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The Hidden Curriculum

Walden University

Designing Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment – EDUC 6640J

September 9, 2018

The Hidden Curriculum

Hidden curriculum is what students learn as a result of practices and the climate supported in their schools, classrooms, and community environment. It involves non-academic skills, behavior, attitudes, and values that are encouraged or tolerated by a school system. A hidden curriculum can have a negative or a positive impact on the citizens that our students become in their communities or how they will be able to acclimate into new communities and the workforce. What students learn from a hidden curriculum can also make an impact on social change as is one intention of Walden’s vision of positive social change.

In my current practice as an educator, I had never heard of or considered a hidden curriculum, much less the implications it might have on my students. As I reflect on my practice and review a hidden curriculum, I acknowledge having unintentionally enveloped this tool in my teaching and classroom culture. Reflecting on the implications this may have had on my students, I do recognize that I encouraged both positive and negative behaviors and values with my students.

A negative implication my unintentional lessons teach comes from the reward system I have in place for classroom management. I have a system in place that rewards points for good behavior and general compliance with assigned tasks. Students earn points by completing homework, meeting goals, following class rules, and when demonstrating our school’s values code. The school values code is a pledge that students make daily to encourage good citizenship, and it is a school-wide practice. It is a practice that makes students strive for excellence because the are working to be rewarded. After reading chapter one in Henson’s Curriculum Planning text book, I am confused by my practice and I cannot decide whether to stop or continue my reward system as it is. It would be difficult to let it go or reconsider the details of my system because it has worked for my students and me, and is accepted by my students’ parents. Another potential problem would come from my campus leadership that requires teachers to have this type of system in place. The campus principal provides the toys and trinkets in a “school store” where students exchange their points for prizes. I realize how this system rewards students for doing what they should always do and for complying with expectations that should be the norm, and how it sets them up to expect to be rewarded for all the good they do in life. Is it safe to say that my students are being set up to fail when they do not get recognized or rewarded for doing what is right in future endeavors? That is a difficult consideration to accept responsibility for.

Learning about hidden curriculum moves me to initiate action for correcting the negative implication of my reward system. I can begin by revisiting the RWRCOEL Professional Disposition that outlines Professional Quality #5 “Advocacy: The candidate advocates for fairness, equity, and social change in the learning environment.” (Walden University, 2010a). Keeping in mind my goal to promote social change, I will communicate my intent to change the reward system with my campus administrator and seek support and input from her as well.

Fortunately for my students, there are positive implications from the hidden curriculum that is encouraged by the culture and climate in my classroom. As outlined in the RWRCOEL Diversity Proficiencies, I believe that I demonstraste a strong understanding of indicator #2 Understanding the Learner. (Walden University, 2010b). My students are mostly Hispanic, bilingual, at-risk, and the majority are low socio-economic. My school does not have a significant number of White or Black students, and I can connect on a caring and nurturing level with the families of my students. Diversity is apparent in the students’ life experiences and their learning abilities. For this reason, I focus on the communication that I have with the families of my students. The lines of communication between my students’ families and me are open and strong. The message that I communicate is similar to that quoted by Henson, “I have faith in your ability and you are too important for me to let you miss the opportunities that my class offers.” (Henson, 2015). Having validated this unintentional teaching practice as a positive implication, I will strive to improve other practices with awareness of a possible hidden curriculum.

As mentioned early in this paper, this is newly acquired knowledge of the existence of hidden curriculum and I am excited to continue my work as an educator with the purpose of teaching with this in mind. I intend to focus on the RWRCOEL Diversity Proficiency #3 Learning Environment, as I build a positive hidden curriculum into my daily teaching and interaction with students and colleagues alike. My goal is to make learning experiences more meaningful and relevant for a more significant impact on the future of my students.

References

Henson, K.T. (2015). Curriculum planning: Integrating multiculturalism, constructivism, and education reform (5^th ed.). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

Walden University (2010a). Walden’s professional dispositions. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/USW1/201860_02/1_Standard_Docum ents/1_Current_Documents/MSED/MSED_RWRCOEL_Professional_Dispositions.pdf

Walden University (2010b). Walden’s diversity proficiencies. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/USW1/201860_02/1_Standard_Docum ents/1_Current_Documents/MSED/MSED_RWRCOEL_Diversity_Proficiencies.pdf

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