The Unconscious Fear of Success

The hidden cumculum has served the very useful purpose in educational discourse of alerting educators to the complexity of physical education teaching and learning. However, the ambiguity of the phenomena the term attempts to describe has led to a certain notoriety, and there is now considerable confusion over the meaning of the term hidden curriculum. This paper reviews selected studies of the hidden curriculum in physical education and other literature. The aim of this review is to assess its potential for helping us to better understand physical education as a cultural practice. Building on this review, it is suggested that the terms discourse and ideology locate the hidden agendas of physical education teaching and learning within the realm of communication and meaning making. The implications of this perspective for physical education teaching and research are examined. It is suggested in conclusion that the more precise identification of the hidden curriculum as an aspect of communication and meaning making is important, given new pressures deriving from mass media and popular culture that impact on physical education teaching and learning in subtle ways.