Principals’ Perspectives on the Influence of the Hidden Curriculum on Children’s School Development

Abstract

Today in the field of education, there is no unified, constant theory of the hidden curriculum of children’s school development. Attempts to shed light on this issue are fragmentary and explain just some elements of this concept. The purpose of this study is to investigate the broader concept of the hidden curriculum and its effect on children’s school development. Principals hold the main responsibility for a school, so it is reasonable to examine the concept of the hidden curriculum from the principal’s perspectives. This study analyzed data from interviews with six principals who worked in different countries. Content analysis was used to analyze the data, and to identify the components of the concept of the school’s hidden curriculum which influences a child’s school development. The study concludes that there are two main components which constitute the hidden curriculum: the influence of people, and the influence of the school setting. The study also found that the absence or presence of cognitive dissonance in a child’s development and the child’s psychological needs were influenced by the hidden curriculum. It was found that all the components of the concept of the hidden curriculum were related to each other and were dependent on one another.