Beyond the hidden curriculum: Power, justice and innovation

Institutions of health professions education have taken measures to address the injustices faced by marginalized patients, health professionals and students, and the communities in which these institutions are embedded by illuminating the tacit ways of learning, often named as the hidden curriculum. The hidden curriculum has not adequately explained the ways that students, particularly historically marginalized and unrecognized students, navigate learning environments where forms of injustice actively shape their experiences of learning. Illuminating the underlying power dynamics and structures is not enough to address these injustices. A more solution-based approach is needed that can offer suggested remedies to the unintended consequences that inevitably affect learners and practitioners, as well as the many individuals who seek care in these systems. In this special issue, we include a range of health professionals and students in midwifery, social work, dentistry, nursing, and medicine in Palestine, Vanuatu, India, Japan, and the United States, among other places.