Saudi Students' Perspectives on their Teachers' Transmission of Negative Messages: A Hidden Curriculum

Abstract

This study sought to explore students' perspectives on the extent to which the female and male Islamic education teachers transmitted negative messages as a hidden curriculum while teaching their 12th grade students in secondary schools in Saudi Arabia. Three hundred twenty-nine students participated in the study. One hundred thirty-eight students were female students, and one hundred ninety-one were male students, all of whom graduated during the academic year 2006-2007 from secondary schools in Saudi Arabia. A descriptive study was used to accomplish the objectives of the study, and data were collected through survey questionnaires. The findings revealed that the highest score of a negative message that the Islamic education teachers transmitted to their student in the 12th grade in Saudi secondary schools while teaching them the Islamic education courses was 3.48. Based on the Likert scale which was used in this study, a rating from 3 to less than four (3-<4) means that the female and male students in the 12th grade neither agreed nor strongly disagreed on the entire stated negative messages that were transmitted by their Islamic education teachers while teaching them Islamic education courses. This study found that there was no statistically significant difference between all students' responses based on their gender and major. F (1,325) =.432, P = .512. There was a statistically significant difference between all students' responses based on their gender and major in terms of the second subscale, "The Subject-Matter F (1,325) = 4.893, P =.028. There was a statistically significant difference in the female students' responses in terms of the second subscale, "The Subject-Matter," based on their majors. F (1,136) = 4.757, P =.031. This study concludes with some recommendations as well as suggestions for future research.