Curriculum integration ( cross-curricular)
Introduction
The international trends of shifting from knowledge-centered curricula to competencies-based curricula, as focal points for organizing learning experiences are a fact. This implies a different way to develop syllabi, for instance, the question is not when and how to include a particular topic as Trigonometry, but to ask what kind of contribution can Trigonometry make to the development of a more general competence, e.g. problem-solving.
Trigonometry = branch of mathematics dealing with the relations between the sides and angles of triangles
Competencies are seen as a new, more fruitful way to organize the curriculum, as they can guide the selection and organization of learning experiences in a more holistic way, approaching to phenomena as a whole, including all possible perspectives, and seeking connections that allow the student to make better sense of what he/she is taught. Competencies are also a way to define learning outcomes in an integrated, active way, including the dimensions of knowledge, skills and attitudes.
The idea of curriculum integration.
A basis of making linkages between the knowledge and skills from different subjects to reach a common goal. Therefore it has to do with helping in some subjects to understand concepts from other fields of knowledge; thus integration is seen as a way to reduce the amount of information presented to the student, avoiding duplication or repetitions.
There is a distinction between “integrated learning” and “integrated curriculum”, it is possible to promote integrated learning even in a subject-based curriculum, but there are alternatives of content integration that go beyond the current subject structure.
Curriculum integration is a set of practices for addressing learner’s needs making connections between different areas of learning and development.
Strategies for integration
Curriculum correlation
A set of actions to make teachers, textbook authors and students more aware of connections in the curriculum.
Inter- and Trans-disciplinary approachesincluding such practices as team-teaching and thematic approaches to deal with a certain topic from several perspectives.
Cross-curriculum objectives, issues and approaches, including the setting of objectives to be fostered in all subjects, e.g. communication skills.
Integration through assessment, by means of developing assessment tasks that can evaluate the learning achievements by assessing the use and application of knowledge coming from different subjects in a practical task.
Project work, flexible schedules, and flexible student grouping, as strategies to reorganize the students’ activities to includeexploration, research and reporting activities around a topic. All this practices can becombined in several ways.
Thematic approach
Is a way to organize learning around interesting themes, and not around subjects; it is a way to improve content organization that is more easily implemented at the primary level, but it is very challenging in the current disciplinary setting of middle- and high school. This approach is still in the side of organizing curriculum by means of inputs; but Competencies-based approachesseek to organize learning based in outputs, selecting and organizing learning experiences in a way that it can contribute to the development of one or more competencies. Finally, Problem-based learning is organized around the investigation and resolution of “real world” problems. This kind of content organization can contribute also to the development of competencies.
Idea of curriculum change, as the practical procedure to arrive to integration.
To change the curriculum it is needed to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the current curriculum. This can be done by researching the value of materials available today including curricula from different countries and experiences of curriculum change. Content is the bulk of experiences presented to the students, including ideas, principles, motor and mental skills and values. The challenge of every curriculum was perceived to be finding a way to present content in a consistent way with the learner’s needs, but also the needs of the country and the marketplace, and to discriminate between relevant and irrelevant content.
How to analyze the old curriculum and look for integration (curriculum scan)
Planning the process of assessment (objectives, methodology and resources)
Collecting the information through a variety of methods (questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, classroom observations, analysis of documents)
Analysis of information against previously determined criteria (sequencing, learning theories, balance, consistence, relevance)
Drawing conclusions and selecting the kind of changes to be devised and implemented (fight overload, increase relevance, and avoid repetition)
Curriculum integration seems to be easier to carry out in primary education, while in secondary school, where the subjects are numerous (each of them being usually taught by one teacher), it is rather difficult to plan and implement it successfully.
Cross-curricular issues in Flanders
Government and society regularly call upon the education sector to raise social phenomena and problems. This is not only the case in Flanders, but in most European countries. Social organizations and interest groups have been demanding the schools’ attention for consumer education, health education, environmental education, road safety education, leisure education, global education, citizenship education and so on for years now. As a result, schools are under great pressure to incorporate such themes into their curriculum.
On the other hand, many demands are made to the school by very diverse social groups. In order to prevent the school from being swamped, the authorities initially intended to delimit the social demands with regard to the school’s task through cross-curricular final objectives. These cross-curricular final objectives describe a basic package of themes on which the school can be called to account by society.
The importance of the themes mentioned cannot be denied. It involves valuable contents, skills and attitudes that must be taught to young people in some or other way. The question is, however, whether this should all be done at school, as there are also other educational environments where these subjects can be taught. Still, this does not alter the fact that some of these themes are discussed at school in a more structured way. In this way, the school can flesh out the training of pupils aimed at to a larger extent.
Cross-curricular final objectives act as a kind of ‘safety net’ for core objectives that are not at all or hardly at all raised in the subjects. In secondary education, not one single subject completely covers all aspects of such themes. Therefore, a cross-curricular approach is required.
‘Cross-curricular’ can have two meanings. Firstly, cross-curricular final objectives refer to competencies that do not belong to the content of one or more subjects, but that can be taught, practiced and applied in it, such as learning to learn and social skills. Secondly, certain cross-curricular final objectives must also be regarded as a complement to the subject final objectives. They render it possible to make the subjects more coherent and interconnected.
Schools are obliged to make efforts with regard to these final objectives, which means that they must try to realize them to the highest possible extent in their pupils. For some aspects this is possible in co-operation with external partners, such as the pupil guidance centers.
Cross-curricular final objectives are above all intended to develop the feeling of responsibility. It often involves goals for which the whole school is responsible and for which the school has an exemplary role towards the pupils.
Based on the criteria mentioned above, cross-curricular final objectives have been formulated for the following areas:
Learning to learn
Social skills
Citizenship education
Health education
Environmental education
Expressive-creative education
Technical-technological education
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