Development of curriculum at a higher level and its application at different…

Concept — the control axis: this axis asks who frames a curriculum and who implements it. When one apex authority frames a single common curriculum that every unit below it then puts into practice, the arrangement is centralized; when each unit frames its own curriculum locally, it is decentralized.

Concept — the organization axis: this axis asks how subject matter is arranged. Vertical organization sequences one strand of content across successive stages, giving continuity from stage to stage; horizontal organization relates content across the different subjects taken within the same stage.

Application: the stem states the point at which the curriculum is framed and the levels that use it, so identify which axis those two clauses belong to.

1. “Development of curriculum at a higher level” fixes the point at which the curriculum is framed: one level above the units that will use it, and not at each of those units.

2. “Its application at different levels” fixes who uses it: the several levels below receive that same framed curriculum and put it into practice.

3. Both clauses speak of framing authority and implementation, not of how topics are ordered or tied together, so the item belongs to the control axis and not to the organization axis.

4. On the control axis, framing at one higher point together with implementation spread downward over many levels is centralized curriculum development.

Cross-check: why each of the other terms does not describe the stem.

• Decentralized: each state, board or school frames its own curriculum for its own context, so framing happens at many points; the stem places framing at one higher level only.

• Vertical organization: fixes the order of content across successive stages — counting, then addition, then multiplication — which is a property of the syllabus sequence and not of the authority that frames it.

• Horizontal organization: fixes the tie-up of content across the subjects taken in the same year — a graph drawn in mathematics supporting a graph read in geography — which again is a property of content and not of authority.

Result: a curriculum framed at one higher level and applied at the different levels below it is centralized.