The Tyler Rationale: My experience and thoughts towards curriculum development
After thinking to myself, I realized that the Tyler Rationale has been very common within my schooling. From experience, I can say that I have experienced the curriculum referred to as the Tyler rationale. Through out my elementary and high school years I experienced the process, that the lecture slideshow explained, of learning the aims and objectives, followed by the content, then I experienced the organization of teaching and learning, and finally I was then evaluated or assessed. I fond that in school I was always learning information to be tested, I see now that although I was doing that, I was also being taught these things as they related to my future and continue to help me each day.
The Tyler rationale asks four main questions;
1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?
2. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes?
3. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?
4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained?
This rationale creates some limitations/impossibilities for those who use it. As teachers, we follow the curriculum and this rationale to be successful in the classroom but, if we stray from this guideline provided we feel as if we are doing something wrong or that the students may not learn to their full potential. This rationale limits what teachers can do freely, the teachings that are not stated within the curriculum. Tyler (1949) states that “education is a process of changing the behaviour of people”, this idea of “changing” the behaviour creates limitations towards student’s individuality. By changing how they behave, we enforce these rules and beliefs towards who they are and how they should behave. Instead of changing their behavior, one should try to adjust to their behaviour first and allow the child to learn in a way that best suits their needs. Although this idea of changing behaviours may also work for many, and create a positive education/environment, it may be harder for others. This rationale limits the opportunity for children to learn in their own way.
Each theory or rationale has its own pros and cons. Above I mentioned a couple cons but now I will speak of the pros. There have been historical advantages with this rationale that have been shown over time and throughout the article. Choosing objectives to me is a positive to this rationale. When choosing objectives, one seeks for the things that are most important and beneficial to the learner. In further research I found that Tyler suggests these guidelines to consider when choosing objectives:
1. Stress those things that are important for students to learn in order to participate in contemporary society.
2. Be sound in terms of the subject matter involved.
3. Be in accord with the educational philosophy of the institution.
4. Be of interest or be meaningful to the prospective learners, or they should be capable of being made so in the process of instruction.
These outlines relate to the idea of behaviour because it shows students what they need to be capable of learning while their behaviour needs to show that they are willing to learn it and are capable of doing so. But what else is a positive to this rationale? The process of evaluation would be my answer to that question. Evaluation has always been seen as a con to many but I see it as something that is very important. It shows that the learners are understanding and realizing what is being taught to them. The objectives chosen at the beginning play a huge role on the evaluation portion and create a basis for the overall outcome of learning. On page 64 of Curriculum and Evaluation by Arno A. Bellack and Herbert M. Kliebardit it states that “To Tyler, then, evaluation is a process by which one matches initial expectations in the form of behavioral objectives with outcomes.” This, to me, seems to be a positive to his rationale and really proves why this rationale is important and common to many curriculums. Curriculum development is very crucial within education, and after this reading I see that the Tyler rationale is a very concrete developmental tool.
Links used:
http://www.project2061.org/publications/designs/online/pdfs/reprints/1_klieba.pdf
https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/stanley_angela_f_200912_edd/stanley_angela_f_200912_edd.pdf
https://ecs210.wikispaces.com/file/view/Schiro_2013_Social_Efficiency_Ideology_of_Curriculum%20copy.pdf/593340440/Schiro_2013_Social_Efficiency_Ideology_of_Curriculum%20copy.pdf
