The Hidden Curriculum and the Development of Latent skills: The Praxis

Winston Kwame Abroampa

doi:10.5430/jct.v9n2p70

Abstract

The paper sought to explore the extent to which the hidden curriculum also referred to as the collateral curriculum can be used to develop skills, values and attitudes for learners to inculcate in order to develop the affective domain. Primarily, education is supposed to ensure the holistic development of any individual with a balanced development of all the domains. However, current educational policies and their implementation overemphasise the development of intellectual abilities to the detriment of, especially, the affective domain due to narrow and restrictive accountability practices. Since learners learn more than what they are taught in class and what they acquire from the school’s culture stays much longer with them, it is reasonable they are given the opportunity to explore in order to create a school environment and a culture that would effectively evolve such soft skills and affective elements for learners. Various aspects of school life from which affective elements can be practically derived have been discussed with its attendant educational policy implications.

Highlights

Since time immemorial education has been a trilogy; for the transmission of knowledge, acquisition of skills and inculcation of values and attitudes. It is in this breathe that developers of educational programmes or curricula have provided content and experiences that cater for these triadic constituents, that further promote the three developmental faculties - cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains of learners
There is a failure to pay attention to instilling affective elements and non-cognitive skills resulting in the inability of schools and educational systems, as a whole, to contribute to the socialization and personal development of their learners (Kentli, 2009; Tough, 2012)
The use of the term hidden curriculum was first attributed to Phillip Jackson in 1968

Summary

Introduction

Since time immemorial education has been a trilogy; for the transmission of knowledge, acquisition of skills and inculcation of values and attitudes. There is a failure to pay attention to instilling affective elements and non-cognitive skills resulting in the inability of schools and educational systems, as a whole, to contribute to the socialization and personal development of their learners (Kentli, 2009; Tough, 2012). This phenomenon has largely been attributed to accountability policies and practices that place premium on test scores and results. The paper seeks to support the ongoing discourse on exploring the effective use of the hidden curriculum in the generation of affective elements for learners in school to better equip and prepare them for the society

The Concepts Hidden Curriculum and Latent Skills

Levels of the Hidden Curriculum

The Need for the Development of Latent Skills

Findings

Educational Policy Implications