ABSTRACT
A curriculum is more than just a short form of words; it actually happens. It is an activity in which people engage; a complex, observable phenomenon with many dimensions, and those dimensions cannot be adequately described in a single sentence. National Curriculum, which is prescribed in considerable detail, what is actually done will differ from school to school and from pupil to pupil. Curriculum is what goes on in schools and other educational institutions; it is only part of education. One of the most profound statements on this point came from the Schools Council in the closing years of its short life: The heart of the matter is what each child takes away from school. we need to identify those essential, common characteristics which allow us to call something a curriculum, whether it be at primary, secondary or tertiary level. In higher education the term 'description' has acquired an unjustifiably low status.
