For this post I thought I'd move away from curriculum, and take a closer look at the assessment side of education. Specifically I will examine the somewhat controversial subject of giving students zeros on assignments and tests. Now, I have had some experiences with being given zeros on assignments and tests and it was unpleasant. Anyone who has been given a zero will be able to tell you that it sucks. However, if students aren't given zeros what consequences are left to students that don't do the work?
Some setting a Sakai sight to give all students who did not submit zero (Source)
Now in my experience the most common reason for a student to receive a zero is because the assignment was not submitted. When work is not submitted it seems reasonable to some that students be given a zero. According to wikibooks, "These teachers say that even though a zero will dramatically affect a student’s average in class, that the zero is what they earned by not performing the work which was expected of them on time," and often comment that in the real world if something is not completed well and on time people face serious consequences. They further argue that by failing provide consequences for late or incomplete work teachers give students unreasonable expectations for their lives after school.
A teacher who was suspended for violating his schools no zero policy
being interviewed by CBC on why he insists on giving zeros. (Source)
However, in spite of this justification many schools and teachers have instituted and maintain no zero policies. According to Canadian Family "The theory behind the no-zero policy is that students should be given every opportunity to complete work in order to allow them the best chance to succeed and move on to the next level of their education." This policy means that either students be given the opportunity to submit assignments late, or that the minimum grade is changed to a higher mark, often a passing grade. Wikibooks comments that 'getting a zero for “failing to do homework does not reflect a student’s lack of knowledge. Such issues are behavior responses not academic. Zeros promote failure rather than the student gaining more knowledge."'
In my own experience with assessment I have encountered both teachers who would give out zeros for an incomplete or late assignment and those who allowed students to submit work after the initial due date. In the English department at Brock University any assignment not submitted by the deadline is supposed to receive a mark of zero unless previous arrangements have been made, and I have received zeros on minor assignments because I did not do the work. While it was unpleasant to receive a zero, I felt that they were deserved. In one other case I was in position to be given a zero on an assignment, because of confusion about the due date, and was given the opportunity to submit the assignment late. Similarly my high school had the policy that assignments could be submitted late at a penalty of a 10% loss of marks per day between the due date and the day the assignment was submitted.
Cartoon depicting the process of giving students adjusted grades for late assignments (Source)
I believe that the best policy is one that combines the best of both zero and no zero policies. Students should not automatically be given zeros for assignments that are not completed on time, but should instead be given the chance to submit assignments late with an adjusted grade based on the length of time that passed between the assignment's due date and the date that it is submitted. However, if sufficient time has passed the student could be given a zero. This strategy allows for students to be given every opportunity to succeed and prevents situations where students find themselves in the position to fail because they were too busy, or confused about the deadline, but also provides students with consequences for not completing work, or not submitting work before the deadline. Ultimately it is important that students understand that there are consequences for failing to meet deadlines, but these consequences don't necessarily need to be zero if the appropriate actions are taken to attempt to correct for having missed the deadline.
If you were to ask a group of students what they learned in school on a given day you would likely receive a number of responses detailing concepts in math, science, language, and any number of other subjects. Depending on their grade level they might tell you that they learned the quadratic equation, how to use commas, or how clouds form. However, these subjects that are outlined in the curriculum are only a part of what students learn during their time in school. The rest, the lessons that aren't included in any curriculum document or specific subject is the hidden curriculum.
In my previous post Lessons in Absences: The Power and Importance of the Null Curriculum, I explained that there are three distinct subsections of curriculum: the null curriculum, the explicit curriculum, and finally the hidden curriculum. Since the explicit curriculum is simply what can be found in curriculum documents, and my last post was on null curriculum I thought that I would take the opportunity to take a look at hidden curriculum.
A brief explanation of what is learned through hidden curriculum and how some of these lessons are imparted (source)
The Glossary of Education Reform writes that "Hidden curriculum refers to the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives that students learn in school." I would suggest that we view the hidden curriculum as a mix of some characteristics of the explicit and null curriculum, whereby it is not explicitly taught, but it is still learned by students.
In retrospect I have learned a number of lessons from hidden curriculum throughout my educational experience. Some have been good things like learning to treat others with respect and being polite. Others have been things that were actually somewhat harmful, such as learning that it was considered inappropriate to like certain colors and toys, that marks were the only important thing in school, and that it is wrong to question what a teacher tells you.
Simplified depiction of the potential effects of Hidden Curriculum (source)
In Hidden Curriculum in Education: Definition & Examples on Study.com, Stefani Boutelier comments that: "Areas of hidden curriculum in our schools that mold perspectives of students deal with issues such as gender, morals, social class, stereotypes, cultural expectations, politics, and language." Considering the broad reach of hidden curriculum it is incredibly important that educators consider the ways in which hidden curriculum is a part of their classroom, and the effects that it might have on their students.
Unfortunately, as is suggested in The Glossary of Education Reform, "The hidden curriculum is described as “hidden” because it is usually unacknowledged or unexamined by students, educators, and the wider community. And because the values and lessons reinforced by the hidden curriculum are often the accepted status quo, it may be assumed that these “hidden” practices and messages don’t need to change." As a future educator I will maintain awareness of both the dangers, and potential of the hidden curriculum, and attempt to ensure that any hidden curriculum in my classroom will have a positive effect on my students. In order to achieve this ends I will attempt to be aware of my own prejudices and either overcome them, or keep them separate from the classroom in order to avoid passing them on to students through the hidden curriculum.
A fun video from Youtube explaining hidden curriculum and some of its dangers (Source)
In closing, it is evident that the hidden curriculum is incredibly important to the educational process. In an increasingly more complex and diverse educational system it is increasingly important for all educators to critically examine the hidden curriculum in their own classroom and how it may affect their students. It is also vital for them to recognize that while the hidden curriculum is often unintentionally a powerful instrument of social reproduction, by being conscious of what hidden messages they are imparting to students the hidden curriculum can be used as a powerful instrument of social change.
Throughout my educational experience I've encountered the concept of curriculum a number of times, unsurprising given its importance to education. However, It did not occur to me to view curriculum as more than a set of guidelines and instructions outlining what is taught and how it is taught until recently. Evidently curriculum is somewhat more complicated than I thought.
In 3 Basic types of curriculum the idea of curriculum is separated into 3 distinct types of curriculum: the explicit curriculum, implicit or hidden curriculum, and finally the Null curriculum. Explicit curriculum is similar to my initial concept of curriculum and refers to the information found in curriculum documents, while implicit curriculum deals with lessons that are not included in the curriculum, but are still learned as a result of their school experience. In contrast the Null curriculum refers to information and ideas that are not taught in classrooms either intentionally or unintentionally.
Some examples of the Null curriculum in my own educational experience include things like: the lack of information about non mainstream gender and sexuality in my experience with sexual education, or the absence novels written by non-white authors in all but one of my English classes previous to university.
In The Null Curriculum: Its Theoretical Basis and Practical Implication Flinders, Noddings, and Thornton explain that: "when developing a curriculum,
we leave things out. It is a truism of the curriculum field that schools
cannot teach everything...curricularists must be concerned with the allocation
of limited school resources to educationally beneficial ends" (34). However, while the information in the null curriculum is, by necessity, not included in the explicit curriculum it should not be dismissed as unimportant.
For one thing, Flinders et al. point out that examination of the null curriculum can be useful in examining the relative merit of the reasons for including specific content in the explicit curriculum and determining effective alternative content. Additionally the null curriculum might be used as a tool to gain increased understanding of our culture and what information and skills are valued in it.
The null curriculum also carries with it a number of dangers, as Dr. Mel from answering the call: ministerial education comments in her post Null Curriculum... Say What?. Dr. Mel tells readers that: "The problem with leaving information out of any given curriculum is that students either never get the information or assume that the information is irrelevant or unimportant." She goes on to comment that this effect can be particularly problematic when dealing with issues such as gender or race.
The danger posed by failing to closely examine the null curriculum also extends to causing feelings of alienation and disinterest in students whose culture, interests, gender etc. is not included in the curriculum. To return to an earlier example, in the sexual education classes that I took, a student who was transgender would likely feel discriminated against because of the lack of information pertinent to their personal experience.
A brief summary of the overt curriculum used in my sex education (Source)
I also think it is important when considering null curriculum to be wary of the enormous potential of the educational system determine the values of society. It is important to remember that, as Dr. Mel points out information that is not included in the explicit curriculum is generally seen by students as unimportant or irrelevant if they are even aware of it. It is interesting that one of the lessons of the hidden curriculum, intentionally or otherwise, is that anything not included in the explicit curriculum must be unimportant. This effect means things that are commonly omitted from a curriculum, such as non-traditional genders and sexuality, literature of other cultures, and any number of other things, are seen as of secondary importance to students learning that curriculum.
In conclusion students learn nearly as much from what is excluded from the curriculum as they do studying the information in the curriculum. As such, it is incredibly important to not only be conscious of what is included in the curriculum, but also what is being left out.
Finally enjoy this video of John Oliver pointing out the null curriculum and its drawbacks in his criticism of Sex Ed in the USA. (Source)
