The ‘ideal’ higher education student: understanding the hidden curriculum to enable institutional change

Abstract

In England, more students from a wider range of backgrounds participate in higher education than in previous generations. This has led to a focus on how students from diverse backgrounds can fit better with existing higher education institutions. This is often framed in terms of ‘deficits’ that these students have to overcome to more closely resemble the ‘implied’ or ‘ideal’ students around which institutions are, often unconsciously, modelled. We flip this focus by thinking about how educational institutions can evolve in response to diverse students. We use the theoretical lens of the hidden curriculum to explore student perceptions of ‘ideal’ students. Findings are based on research with eight students as co-researchers and 24 further student participants in an academically selective English higher education institution. We find that there are many aspects of hidden or assumed practices within universities students encounter when first coming to higher education. Focusing specifically on learning environments and curricula, we found that ideas about an implied student were evident in the institution, that this mattered for the experience of learning–and that consciousness of hidden processes helps. We conclude by suggesting that instead of focusing on how to change students to fit institutions, institutions need to be open and adaptable to all students.