STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF HIDDEN CURRICULUM IN ARCHITECTURE SCHOOLS OF PAKISTAN SHAPED UP BY THEIR CULTURAL CAPITAL
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Authors: Mamuna Iqbal
Keywords: architectural education, hidden curriculum, students’ perception, cultural capital
Abstract: Architectural education in Pakistan, similar to other subjects of higher education, is a very under-researched field. There is not a single significant study to understand the architectural education scenario in Pakistan both in terms of teaching pedagogy and students learning experiences. There are 20 accredited architecture schools in Pakistan belonging to public and private sector universities and the number is increasing every year. Students are attracted to these schools based upon their reputation in the field as well as their own cultural capital which dictates their perception about architecture as a profession. Cultural capital, a notion introduced by Bourdieu, is the familiarity with the dominant culture of society and it is identified to be the most important factor dictating educational success. A large number of researchers have explained that students with varying level of cultural capital experience education in a different manner and students with higher cultural capital are at an advantage in gaining education credentials. Cultural capital is identified by peers to be particularly important in learning architecture as the subjective nature of architecture requires its students to be more familiar with the cultural aspects of society. Researchers in the western societies including Europe have looked into the impact of cultural capital on architectural learning that informs this particular study through a detailed literature review.
The present study investigates two aspects, 1st is students’ hidden characteristics in terms of their cultural capital and 2nd is the school’s hidden characteristics in terms of its hidden curriculum. To do so, it explores how students’ cultural capital plays a role in their perception and experience of architectural learning in the school in terms of school’s hidden curriculum. To understand students’ cultural capital this study investigates into students learning experience with art and culture in early education and family’s involvement in their understanding of art, parents’ education is also explored as an indicator of students’ cultural capital. It also explores the reasons for students' choice of architecture as a profession and the reasons behind their choice of a particular school of architecture. Moving on, this study explores more significant aspects of architectural education deeply that shape up the hidden school. It includes students' perception of the emphasis on different subject areas of the architectural curriculum by the school in contrast to their own opinion about important subject areas in architectural learning, identifying their satisfaction with teaching in the school. Factors identifying hidden curriculum including the importance of verbal presentation skills, studio critique, schools' learning environment and relations with tutor and staff are explored.
This is a quantitative study, a questionnaire survey including questions on above mentioned areas was forwarded to all 20 accredited architecture schools of Pakistan, 14 schools from 4 cities responded with a total response of 1330 students. Results showed that students’ perception about architectural education in terms of hidden curriculum changes with varying level of cultural capital and students with a higher cultural capital are found to be more satisfied with different aspects of the hidden curriculum in architecture schools.