Topic : What Do We Expect Pupils to Learn? - The Hidden Curriculum Source: Marsh, C.J., Perspectives: Key Concepts for Understanding Curriculum 1, New Edition, The Falmer Press, 1997, 33-39. Hidden Curriculum Introduction Philip Jackson (1968) highlights the term ‘hidden curriculum’ in his book Life in Classrooms, and he is generally cited as the originator of the term. Yet it appears to have been used by William Waller in the early 1930s (Eisner, 1985). Hidden Curriculum and Related Terms There are many other terms and expressions which relate closely to the term ‘hidden curriculum’ including: * unwritten curriculum; * null curriculum. Exponents of ‘unwritten curriculum’, such as Blumberg and Blumberg (1994), contend that the unwritten curriculum simply exists as a byproduct of educational system and not because anyone has deliberately hidden certain learning experiences. These authors conclude that schools focus on the work of learning and as a consequence can’t be involved in nurtur