KERALA CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK

1. ONLINE ASSIGNMENT
TOPIC:
KERALA CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK
SUBMITTED BY,
MEENUS
B.Ed. ENGLISH OPTIONAL
REG NO: 16514300008
GCTE, THYCAUD.

2. INTRODUCTION
Education is considered as a powerful tool for liberation. It
equips a society to encounter all kinds of suppression. It also
enables liberation from one’s personal lethargy and
prohibitions imposed by traditions and superstitions. We
should ensure an educational system which enlightens our
vision. With these broad objectives in view, an action plan for
strengthening the school curriculum in Kerala has been
undertaken. School curriculum has to be designed and
developed in the light of past experiences, the general world
and visions for the future.
As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race
course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences
through which children grow to become mature adults. A
curriculum is prescriptive, and is based on a more general
syllabus which merely specifies what topics must be
understood and to what level to achieve a particular grade
or standard. In formal education, a curriculum is the set of
courses and their content offered at a school or university.
A curriculum framework is an organized plan or set of
standards or learning outcomes that defines the content to
be learned in terms of clear, definable standards of what
the student should know and be able to do.

3. Content
The new curriculum envisions the aim and methodology of
learning as construction of knowledge. Learning, according to
the constructivist paradigm is a process of constructing
knowledge. Every experience of life is the cause of developing a
new idea. The ideas acquired in this manner are added to
previously acquired/shaped ideas. This means that the child
constructs knowledge by interacting with his/her environment
continuously. This is a natural and continuous process. Thus:
●learning is construction of knowledge.
●learning involves problem solving.
●learning is the product of a natural process.
The curriculum should also enable students to:
● Think logically
●Understand the world
●Promote aesthetic sense
● Maintain communicative efficiency
● Develop the ability to work and take part in the economic
process

4. Kerala’s effort to develop a curriculum framework is a
turning point in the history of the state. It is for the first time
that the state is making such an exercise and it is rooted
on the ideas articulated in the National Curriculum
Framework (NCF) -2005. Whenever curriculum reforms
were taken up at the national level, the state responded to
them in the past. After the formation of NCERT in 1961,
Kerala has been following all the curriculum reform efforts
initiated at the national level. For instance, the state
initiated the process for reforming its curriculum following
the National Curriculum Framework -1975.The state also
took steps to implement NPE- 1986 and the Programme of
Action (1992). It was in 1997, that an effort for the
formulation of a comprehensive curriculum focusing on the
process of teaching and learning was attempted in Kerala.
Rooted in the emerging methodology and strategies, an
integrated method of learning, a process- oriented-activity-
based approach, viewing learner as a constructor of
knowledge, recognizing the role of society in knowledge
construction and the idea of continuous and
comprehensive evaluation came into effect. However, the
state’s curriculum reform effort gained further impetus with
the formulation of the National Curriculum Framework
(NCF) -2005. Kerala could display the active working
model of a learning process that has its foundation in the
principles of Constructivism and a learner-centered,
activity-based and process-oriented pedagogy. Based on
the National Curriculum Framework 2005, efforts to revise
the Kerala School Curriculum began in August; 2006.The
National Curriculum Framework 2005 sowed the

5. seeds for many reforms in the field of education in
India. Subsequently, NCERT prepared textbooks for
various subjects based on NCF 2005. Later the,
Kerala Curriculum Framework 2007 was formed and
the curriculum up to high school level was revised.
The Right to Education Act of 2009, Prof.
P.O.J.Labba Committee Report related to Higher
Secondary Education and Dr. P.K.Abdul Aziz
Committee Report related to a comprehensive
curriculum revision - all pointed towards the
necessity of curriculum reform. The beginning of
Higher Secondary Sector was a distinctive stage in
the history of education in Kerala. Higher Secondary
education became widespread and popular with the
delinking of Pre-degree course from the Department
of Higher Education and making it apart of the
General Education Department. The Directorate of
Higher Secondary Education was formed in 1990 in
Kerala and the higher secondary course was started
by upgrading 31 Government High Schools. Initially,
textbooks as per the Pre-degree syllabus of Calicut
University and some of the NCERT textbooks were
used for Higher Secondary Education. In the 1990s,
a new curriculum with comprehensive changes in
learning and pedagogy was introduced at the
primary level. Based on this activity-based, process-
oriented and learner-centred curriculum, Continuous
and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and

6. grading system was implemented. The idea of
constructivism put forth by NCF 2005 is the basis for
the Kerala School Curriculum2013 too. In
constructivism, learning is the process of the
construction of knowledge. Subsequently, this
method was introduced at the Higher Secondary
level too. However, a comprehensive revision of
curriculum had not been implemented at the higher
secondary level, though textbooks for certain
subjects, Sourcebooks and Edumates for all
subjects were prepared by SCERT. To ensure
quality education at the Higher Secondary level, the
Government continues to implement several
Comprehensive Teacher Transformation
Programmes. Subject-based teacher clusters
help to discuss the problems experienced in the
teaching-learning process and to plan learning
activities. The first phase of the revision process is
culminated by the publication of the Kerala Curriculum
Framework 2007. It has been made a reality through the
process detailed below:
• The plan of action for curriculum revision was prepared
and was subject to the Consideration of the NCERT and
the Kerala State Government.
• The Malayalam version of National Curriculum
Framework 2005 was printed and distributed .
• A two-day workshop comprising curriculum
committee members, experts in the field of education,
representatives of the state advisory committee for

7. education and SCERT faculty was conducted to form the
plan of action .subject areas were fixed and 14 subject
groups were formed. A 30-member core group and 14
focus groups with 230 members were proposed to be
formed.
• The first meeting of the core group that was formed
by the Kerala Government was held at SCERT. A
combined workshop for all the 14 focus groups was
planned. The curriculum revision process was sanctioned.
• A three-day workshop was conducted, including the
focus group members and the core group members. Dr.
M. A. Khadar, the head of the curriculum group of the
NCERT, Dr. Anita Rampal, from the curriculum division of
Delhi University and Dr. Manjula Rao from the evaluation
department of the Regional Institute of Education attended
the workshop.
• A three-day workshop was organized to form a general
approach for curriculum revision.
• A three-day seminar was organized for a detailed study
of the problems in different fields.
• A meeting of DIET principals was held to unify the district
level activities.
• A web portal titled www.kerala.gov.in was formed to
facilitate interaction with the public.
• An interim evaluation of the activities of the focus groups
was conducted.
• The position papers were brought for discussion in a
three-day workshop attended by curriculum committee
members and the members of the core group.
• Based on the suggestions in the position papers, the
Kerala Curriculum Framework was formed.

8. • This Framework was presented for discussion and
approval before the Kerala society. As a part of this, the
main suggestions therein were presented at the district,
panchayat, municipality and school levels. The
suggestions made in these discussions have been
consolidated at the district and state levels. On the basis
of these suggestions as well the curriculum framework
was prepared. Thus the curriculum revision programme in
Kerala was launched as part of an endeavor to strengthen
the Primary, Secondary and Higher Secondary school
education in Kerala.
Many National study reports as well as approaches,
from the Dr. Radhakrishnan Commission Report
(constituted soon after the Independence), to the
National Curriculum Framework 2005, have
influenced the school curriculum revision of our
state. The Secondary Education Commission
headed by Dr.Lakshmanaswami Muthaliar
explicated the importance of secondary education.
The report entitled 'Education and National
Development' submitted by the Commission led by
Dr.D.S.Kothari brought under study, various stages
of education from the primary level to the higher
education level. The 10+2+3 pattern was first
proposed by this Commission. The National Policy
on Education, 1986 approved this pattern. It was on
the basis of this pattern that higher secondary
education came into existence in Kerala. The
1990sthus saw a shift from the teacher centred

9. curriculum to learner centred as well as activity-
based curriculum.
As per the rules of the RTE Act, the idea of learning
outcomes was introduced in the Kerala School
Curriculum 2013.A learning process based on
constructivism is the foundation of the curriculum.
Areas such as awareness of humanitarian and
constitutional values, attitudes that strengthen social
life and growing social commitment are the prime
concerns of the curriculum. Some of the aims of the
curriculum:
● is to present perspectives on consistent
development and create a comprehensive
awareness about environment,
● is to establish a democratic approach through
democratic platforms.
●The curriculum must be-activity oriented.
● Respectful attitude to one's cultural heritage and
history is one of the aims envisioned by the
curriculum.
●the values and objectives that are upheld by our
Constitution have to be reflected in the curriculum
and all the activities must develop self-confidence,
work experience and self-sufficiency in the learner.

10. ● Learning outcomes are the aims to be achieved by
the learner during the various stages of school
education. Precise and accurate statements based
on the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values etc. to be
acquired by a learner in a particular subject-area are
called Learning outcomes.
Kerala School Curriculum (2013) - Chief
characteristicsof the curriculum
It is learner-centred, process-oriented, activity-
based and value oriented.
It gives stress to the learning outcomes that a
learner imbibes at the cognitive, social and
emotional levels.
It lays stress on the skills to be attained by the
learner in values and attitude.
It is based on the philosophy of constructivism.
It gives teachers freedom to choose and employ
logical and varied learning strategies for the
transaction of curriculum.
It is flexible to implement various teaching -
learning strategies recognizing the learning
outcomes, nature of the content and the different
levels of the learners. Discovery learning, Concept
attainment model, Inductive method, Meta cognition,
Cooperative learning, Collaborative learning,

11. Reflective learning, and giving opportunities to
individuals and group learning etc. are taken into
consideration.
It ensures free and universal education to all
learners.
It is comprehensive and takes into consideration
the various stages from the pre-primary level to the
higher secondary level.
It is used as an effective tool for the transaction
of various subjects.
It designs innovative learning strategies as well
as assessment activities for children with special
educational needs.
It ensures a Continuous and Comprehensive
Evaluation (CCE) focused on learning outcomes.
It stresses Health and Physical Education, Art
Education and Work Education.
It help to prepare at the higher secondary level,
textbooks that are the need of the hour.
It lays stress on Right-based Education in the
light of Right to Education Act, 2009.
 Itprovides an opportunity to the learner to
experience necessary safety, care and security both
at school and in the classroom by raising the teacher
to the level of a mentor.
It lays stress on the Code of Professional Ethics
for schoolteachers.

12. It helps to acquire new learning skills which
enable the learner to face contemporary challenges.
It is intended to inculcate human values in the
learners.
It ensures equity and equality among the
learners.
It ensures the harmony of head, heart and hand
and aims at a comprehensive development
envisioned to make learning natural.
The striking features of the
curriculum transaction approach are:
i. Activity - based
ii. Process- related
iii. Ensure learning
iv. Focus to attain learning outcomes
v. Environment- friendly
vi. Highlights development areas
vii. Suitable for the nature of the learner
viii. Integrates learning and assessment
Conclusion
Education in its general sense is a form of learning in
which the knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of
people are transferred from one generation to the next
through teaching, training, or research. Education
frequently takes place under the guidance of others, but
may also be autodidactic. Any experience that has a
formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may

13. be considered educational. Education is commonly divided
into stages such as preschool, primary school, secondary
school and then college, university or apprenticeship.
Therefore there is a general demand to explain the social
aims of a curriculum. A student who completes his/her
school education is expected to be able to face any real
life situation boldly and should be equipped to get
employed at the time of completion of his course. This is
the purpose of general education and not a mere
internalization of academic subjects.
REFERENCE
1. www.scert.kerala.gov.in
2. Teachereducationindia.blogspot.com
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curriculum_framework
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education#Curriculum