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This is an article called "Making Curriculum Matter to Students", written by English teacher Erin Nerlino in 2023.

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This is an article called "Making Curriculum Matter to Students", written by English teacher Erin Nerlino in 2023.

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“Why do I need to know this?" "When will I ever need this again?" As a high school teacher, I regularly hear these questions from students” - This quote really speaks to my main question, which is how teachers can impact students learning by making material engaging and relevant to their lives.

“Not all curriculum that we need to teach is intrinsically and powerfully engaging. As I tell my students when we start units in this category, "Sometimes we have to eat our vegetables because we need what they offer." Grammar is one example” - It is important to note that there are fundamental aspects of courses that need to be taught that aren’t always going to be engaging or life-changing, and thats okay. Being upfront with students about parts of curriculum that might not be interesting is important to building a curriculum that benefit them.

“at the beginning of grammar units, I explicitly spend time discussing the purpose of learning grammar with students—why it matters, when it's important, and how it plays a role in their present and future lives” Being able to build upon fundamentals and make them applicable to student’s futures is vital in shaping a curriculum that students will find engaging and impactful to their lives. Making the “boring” stuff impactful means explaining why it’s useful.

“It turns out that this student inspired one of the best units we did all year. Students chose individuals to research who related directly to their own interests and brought a great deal of passion to their projects.” Allowing students to lead their learning when possible is a great way to make courses more influential in a student’s education. Often times, their passion on a subject will inspire them to put forth their best work, enabling them to become active, involved learners.

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Why do I need to know this?" "When will I ever need this again?" As a high school teacher, I regularly hear these questions from students. Sometimes their frequency makes them easy to dismiss as complaints, but buried within them are two important questions for teachers: (1) Does each unit of curriculum we teach fulfill a purpose for students? (2) Are we clearly articulating that purpose to students?

Students spend most of their educational careers beholden to the curriculum that we put in front of them, so using engaging, purposeful teaching materials is important to helping them succeed and cultivating their desire for lifelong learning. Outdated curriculum causes students' motivation, authentic interest, and belief in the power of learning to wane. The challenge and beauty of curating curriculum is that there is a vast array of curricular materials to choose from and, as educators, we must select the most promising resources for our learners while considering student development level, engagement potential, state standards, and district learning goals. In sifting through these challenges, I've found the following six tenets provide useful starting points for effective curriculum revision.

1. Leveraging Relevance and Timeliness

The world can be a confusing place these days, especially for young people. One way to help them gain clarity and perspective is to use texts and resources connected to current events to teach particular skills. This can also be an effective way to breathe more life into a perennial topic. Paying attention to what students ask about, talk about, and wrestle with provides a plethora of ideas to keep curriculum fresh.

For example, a few weeks after my seniors started reading George Orwell's 1984, Russia invaded Ukraine. Shortly after, I came across an article about the way Russian media portrayed the invasion that contained striking similarities to the way that, in the book, The Party manipulated the portrayal of its wars against Eastasia and Eurasia to its own citizens. I scrapped some planned lessons on synthesizing connections across texts and replaced them with ones that focused on similarities and differences between the concepts of control, oppression, and propaganda in the book and the Russian media's messaging on the invasion of Ukraine. Not only did students analyze the text more deeply, but they also engaged in more research about the history of the relationship between Russia and Ukraine.

The inverse of introducing relevant and timely curricular materials is removing outdated ones. This task can be difficult for us as teachers, particularly when it comes to materials that have long been in use. Sometimes it doesn't occur to us to question the purpose and relevance of materials or pedagogical methods because they seem to have always existed in our subject areas. Other times, we might have a nostalgic personal connection to materials, such as classic books, that we know well. But considering when and what to cull is important. For example, chapter questions based on plot summaries were a mainstay pedagogy of my own language arts education. I never minded these activities, but I knew they left little room for individual readers to use their own identities as lenses to interpret a work, so I cut them from my instructional practice.

2. Making Purpose Explicit

Not all curriculum that we need to teach is intrinsically and powerfully engaging. As I tell my students when we start units in this category, "Sometimes we have to eat our vegetables because we need what they offer." Grammar is one example. Even as someone who always gravitated toward English as a subject, I did not come to enjoy grammar until well after my K-12 years. It is, however, important for students to know how to use grammar to punctuate sentences, craft ideas, and structure syntax well. So, at the beginning of grammar units, I explicitly spend time discussing the purpose of learning grammar with students-why it matters, when it's important, and how it plays a role in their present and future lives. I emphasize how important clear communication is regardless of what major they pursue in college or what job they take after high school. I show examples of sentences that contain strong ideas, but that get lost in poor grammar. I tell them that there's nothing better than expressing a good thought with the appropriate punctuation that guides the reader with ease. Clarifying the purpose of any curriculum unit is good practice, but it is especially useful with units that are less likely to interest students.

3. Centering Student Agency

"Why haven't I ever heard of Bayard Rustin?" a student in one of my senior English classes asked me one day. I had to admit I didn't know who that person was. After researching and discussing the accomplishments of the civil rights activist, the student and I pondered why, considering Rustin's impressive contributions to society, familiarity with him was not commonplace in schools. In response to this lack of knowledge about this particular historical figure of color as well as other historical and contemporary figures, the student suggested, "We should all look into different people of color that we've never heard of."

As I was driving home, I thought about our discussion-how awesome it was that a student had questioned why he had a gap in his knowledge and come up with a solution for it. I decided that we were due for a unit highlighting research and speaking skills and I created a new project based on my student's suggestion. After the students each selected a person to research, we reviewed different research sources, their purposes, and how to measure levels of credibility. The students then applied these skills to explore the life and contributions of their chosen person and document their findings in both a written report and a personal reflection about what they had learned. They then shared their research with classmates as part of a "speed dating" activity.

It turns out that this student inspired one of the best units we did all year. Students chose individuals to research who related directly to their own interests and brought a great deal of passion to their projects. A student who did gymnastics researched Luci Collins, the first African American woman to compete in the Olympics as a gymnast for the U.S. A Formula 1 fan chose Lewis Hamilton, the first Black driver to compete professionally in the sport. An aspiring computer scientist choose Joy Buolamwini, a computer scientist at the MIT Media Lab who examines the way bias influences computer programming.

After conducting in-depth research, students completed a short writing assignment reflecting on what they found interesting about the person they focused on. They then turned their written work into oral presentations that not only outlined the person's life and accomplishments, but also addressed whether they had heard about this figure previously, whether their subject's accomplishments impacted their lives today, and what prevents knowledge of this individual from being more widespread.

As I was reflecting about what curricular changes to make for this school year, I immediately thought about the success of this project, but also about how easy it would have been to let the student's idea get lost in the busyness of the day and school year. This reflection was a good reminder to me that our students are thoughtful individuals with ideas about their own learning. They should have agency, and our job as teachers is to transfer their ideas into curriculum that meets standards and develops skills students need. This is only possible when teachers listen to students' ideas with an open mind.

4. Scaffolding Skills

As teachers, we dream of lessons that have every student engaged and working to solve the world's problems together. In my experience, these ideal lessons do, in fact, exist (OK, I'm still working on the solving the world's problems part). They just require quite a bit of scaffolding and curriculum planning-more than I ever realized when I first started teaching.

In my 11th grade Advanced Placement English Language and Composition class, I not only prepare students for the types of writing and multiple-choice questions that will be on the AP exam, I also integrate nonfiction composition and analysis skills into tasks beyond composition writing, to reinforce their multipurpose value. For example, I created an inquiry-based project that asks students to choose a topic that interests them, conduct preliminary research, and then turn the topic into an inquiry question. Next, they locate and analyze sources in service of their question, synthesize what they found in their sources into themes, and reflect on what they learned about both the research process and their question.

Students document their research steps, findings, and reflections on what they learned in a final website and prepare a short presentation. For instance, one student interested in gymnastics developed an inquiry question about how the culture around gymnastics has led to the exploitation of athletes. After more systematic research drawing from ten different sources, the student's findings were twofold: (1) The sport has built-in power imbalances that discriminate against gymnasts; and (2) medals and publicity are prioritized over athletes' well-being. The student then documented both their findings and their personal reflection on those findings with a website they presented to their peers.

The year-end final website presentations, when students show off what they learned and ask one another questions, is one of those unique classes where everything comes together. The lessons in between, however, are the opposite-painstaking and ordinary, but necessary. I scaffold the project into 10 steps throughout the year, with each step broken into smaller bits. For example, step four is collecting information. Before students embark on collecting information for their own questions, we review different types of sources and their uses, and how to locate, read, and take notes on sources. Only after reviewing this information and completing examples together do students apply these skills to collecting sources for their own questions.

Lessons that require combing through sources aren't glamorous, but they provide students with the foundation to eventually reach a higher level. The confluence of scaffolded skills, knowledge of the research process, and student choice is where transcendent student learning happens.

5. Contemplating Audience

Most of the time, I am the sole audience for student work. Students know they are turning in their assignments to me, and I am assigning a grade. Constantly submitting assignments for a teacher can make learning seem narrow. The AP English Language and Composition inquiry project has components of an audience beyond just me because it requires students to publish a website that I disseminate to other classes, school staff, and parents/guardians. Students also present in small groups to one another and to teachers and administrators I invite into class. Ultimately, I am the one that assigns a grade for this project, but the focus is to create a final website and presentation for an audience other than me.

This same idea came into play in my 12th grade English class with the project investigating lesser-known historical figures of color. The audience became not just the teacher grading the project but the entire class, with the purpose of improving our collective knowledge instead of just submitting an assignment to check a box.

6. Translating Skills into Action

If one purpose of education is to develop productive citizens who positively contribute to society, our curriculum also needs to train students to translate skills into action. As an example of my attempt to help students make this transference leap, I introduced an anti-harassment bystander intervention training at the end of the 12th grade English curriculum I teach. Throughout the year, various works that we read raise important societal issues-gender and racial oppression in Their Eyes Were Watching God; Native American oppression and mental health stigma in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; oppression, power, and propaganda in 1984; and anti-Asian American Pacific Islander sentiment in Woman Warrior. Becoming more educated about these issues through reading, analyzing, discussing, and writing about these texts should mean we are better able to make informed decisions and actions that ensure we respect all identities and to respond when we notice disrespect or marginalization of another individual or group.

One of the goals of the bystander-intervention training includes being able to identify oppressive power dynamics at play during a public harassment incident and intervene using the "5 Ds" of delay, distract, delegate, document, and direct. By tying the curriculum content to a larger, more important set of actions-making society safer for everyone-students see how learning directly impacts their world.

Keep Experimenting

Implementing tenets like these that foster effective and engaging curricula is much easier said than done. Not every curricular unit will integrate each of these actions, and striking the right balance will require a substantive amount of trial and error. But keeping at it, staying patient and curious, and listening to students are key to navigating this process. And when it all comes together, the result-an engaging, meaningful, and purposeful lesson, unit, or curriculum-creates endless possibilities for student learning to take root and flourish.

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Developing curricular materials that capture students' attention and creativity requires intentional planning and an understanding of their interests.

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This is a book titled "Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students' Motivation to Learn" by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, published in 2004. 

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This is a book titled "Engaging Schools: Fostering High School Students' Motivation to Learn" by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, published in 2004. 

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“Teacher education programs should provide beginning teachers with an understanding of student-centered pedagogy that is focused on understanding, and teach them strategies for involving students in active learning” I think it’s important for teachers to have the tools to help them create a learning environment that promotes active learning.

“Although learning involves cognitive processes that take place within each individual, motivation to learn also depends on the students involvement in a web of social relationships that support learning” Active learning is inspired outside of the curriculum! Understanding students needs, struggles, and strengths can help alter curriculum to fit the needs of a certain group or class.

“A more challenging curriculum with heterogenesous grouping can only be successful if teachers are well trained to develop instructional approaches that will meet the needs of a class of students who vary dramatically in their skill levels.” Not only does curriculum play a huge part in active learning, but mindful, skillful teachers do too. Being able to gauge the needs of students at different skill levels and teach accordingly is another way to empower learners.

“School administrators and teachers should also expand and enrich the high school curriculum by helping students see the real-world meaningfulness of school learning by taking advantage of resources in the community.” Stepping outside of classroom culture to connect with the community can enrich learning. I’ve never thought about using non-academic resources to enhance the academic community.

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This is an article by Shradha Raj called "What is Curriculum in Education: Types, Importance, & More," written in 2025, which highlights what curriculum is, why it's important, and the different types of curriculum. 

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This is an article by Shradha Raj called "What is Curriculum in Education: Types, Importance, & More," written in 2025, which highlights what curriculum is, why it's important, and the different types of curriculum. 

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Curriculum is the "structured set of learning experiences or activities that guides the education process in an academic year in schools, colleges, and other institutions." - This provides a general definition of what a curriculum is in education.

"A curriculum is not just about academic subjects, but rather it also takes into concern the extracurricular or co-curricular activities, skill-based learning, lifelong learning, reading habits, and other development programs." - This sentence elaborates on what a curriculum includes and how it is relevant for students' education.

"7 major roles and responsibilities of educators in shaping curriculum are:

Curriculum Planning and Design

Adapting Curriculum to Student Needs

Implementing Effective Teaching Strategies

Assessing Student Progress and Providing Feedback

Engaging in Continuous Professional Development

Collaborating with Stakeholders

Ensuring Inclusivity and Accessibility" - These roles can help educators better understand how to make curricula better fit the needs of students, which sums up my interest in my topic.

"It requires an army to collaborate and continuously assess the curriculum and integrate adoption as per the society and technological advancements." - This quote calls for us to collectively work on changing our curricula to meet the needs of the classroom.

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What is Curriculum in Education: Types, Importance & More

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Education is the building block of personal and societal development in education and at the heart of which is always... Read More

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This is a journal called "Application of Theories, Principles and Models of Curriculum Design: A Literature Review" written by Afzal Sayed Munna and Md Abul Kalam (2021). 

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This is a journal called "Application of Theories, Principles and Models of Curriculum Design: A Literature Review" written by Afzal Sayed Munna and Md Abul Kalam (2021). 

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"However, these sets of definitions have been criticised by Johnson (1967), according to him, curriculum is nothing but a structured series of learning outcomes from which results of instructions can be anticipated." - This is a counterargument to my main point and adds a different perspective to my argument.

"An inclusive curriculum gives the opportunity to all students to access and participate in a course as they intend." -Inclusivity is obviously a huge component in creating curricula that are engaging for students.

"The Hidden Curriculum: Lempp (2004) defined hidden curriculum as a set of unofficial, unwritten, and unintended lessons." - I found this interesting and would definitely be something I would like to research more

"Having reviewed different curriculum models along with diversity, we observed in our workplace that we put the students at the heart of the curriculum design process by recognising students’ multiple identities, avoiding the provision of compartmentalised solution based on specific ‘need’." - Goes along with my point that we should work toward more student-centered schooling.

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1850 Munna, A. Application of theories (2021)

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This is an article written by Ayesh Perera entitled "Hidden Curriculum [Sociology]". 

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This is an article written by Ayesh Perera entitled "Hidden Curriculum [Sociology]". 

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"The hidden curriculum, first described by Philip Jackson (1968), is a set of unspoken or implicit rules and values that students learn while attending school. It is often contrasted with the more formalized, official curriculum that is spelled out in a school’s mission statement or lesson plans." - This theory argues that students learn implicitly, and there are ways to teach outside of lesson plans.

"A school that has a strict dress code may be sending the message that appearance and conformity are more important than individuality and self-expression." - This is a solid example of implicit learning. Maybe I can include more examples of this in my argument.

"Although the hidden curriculum is taught in a formal institution, it is a form of informal socialization. The hidden curriculum includes things like the way teachers dress and behave, the way they interact with students, the way discipline is handled, and the overall climate of the school." - I thought this was important and can be a point of discussion. How do our behaviors and standards as educators affect our curriculum and teaching?

"While the hidden curriculum is often unintentional, it can still have a powerful impact on students. It can shape their values, beliefs, and attitudes, and it can influence the way they behave both inside and outside of school." - How do we step outside of a lesson plan or lecture to teach students valuable lessons? Should teachers be more mindful of the hidden curriculum?

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The hidden curriculum, first described by Philip Jackson (1968), is a set of unspoken or implicit rules and values that students learn while attending school. It is often contrasted with the more formalized, official curriculum that is spelled out in a school's mission statement or lesson plans.

Philip W. Jackson coined the term 'hidden curriculum' in 1968 in his book Life in Classrooms, discussing the students' need to master their schools' expectations. He contended that education is a process of secondary socialization.

Hidden Curriculum Examples

A school that has a strict dress code may be sending the message that appearance and conformity are more important than individuality and self-expression.

Education for children is thought to be an agent of socialization to learn appropriate behavior for their gender and contributes to the patriarchal system and structure (Sultana, 2010).

Young girls may be socialized into thinking that there are subjects that are more suited to boys such as mathematics and science.

Feminists view the hidden curriculum as a producer and perpetuator of a gender socialization that disfavors women.

Teachers may respond in different ways to boys and girls (Sadker & Sadker, 1994). Commencing in kindergarten, teachers may employ gender dichotomies to address pupils, separate them for group activities, and distribute them between adversarial teams for competitions.

Moreover, since in elementary level classrooms, boys tend to be more disruptive than girls, they may also receive more attention (both negative and positive).

Studies further suggest that boys attain high status based on athletic ability, toughness, coolness and cross gender relationships, while girls acquire popularity via social skills, physical appearance and their parents' socioeconomic background.

These values may be further propagated via greater financial support for male sports. Scholars have implied that teachers' opinions concerning gender differences in science, verbal and math aptitude may shape their pedagogical approach, and thereby, pupils' interest and performance in various subjects.

The relatively higher representation of males over females in textbooks may influence girls' and boys' own opinions concerning their aptitudes and their ambitions as well.

For instance, even though, in Wales and England, female teachers outnumber male teachers, senior management of schools and colleges contain more men than women. This lack of salient senior role models may exert a baneful influence upon female students.

Moreover, feminist activists Tony Lawson and Tim Heaton (1996) claimed that textbooks subtly promote gender stereotypes (especially via the portrayal of men and women in different roles) and traditional gender divisions in sports and physical education.

They also argue that many educators still entertain entrenched sexist views concerning certain classroom tasks.

Radical feminists further complain that the whole educational system is patriarchal, and that it continues to oppress and marginalize women.

They protest that the system espouses the dependency of women upon men, and causes many girls to feel uncomfortable in the presence of boys while studying certain subjects.

They, moreover, contend that the system still engenders gender inequalities despite the introduction of the national curriculum.

The functionalist orientation toward the hidden curriculum is primarily concerned with concealed curricula's reproduction of unified societies.

Closely associated with consensus theory, this approach focuses on the utilization of education to maintain order in society by appropriately socializing students.

Moreover, Emile Durkheim's propositions in Education and Sociology (1922), as well as Moral Education (1925), likely foreshadowed the functionalist approach to the yet-undeveloped notion of the hidden curriculum.

Durkheim contended that the functioning of society required a high level of homogeneity, and this could be provided by education via highly regulated institutions.

The functionalists hold that the hidden curriculum imparts to children the following:

The value of achievement: the hidden curriculum inculcates a strong work ethic, an attitude of inquiry, personal responsibility, individual initiative, a competitive spirit, and creativity.

This is amply evidenced by rewards reserved for students who procure high scores on examinations, praise bestowed on those who raise intelligent questions in class, and the recognition of original ideas in crafting and executing various projects.

School as a microcosm: the school milieu constitutes a scaled-down encapsulation of the society at large in many respects, and thereby provides a training ground for entrance thereto.

The norms and values pervading the modern industrial society, consequently, permeate the socialization process which the hidden curriculum propagates. The expectation that pupils arrive by a certain time at school instructs them in punctuality which would be essential to preserving their jobs as adults.

Assenting to the school's cultural norms and learning alongside pupils from different backgrounds, help pupils respect their fellow citizens' opinions, and coexist with those different from oneself in the future.

According to Marxists the hidden curriculum reinforces social inequality and maintains ruling class ideology. Education encourages students to blindly accept capitalist values, through the hidden curriculum.

For example, schools that track students into different ability levels or classes based on test scores may be reinforcing the idea that some students are better than others and that some students are not worth as much attention or investment.

This can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy, where students who are labeled as "less capable" may begin to believe it and underperform as a result (Jackson, 1968).

Schools in North America have bred a sense of competition among students by the way grades are given and how teachers evaluate them.

Students learn to rank themselves amongst their peers with grades (Bowles & Gintis, 1976). When children participate in a race or math contest, they learn that society has winners and losers.

Bourdieu's (1977) ideas about cultural capital are part of a wider Marxist argument that the function of education is to reproduce ruling-class culture and class inequality via the ideology transmitted by a hidden curriculum.

Noble and Davies' (2009) research suggests that this reproduction continues beyond secondary education. It can be seen in the reluctance of working-class students to apply for a university place because of a belief that they lack the cultural capital required to fit into university life.

Jackson (1964) described the hidden curriculum as the 'unpublicised features of school life' in which students learn to accept the unequal distribution of power within schools and society

Jackson (1968) described classrooms as places presenting persistent evaluations, crowds and massive differences in power between the managed and the manager.

Herein, as the student crowds' resources are limited, denial, delay, distraction and interruption enter the student experience. Meanwhile, the teacher becomes a gatekeeper, supply sergeant, participation signaler and privilege granter.

In 1970, the psychiatrist and then-Dean of MIT's Institute Relations, Benson R. Snyder published a book called The Hidden Curriculum.

Snyder argued that unstated social and academic norms are primarily responsible for much of students' anxiety and campus conflict.

He strove to ascertain why highly gifted students give up on education, and pointed out that these concealed norms impair the students' capacity to think creatively and develop independently.

The Marxist approach to the hidden curriculum, initially constituted a substantial challenge to the functionalist view. Marxist theorists contended that schooling primarily caters to the oppressive and powerful social groups and institutions.

Employing the term 'long shadow of work,' Herbert Gintis and Samuel Bowles (1976), in particular, argued, in their seminal book entitled Schooling in Capitalist America, that students develop a consciousness, internalize norms, and acquire skills that suit their future employment.

They are purportedly educated in a fashion that prepares them for different levels of autonomy, control and ownership in the capitalist system.

The relationship between social milieu of production and the social milieu of school life was described as the correspondence principle.

Gintis and Bowles argued that the correspondence principle accounts for the correspondence between the schools' internal organization to the capitalist workforce's internal organization via norms, values and structures.

For instance, the authors claim that the structure of authority in schools resembles the hierarchy of dominance in the labor market. The head teacher acts as a managing director, while students garbed in uniforms and subjected to discipline take after the lower-level employees laboring under tyrannical supervision.

Moreover, education informs how to govern workplace interactions and affords practical preparation for entrance into the labor market.

The theories predicated upon the correspondence principle are called reproduction theories since they account for the supposed reproduction of social inequalities by education.

Some parallels between the values taught at school and those used to exploit workers in the workplace include:

The passive subservience of pupils to teachers, which corresponds to the passive subservience of workers to managers;

An acceptance of hierarchy - the authority of teachers and administrators over students corresponding to the authority of managers over employees;

Motivation by external rewards (such as grades over learning), which corresponds to workers being motivated by wages rather than the job of a job.

Critical Evaluation

Hugh Lauder and Philip Brown (1991) have noted that Gintis and Bowles had oversimplified education's correspondence to the labor market, and have suggested that bureaucratic control at work has diminished in favor of increased teamwork.

Meanwhile, David Reynolds (1984) has contended that Gintis and Bowles had discounted the impact of the formal curriculum.

Furthermore, Reynolds has noted that much of the British curriculum actually fails to impart the skills employers need, instead of failing to develop an ideal employee for the capitalist system.

The fact that norms are implicitly communicated does not mean that they necessarily elicit passive assent. Existence of anti-school subcultures, truancy, and exclusion suggest both the hidden curriculum and correspondence principal have failed.

For instance, Paul Willis, in Learning to Labor (1981), demonstrates how the demands of the hidden curriculum may encounter resistance, and create a counterculture in school.

Willis, employing an ethnographic methodology, studied 12 boys from a working-class background, who were attending Hammertown Boys, a modern school in the British Midlands.

The boys were in their penultimate year of schooling, and Willis followed them for approximately 6 months, examining their interactions with their school and with each other, and interviewing them occasionally. He evaluated them afterward as well, periodically till 1976.

Recognizing the reality of these working-class lads' own interpretation of schooling, Willis observed a nonconformist counter-school culture among them.

This counter-school culture purportedly thrust working-class students, eventually, as adults, into low-wage and subordinate labor positions.

This "self-damnation" stemmed from these youths' awareness of, and rebellion against their school's dominant disciplinary mechanisms.

A conventional curriculum, also known as formal or academic curriculum, involves instruction and the transmission of knowledge in schools to accomplish the principal objectives of preparing students to pass examinations, and imparting to them specific skills.

These objectives, as well as their concomitant routines, structures and rules, are often communicated explicitly to parents and students by teachers and school administrators.

The hidden curriculum refers to the informal learning processes that occur in schools. These processes often have the 'side-effect' of transmitting subtle messages to pupils and students about key values, attitudes and norms of behavior.

Although the hidden curriculum is taught in a formal institution, it is a form of informal socialization.
The hidden curriculum includes things like the way teachers dress and behave, the way they interact with students, the way discipline is handled, and the overall climate of the school.

While the hidden curriculum is often unintentional, it can still have a powerful impact on students. It can shape their values, beliefs, and attitudes, and it can influence the way they behave both inside and outside of school.

These factors can send strong messages to students about what is important and what is not, what kind of behavior is acceptable and what is not, and what kind of people are valued and who is not (Jackson, 1968).

For example, a school that has a lot of rules and regulations may be sending the message that order and compliance are more important than creativity and innovation.

And a school that has a lot of violence and bullying may be sending the message that aggression and force are more effective than cooperation and kindness.

References

Bourdieu, P. (1977). Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. London: Sage

Bourdieu, P. (2011). The forms of capital.(1986). Cultural theory: An anthology, 1, 81-93.

Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America: Educational reform and the contradictions of economic life. Basic Books.

Durkheim, E. (1922). Education and Sociology. New York: Free Press.

Durkheim E. (1925). Moral education: A study in the theory and application of the sociology of education. New York and London: The Free Press and Collier-Macmillan.

Giroux, H.A. & Penna, A.N. (1979) Social Education in the Classroom: The Dynamics of the Hidden Curriculum. Theory & Research in Social Education, 7:1, 21-42.

Heaton, J. & Lawson, D. (1996). Feminism and Education. Russ-Books.

Heaton, T., & Lawson, T. (1996). Explaining gender differences in educational achievement. In Education and Training (pp. 96-121). Palgrave, London.

Jackson, P.W. (1964). The conceptualization of teaching. Psychol. Schs., 1: 232-243.

Jackson, P. (1968). Life in Classrooms. Rinehart and Winston: New York.

Johnson, R., & Bourdieu, P. (1993). The field of cultural production: Essays on art and literature. Cambridge: Polity.

Lauder, H. & Brown, P. (1991). Education, Economy and Social Change". International Studies in Sociology of Education, 1 (1-2), 3-23.

Ochs, E. (1999). Socialization. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 9 (1/2), 230-233.

Nash, C. J. (2009). Patriarchy.

Sultana, A. (2010). Patriarchy and women's subordination: a theoretical analysis. Arts Faculty Journal, 1-18.

Noble, J., & Davies, P. (2009). Cultural capital as an explanation of variation in participation in higher education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30 (5), 591-605.

Reynolds, D. K. (2021). Constructive living. In Constructive Living. University of Hawaii Press.

Sadker, M., & Sadker, D. (1994). Failing at fairness: How America's schools shortchange girls. New York: Touchstone.

Snyder, Benson R. (1971). The Hidden Curriculum. Alfred A. Knopf.

Willis, P. (1981). Learning to Labor: How working class kids get working class jobs. New York, NY: Columbia University Press. (Original work published 1977)

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The hidden curriculum, first described by Philip Jackson (1968), is a set of unspoken or implicit rules and values that students learn while attending school. It is often contrasted with the more formalized, official curriculum that is spelled out in a school's mission statement or lesson plans.

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I have not given, received, or used any unauthorized assistance. This work is mine. 

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I have not given, received, or used any unauthorized assistance. This work is mine. 

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This is an article by The University of Louisiana Monroe, entitled "Why Curriculum and Instruction Change is Important" published in 2022.

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This is an article by The University of Louisiana Monroe, entitled "Why Curriculum and Instruction Change is Important" published in 2022.

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"For example, educators can recognize that a narrative’s storyline and characters don’t change over time, but the discussions surrounding their motivations and actions can encourage new awareness and different ways of thinking." - I found this interesting because I'm planning to teach high school English, and this feels applicable to me.

"Curriculum development is not a static process but a fluid practice that fluctuates with the societal changes. Improvements to a school’s curricula can define and reflect the school’s culture and help it keep up with a changing world." -Again, this quote just summarizes my passion for the need to revise and be critical of our curricula.

"Adopting a high-quality curriculum can allow time for educators to focus on teaching, rather than researching or developing their own classroom materials. A well-developed curriculum has multiple benefits for the school, teachers, and students. The opportunity for teachers to collaborate and examine the big picture of student learning and outcomes encourages knowledge reinforcement over multiple grade levels." - While teachers can make their curricula more engaging for students, it does require extra work that can be hard to measure. How can revised, high-quality curricula become a standard on a large scale?

"Technology connects us to a larger world community, and student learning should reflect the way we process information and connect with various cultures. Incorporating engaging educational content by using technology, keeping up with global trends, ensuring consistency, having clear expectations and developing a system with clear benchmarks can benefit students of all ages." - How does technology add to or change this discussion? How do these ideas apply to all age groups?

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Why Curriculum and Instruction Change Is Important

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Curriculum and instruction experts need to stay current with new trends within the field and the science of learning.