TYLER’S RATIONAL-LINEAR APPROACH

TYLER’S RATIONAL-LINEAR APPROACH

BY: DARVESH KARIM, PDCN GILGIT

Introduction

In 1930s when he became the head of the Eight-Year study evaluation committee, he started shaping theory and practice in education. During the 1940s, he worked on curriculum planning and develops a syllabus of a course on curriculum for the University of Chicago which was later on published in 1949 as Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction and is still in print.

The principles which were given by Tyler in this book are known as “The Tyler Rationale”  and for this he has clearly mentioned “ It is not a manual for curriculum construction since it does not describe and outline in detail the steps to be taken  by a given school or college that seeks to build a curriculum”(p.1). He further said “the student is encouraged to examine other rationales and to develop his own conception of the elements and relationships involved in an effective curriculum” (p.1).

Tyler has clearly stated and emphasized that every curriculum maker have to ask these following questions in the same sequence before making any curriculum. These questions are as followed:

1.      What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?

2.      How can learning experiences be selected that are likely to be useful in attaining these objectives?

3.      How can learning experiences be organized for effective instruction?

4.      How can the effectiveness of learning experiences be evaluated?

And the much of the book is devoted to explain the above mentioned framework given by Tyler.

Purpose

Three sources of knowledge are identified by Tyler.

1. Learner
2. Contemporary Society
3. Subject Specialists

None of these three sources can be singled out for providing a base for the objectives of a school.

      Each of these three sources represents a basic focal point around which all comprehensive conceptions of curriculum are found, namely:

1.      Individual

2.      Society

3.      Subject Matter

Each of these sources also represent different Epistemologies:

1. existentialists views of the needs of the students
2. Cultural Transmission views of the society
3. Essentialist or Formalist views of compartmentalization and ordered nature of knowledge.

It is difficult to combine all the objectives derived from these sources in a single curriculum. Screening is done by filtering these objectives through sieves of philosophy and psychology. Only the most important objectives should be selected.

Tyler suggests that curriculum planners take norm-referenced tests of students to decide whether students at particular age need to receive particular instruction or learn that skill or not.

Tyler suggests that there are simply some aspects of society that are more important than others, such as societal needs regarding health, family, recreation, vocation, religion, consumption, and civic activities. This list is not comprehensive but Tyler has omitted many preferences of the other members of the society. It can be said that this list is reflective of Tyler’s choice.

The difficulty in considering subject specialists as sources is that the contributions of subject specialists would consist of defining how some purposes might be reached- but not what the highest purposes should be. Tyler also asks a question that “what can a particular subject contribute to the education of young people who are not going to be specialists in the field?

When we consider combining all the three sources we get very diverse objectives. Tyler proposes two considerations for isolating the important objectives.

1. Educational philosophy
2. Psychology of learning.

In Tyler’s view each school has it’s own values, stated or implied, about the nature of a good life and a good society, and in principle it can use these in planning its curriculum.

Tyler emphasizes the need to consider learners, contemporary society, and subject matter when defining objectives but he leaves many questions un answered about how it can best be done.

Organization of Learning Experiences (LE)

·         LE should be organized as a means to helping students reach the previously specified objectives.

·         LE should be built upon earlier ones i.e vertical organization and should be reinforced by activities in other subjects i.e horizontal organization

·         Criteria for effective organization are – continuity, sequence and integration.

Curriculum Planning

                              

·         Selection of learning experiences

·         Tyler emphasis on goal oriented and end meet approach.

·         After selecting the objectives planners must identify learning experiences, which are the activities, who would help to attain the targeted objectives.

·         Select those learning experiences that most likely help students to reach the targeted objectives.

·         These learning experiences must enable students to gain satisfaction from carrying on a particular behavior.

·         These involve the students’ aspirations and problems.

Evaluation

·         Have the learning experiences produced the desired results?

·         Tyler’s evaluation determines the degree of fit between the result specified in the objectives and the results actually achieved

·         To evaluate students throughout the unit and not just at the end

·         Tyler invented Formative evaluation by teachers.

·         To see the changes in the behavior of students

·         Not confined to paper and pencil test

·         Different techniques; observations, interview, questionnaires, homework etc

·         Scientific testing not traditional testing

Conclusion

There were criticism on the Tyler’s rational linear approach yet it is widely used approach. The approach to curriculum development has provided a base for other curriculum developers. He considers curriculum planning as a practical and has tried to achieve ends through the curriculum development process. He also has provided the curriculum planner with an approach which is comprehensive and workable with clear guideline for evaluating the curriculum.  Besides, he has suggested that to simplify the complexities of situation to plan and at least reach agreement about the process through engagement of people.