Farrant (1980:24) defines curriculum as "all that is taught in a school including the time tabled subjects and all those aspects of its life." If a curriculum is going to be relevant it must respond to the charges in society. The relevance and effectiveness of a curriculum which will be good for school instruction must thus take into consideration the changes in society; society should be given an opportunity for inclusion of its aspirations. It becomes important that the curriculum is constructed in light of the factors that are present in society and how these factors change over time such as the culture and the availability of resources and the ideology of a nation. This essay will thus discuss the view that effective curriculum must respond to changes in society. .
One of the factors that an effective curriculum must consider is the ideology of a society or nation. An ideology is a way of thinking which forms a basis for an economic or political system. The ideology of the nation will determine the curriculum a country will offer and this will change the way people perceive things. Ideology can be described as the strong beliefs and ideas that a society possesses. Changes in ideological perspectives in society also influence the effectiveness of a curriculum and thus must be considered in any well meaning curriculum planning, development and implementation process. Kelly (2006:99) agrees with this and says "Curriculum planning must be a commitment to an ideology of knowledge, of education, of society and of humanity". Thus society's needs and aspirations must be considered in an effective curriculum, a curriculum must respond to the needs and challenges that society is faced with. What people believe, their ideas and goals must be taken care of by the curriculum planners. For example, in the early when Zambia gained her independence, humanism the ideology of the new government was embedded in the education curriculum system .
