In my reading of Robert Pazmino’s Foundational Issues in Christian EducationI came across a helpful section related to teaching curricula (awkward plural there, but that is the right word). There are three types of curriculum for teachers (and I’m going to extend this to all leaders as I move forward).
- There is your Explicit Curriculum – Your actual content and material.
- There is your Hidden Curriculum – This is what is sensed by the learners (or followers) from environment, modeling, and other indirect sources of influence
- There is also your “Null” Curriculum * Elliot Eiser (see below) describes this as “That which is not taught by choice or oversight.”*
Teachers, preachers, and leaders all tend to focus to a large degree on their explicit curriculum. A smaller percentage focus on the hidden curriculum. From a leadership standpoint this involves leadership culture and environment as opposed to just strategic plans and tasks. Then, an even smaller percentage focus on the null curriculum or are even aware that it exists.
How I take that is that as teachers or leaders can teach with or without awareness or intentionality about those things we we choose to leave out of our explicit curriculum. It’s easy to make designs and plans without any awareness of what it means to yes to some things and no to other things. Saying yes to something means saying no to others. What we say no to is our null curriculum.
But do we always know what we are saying no to? My experience says naivete, cluelessness, or pride all can blind us to the influence on the null curriculum.
Leaders usually lead with a clear view of what they want to achieve and want to be value driven, but I think it takes awareness and intentionality with each of the three curricula above to truly lead transformationally and with holistic integrity. We know “our” curriculum, but we don’t always know the various choices and elements that actually influence whether or not our desired outcomes come into reality (and without undesired side effects that we can’t foresee).In your leadership, how do you go about being intentional about the full range of what you pass on to those you lead? I find these to be intriguing categories, but I’m still thinking a lot about my hidden and null curricula as a leader.
What thoughts do you have about this?
*Elliot W. Eisner, The Educational Imagination: On the Design and Evaluation of School Programs, 2nd ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1985), 97. See also Ronald T. Habermas, “Even What You Don’t Say Counts,” Christian Education Journal 5 (Autumn 1984): 24-27
You're certainly right, at least for us in the world of college ministry: We rarely have any idea of all we're saying No to in every choice we make (in our teaching as well as our methods). Because of the crazy diversity of contexts (even in a single state, let alone the nation), we rarely realize how many viable options are available.(I recently blogged on 40 variations I've seen just within large group meetings, so this has been on my mind lately!)So that brings up one solution to the naivete issue you brought up (which also does a fairly good job of knocking pride in the head, too): observing other ministries / collaborating with other ministers. When we realize more and more options, our teaching-worlds get exponentially bigger.
great point benson, a large part of our naivety or cluelessness comes from our lack of intentionality to learn from others. Great thoughts on some practical ways in which people can increase their awareness so they know what they are and are not choosing to live out and implement.