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.
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| Break down of curriculum aspects (Source) |
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.
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| 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)
Mr. Hart
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Duff,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this post, I thought you did a great job of captivating a topic from the course and expanding on it in depth. I really appreciate how you opened with a personal experience. As a reader, I was prompted to think of my own experience of null curriculum in school. I thought the flow of your ideas was well planned, and your post was very visually appealing. I commend you for crediting your sources (i.e. underneath images) as hyperlinks. I thought this was extremely creative. As a Physical Education Major, I was strongly able to connect to the example on the sex education curriculum. I enjoyed how you referred back to this example a few times throughout your post because I think it demonstrated a thorough understanding of the topic. One suggestion would be to discuss further on how null curriculum will affect you and us as future educators. I thought you did an excellent job in final words of summarizing your thoughts with the line “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.” This is something we should all be thinking about when managing our classrooms. A final suggestion would be to continue to break up large amounts of content with a picture, quote or question. Overall excellent job!
Duff,
ReplyDeleteYour blog was very informative, and your discussion of the Null curriculum was thorough and well researched. The examples you provided of how topics such as literature from other cultures or minority groups might be omitted from curriculum, along with your personal experiences with these omissions really aided my understanding of the Null curriculum and helped me to think about what was left out in my own education. Your blog really gave me a deeper understanding of how leaving knowledge or values out of the curriculum can make students view them as unimportant, and alienate students who are not represented in the curriculum. Your blog was very visually appealing and well formatted, and breaking the text up into smaller blocks made it very easy to follow. As one suggestion, in the future you could provide further examples of how you would like to create change in your own classroom in the future, so for this particular blog as an example, discuss how you would address the impacts of the Null curriculum as a teacher. Great job overall, and keep it up!
Duff,
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed reading your blog this week, and found it to be not only be very insightful, but to be captivating and well organized as well. My blog post this week was on the Hidden Curriculum, so it was very interesting to read about one of the other 3 major types of curriculum that are displayed in the classroom. Through your blog I learned not only of the major differences between the two curriculums, but also certain similarities such as the unintentional development of concepts and ideas that arise when an explicit curriculum is in place. This leads me to ask if you see these similarities as well, and how do you think they are different and similar? I also really liked the aesthetic composition of your blog, as the pictures and videos fit very nicely in with your topic, and divide up the written work so it is not filled with long paragraphs. One suggestion I may add to your blog would be to provide one or more examples of times when you have experienced a Null Curriculum (or any future topic) in your own educational experience. Not only does it provide an example for someone having trouble understanding, but it also connects you as a writer to the text in which you are writing. Overall, very well done; can't wait for the next one!