Phillip Jackson ("Life In Classrooms")

In terms of the hidden curriculum, Jackson argues that that merely to study any subject in the curriculum, the student has first to learn deference (which Jackson terms a form of "hidden learning"). For example: a student has to learn to defer to:

The authority of the teacher:

Failure to observe implicit and explicit classroom rules leaves the student open to sanction (from mild rebuke, through formal punishments, to the less tangible forms of teacher labelling - getting a reputation as a "difficult" student, a "trouble-maker", "stupid", etc.). These rules govern such things as:

• When it is permissible to speak.
  Who you are permitted to speak to.
  Where you are allowed to sit.
  

To the selection of what is presented as valid knowledge in books:

To pass exams (and thereby succeed in educational terms), the student has to learn to conform to what the teacher presents as valid forms of knowledge.

To the system of learning:

This involves such things as:

• Individualism - learning is a process that should not, ultimately, be shared.
  Competition - the objective is to demonstrate you are better than your peers.
  

To the teacher's assessment of progress:

In this respect, the student must defer to what the teacher says is progress - to do otherwise is to run the risk of being negatively labelled and sanctioned.

These, therefore, are some of the "rules of the educational game" and illustrate the nature of socially-derived assumptions carried by the teacher into the classroom. Teachers, of course, are well-aware of the pressures placed upon them to fulfil one of the prime requisites of education in Britain, namely to orientate their students towards the taking and passing of examinations (and to paraphrase Meighan, examinations are a powerful ghost, haunting both the organisation of the school and the relationship between the teacher and their students - structural as well as personal).

In the above respect, Jackson's concept of the hidden curriculum involves seeing the learning process (both formal and informal learning) as one that:

a. Takes place within the limitations of various structural imperatives.

b. Involves social interaction between teachers and students concerning the precise basis upon which teaching / learning takes place.

c. Reflects the powerful, structurally-derived, position of the teacher.

d. Places limitations on social action, in terms of what both the teacher and students can legitimately do in the classroom.

In terms of the schooling experience of individual students, therefore:

Conformity brings long-term rewards in terms of educational success, whilst in the short-term the student may have to suffer boredom, strict teacher control, etc.

Non-conformity brings short-term rewards (alleviating boredom, passing the time, etc.), while, long-term, the student may suffer from a lack of educational success.