How may a teacher take into account the formal, informal,

and hidden curriculum in both planning and teaching?

The concept of curriculum planning must be viewed critically
at the purposes, content and processes in a holistic manner.
How we perceive of curriculum making is important
because our conceptions and ways of reasoning about
curriculum reflect and shape how we see, think and talk
about, study and act on the education made available to
students. Our curriculum conceptions, ways of reasoning and
practice can be value neutral. They necessarily reflect our
assumption about the world, even if those assumptions
remain implicit and unexamined. Conceptions emerge from
and enter into practice (Cornbleth, 1990). In essence, ones
approach to curriculum is shaped by ones views of the world
and their values (philosophy), of how children develop and
behave (psychology) and on social issues (sociology) (Harris,
2010). Define the concept of curriculum, the formal, informal
and hidden curriculum and explaining the extent to which
these (formal, informal and hidden) curriculum has a greater
impact on the development of learners.
Formal education is classroom-based, provided by trained
teachers. Informal education happens outside the classroom,
in after-school programs, community-based organizations,
museums, libraries, or at home.
Teachers need to meet educational standards and stick to a
specified curriculum, which can make it difficult for them to
incorporate nontraditional content. After-school programs, on
the other hand, can be more flexible with their content
Both formal and informal education settings offer different
strengths to your educational outreach project. If your
project fits in the classroom, it can have a very long life;
teachers will use trusted resources for years. After-school
programs offer a different kind of environment, where your
activities don't need to be as formal and where you can
reach a different audience.

While both schools and after-school programs serve

students, many kids who feel disenfranchised at school
blossom in after-school settings. Real learning can happen in
a setting where kids feel less intimidated or more
comfortable than they do in a formal classroom. The ultimate
goal is that their success in an informal setting can lead to
greater confidence in the formal classroom
An additional benefit of developing materials for informal
educational settings is that they may be useful to parents at
home with their kids, or to adult learners who are looking to
expand their knowledge, either for their own enrichment or
to increase their career options.
If take social studies subject for year one students, in
elementary level school, It may contain the objectives of the
subject, the planned content or the coverage of the subject
matter, teaching techniques and strategies, the learning
outcome and the learning activities that will provide the
learning outcome for the students and finally the evaluation
methods and procedures. So, these are the components that
we could find in a syllabus. This is a curriculum that is not
very much spoken about by teachers, but it has a lot of
impact on student's learning and their behavior. It is this
unwritten and sometimes, unconscious values, beliefs,
behaviour assumptions. That comes together with the formal
and informal curriculum that happens in the school.
For example, teachers who spend a lot of time talking and
not giving much opportunity to the children to speak or to
answer may bring about this kind of understanding among,
amongst students that teachers are the most powerful
people in the school, an authority that need to be abided by,
and students will become very passive in nature.
And also, in some instances, schoolteachers may pay
attention to certain group of students, and not the others,
and this may also bring about some understanding among
students, that certain group of people is more valued than
the others. So, these are the kind of examples that happens

in school. And this can be caused by the human intervention,

human behaviour, and teachers behaviour. Or it can be also
structural in the sense that schools can also impose some
kind of hidden curriculum on the students. So, this is a very
important concept that you, as a teacher, understand and
consciously make efforts to pay attention to this aspect of
curriculum. One is time allocation, subject, theme,
objectives, materials, learning outcomes, and teacher
activity, learning activity, assessment and evaluation. These
are the nine key elements that are usually found in a
syllabus. That guides teachers in planning, preparing, and
implementing the curriculum in the classroom.
What is this lesson plan?
Based on syllabus given, teachers prepare weekly and daily
lesson plans. Which may include items like time allocation,
topic, lesson units, learning outcomes, teaching strategies,
teaching materials, student activities, and assessment
methods. So, these are the important components that get
included in a lesson plan for the week and the day.
As a teacher, it is very important that you plan for something
more than the formal or the written curriculum. There are
elements such as Implicit,
Informal, and Hidden aspects that's involved in daily school
life. As a teacher, it is important if think about how you may
want to bring this into focus in lesson plans as well.
And here, John Dewey has given some important ideas on
curricular integration, which is very much helpful in what we
are talking about right now on the syllabus and lesson plans.
It is actually in the hands of the teachers to be resourceful in
utilizing all that is around them to make the teaching
learning a successful experience.