The unplanned curriculum!

The three forms of curriculum present in school as identified by English and Larson are “formal, informal, and hidden curricula” and the idea that curriculum includes all planned and unplanned experiences of the children in a classroom (Mullen 13) are intriguing to me. Really, the thought is almost overwhelming. Normally when thinking about the curriculum, I think about the “game plan” (or lack there of…in my district) for any given course. I tend to think about the knowledge/skill base of the course—don’t get me wrong I try to link it to the kids’ lives and make it meaningful for them so they will wan tot to continue to learn, but still the underlying curriculum goes back to the skills or base knowledge. But according to the above definitions, EVERYTHING whether intended or not, whether teacher or peer generated etc. is part of the curriculum. It becomes part of the students’ education.

This all encompassing idea of education curriculum wouldn’t be so daunting if there weren’t so many horrendous things that transpire in an average day in a high school (okay, specifically mine). As a teacher and a human, I try to be a “good” person and uphold a high level of ethics and to set a good example, but I never thought of it as part of the curricula, but based on both of the above definitions, it is. The students are learning from me and I am mindful of that and act in appropriate manner and send out positive messages. The irony is that I am biased. We all are! Of course, I consider myself to be a positive influence. However, what I consider to be “good” or “appropriate” or “positive” is based off of value judgments. Furthermore, there is a flip side to this; what about the teachers, fellow authority figures, who have sexual relations with the students or share stories about partying with them or disrespecting other staff or administration in front of the students or lying and cheating (by the way all things that have occurred in my school)? I am sure that most of these people feel that they are justified in what they tell and do with the students. That is a lot of “negative” hidden curriculum coming from those teachers. I don’t even want to think about all of the negative values the students are presented with via their peers on a daily basis.

It really is very overwhelming when you think about it. In my school, they have actually started a program that deals with some of the hidden curriculum and negative events that the students normally experience. However, even though the administration is trying to reach out to the students on issues relating to bullying and what not and to set up the STAT program so the students can start to feel a connection to a faculty member, many of the faculty members are not on board with the program. Therefore, the program is not very effective and more negative messages are being sent out to the students.

As usual, the readings have stimulated more questions for me than they answered. What can an administrator do to try to get the entire faculty on board with sending out an agreed upon message of what is good or acceptable? For that matter, how can there be a consensus on those definitions? Is it possible for there to be positive peer-pressure among the staff to get everyone involved (without it turning into a “gotcha” situation)?