The role of teachers’ implicit theories in hidden curriculum of the modern school

Pavičić Vukičević, Jelena. (2013). The role of teachers’ implicit theories in hidden curriculum of the modern school. Pedagogijska istraživanja, 10(1). pp. 119-133. ISSN 1334-7888

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Abstract

Hidden curriculum pertains to values that pupils learn at school due to the manner in which the school engages in planning, and the way in which the school is organized, through ensured funding. In such a way, pupils learn values such as social and gender roles, attitudes, values and other aspects of life that are transferred without awareness from one generation to the next, as self-understandable and indisputable permanent facts that are part of the general culture. An important characteristic of the hidden curriculum is its implicitness, frequently hidden not only to children, but also to teachers and other staff in the educational system. However, the hidden curriculum is not conveyed only by teachers, but also by the community and society as a whole, including the government, teachers, non-teaching school staff, civil society, religious communities, and the media. Implicit theory, or „theory in practice”, reflects beliefs and adopted values of teachers in regard to how a teacher perceives the child, how is the concept of childhood understood, and which theory of teaching the teacher is advocating, which is why implicit theory can be recognized most clearly in the specific setup of space, the structuring of time, the division of roles, and the style of communication with children. The relation between hidden curriculum and implicit theory is mutual. Once learned, hidden curriculum becomes the constituent part of teacher’s implicit theory, and this theory becomes the teacher’s leverage for subversive undermining of autonomous and free person, imposing the values of consumer society and forms of socially acceptable behavior. All these elements, coupled with the official curriculum of the institution, and the community in which the institution is active, together create the pedagogical culture of the institution. However, a teacher with his/her personal characteristics, pedagogical competences and professional ethics can respond to the traps of the hidden curriculum and his/her implicit theory by bringing to consciousness their modes of action. That can be done solely on the basis of vocational training and life-long learning, as values that the teacher should also transfer to his/her pupils

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