From Shadow Education to “Shadow Curriculum”: Its Definitions and Features

Abstract

This chapter theorizes ‘shadow curriculum’ as a new definition of curriculum. Highlighting the confusing character of the notion of shadow education, the authors provide conceptual discussions about the term. Then, they discuss its limitations for the field of curriculum studies. The authors also describe how shadow curriculum differs from school curriculum. Incorporating shadow curriculum into the various definitions of curriculum, they argue, would open new intellectual space within the field of curriculum studies for the study and understanding of the shadow education phenomenon.