How to Become a Curriculum Writer? only In 3-Simple Steps

School education and other forms of academia are very important, right? We know this because we are told that going to school is the best thing that will happen for us. 🏫

Who are the ones who decide what we study, though? These people are known as curriculum writers, and a curriculum writer can be paid up to $49,577 per year. 💰

A lot of people first become teachers or professors and then try to become curriculum writers because they want to bring change in the education pattern of students. 🧑‍🎓

If you are this someone, then you would be delighted to know that this article is all about becoming a curriculum writer.   

Question and Answer 

Before you pick out a permanent career for yourself and your future, there might be some questions on your mind that you feel should be answered. 

I have mentioned questions like these below, which you have to answer as honestly as possible. They will help you become more sure about the job.

  • Why do you want to become a curriculum writer?
  • Do you know about pedagogy? 
  • Have you studied enough about the latest educational trends and standards?
  • Which subject do you want to teach about?
  • Are you good with explaining things over and over again?
  • Are you a patient person?

Step 1: Knowledge

Who is a Curriculum writer?

Curriculum writers are people who have once been teachers or school administrators and have enough experience designing education patterns for students. 🧑‍🏫 These people have specialized education, and thus, they are capable of making the syllabus and other instructional parts. 

So, the next time you open up the syllabus for any of your courses or classes, remember that a specialized curriculum writer is the one who has made that syllabus for you. 

These people have to work extensively hard because they have to go through a variety of topics to determine which one is going to be the best for the kids. 🤔

So, if you become a curriculum writer, you are going to be someone who has in-depth knowledge about any subject and also understands how students perceive education and these topics at their particular age. 

Types of Curriculum Writers 

Curriculum writers can be of different types depending on the type of work that they do.

Subject Matter Experts

Who they are: SMEs are people who have a lot of knowledge and expertise in a specific subject area. 

What they do: What they have to do as experts is that they develop the materials and content for the curriculum related to their field of expertise. 

Curriculum Developers

Who they are: Curriculum developers are the ones who take care of the overall design and development of a curriculum. 

What they do:  They work together as a team so that they can create better educational programs for the students.

Instructional Designers

Who they are: These are people who have to work on creating the learning experiences.  

What they do: Instructional designers work on creating the curriculum, designing the assessments, and then making sure that all of the materials align with all of the goals and strategies required to teach the children properly. 

Assessment Developers 

Who they are: Assessment developers are the ones who have to create the assessment and evaluation tools. 

What they do: They create tests and more such evaluation tools that will help the child in learning. 

Textbook Authors

Who they are: Textbook authors are not curriculum writers in the conventional sense, but they are very important nonetheless. 

What they do: These people write books that are related to the curriculum and are used in educational settings. 

Roles and Responsibility 

There are certain rules and regulations as well as responsibilities that a Curriculum writer has to take care of.

Researching the needs

  • What they do: They have to conduct research regularly in order to understand the needs of the students.
  • Why: This research will help them make content that is relevant to the students’ needs. It will also help them fill the gaps in the education system. 

Content Development 

  • What they do: They have to develop content that is going to be helpful for the students.
  • Why: A good content development plan, which includes lesson plans, teaching materials, assessments, and more, will help the child be more interested in learning.

Differentiation and Inclusion 

  • What they do: The content should be developed in a way that supports all of the diverse learners, and at the same time, it should also promote inclusive learning practices.
  • Why: Differentiation and inclusion will ensure that every learner is able to learn properly with the help of the right educational practices. 

Expert Skill Sets to be a Curriculum Writer 

Curriculum writers need to be good at the following skills in order to be successful.

  • Educational Background – A good educational background ensures that the curriculum writers know about their subjects before making plans for others. 
  • Pedagogical Background  – They need to know how to teach the students and more about effective pedagogical methods. 
  • Curriculum Mapping  – This skill helps with organizing and making the most effective plan for the target audience to learn. 
  • Assessment designing – Assessments help in understanding how much and how well the student is learning. 

How much can a Curriculum writer expert earn? 

Curriculum writers have a range for their salary structures, and this varies because of the amount of experience they might have. 🧐

As a curriculum writer in the United States in 2023, your salary range starts from $43,814 and goes up to $57,180.

So, if we are to take an average, you are most probably going to get paid around $49,577 per year. 💸 This is just the base pay, which is what you get paid directly by your employer. 

As for any bonus payment in the form of tips, commission, etc., you can earn around $2,521 per year on average. So, your total pay is going to be around $52,098.

Some other places that also pay a lot to curriculum writers include Austin and Round Rock, which pay up to $58,000. 📈

Scope of Curriculum writer

We referred to stats published by the US Bureau for labor and Statistics. According to these studies, the need for curriculum developers is going to increase by 6% between the years 2019 to 2029.  

Currently, most of the curriculum developers work for grade schools and are responsible for creating the best educational programs for children learning in these educational systems.

Step 2: Skill 

Top Global Programs

If you want to be a good curriculum writer, you will have to understand how students handle the syllabus. 🤔

This is why you must get into a good school and understand how students in those areas perceive education. 

Harvard University

What it provides: Harvard operates a business school, a graduate school, an education law school, and the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

What you will learn: The University encourages research endeavors and offers tons of research resources and opportunities on its premises. 

Stanford University 

What it provides: Three out of the seven schools operated by Stanford are all about undergraduate and graduate programs for various disciplines such as humanities, sciences, and business. 🎓

What you will learn: All of these are highly ranked because of the exceptional teaching methods and research opportunities offered by the University. One additional benefit is the fact that Stanford encourages innovation and entrepreneurship a lot. 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

What it provides: MIT is a place where every engineering and IT aspirant wants to go. About 11,000 students are currently attending the University, and all of them have shown signs of becoming great scientists 🧪 or engineers 💻 in the future. 

What you will learn: It is the highest-ranking educational institution when it comes to engineering, and thousands of students apply every year to get a chance to study at this University. 🧑‍💻  

University of California, Berkeley

What it provides: The college operates fourteen separate colleges and schools, each of which offers excellent undergraduate as well as graduate programs.

What you will learn: This University is very active when it comes to research innovation opportunities and has tons of resources for students who want to get involved in any of these two. 

University of Oxford 

What it provides: The college is made up of Central University, 38 separate colleges, and six permanent private halls. This is how much the University of Oxford offers to its students.  

What you will learn: There are a lot of scholarship programs available as well, and it is number one in arts and humanities, as well as a lot of medical courses. ⚕️ 

Free Resources 

Foundations of Teaching for Learning: Curriculum

What it offers: This course is a good precursor to any intermediate or expert-level course you might take in the future to learn more about curriculum writing.

What you will learn: It has six modules, and the topics that you will be learning about are curriculum development, how to put students and their opinions first, how to make the curriculum work, more about theories and authors, and lastly, coming up with curriculum outcomes.

Diploma in Teaching Skills for Educators

What it offers: This course is a diploma for people who want to learn the right teaching skills in order to understand how to communicate effectively with the students. 

What you will learn: If you take up this course, you will be learning about communication in the classroom, verbal and non-verbal communication, participation in the classroom, teaching skills, learning goals, educational objectives, student learning, and more about interest and efficiency. 

Diploma in Outcome-based Education and Academic Quality Assurance

What it offers: This is another diploma course that focuses on academic quality assurance and fundamentals of outcome-based education.

What you will learn: The topics in this course include training models, learning outcomes, quality assurance, accreditation, online education, and methods of assessment.

Step 3: Job

Indeed

  • Overview – Indeed is an online job platform that is preferred by job hunters all over the globe. 
  • Highlight – You will be able to choose the location of the company or place you work at, the salary range, as well as the mode of operation. 
  • Website – Indeed

LinkedIn

  • Overview – LinkedIn is different from the rest of the job sites because of its interface. 
  • Highlight – Job-hunting on the site becomes easier because now people can see all of your credentials at the same place, and they will reach out to you if they are interested after carefully reviewing your experience.
  • Website – LinkedIn

Upwork

  • Overview – You can freelance as a curriculum developer if you want.  
  • Highlight – A freelancer has a free schedule and operates under only one individual, but a curriculum writer has to keep working with the team to make the education plan. 
  • Website – Upwork

In conclusion

Becoming a teacher is good and fulfilling, but becoming the one who plans out what the future of the country will learn is even more so. The job entails a lot of benefits, but you will get these only when you work hard. 

So, now that you have read the whole article, it is time for you to start working towards your goal. 🥅 If you wanna ask any more questions, ask away in the comments section below. 😀

Similar Posts:

Was this article helpful?

Leave a Comment