INVOLVING STUDENTS IN CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT: A PROPOSAL

Curriculum development is a process of developing new course contents, improving old course contents and generally evaluating the effectiveness of contents taught in order to achieve desired course goals. Every institution seeking to improve standards and produce graduates that will be relevant for the job market embarks on this exercise from time to time. In carrying out this process, class room course instructors, course coordinators and sometimes the school administration are all involved. However, one important group is often left out in this process-the students or the learners. Learners are the beneficiaries or otherwise of this process and neglecting their input may engender criticisms, apathy and sometimes outright disinterest in the learning process. As a result, instructors often find themselves laboring to deliver contents that students can barely cope with not necessarily because they are difficult but rather they feel they are being forced to learn these contents. This apathy not only impacts class room relationships but also affects standards and quality in the higher education system. The purpose of the study is to examine the critical issues of students’ involvement in curriculum development with the view of highlighting its relationship to improved student’s learning, improved students’-teachers’ relationships, teacher effectiveness and improved education standards. The methodology for collection of data will be both qualitative (focus discussion, interviews) and quantitative (survey questionnaire)