What is the role of the “hidden curriculum” in the education system? In what ways is the concept of a “hidden curriculum” similar to the concept of “cultural capital”? How are the two concepts different?
Education serves many purposes in life. It teaches how to be better person and prepare for life. It also teaches the knowledge in many ways, by looking at the life in different angles. Schools around the world depend on set lesson plans and learning objectives which are usually written down to guide teaching and ensure that all students come away with the same basic knowledge. These hard-and-fast objectives are known as the school’s curriculum or the formal curriculum (Boutelier, S., n.d). In addition to the standard schooling there is also
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Hidden curriculum teaches morality and to be involved in socialization process and public life. It defines and maintains social relationships. Just like children learn good manners from family members, the students learn society expected norms and values from school. The values taught in schools shapes social control as they allow people to work together. The hidden curriculum permeates all spheres of school and prevail the concept of …show more content…
Similarly, with the rapid the changes in technology, the formal curriculum play rather insignificant role to adapt students to the fast changing societies. As Bourdieu have argued the students from the dominant class have learnt the hidden curriculum through cultural capital they have acquired from their families. Moreover, what the student learns in the school via hidden curriculum dictates their cultural capital as the years passes. For the lower class, the hidden curriculum taught in school somewhat raises the social capital as it inculcates virtues such as patience, cooperation and punctuality. However, for higher achievements in school and advance in education system, the individuals need to have knowledge of the dominant class. Moreover, teachers perceive those with higher cultural capital or those from high social class perform better in school (Smith, 2013). So, Cultural capital not only plays vital role to maintain control but also gives the upper class the advantage of knowing how to address and act in certain situations. These etiquettes work for the benefit of the higher class in various occasions including in job interviews and career advancements. On the other hand, to use credential that individuals have acquired through the education system, they must have comparable cultural capital that goes along with the credential. Thus cultural capital is no less important
Connected to this theme is the development of a shared, lived experience, where students and teacher are involved in an ongoing negotiation of curriculum. In the first 13 chapters, Paley’s central focus is to develop a learning community within the safety of the classroom. In the second half of her book, Paley illustrates how the combination of these two themes in turn offers an opportunity for what we call an opening up of the definition of curriculum. This review is an analysis of these three themes within the organizational framework of Paley’s book. The theme of children and teachers as co-creators of curriculum is established in the first chapter when Paley says, “Each year I wait to be reawakened by a Reeny … something to ponder deeply and expand upon extravagantly” (p.10). Reeny responds to this call by asserting herself early on as a curriculum leader in Paley’s classroom. Because children themselves are curriculum makers and leaders, curriculum cannot be imposed upon the learner. Ultimately, this opening up of the discussion of what curriculum means is established by Reeny in the last lines of the book when she announces: “But I’m thinking, why don’t you stay and we’ll talk about it. Don’t fly away. See we can keep talking about it, okay?” (p. 99). It is in Reeny’s utterance that we understand—the curriculum conversation must necessarily begin with students’
The essays by Jean Anyon and Jonathan Kozol explore the idea of education not being equal for everyone across the United States. For example, Jean Anyon discusses the idea of a "hidden curriculum". The hidden curriculum that her essay describes implies that the information taught and the way it is taught differs among schools of varying socioeconomic backgrounds. She and her team visited five different schools in New Jersey, with the schools being classified into working class, middle class, affluent-professional, and elite (Anyon 165-6). She then observed the classes and the way they are taught. This brought to light the differences between the way children
The first scholarly essay I am going to discuss is Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work by Jean Anyon. Anyon believed that students of different economical statuses and the schools in their communities taught differently. She used schools in four different types of communities. The four types of communities are working class, middle-class, affluent professional and executive elite. She studied the students, teachers, principals, and staff as well as
Definitions for curriculum are many and varied. Broad sweeping statements claim that curriculum is what is taught in various subjects and the amount of time given to each. While a more specific view is that curriculum are performance objectives for students that focus on specific skills or knowledge (Marsh, 2010). Marsh (2010, p. 93) defines curriculum as “an interrelated set of plans and experiences” that are completed at school. The curriculum used in education can have various interpretations, it may refer to the curriculum as a plan that encompasses all the learning that is planned and directed by the school. Cu...
Curriculum has been interpreted in several ways for many decades in the past. Each educator or education professional, with whom, you ask to define and interpret curriculum, will more than likely give you a different view than others you have asked on separate occasions. It’s not just educators that have different views and opinions of curriculum; lawyers, carpenters, nurses, and even stay-at-home parents all interpret and view curriculum in different ways. This even goes for different categories of schools:
Capital culture as said above include cultural deprivation which means the basic values, attitudes and skills that are needed for education success through primary socialization in the family. Some cultural deprivation theorists believe that the working class fail to socialize their children sufficiently as they are ‘culturally deprived’. This is when the children don’t have the right equipment for school so they can achieve the best grade and the reason to why they are under- achieving in item A it that critics believe that ‘material factors’ affect the gap in social class the most.
Jean Anyon’s “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” claims that students from different social classes are treated differently in schools. Anyon’s article is about a study she conducted to show how fifth graders from the working, middle, and upper class are taught differently. In Anyon’s article, she provides information to support the claim that children from different social classes are not given the same opportunities in education. It is clear that students with different socio-economic statuses are treated differently in academic settings. The curriculum in most schools is based on the social class that the students belong to. The work is laid out based on academic professionals’ assumptions of students’ knowledge. Teachers and educational professionals assume a student’s knowledge based on their socio-economic status.
When reviewing the literature regarding the past, present and future of educational curriculum, several main points seem apparent, namely that curriculum is cyclical, that a dilemma or paradox exists, and that curriculum must be looked at with a sensitive view.
Flinders, D. J. (1997). Curriculum and Consciousness. The curriculum studies reader (4th ed.). New York: Routledge. (Flinders, 1997)
Posner, G. (1998) ‘Models of curriculum planning’. In Beyer, L. and Apple, M. (eds) The Curriculum. Problems, Politics and Possibilities (2nd edn). New York: State University of New York Press.
The hidden curriculum refers to the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school (Hidden curriculum, 2014). According to Glatthorn, Boschee and Whitehead (2012, p.25), the classroom is where most of the hidden curriculum come into play. The teacher uses several kinds of power to control the selection of content, the methods of learning, movement in the classroom, and the flow of classroom discourse. Students unconsciously learn the skills and traits required by society that is part of the curriculum such as; how to be punctual, clean, stand in line, take turns, and how to wait (Glatthorn, Boschee and Whitehead (2012,
In his book, Steppingstones to Curriculum, Van Brummelen discusses four popular perspectives on curriculum through curriculum orientations. “A curriculum orientation sets out basic worldview assumptions and how these suggest an overall vision for education, a view of knowledge and of the person, and how these affect classroom learning and teaching, and how we go about planning, and the general aims of curriculum” (pg.25). Curriculum orientations provide the teacher with a clear and distinct sense of direction for an educational program. A curriculum orientation is what a teacher teaches to. Each orientation has a different view on what’s important and gives the teacher clear focus. The four orientations are traditional, process/mastery, experimental, and Christian. When planning out curriculum, the traditionalist approach views curriculum as a conveyor of information and ideas. Their focus is on transmission. They focus on building basic skills and reasoning through gaining knowledge in key disciplines. Process/mastery supporters focus on the process. They view curriculum as a controlled and efficient process. Their knowledge and learning emphasis are on investigating, mastering, and applying data in small, defined, manageable steps. Experimentalist view curriculum as a quest for personal meaning. They focus on constructing knowledge. They’re all about learning through experience. They put emphasis on autonomous creation and negotiation of knowledge and meaning. Christians view curriculum as a reflection/ interpretation of God’s truth. They focus on responsibility. Their curriculum answers questions such as how do we foster students’ positive responses toward God, their fellow creatures, society, and themselves. They put emphasis on understanding and unfolding God’s revelation through experience, observation, conceptualization, and
Curriculum is important being it’s the underlying factor that plays a role in determining ones growth, achievement and success. The majority of curriculum con...
Since then, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction has been a standard reference for anyone working with curriculum development. Although not a strict how-to guide, the book shows how educators can critically approach curriculum planning, studying progress and retooling when needed. Its four sections focus on setting objectives, selecting learning experiences, organizing instruction, and evaluating progress. Readers will come away with a firm understanding of how to formulate educational objectives and how to analyze and adjust their plans so that students meet the objectives. Tyler also explains that curriculum planning is a continuous, cyclical process, an instrument of education that needs to be fine-tuned.
A curriculum is a compilation of study materials that are used at all grade levels, classroom and homework assignments and a set of teacher guides. It could also include a list of prescribed methodology and guidelines of teaching and some material for the parents etc. It is generally determined by an external governing body. However, there are some cases where it may be developed by the schools and teachers themselves.