The impact of implementing the civic education curriculum on the hidden curriculum in schools

Abstract

Teaching the topic of Civic and citizenship education is carried out in all EU member countries including Croatia and in many other countries around the world. By achieving the fundamental outcomes of Civic and citizenship education curricula in schools, pupils are being transformed into a good citizen who has the skills, attitudes and knowledge need to be an active and purposeful participation in social life of his community and achieving his full potential as an individual. The Civic and citizenship education curriculum, with its wide area of pedagogic approaches and effective teaching methods, that include an active involvement of pupils in the life and everyday work of a school and the local community, move the social community towards creating a better society. The potential of these and similar activities can be seen in the hidden curricula elements that represent the learning of attitudes, norms, beliefs, values and assumptions. The hidden curricula in schools is, aside the public normed goals of education, attained by, often hidden but important goals of education. The research of the hidden curricula and Civic and citizenship education in schools, as seemingly conceptually divergent concepts instigated the authors in creating a paper to show their undisputed link. That link can most clearly be seen in an example of pupils cooperating in participatory decision-making (for example making class rules or choosing the class president or representative). In it, the class explicitly show the desired patterns of behaviour within their community which then gives signals to the outside on the “impression” that a community (a class) reveals towards the other participants of the education process and towards the school body. Exploring the available literature and scientific research done in the EU and Croatia, interesting findings have been found on the possible impact of Civicand citizenship education curriculum implementation to the hidden curricula in schools.