Explaining the Process of the Effect of Hidden Curriculum on the Formation of Professional Ethics of Engineering Students

Engineering graduates obtain much of their ethics through a hidden curriculum. The aim of this study was to "explain the process of impact of hidden curriculum on the formation of professional ethics of engineering students" in order to improve the professional ethics of engineers according to the hidden curriculum in educational environments. In this research, phenomenological research method was used. The sample population comprised of all graduate students of engineering disciplines in Iranian faculties and purposeful sampling was conducted with in-depth semi-structured interviews was conducted with 10 participants about their lived experience in acquiring engineering ethics in educational environments. Data analysis in MAXQDA software in response to research questions led to the creation of 4 core codes of training, learning partners, field of action and educational system; axial codes were obtained from the combination of 30 open codes. The findings indicated that the details of the educational environment including the central codes in the mentioned order were considered by engineering students to greatly influence the implicit formation of the professional ethics curriculum of engineering students, creating many opportunities and threats in the field of implicit teaching of students' professional ethics.