name in curriculum theory, so test-takers default to him when unsure; but Tyler’s model is about the sequence of objectives, experiences, organization, and evaluation, not about who gets a voice in the process. Choice D is not a theorist at all, it is a PRC examination document, included here as a reminder that not every plausible-sounding option in a theorist question is actually a theorist.
The Philippine Context: Why This Isn’t Just Theory
Philippine curriculum development cannot be separated from its historical and legal foundations, and LET items frequently test this intersection. Different periods of Philippine educational history — Spanish, American, Commonwealth, Japanese Occupation, and post-independence — each left identifiable curricular fingerprints. The Japanese Occupation period, for instance, is associated with the suspension of English as the medium of instruction.
More recent and currently relevant developments include:
- K-12 Basic Education Curriculum — the shift toward a Filipino learner envisioned as functionally literate and globally competitive (Republic Act No. 10533, 2013).
- National Competency-Based Teacher Standards (NCBTS), now succeeded by the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST) — which anchor what a competent curriculum-implementing teacher looks like (Philippine Department of Education, 2017).
- Localization, Contextualization, and Indigenization — the current trends shaping how curriculum content is adapted to local culture, community context, and indigenous knowledge systems (Philippine Department of Education, 2016).
Exam Tip: Expect items distinguishing the three current trends — localization adapts content to a local setting, contextualization connects content to learners’ real-life experiences, and indigenization integrates indigenous peoples’ knowledge systems and practices.
Sample LET Item — No. 3
A school in Benguet adapts a Mathematics lesson on ratio by using examples from local rice terracing practices, drawing directly on the indigenous knowledge of the Ifugao community to explain proportion. Which curricular trend is illustrated?
A. Localization
B. Contextualization
C. Indigenization
D. Curriculum Evaluation
Answer: C
The stem specifies that the lesson draws on the knowledge systems and practices of a specific indigenous community (the Ifugao), which is the defining feature of Indigenization, not merely the use of local materials. Choice A, Localization, is the most common wrong answer because rice terracing is a regional example, and many test-takers stop at “this is local, so it must be localization.” The distinguishing detail is that the example is rooted in a specific indigenous people’s cultural and ecological knowledge system, not just any locally available material — that depth of cultural specificity is what separates Indigenization from simple Localization.
References
Oliva, P. F., & Gordon, W. R., II. (2013). Developing the curriculum (8th ed.). Pearson.
Philippine Department of Education. (2016). Adoption of the Learning Action Cell (LAC) as a K to 12 Basic Education Program school-based continuing professional development strategy for the improvement of teaching and learning (DepEd Order No. 35, s. 2016). https://www.deped.gov.ph
Philippine Department of Education. (2017). National adoption and implementation of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (DepEd Order No. 42, s. 2017). https://www.deped.gov.ph
Republic Act No. 10533, Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013. (2013). Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2013/05/15/republic-act-no-10533/
Taba, H. (1962). Curriculum development: Theory and practice. Harcourt, Brace & World.
Tyler, R. W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. University of Chicago Press.
How to Use This Module
Across all three parts, treat every new term as a potential exam stem. When you encounter a definition, ask yourself: what scenario would test this concept, and what would the wrong-answer choices look like? This is the habit that converts content knowledge into exam-day accuracy.