Chapter 6, "Determining Curriculum Content," addresses the factors associated with determining what will be included in curriculum in vocational and technical education programs. Directly impacting upon the process are the time and dollars available, a variety of internal and external pressures exerted by individuals and groups, federal, state, and local content requirements, the skills that are needed by employers, questions regarding academic and vocational education content itself, and the level at which content will be provided. Overall, it becomes quite clear that the process of developing curriculum content is complex, difficult, and vulnerable to a number of constraints.
The chapter also discusses the strategies that are used for the curriculum determination process. After taking into consideration the educational and occupational setting, developers can use a philosophical or subjective strategy, an introspective strategy, or the DACUM Approach. The DACUM Approach (Developing A Curriculum) was created as a single sheet skill profile that serves as a curriculum plan and evaluation instrument for occupational training programs. It looks at the tasks that a vocational education program graduate must complete and master, considers the equipment needed for such a task or set of tasks, and also the degree to which a program can meet the requirements of training. Other approaches use the critical incident technique and the all aspects of industry technique to plan for either limited or broad curriculum content in vocational education.
What is most impressive is that the chapter emphasizes that relationships between academic and vocational education must be acknowledged and incorporated into curriculum design. With many strategies available, the task of the curriculum content developer is complex but not impossible if it is recognized that the program graduate must posse
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