Bringing to light: resistance and the hidden curriculum

Universities, on the whole, have always been safe spaces to embody resistance. Campus protests and mobilising the voice of political, social and societal injustice are commonplace and encouraged. Universities are formative places where learners can explore, develop and change their worldview and hold power and oppression to account. Resistance can be seen overtly on an institutional and curricula level but often plays out in the hidden curriculum,1 which is opaque and somewhat beyond the gaze of educators. The hidden curriculum is a space that is shaped by what is learnt rather than what is taught. It defines the milieu of a curriculum and what is absent is often most telling about what is valued and acceptable. Exploring the hidden is important to get a true sense of what we are tacitly teaching learners but more so to understand what learners are experiencing and what they are resisting. Exploring the hidden is important to get a true sense of what we are tacitly teaching learners but more so to understand what learners are experiencing and what they are resisting. Society is built on heterosexism and heteronormativity, and at one time, this was generally accepted as ordinary. However, there is growing resistance to hetero- and cisnormativity in Europe and the United States—learners are angry with the structural and systematic othering they notice, or are subject to, in society and in their studies. Rising LGBTQIA+ hate, disadvantage and legislation are at odds with their understanding of liberty and freedom, and it is within the hidden curriculum that this anger comes in to focus. Learners are problematising the absence of LGBTQIA+ people, lifestyles and culture in clinical education and calling out homonegativity—their learning experience does not reflect the values of the society in which they live or reflect health equality.2-5 If educators take the time to look and listen, the practice of learner resistance—intention and effects—is clear in their actions, expressions and allyship. It is within the hidden that we can recognise the nuances of resistance, identify the drivers for resistance and view the opposing ideas and beliefs that can lead to inter-learner and learner–educator conflict. Take the following two quotes from learners in response to a question about the barriers they feel obstruct LGBTQIA+ inclusion in UK pharmacy education that exemplifies inter-learner conflict in resistance2: If educators take the time to look and listen, the practice of learner resistance—intention and effects—is clear in their actions, expressions and allyship. The barrier would be sensible individuals who believe that there is no need to include the LGBTQ community in every aspect of peoples' lives, including what they are taught. We are paying £10 000 per year to study and learn about pharmacy, not to have lessons given to us about the importance of 'coming out' … please, focus on more important things in your lives and leave students alone that do not want their time wasted with such irrelevant matters. Students need to be aware that they cannot disguise their homophobia or absolve themselves of responsibility by claiming 'keep politics out of this' … currently students are not prepared to deal with LGBT+ issues as we are not given the tools or knowledge to handle this. Additionally, homophobia/transphobia remains among student cohort, which is deeply worrying. The opposing belief systems and expectations of what a university education should, and should not teach, poses difficult questions to educators and their personal belief systems. Once the hidden curriculum is exposed and we understand what underpins learner resistance, how does one navigate the opposing resistance and disrupt power? How does one act if we find learners are resisting something we are advocating? Are we to be impartial, offer opinion and advocacy or facilitate debate? Or is it easier and less exposing to remain silent on issues that leave one open to criticism? Academics are not immune from facing criticism and unemployment in the pursuit of their own resistance6-8 or when 'showing people there are other ways', as illustrated by Konopasky et al in this issue.9 Further, it is known that educators mask their personal attitudes and beliefs so they are not reflected in their teaching as these values and attitudes may not be acceptable to the institutions they teach within.10 Once the hidden curriculum is exposed and we understand what underpins learner resistance, how does one navigate the opposing resistance and disrupt power? Better, perhaps, is facilitating learners to use their voices and reflecting those voices back within our curricula. An example of pushing back, being and bringing to light9 from my own practice concerns Black pharmacy students. Mindful of the fact Black learners achieve less well in UK higher education, and also in pharmacy training, than White counterparts,11, 12 a group of learners created the Black Pharmacists Collective,13 this emerged organically from the learners need to resist and challenge the structures working against them. The organisation garnered much attention, locally and nationally, and by association, the 'university' was seen as a place that was championing Black attainment. What struck me was that the creation of the group was actually a protest. Instead of reflecting on why the awarding gap exists, why these learners feel unsupported and ignored and why they needed to mobilise to be heard and valued, the 'university' piggy-backed on the success of the group as an example of combatting racial oppression and culturing equality, diversity and inclusion. The reality was that the 'university' was working against why the group was formed in the first place and reinforcing the structural oppressions this group was resisting. This type of oppression is what critical race theorists would term interest convergence—when the interests of the minority align to the interests of the majority is an example of learner–educator conflict in resistance.14 The reality was that the 'university' was working against why the group was formed in the first place and reinforcing the structural oppressions this group was resisting. So, how should educators support and champion resistance sincerely and appropriately to influence change, and what role do individual educators play in resisting broader structural and societal power in teaching and learning? Paying attention to the hidden curriculum and the covert learning and cultured values and attitudes at play would be a good place to start. The hidden curriculum can offer rich insights into sources of learner resistance; hearing and empowering these voices is central to collaborative transformation and dismantling injustice. The hidden curriculum can offer rich insights into sources of learner resistance; hearing and empowering these voices is central to collaborative transformation and dismantling injustice. Andrew Mawdsley: Conceptualization; writing—original draft. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.