Systemic approach (SA) to curriculum development (implication and application of systems thinking to curriculum development)

Abstract

This paper will address the application of systemic approach to curriculum development. This approach is inspired by systems or systemic thinking which is holistic-comprehensive in nature as opposed to taxonomic thinking which is partial-fragmentary. Systemic thinking considers this world as a system: education is a system; curriculum and curriculum development are sub-systems of education. Every system has its own elements; all elements in the system are equally important and together will determine the success of a system to achieve its goal. The success of a system is determined by the intersection, interrelation, and interaction of all its elements.  The failure of language teaching to meet its goal might be because it is based on a curriculum which is not systemically developed; some elements are not considered or involved. Therefore, the application of systemic approach to curriculum development might be an alternative solution.