Teacher, Academic Writer, BA in Psycology and Academic Writer & Researcher Dr. Maryam Iftikhar, Ph.D.
What is a Hidden Curriculum
Hidden curriculum is a term used to refer to factors that implicitly affect learning and operate at the organizational and cultural level. In contrast to the formal curriculum, the lessons taught in the hidden curriculum go beyond the boundaries of the classroom and the prescribed learning goals. It is made up of messages that are subtly and unintentionally conveyed through habits, language, and daily activities.
It includes beliefs, values, attitudes, unwritten social norms and expectations, competencies, and other learning outcomes from schooling that are typically not part of the formal curriculum but are nonetheless acquired by students and can impact their future orientation and character. Due to its implicit nature, it is also considered an element of socialization that either helps preserve society or acts as a catalyst for the existence of oppressive systems of dominance in the culture.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Hidden Curriculum
The hidden curriculum has gained some attention over the past many years. Awareness and understanding of the mechanism of the hidden curriculum and how to effectively utilize it in educational planning, assessment, and implementation have a lot of benefits. For instance, it is easier in online education to construct the right curriculum, establish the right interactive environment, produce a curriculum based on learners’ needs, and manage a hidden curriculum when educators are conscious of it.
In addition, awareness and effective application of the hidden curriculum can also help students succeed academically and socially. For example, in special education, the hidden curriculum is considered a great tool to enhance the socialization of students. It can also help teachers send important lessons to students, such as cooperative learning, empathy, resilience, productivity, and forming meaningful relationships. It also helps keep the social order and teaches children to obey authority.
On the other hand, because of its unintended and underlying character, it was first thought to be a harmful mechanism in learning that perpetuates power, control, discipline, and punishment – elements that drive the socioeconomic objectives of capitalism and sustain dominant and repressive agencies in the culture. IIn addition, many of the hidden curriculum’s messages contradict the formal curriculum’s intent, thereby causing confusion, embarrassment, and intrapersonal conflicts in learners.This is evident when students soon become professionals when lessons and expectations acquired in class are not aligned with real-life scenarios. As a result, learners may also experience mental discomfort due to these inconsistencies.
Examples of Hidden Curriculum
Many examples of the hidden curriculum are apparent in the school system. They can be categorized according to the following:
- Values
- Norms
Values
Through the hidden curriculum, the educational system can maintain and pass down established societal values to the next generation.
Examples:
- Stealing or lying is bad.
- Being respectful to elders.
- Being polite to peers
Norms
The hidden curriculum in schools also allows students to learn the formal and informal social conventions and customs of their surroundings.
Examples:
- Refraining from speaking when someone speaks.
- Raising one’s hand to speak.
- Being on time in class.
- Working hard and being responsible in their studies.
- Turning in their assignments on time.
Hierarchies of Power
Through the hidden curriculum, the educational system also teaches students about power hierarchies in society.
Examples:
- The teacher is the head of the class.
- Getting good grades to get into good schools.
- Going to a good school to have a better-paying job someday.
Gender Roles
Another way the hidden curriculum in the school system influences learning is by teaching students about gender differences and their roles in society.
Examples:
- Girls are expected to do household chores
- Boys are expected to be tough and strong.
Hidden Curriculum: Teach Simple’s Perspective
Although it is essential that learning be formal, structured, and goal-directed, most of the ideas and concepts children learn about life beyond the classroom are acquired through the hidden curriculum. Hidden curriculum, which functions at the organizational and cultural level, includes values, unwritten social rules and expectations, competencies, beliefs, and attitudes that are not part of the formal curriculum but that students acquire and learn through socialization.
These messages, transmitted implicitly through habits, verbal communication, and day-to-day activities, greatly impact students’ character development, direction in life, and social integration. It is as important as the formal curriculum in such a way that much of what is learned through the hidden curriculum helps students succeed academically and prepares them to navigate and overcome challenges and circumstances in their social environment.
Even so, educators must take great care in properly and effectively applying the hidden curriculum in their teaching strategies. They must evaluate their attitudes, behaviors, and competence as they can positively or negatively moderate the effects of the hidden curriculum on learning and character development. Hence, educators need to thoroughly understand the hidden curriculum and its effective application in teaching to harness its benefits.
References
- Gunio, M. J. (2021). Determining the influences of a hidden curriculum on students’ character development using the illuminative evaluation model. Journal of Curriculum Studies Research, 3(2), 194-206. https://doi.org/10.46303/jcsr.2021.11
- Mackin, R., Baptiste, S., Niec A., & Kim, A. J. (2019) The hidden curriculum: A good thing? Cureus, 11(12). DOI:10.7759/cureus.6305
- Nahardani, S. Z., Rastgou Salami, M., Mirmoghtadaie, Z., & Keshavarzi, M. H. (2022). The Hidden Curriculum in Online Education Based on Systematized Review. Shiraz E-Medical Journal, 23(4). https://doi.org/10.5812/semj.105445