The hidden curriculum of temporal organization: an empirical comparison of classroom and workshop practices

Abstract

Time is intrinsic in all forms of education. A growing body of educational research has begun examining time as something more than a context within which teaching and learning happen. While much of the existing research has tended to focus on either ‘objective’ clock time or ‘subjective’ time as experienced by individual teachers or students, this article addresses time as a curricular aspect that organizes everyday school practices. Drawing on practice theory and social theories of time, the article offers a conceptually rich analysis of the temporal organization of in situ educational practices. Based on fieldwork conducted in a Norwegian upper secondary school vocational programme, we compare two practices: solving maths problems on worksheets and building sheds. We argue that the temporal organizations of the practices are an essential part of a hidden curriculum. While the hidden curriculum in the worksheet practice is characterized by individualization, efficiency, inflexibility and a linear orientation towards time, the shed-building practice is characterized by collaboration, quality over efficiency, flexibility and a more event-based orientation towards time. We propose that event-based time serves as a point of contrast to the ubiquitous notion of linear time in education and might inspire new thinking about educational change.