The Hidden Curriculum of Compliance: Unpacking What We’re Really Teaching

Walk into any school, and beyond the explicit curriculum of maths, literacy, and science, there’s another layer of learning taking place; subtle, often unspoken, yet profoundly influential. It’s the hidden curriculum. And at its heart? Compliance.

Image source: Tom Sherrington, The Timeless Wisdom of Sitting in Rows, Teacherhead.com (2018). Retrieved from https://teacherhead.com/2018/01/31/the-timeless-wisdom-of-sitting-in-rows/

From bells that dictate movement to behaviour charts that reward quiet obedience, our systems, rules, and expectations are not neutral. They shape who learners believe they are, how they think they’re supposed to act, and the degree of autonomy they feel entitled to. In striving for order, are we unintentionally prioritising control over curiosity?

What is the Hidden Curriculum?

The hidden curriculum refers to the unspoken norms, values, and beliefs embedded in the culture and structure of schools. It’s what students learn through observation and experience.

In many of today’s classrooms, the hidden curriculum teaches students:

• To wait for permission before acting.

• To value right answers over critical questioning.

• To follow instructions even if they don’t make sense.

• To prioritise compliance over agency.

But it goes deeper. The hidden curriculum is also about power and control.

Who gets to speak? Who sets the rules? Whose knowledge is valued?

These questions are rarely asked, but they are central to the school experience.

Control in Disguise: The Everyday Structures That Shape Identity

It’s not just that we’re teaching compliance; it’s that we’re embedding it through deeply ingrained rituals and routines that reinforce power and hierarchy. Many of these mechanisms are so normalised we barely question them.

Think about:

• Uniforms: Often promoted as equalising, but in practice used to enforce conformity. They can shift the focus from learning to appearance, and become a tool for control rather than cohesion.

• Language and address: Students typically refer to teachers as Sir, Miss, or by formal titles, while their own names are shortened, mispronounced, or overlooked. These subtle cues reinforce whose voice and status hold power.

• Permission to move: Being told when to sit, stand, eat, speak, or go to the bathroom reminds students that autonomy isn’t assumed, it must be earned.

• “Silent” norms: Silent reading, silent lines, silent transitions… while sometimes framed as respectful, often these practices are more about control than purpose, reinforcing passivity over agency.

• Classroom layout: Desks in rows facing the teacher signal a one-directional flow of knowledge. The message is clear: “The power is here, not there.”

None of these structures are inherently bad, but when left unquestioned, they become part of a system that tells students:

• You are here to follow, not contribute.

• Learning means obeying the rules.

• Your autonomy is conditional.

What the Future Demands

The world doesn’t need compliant workers.

It needs courageous thinkers, agile learners, ethical collaborators, and creative problem-solvers.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, the top 10 skills employers will demand include:

• Analytical thinking and innovation

• Active learning and learning strategies

• Complex problem-solving

• Critical thinking and analysis

• Creativity, originality, and initiative

• Leadership and social influence

• Resilience, stress tolerance, and flexibility

Not one of these skills is cultivated through compliance or passive learning.

Yet our systems are still structured around control; control of movement, control of time, control of attention.

We are preparing learners for a world that no longer exists.

What Are We Really Teaching?

Consider these common scenarios:

• A student is marked as non-compliant for questioning a rule.

• Group work is discouraged because it’s harder to manage noise levels.

• Timetables prioritise subject silos over interdisciplinary inquiry.

Each of these sends a subtle message: Your job is to fit the system, not to shape it.

Now imagine if we flipped the script. What if school taught learners that:

• Their voice matters… especially when questioning unfairness.

• Mistakes are opportunities, not failures.

• Autonomy isn’t earned; it’s expected.

Reimagining the Learning Landscape

Challenging the hidden curriculum of compliance and control doesn’t mean chaos or a lack of boundaries. It means reimagining boundaries that support autonomy rather than suppress it. That might look like:

• Co-constructing classroom norms with students.

• Embedding real-world projects where learners make meaningful decisions.

• Redesigning behaviour systems to focus on restoration, not reward and punishment.

• Allowing for flexible structures that support different pathways to learning.

A Call to Educators

Let’s be bold enough to interrogate the norms we’ve inherited. Let’s ask:

What are we reinforcing that no longer serves learners, or never did?

Who holds the power in our classrooms, and what might happen if we shared it?

Education should be a space where learners discover their voice, develop agency, and engage deeply with the world around them. That means loosening the grip of compliance and leaning into trust.

That means shifting from control to collaboration.

After all, the goal isn’t to prepare kids to follow rules, it’s to prepare them to lead change.

If you’re not sure where to start, EduShift can help.

We partner with schools to challenge outdated norms, reimagine learning environments, and build structures that support autonomy, agency, and deep learning, all grounded in the Contemporary Learning Framework and backed by over 60 years of combined experience in education and contemporary transformation.

Together, we can create learning that empowers, not controls, and shape a future where every learner thrives.