The Hidden Curriculum in Doctoral Education Dely L. Elliot Søren S. E. Bengtsen Kay Guccione Sofi e Kobayashi The Hidden Curriculum in Doctoral Education Dely L. Elliot • Søren S. E. Bengtsen Kay Guccione • Sofie Kobayashi The Hidden Curriculum in Doctoral Education Dely L. Elliot Søren S. E. Bengtsen School of Education Centre for Teaching Development and University of Glasgow Digital Media Glasgow, UK Aarhus University Aarhus C, Denmark Kay Guccione Glasgow Caledonian University Sofie Kobayashi Glasgow, UK University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark ISBN 978-3-030-41496-2 ISBN 978-3-030-41497-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41497-9 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Our gratitude to all doctoral researchers, supervisors, researcher developers, convenors, mentors, coaches, Graduate School leaders, and doctoral administrators with whom we have had the privilege of working and interacting. Your first-hand stories have inspired us to write this book that we sincerely hope will enrich the lives of anyone who embarks on or supports the journeys of doctoral researchers. o B vervIeW oF The ook Abstract Are you curious as to what this book is about? Ascertaining who may benefit from this book is our starting point. We then offer our rationale for writing on a subject, that is, the hidden curriculum, that although less recognised is something we collectively regard to be crucial and fascinating. Our whole book reflects a conceptual journey—from investigating the hid- den curriculum and how it is intertwined with the formal curriculum to sharing well-tested and effective ways of realising hidden curriculum ideas. The book ends with reflective questions addressed to those whom we regard as the hidden curriculum agents in doctoral education. May these questions serve as our invitation to examine the complex but rich doctoral learning landscape and, in turn, leverage what hidden curriculum offers. Keywords Background information • Purpose of the book • Scope of the book Whom Is ThIs Book For? If you are a doctoral researcher, a supervisor, a researcher developer, a mentor, a researcher in doctoral education, a PhD programme leader, a Graduate School manager, or anyone who works with, supports, or is sim- ply interested in doctoral education, we would say that this book is for you. For clarity, providing a diagram helps illustrate the various audiences to whom we would like to communicate the messages concerning the nature and implications of the hidden curriculum for doctoral education, vii viii OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK starting with doctoral researchers themselves. By extension, we would like to contribute to the debate on improving the quality of research culture informed by both personal efforts and institutional communities. Graduate School Leaders or Managers Researcher Development Professionals Doctoral programme administrators Mentors, coaches, Guardian Family counsellors supervisors Friends International Supervisors community Clubs & Post-docs (with co- societies Publishers, supervisory roles) editors, Professional translators Doctoral researchers networks & proofreaders organisations Significant Significant others others Main readers of this book Starting with an enquiry into how the notion of the hidden curriculum is understood and enacted in various contexts, it progresses to a conceptual journey as we seek and offer research-based combined with experience- based perspectives on this subject. This leads to proposing fresh insights into the doctoral ecology with a view to realising the hidden curriculum while continually clarifying its connection with the formal doctoral curriculum. OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK ix Why WrITe a Book on The hIdden CurrICulum? One of the issues that contributed to the seemingly deliberate neglect in exploring this topic is the negative connotation originally attached to the hidden curriculum as depicted in all seminal books on this subject. As a case in point, Gair and Mullins (2001, p. 23) alluded to the hidden curriculum by ‘suggest[ing] the intentional acts to obscure or conceal’. Other examples of conceptualisations from Jackson (1968), Martin (1994), and Snyder (1971) share this negativity—whether referring to unwanted classroom activities, learning environments, or social interac- tions—all of which have been recognised to exist although not originally intended to be part of the official curriculum. Additionally, the ‘obscure and imprecise nature’ of the term may also account for why this topic has essentially remained, marginalised, especially in doctoral education (Elliot et al. 2016, p. 740). Our book is a move away from this early negative conceptualisation of the term. While retaining the ‘hiddenness’ of this type of curriculum, we instead pursue a conceptualisation of the term that by and large embraces the positive dimensions of this concealed curriculum (Elliot et al. 2016). This comes with an affirmative message that doctoral researchers (and those who support them) need to consider searching, harnessing, and even promoting what the hidden curriculum can offer. In response to the inherent vague nature of the hidden curriculum, it is also our collective aim to elucidate the meaning as well as the significance of the hidden cur- riculum by going beyond the definition, description, and a few examples. Within the doctoral studies context, we have, therefore, endeavoured to expound the hidden curriculum in order to bring clarity to a few crucial questions: • What does the hidden curriculum look like? • Where is the hidden curriculum situated (in relation to the official curriculum)? • Can we recognise the hidden curriculum if we encounter it? • How can we maximise the benefits that the hidden curriculum offers? • What difference can harnessing the hidden curriculum make in one’s doctoral learning experience? • What does a greater understanding of the term imply for hidden cur- riculum agents? x OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK With this in mind, we then examine what the hidden curriculum is. What makes it a subject worth writing about in great detail? Drawing upon the various roles we (the four authors) serve in—as Graduate School leader, researcher developer, learning designer, mentor/coach, tutor, and/or doctoral supervisor, we have written this book with all the doctoral researchers in mind with whom we have had the privilege of working and interacting. Collectively, we have worked with numerous doctoral researchers over the last ten years. Our wealth of lived experience complemented by our shared interests as doctoral education researchers fuelled our passion to write a book on a fundamental topic that is often eclipsed by its more visible counterpart, that is, the official curriculum. Against the current primary focus on the official curriculum, we argue throughout the book how the hidden curriculum, which consists of all unofficial channels of genuine and useful learning, can be acquired either within or outwith academia. This is not surprising given that the hidden curriculum tends to lie at the periphery of the formal structure, and in turn, it often remains unrecognised. Seemingly, this has been the case since the beginning of doctoral education. As we argue throughout the book, anyone can consciously (and strategically) search, find, and benefit from the hidden curriculum. Our own research findings strongly support that those who are able to tap into the resources of the hidden curriculum tend to gain considerably from the experience. This extra learning from the hidden curriculum could be regarded as stand-alone or something that can reinforce learning obtained from the official curriculum and therefore enrich their overall doctoral studies. Knowing the great potential from the hidden curriculum has inspired us to raise greater awareness, or even expose its existence, and explain what it is like or how it can be found and, more importantly, how it could poten- tially make a qualitative difference to the experience of those who succeed in harnessing it. hoW We sTruCTured ThIs Book The overall structure of our book reflects a conceptual journey. This book has three parts, and each part comprises three chapters. In Part I, we explain where our preliminary ideas on the hidden curriculum came from and why, specifically, it is crucial for all doctoral researchers to comprehend this topic. With the four stages of competence serving as a framework, our initial conceptualisation of how the formal and hidden curricula are OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK xi interlinked is discussed and visually presented in Chap. 1. This then leads to a conceptual exploration of the hidden curriculum as experienced by doctoral researchers in general. Chapter 2 revisits the contemporary state of play in doctoral education, which further strengthens our rationale for examining this topic in depth. In Chap. 3, we discuss in greater detail a psychological explanation for how the hidden curriculum is conceived somewhat differently with respect to the international cohort’s experience as we take into account their cross-cultural experience and how it is essen- tially embedded in their doctoral studies. Part II is a detailed exploration of the hidden facets and players in both the formal and informal doctoral curriculum. After identifying the various key players in doctoral education in Chap. 4, we proceed to elaborate on the idea of navigating the rich tapestry of opportunity presented by the hidden curriculum, while not losing sight of doctoral researchers’ owner- ship of how the hidden curriculum needs to be employed to align with their academic goals and professional objectives. Recognising the unique- ness of each doctoral researcher, Chap. 5 considers how their diverse past, ongoing lives, and personal and professional motivations for pursuing a PhD are important considerations when supporting them via the hidden curriculum, in their research development and beyond, that is, towards academic independence—stressing the value of personal and professional networks they develop along the way. Chapter 6 then offers a wealth of practical examples from observed practices in selected universities. As for the final part, Part III brings forth new ways of thinking and new models for promoting, enacting, and harnessing the pedagogical rewards of the hidden curriculum in conjunction with the official curriculum. Chapter 7 discusses a ‘doctoral learning ecology model’, which contextu- alises the different ecological levels, in which hidden curriculum-based types of learning can take place and for which we offer exemplar scenarios. This theme continues in Chap. 8 as we present the expanded doctoral pedagogy. Capitalising on the key role of the supervisors, the ‘doctoral support model’ specifically offers both doctoral researchers and their supervisors a possible framework to work within. At the end of our con- ceptual journey, we offer in Chap. 9 a comprehensive definition of what the hidden curriculum means for all stakeholders. We stress in this chapter how the hidden curriculum is not merely instrumental for coping, but more importantly for thriving in the doctoral education experience. Harnessing the hidden curriculum is not simply aimed at reinforcing learning from the formal curriculum, but also at maintaining and sustaining