Curriculum Theory and Philosophy – A (Very) Brief Overview
Probably the biggest objection to Tyler’s approach, and the cause of its demise in the 1970’s,
was its perceived mechanistic orientation to curriculum. As the theory was implemented in the
1950’s and 60’s, behavioral objectives provided the underpinning of its design, and the success
or failure of the curriculum was based on pre-defined changes in student behavior. The
assumption was that student outcomes – at least those that matter – could and should be
measured. The result was that in order to measure the behaviors, tasks were broken down into
smaller and smaller parts, resulting in tasks that lost their authenticity or meaningfulness. Tyler
was a product of his time, and his ideas were written and interpreted in light of current
educational perspective, which was behavioral in nature. His theory of curriculum development
was simple, logical, and rational, but it fell out of favor as educators began to view learning
experiences more holistically and assess outcomes that are not so easily measured.