The textbook‐driven curriculum

Abstract

Textbooks have come to drive the curriculum, and one might wonder why so little attention is given to the position of the textbook in the process of curriculum making. Reliance on the textbook (as well as its companion, the workbook) is consistent with the stress on written words as the main medium of education, as well as the way many teachers themselves were educated. Dependence on the textbook is also linked to the time when a majority of teachers were poorly prepared in subject matter or teaching out of license and read the text one day in advance of the students. Many of today's teachers, while better educated than their predecessors, sometimes lack the time or training to prepare new materials; thus, they continue to rely on the textbook and workbook.