What’s on the The Hidden Curriculum poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
The hidden curriculum is the set of values, expectations and social rules pupils learn from how a school runs, distinct from anything in its stated aims.
- Timetables teach that knowledge comes in separate boxes.
- Queueing and bells teach compliance and timing.
- Who is asked questions teaches who is expected to answer.
- Displayed work teaches what counts as good.
- Omissions teach as strongly as inclusions.
- It operates whether or not anyone intends it.
- A school that says it values enquiry but never gives time for an unresolved question…
Educational reference. The concept comes from the sociology of education and is descriptive: it names an effect, it does not measure one.
Questions about the The Hidden Curriculum poster
- What’s on the The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning) poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. The hidden curriculum is the set of values, expectations and social rules pupils learn from how a school runs, distinct from anything in its stated aims. Timetables teach that knowledge comes in separate boxes.; Queueing and bells teach compliance and timing.; Who is asked questions teaches who is expected to answer.; Displayed work teaches what counts as good.; Omissions teach as strongly as inclusions.; It operates whether or not anyone intends it.; A school that says it values enquiry but never gives time for an unresolved question…. Educational reference. The concept comes from the sociology of education and is descriptive: it names an effect, it does not measure one.
- Who is the The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning) poster for?
- The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning) belongs to the Education section rather than to a school year, because humanities is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning curriculum & planning can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning) poster?
- Use it when auditing what the school communicates that nobody chose to say. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning) belongs on the wall where that humanities work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning)?
- Backward Design, Bloom's Taxonomy and Cultural Capital sit alongside The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning) in the Education section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Backward DesignBloom's TaxonomyCultural Capital
- Is the The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning) poster free to download and print?
- Yes. The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning) downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Education section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning) poster print at?
- The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning) is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of The Hidden Curriculum (Curriculum & planning) loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside The Hidden Curriculum on the same wall.
Browse every Education poster, or start from the full catalogue.