The Hidden Curriculum
Hidden curriculum, a term I have never heard before, refers to the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school (Hidden Curriculum, 2014). The behaviors that our students learn in school often fall into this hidden curriculum. I feel that the hidden curriculum should be less “hidden”. The current curriculum for our sheet metal program teaches our students a certain set of hand skills, math concepts, drafting skills, and a bunch of general theory about our trade. Our job as instructors is to create the most versatile, efficient, and employable journeyman worker. A good set of hand skills and knowledge of the trade is not the only thing that makes an apprentice employable. Our apprentices need to learn communication skills, how to treat authority figures, how to interact with clients and customers, the importance of punctuality, respecting the companies’ equipment, working as hard as you can for your entire shift, time management, organizational skills, and the list goes on and on. These are some key behaviours and values that are not directly part of our current curriculum, but are essential to becoming a well rounded employable journeyman sheet metal worker. Without this hidden curriculum our students would be missing out on some key concepts. My goal is to be more direct with the hidden curriculum, making it less “hidden”.
Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). In S. Abbott (Ed.), The glossary of education reform. Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/hidden- curriculum