The classroom as curriculum - the contribution and relation of the Hidden Curriculum to gender disparities in Community Day Secondary Schools in Malawi

Abstract

The hidden curriculum is a concept that can be allocated within the Gramscian understanding of cultural hegemony. It refers to the covert norms, values, beliefs, and attitudes that students learn unconsciously but effectively at school. It is mediated not only by teachers’ activities, but also through organizational processes within the school. Hidden curricula can implicate how to behave in public, how to deal with authority figures, how to fit into societal expectations regarding one’s social class, race, or ethnicity. Another significant element of the hidden curriculum and topic of this thesis is its role in conveying normative assumptions about gender. Although on biological terms, female and male bodies differ, gender is a construction that is communicated and reinforced by socialization processes. Since schools may not be aware of their contribution and do not intend to buttress harmful perception about gender, it is relevant to raise awareness and to investigate how the hidden curriculum may contribute and relate to gender disparities in schools. For this thesis, research on the hidden curriculum and its relation and impact on gender disparity has been conducted in two Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS), one in rural and another one in an urban setting in Malawi, southeast Africa. The thesis draws its conclusions from focus group discussions with female and male students and teacher.