TYPES OF CURRICULUM
1. Overt, explicit, or written curriculum
It is simply that which is written as part of formal instruction of schooling experiences. It may refer to a
curriculum document, texts, films, and supportive teaching materials that are overtly chosen to support
the intentional instructional agenda of a school. Thus, the overt curriculum is usually confined to those
written understandings and directions formally designated and reviewed by administrators, curriculum directors
and teachers, often collectively.
It appears in state and local documents like state standards, district curriculum guides, course of study, scope
and sequence charts and teachers’ planning documents given to schools
2. Societal curriculum (or social curricula)
As defined by Cortes (1981). Cortes defines this curriculum as:…[the] massive, ongoing, informal curriculum
of family, peer groups, neighborhoods, churches, organizations, occupations, mass media, and other socializing
forces that “educate” all of us throughout our lives.
This type of curricula can now be expanded to include the powerful effects of social media (YouTube;
Facebook; Twitter; Pinterest, etc) and how it actively helps create new perspectives, and can help shape both
individual and public opinion.
3. Hidden Curriculum
Hidden curriculum refers to the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives
that students learn in school. While the “formal” curriculum consists of the courses, lessons, and learning
activities students participate in, as well as the knowledge and skills educators intentionally teach to students,
the hidden curriculum consists of the unspoken or implicit academic, social, and cultural messages that are
communicated to students while they are in school.
It is an unintended curriculum which is not planned but may modify behavior or influence learning outcomes
that transpire in school
The hidden curriculum begins early in a child's education. Students learn to form opinions and ideas about their
environment and their classmates. For example, children learn 'appropriate' ways to act at school, meaning
what's going to make them popular with teachers and students. They also learn what is expected of them; for
example, many students pick up on the fact that year-end test scores are what really matter.
4. Null Curriculum
That which we do not teach, thus giving students the message that these elements are not important in their
educational experiences or in our society. Eisner offers some major points as he concludes his discussion of the
null curriculum. The major point I have been trying to make thus far is that schools have consequences not only
by virtue of what they do teach, but also by virtue of what they neglect to teach. What students cannot consider,
what they don’t processes they are unable to use, have consequences for the kinds of lives they lead.
From Eisner’s perspective the null curriculum is simply that which is not taught in schools. Somehow,
somewhere, some people are empowered to make conscious decisions as to what is to be included and what is
1. Overt, explicit, or written curriculum
It is simply that which is written as part of formal instruction of schooling experiences. It may refer to a
curriculum document, texts, films, and supportive teaching materials that are overtly chosen to support
the intentional instructional agenda of a school. Thus, the overt curriculum is usually confined to those
written understandings and directions formally designated and reviewed by administrators, curriculum directors
and teachers, often collectively.
It appears in state and local documents like state standards, district curriculum guides, course of study, scope
and sequence charts and teachers’ planning documents given to schools
2. Societal curriculum (or social curricula)
As defined by Cortes (1981). Cortes defines this curriculum as:…[the] massive, ongoing, informal curriculum
of family, peer groups, neighborhoods, churches, organizations, occupations, mass media, and other socializing
forces that “educate” all of us throughout our lives.
This type of curricula can now be expanded to include the powerful effects of social media (YouTube;
Facebook; Twitter; Pinterest, etc) and how it actively helps create new perspectives, and can help shape both
individual and public opinion.
3. Hidden Curriculum
Hidden curriculum refers to the unwritten, unofficial, and often unintended lessons, values, and perspectives
that students learn in school. While the “formal” curriculum consists of the courses, lessons, and learning
activities students participate in, as well as the knowledge and skills educators intentionally teach to students,
the hidden curriculum consists of the unspoken or implicit academic, social, and cultural messages that are
communicated to students while they are in school.
It is an unintended curriculum which is not planned but may modify behavior or influence learning outcomes
that transpire in school
The hidden curriculum begins early in a child's education. Students learn to form opinions and ideas about their
environment and their classmates. For example, children learn 'appropriate' ways to act at school, meaning
what's going to make them popular with teachers and students. They also learn what is expected of them; for
example, many students pick up on the fact that year-end test scores are what really matter.
4. Null Curriculum
That which we do not teach, thus giving students the message that these elements are not important in their
educational experiences or in our society. Eisner offers some major points as he concludes his discussion of the
null curriculum. The major point I have been trying to make thus far is that schools have consequences not only
by virtue of what they do teach, but also by virtue of what they neglect to teach. What students cannot consider,
what they don’t processes they are unable to use, have consequences for the kinds of lives they lead.
From Eisner’s perspective the null curriculum is simply that which is not taught in schools. Somehow,
somewhere, some people are empowered to make conscious decisions as to what is to be included and what is
