The impact of the hidden curriculum on international students in the context of a country with a toxic triangle of diversity

Abstract

The hidden curriculum, which refers to the ideologies that remain implicit in educational content, is often studied in the context of developed countries with a colonial past where there are efforts to redress the historical injustice of the colonial past. In this paper, we examine the impact of the hidden curriculum on international students in a country with a toxic triangle of diversity. The toxic triangle of diversity describes a context where there is extensive deregulation, voluntarism without responsibilisation of organisations, and absence of supportive organisational discourses for diversity. Most studies of the hidden curriculum have taken place in countries where there are national laws for equality, institutional responsibility to bias‐proof the curriculum, and supportive discourses for diversity. Drawing on a field study with nineteen international students (nine in the field of business studies and ten in other subject fields), we demonstrate how the hidden curriculum remains unattended and how it is legitimised through macro‐, meso‐ and micro‐level interactions that students have. We show that the hidden curriculum serves to silence different forms of exclusion, loneliness and discrimination that international students experience in the context of a toxic triangle of diversity. We suggest ways forward for undoing the damage done through the hidden curriculum in toxic contexts.

Social innovation in managing diversity: COVID-19 as a catalyst for change

“…Turkey has recently withdrawn from the Istanbul Convention, which aimed to combat gender-based violence. Turkey's current context of equality and diversity means that organizations are left to their own devices to formulate diversity management approaches as there is no political, legal and normative pressure to implement diversity interventions (Baykut et al. , 2021; Kamasak et al.…”

“…Turkey has recently withdrawn from the Istanbul Convention, which aimed to combat gender-based violence. Turkey's current context of equality and diversity means that organizations are left to their own devices to formulate diversity management approaches as there is no political, legal and normative pressure to implement diversity interventions (Baykut et al, 2021;Kamasak et al, 2020). We know little about how diversity management operates under COVID-19 pandemic rules in countries and organizations that lack strong normative, regulatory and protective measures like welfare regimes and democratic approaches against discrimination and inequality.…”

Passing as resistance through a Goffmanian approach: Normalized, defensive, strategic, and instrumental passing when LGBTQ+ individuals encounter institutions

“…LGBTQ+ individuals seek to hide their sexual orientation and gender identities, even if the institutions supposedly encounters. In the education system of Turkey, the curriculum does not combat the stigmatization of LGBTQ+ identities (Baykut et al, 2022;Erden, 2020). The absence of a supportive curriculum and a lack of supportive organizational interventions for LGBTQ+ individuals reinforces LGBTQ+ individuals' idea of hiding their sexual orientation and gender identities.…”

The hidden curriculum and its role in curriculum innovation implementation

“…Curriculum innovation implementation in micro (classroom) -and meso (institutional) -environments are imbued with macro (ministerial/national)environment structural considerations made by policymakers. The structural considerations are enacted through micro -and meso -level interactions (Baykut et al, 2022). In the macro-curriculum innovation implementation environment, policymakers (ministerial or government level) are the ones who influence curriculum innovation development as a precursor of curriculum innovation implementation.…”

“…This view is supported by Maslow (1954)'s hierarchical needs which states food, shelter, and clothing as crucial basic conditions for human survival. At meso (institutional) -level of the hidden curriculum, the same factors shape and impact curriculum innovation implementation positively or negatively depending on the educational context and processes involved Taking cognisant that the hidden curriculum plays a positive or a negative role in the education system, curriculum developers and policy makers need to put in place mechanisms to mitigate the negative influence of the hidden curriculum on curriculum innovation implementation (Baykut et al, 2022).…”