Planning to Teach: Interrogating the Link among the Curricula, the Syllabi, Schemes and Lesson Plans in the Teaching Process

Abstract

This paper was triggered by the confusion in learning institutions where most teachers and their students cannot distinguish between curriculum and syllabus. In a preliminary informal discussion with seven seasoned teachers and five pre-service student teachers at one of the secondary schools in Masvingo Rural the writers established that most teachers could not distinguish between the terms curriculum and syllabus. Yet they have passed through teachers training programme at college or university. The paper is based on the philosophy that teaching and learning are highly complex and pervasive phenomena, and therefore in a formal setting they have to be well structured for efficiency and effectiveness. A successful formal teaching and learning process, thus, requires proper selection and arrangement of the teaching items or materials. Selection and sequencing of learning content and methodologies thereof take place in the curriculum, syllabus, scheme of work and lesson plan stages. Thus, this paper argues that the distinction between these educational terms is largely on the degree of generalness, specificity and the stage at which it occurs.

Keywords: Curriculum, syllabus, scheme of work, lesson plan, teaching and learning, students, school.