Arab Educational Information Network

This paper deals with the current status of higher education curricula in Algeria, taking psychology, education and orthophony as examples. It aims at revealing the extent and symptoms of fragility of curricula in these fields, and proposing the most effective ways of protecting and improving them. The most prominent findings are that psychology, education and orthophony curricula are fragile, as revealed by a set of symptoms comprising: indolence, naiveté, ritualism, reductionism, alienation, a dichotomy between the curriculum and society’s needs, the dominance of theoretical over practical knowledge, arbitrariness, and irrational regulation. In conclusion, the paper recommends adopting the DACUM method for designing psychology, education, orthophony, and other humanities curricula, outlining DACUM’s characteristics, philosophical principles and basic phases.