What If in Education - Invisible Curriculum Scanners: Seeing What We’re Actually Teaching
By Les Huysmans
Schools work hard to define what they teach — subject objectives, schemes of work, learning outcomes. But what about the things we don’t say? The patterns we reinforce without meaning to? The invisible systems students learn just by being in the room?
This is the domain of the hidden curriculum — and it’s often more powerful than the one on paper.
Imagine a tool that scans classrooms and school systems for what’s actually being taught: who speaks most, who’s rewarded, how conflict is handled, how teachers speak to different types of students, and which values dominate daily decision-making. An Invisible Curriculum Scanner wouldn’t measure content — it would measure culture.
Why This Matters
Every school delivers two curriculums at once:
- The official one (maths, literacy, science...)
- The silent one (what success looks like, who gets heard, which behaviours are prized or punished)
Paulo Freire, in Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), argued that education is never neutral. It either functions to maintain systems as they are or to transform them. The hidden curriculum often tilts toward the former — reinforcing social norms, power structures, and quiet compliance.
Other researchers such as Giroux (1983) and, more recently Apple (2004), have explored how schools replicate inequality not just through grades and access, but through messages embedded in tone, timing, seating plans, classroom layout, and silence.
If we want schools to be spaces of critical thought, creativity, and fairness, we have to become aware of the curriculum behind the curriculum.
How It Could Work
An Invisible Curriculum Scanner could take multiple forms — both human and technological:
- Teacher and student surveys about who speaks, who gets cut off, and who gets praised
- Audio pattern tracking showing how much teacher talk vs student talk dominates in lessons
- Observation logs that record moments of implicit messaging (e.g. only calling on “strong” students for hard tasks)
- AI-powered lesson reviews that flag disproportionate attention or reinforcement
Even low-tech versions are possible:
Students could keep hidden curriculum diaries, and schools could run self-audits of common routines, materials, and feedback styles.
This isn't about blame. It's about awareness. Once we see it, we can choose to change it.
Examples of What It Might Reveal
- That group work is always supervised by extroverts
- That boys are corrected more often, but also given more second chances
- That displays mostly show perfect, neat, compliant work
- That students rarely hear stories from their own cultural background
- That late arrivals are greeted with eye-rolls, not empathy
The goal is not to shame teachers or schools — it’s to develop a culture of professional self-reflection and institutional curiosity.
What Ifs in Education Today
What if every school did a termly scan of what students were actually learning between the lines?
What if we didn't only ask “Did they learn the objective?”, but also started asking “What else did they absorb?”
What if transparency and humility became part of the curriculum too?
If this resonates, you might also enjoy Why Your Child Needs a Qualified & Experienced Academic Coach, which looks at how learning culture affects student development. Or Visualising a Story – A Student-Centred Creative Activity, which shows how creative outputs reveal more than content knowledge.
If this sparked anything — questions, rants, good old curiosity — come say hi via the About Les page.
Research References
- Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder.
- Giroux, H. A. (1983). Theory and Resistance in Education: A Pedagogy for the Opposition. Bergin & Garvey.
- Apple, M. (2004). Ideology and Curriculum (3rd ed.). Routledge Falmer.