The phrase hidden curriculum draws attention to the idea that schools do more than simply transmit knowledge, as laid down in the official curricula. It is often used to criticize the social reality of schooling.

The phrase "hidden curriculum" was reportedly coined by the sociologist Brian Jackson ("Life In Classrooms", 1968). He argued that we need to understand "education" as a socialisation process. Shortly after Jackson's coinage, MIT's Benson Snyder published The Hidden Curriculum, which addresses the question of why students—even or especially the most gifted—turn away from education. Snyder advocates the thesis that much of campus conflict and students' personal anxiety is caused by a mass of unstated academic and social norms, which thwart the students' ability to develop independently or think creatively.

More recent definitions were given by Meighan ("A Sociology of Education", 1981):

The hidden curriculum is taught by the school, not by any teacher...something is coming across to the pupils which may never be spoken in the English lesson or prayed about in assembly. They are picking-up an approach to living and an attitude to learning.

and Haralambos ("Themes and Perspectives", 1991):

The hidden curriculum consists of those things pupils learn through the experience of attending school rather than the stated educational objectives of such institutions.

John Taylor Gatto radically critizises the compulsory school system in his book "Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling" (1992).