Currículum oculto

The hidden curriculum can be defined as the set of rules, customs, beliefs, languages and symbols that are manifested in the structure and operation of an institution (Acevedo, 2010), which are produced in parallel with the intentions of the explicit, manifest or written curriculum, and precisely through the practices with which it is developed. It refers to learning that is acquired by students although these aspects are not included in the official curriculum.

Any environment, including social, recreational and traditional activities, can lead to unintentional learning, since learning is not only connected to schools, but also to the experiences that a person has. In this case, it is at the pre-school or higher education level. It is everything that can be seen and heard, but transmitted and received unconsciously, at least without any recognised intentionality.

According to Parcerisa (1999), the hidden curriculum transmits, above all, values and attitudes through a process of analysis and reflection, on many other occasions through what Bandura calls “vicarious learning” produced by teachers in their way of acting and through their intervention.

References

Acevedo Huerta, J. E. (2010, noviembre). El currículo oculto en las enseñanzas formales. Aspectos menos visibles a tener en cuenta para una educación no sexista. Temas para la educación. Recuperado de: https://www.feandalucia.ccoo.es/docu/p5sd7590.pdf

Parcerisa, A. (1999). ¿Qué es el currículum oculto?

Authorship

Paula López Peña, Marcos Ruiz Vadillo, Lidia San Emeterio Uslé y Sandra Viso Sotorrío, 2020.

The hidden curriculum is transmitted, without an explicit intention, by the faculty. That is, it is what is transmitted without being aware of it. This make reference to the not write curriculum. This does not always coincide with what we, as teachers, expect to teach and even we can find ourselves in situations in which we are unconscious transmitters of guidelines and values contrary to what we really want to transmit.

It is important to say that always exist an hidden curriculum, because the teachers can’t stop make influence on their student body in multiple ways, many of them unaware. The learning of this type of curriculum occurs, on many occasions, through what Bandura calls “vicarious learning”. That is, it is learning by imitating the way of acting of a model figure, such as, for example, the teacher. We have to be clear about the transcendence of this curriculum, considera all the elements in a doublé perspective: that of the explicit curriculum and that of the implicit one, to make the hidden curriculum visible. In addition, we must be clear that neutral education is a myth since we are always influencing.

References

Artur Parcerisa Aran. (1999). Eufonía. [Versión electrònica]. Revista Eufonía 17.

Authorship

Margot Fernández y Andrea Ekai, 2020.