{
  "issue_key": "vol10-no2-2026",
  "volume": 10,
  "number": 2,
  "season": "Spring 2026",
  "year": 2026,
  "sequence": 11,
  "type": "research-article",
  "section": "Research Article",
  "title": "Behind the Grade. What Students Learn That Is Never Recorded",
  "subtitle": "The Silent Curriculum: Identity, Emotion and the Reasons Students Stay",
  "slug": "behind-the-grade-what-students-learn-that-is-never-recorded",
  "corporate_author": null,
  "authors": [
    {
      "given_name": "Nick",
      "family_name": "Papé",
      "credentials": "Professor; PhD",
      "affiliation": "Executive Director and Principal, London Churchill College",
      "email": "Nick.Pape@lcc.ac.uk",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1395-3751",
      "is_corresponding": true,
      "sequence": 1
    },
    {
      "given_name": "Abdur",
      "family_name": "Rahim",
      "credentials": "PhD",
      "affiliation": "Senior Registrar, London Churchill College",
      "email": "a.rahim@lcc.ac.uk",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-5500-1369",
      "is_corresponding": false,
      "sequence": 2
    }
  ],
  "abstract": "This article explores forms of student learning in Higher Education that are often unseen, unmeasured and unrecorded. Focusing particularly on mature students, it argues that personal growth, emotional persistence and identity shifts play a central role in educational experience, yet remain largely invisible in curriculum design and institutional review. Drawing on original research, student testimony and relevant theory, the article examines how confidence, belonging and motivation emerge through relational and affective moments rather than formal instruction. It critiques performance-led systems that prioritise outcomes, arguing these often ignore the emotional labour students perform simply to stay engaged. The article proposes that curriculum be considered not only as a structure of content but as a site of human exchange where conversation, care and recognition support deeper learning. It does not call for reduced academic standards but for greater attentiveness to how students experience learning amid fear, failure or self-doubt. By highlighting emotion, relationship and identity, the article invites a broader definition of success: one that acknowledges not only what students know, but how they come to believe they can learn. It concludes with a call for new research into emotional presence and meaning-making in educational settings.",
  "keywords": [
    "Mature students",
    "higher education",
    "affective learning",
    "student voice",
    "learner identity",
    "curriculum design",
    "academic self-concept",
    "educational persistence",
    "invisible learning",
    "emotional engagement"
  ],
  "first_page": 92,
  "last_page": 106,
  "pdf_start": 93,
  "pdf_end": 107,
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  "manifest_notes": "Full printed title: 'Behind the Grade. What Students Learn That Is Never Recorded: The Silent Curriculum: Identity, Emotion and the Reasons Students Stay' (split before 'The Silent Curriculum'; the Vygotsky article's reference cites it as 'Behind the Grade: What Students Learn That Is Never Recorded'). Contents omits the colon: 'The Silent Curriculum Identity, Emotion ...'. Article-page byline: 'Professor Nick Papé, PhD and Abdur Raham, PhD' - 'Raham' is a TYPO: contents, Notes on Contributors (with email a.rahim@lcc.ac.uk) and the self-citation all say 'Abdur Rahim', so Rahim is used. Keywords label is a standalone bold heading 'Key words'. Headings use a semicolon as separator ('Stories Students Carry; Learning Moments that Escape the Record'); heading 'What Measured and what is Meaningful; A System in Tension' has a grammatical slip in source. Student quotations are inline italic within body paragraphs (not block quotes). References pdf 106-107 (heading at top of pdf 106). No figures or tables.",
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