A curriculum is a methodical arrangement of the total summation of experiences tailored by a school for a specific group of students to achieve the aspirations of a particular educational program. In other words, a curriculum is a runway for achieving pre-determined educational goals, and it is seen as an outline for an educational program. Nursing curriculum means the learning prospects as well as the learning activities that include clinical experiences and practices that the teaching staff plans and puts into practice in diverse settings for the nursing students, for a specific time frame to achieve specific objectives. Apart from defining the nursing curriculum, the paper will discuss the impacts of current societal attributes as well as student attributes and needs on the current nursing curricula.
Definition and Conceptualization of Nursing Curriculum
Definitions of a curriculum have existed since about the 1820s. They were first used in Scotland, then later adopted professionally in the USA a century later. The word itself originates from Latin currere, to run a course. Initially, it meant the knowledge passed from generation to the next. A common understanding of a curriculum is a series of studies with precise courses, leading to academic certification that might either be a diploma or a degree. The scope and interpretation of the curriculum have greatly expanded due to many definitions as a response to social forces, creating uncertainty and discrepancy in the meaning of the original word. Nonetheless, definitions are significant since they express educators’ view that will affect how a curriculum is applied. Furthermore, the definitions detail the range of work to be completed by the curriculum developers. Regardless of the different definitions and conceptions, a nursing curriculum is implemented with the intention that learning takes place.