The Hidden Curriculum
The hidden curriculum refers to things children and teachers learn or are expected to know in school that are not directly taughtoften related to social rules, interactions, and behaviors that represent the “culture” of a school, classroom, or home care setting (Giroux & Purpel, 1983; Jackson, 1968; Myles, Trautman, & Schelvan, 2004). Familiar examples of hidden curriculum include raising your hand when you want to be recognized, being quiet in the hallway, or lining up at the drinking fountain.
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The environment communicates information about these hidden messages in different ways. For instance, you may remember from your own experiences in school that if your teacher seated students at desks aligned in rows facing the front of the classroom, you understood where attention should be focused and that it might not be acceptable to turn around to talk to the classmate seated behind you. Conversely, if your teacher seated everyone at small tables facing one another, you might have assumed it was acceptable to engage in conversation. Children get into trouble or can become confused when they misread or don’t understand the messages the environment is set up to convey. Complicating matters is the fact that the hidden curriculum can vary from teacher to teacher or one part of the school environment to another.
Young children especially need help “reading” these kinds of messages, as they often represent expectations that are very different from those they already know from home. For instance, perhaps at home one child has a toy box and is accustomed, when asked to clean up, to simply toss all the toys from the floor into the box. Another child may not be expected to help with putting toys away at all and may be allowed to leave them lying about. At school, we would help the child learn that all students are expected to help keep the classroom organized, and we would do this by putting picture labels on shelves to make it clear where each item or group of items belongs. By doing so, we convey an additional hidden message, which is that we value independence and responsibility and a spirit of “everyone helps.” Successful teachers not only implement the “official” curriculum effectively but help children to understand the hidden curriculum as well.
As a teacher, you might also be expected to conform to expectations that have not been explicitly explained or described to you. For instance, you might be told that your official work hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. But what if you arrive at school at 7:30 and you notice that you are the last car to pull in the parking lot and that all the other teachers are busy working in their classrooms as you enter the building? Will you feel anxious or confused? Should you ask someone if you are expected to arrive earlier than 7:30 or will that convey the wrong impression? As you consider how you might feel in this circumstance, remember that young children experience these same kinds of feelingswanting to be accepted and do the “right” thing at school, but perhaps needing help to understand what that means.
Stop and Reflect
When you think about your own experiences in school, can you recall how you learned to interpret a particular teacher’s body languageperhaps the slight nod of approval or the “look” that let you know you needed to think twice about what you were about to do? What are some other examples of hidden curriculum from your own school experience?