A Study of Hidden Curriculum in General Education Based on two Selected General Education Courses in Two Taiwan Universities

[[abstract]]Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore the hidden curriculum of general education in universities in Taiwan. There are two parts in the study : the decision-making process of general education curriculum d and teaching and learning experiences created by teachers and students. Content analysis, participant observation in courses, interviews and literature review are adopted as the methods of data collection. The two courses are selected as research targets, one from public university and the other from private one The former one, Introduction to the Study of Society, is taught by a team of teachers; the later one, Introduction to Sociology, by one teacher. There are two major findings in the study:: 1. Generally speaking, general education in the two universities shows that the characteristics of instrumental rationality, faculty-centered and discipline-oriented are adopted to maintain the disciplinary leadership in the design of general education curriculum while integrating the professional education into general education.. Moreover, the decision-making process of hidden curriculum in “ Introduction to Sociology” by a team of teachers contains the institutional and academic bureaucratic operation in university and the faculty power from all programs in School of Social Science only . In addition, , faculty-centered and discipline–oriented features are implemented in “Introduction to Sociology” . 2. In the two courses, the learning experience in class embracing hidden curriculum as pedagogical action, “power-control” relationship between faculty and students, and atmosphere of alienation in classroom result in fragmentation in epistemology, instrumental rationality of methodology, and formalism in theory of value.