Hidden Curriculum - Can we educate for sustainability through the hidden curriculum?

Can we educate for sustainability through the hidden curriculum? What do you think?

I feel I always want to talk about this important element of our lives. LIVES- did I say LIVES! Yes, Our kids are influenced heavily by their environment. We are what we are because of the environment we grew up in, to most part of it, if not all. I still find myself exhibiting many of my parents' behaviours. What we present to our children implicitly is what I think I mean by 'hidden curriculum'.

I read an essay on "The Power of Words" by Earnest Callenbach. I found it very interesting and relevant to education and community. You may find it interesting too. Curriculum for the Center for EcoLiteracy means the totality of a student's experiences, a mix of content and context. Organizing classes around projects rather than academic subjects is curriculum. 

An overlapping term, " Hidden curriculum" coined by Briar Jackson in the 1960s is the aspect of schooling that is implicit, usually unintentional that plays a role in constructing a student’s image of self, others, and the world.   These hidden aspects of learning are generally value-based ideas communicated indirectly, through actions and words that are part of the everyday life for children in their school community.  The messages imparted through the hidden curriculum usually deal with attitudes, values, beliefs, and behavior. 

I could identify several examples of Hidden curriculum in all the schools I have worked at. What about soda vending machines in the hallways of schools that are trying to promote healthy eating! I read about what the Wichita tribe, a Native American Indian tribe did when constructing roundhouses. They built roundhouses (community houses) that fall apart every 20 years, the reason is simple, they want every generation to have a chance to rebuild it. " If you want to make a building last you do it one way, but if you want to make the knowledge last, you do it another way. There are so many examples of hidden curriculum, we can find in our daily lives in we look and in schools. In an article 'Raising Whole Children', by Michael Ableman: he writes that making learning implicit rather than explicit, helps children make connections with systems rather than in isolation.

The development of morals is rooted in relationship to other people, animals, and the natural world. This is related to the insight that we all gain together. This is why schools have the responsibility to be aware of what messages we impart to children about learning, life, relationships, and connection to the world around them.  The school framework and institutional design, how children are learning, and how they are assessed are all key functions of what children learn in the hidden curriculum.

I really believe that what teachers have to do mostly is be a good role model for their students. In one my earlier posts on 'teachers as role models...' I try to strive for this.