Investigation on Tabriz University Teachers’ Experiences of the Ignored Curriculumin General Courses

Yousef Rezapour, Sajjad Purbaghban

Educational Sciences Group, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

DOI: 10.4236/ojapps.2014.46035                

Abstract

The ignored curriculum is one of important elements in the curriculum that the design of this concept has led to reduce a superficial look at measures to curriculum. Ignored curriculum not only in the design but also should be considered at the implementation level. The present study examined the experiences of teachers in general education from ignored curriculum in higher education and this study was done by qualitative research and its approach was interpretive phenomenology. In this regard, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-six teachers of general education courses and the data obtained from these interviews were analyzed by using phenomenology of Smith. Three major themes from ignored curriculum, were found from the experience of teachers including 1) lack of attention to requirements which consists of three sub-categories: in attention to the needs of the learner, the needs and demands of everyday life and the needs of experts; 2) lack of attention to content; 3) run into problems involving the four sub-problems of teaching, evaluation time, space and assessment. The teachers during the training and implementing courses have gained a lot of experience from the ignored curriculum that had impact on their perception. Planners are familiar with academics experiences and identify ignored curriculum of general education courses and emphasized on how they understand the main goals of general education courses and made it meaningful and they had a main role in eliminating the flaws of this course, and enhance the effectiveness of them. In summary, the results obtained from the study were that general education courses, do not address the needs of learners. These requirements include of three sub-categories: inattention to the needs of the learner, routine needs and professionals. Also, courses have less attention to content. And there are problems such as difficulties in teaching this lesson, time, space and evaluation.

Keywords

General Education Courses, Ignored Curriculum, Higher Education, Students

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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