Breaking Down Subject Boundaries

Jonathan Elliott

My PLP Why the Interdisciplinary focus?

I was uneasy about the institutional structure that emphasised purely disciplinary learning for 2 reasons– Reliance on the ‘fixed’ subject boundaries– The MYP

so I had to do something!

The way forward at BISHaving identified my theme, I next had to do what I

perceived as the difficult challenge of getting others to share in these values and goals.

• Subject teachers and heads of faculty – leave the comfort zone

• School senior managers – new mind set (learning centered) - Implications on staffing, timetable and school infrastructure

• Parents – "Educate me for my future, not your past“

21st Century Teaching & Learning Initiative n.d., UWCSEA, <http://www.uwcsea.edu.sg/page.cfm?p=2001>

Teacher Survey ResultsIn the past year have you been involved

in any interdisciplinary work at all?

Yes (at BIS)

Yes (other school)

No

Once Twice Three times More than 3 times0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

If yes, how often?

not worthwhile

don't have time

don't know how to do it

didn't think about it

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

If you didn't, why not?

0 10 20 30 40 50

Language A

Language B

Maths

Humanities

Sciences

PE

Technology

Arts

%

Which subjects have you collaborated with?

How successful have your collaborations been?

Very Successful

Quite Successful

Not very successful

Unsuccessful

0

20

40

60

80

%

Yes No Not sure

Would you like to get invoved in more interdisciplinary work?

What are the main reasons for interdisciplinary teaching?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Improves understanding of your

subject

Improves understanding of big

themes/ topics

Recognises that students have

diff erent strengths

More rewarding to teach

N/ A

Irrelevant

Not very

Quite

Very

Year 7 Cross subject map

Following the survey Heads of Faculty, with their teachers, worked

together to create cross subject maps

Meeting of Year 7 to 9 teachers1. Looked at some theory

and the rationale for interdisciplinary work

2. Presented Results of the Survey

3. Worked through my ‘guide to interdisciplinary planning’ and the associated paperwork

4. Looked for, and developed,

interdisciplinary possibilities

What is our goal?

To improve understanding

A checklist for successful interdisciplinary work

Is the learning purposeful – does it enrich students understanding or respond to a need that can not be met through a single subject or discipline?

Is the learning grounded in the subject - are the expectations of the students framed in subject objectives for the unit?

Is the learning integrative – are the different subjects enabling the students to achieve a deeper understanding of the topic, an understanding that would have been impossible through single subject perspectives

What form should interdisciplinary work take?

As long as the 3 items from the checklist are considered and

the form completed, interdisciplinary work can be as big or as

small as you wish.

From… “ borrowing” knowledge, skills or concepts from another subject to enrich student understanding of the subject you teach

Through… “weaving” an interdisciplinary thread throughout a unit you’re teaching

To…dedicating a sizeable unit of work to an interdisciplinary approach

The paperwork…The multifaceted question addresses aspects of study that can be productively explored through 2 or more subjects. It should give it purpose & direction; and we should aim to make it relevant, feasible and framed to encourage inquiry.e.g. “Why is it important to lower our carbon footprint, and what can we do about it?or“How do historical monuments influence building styles of today, and what might their influence be in the future?”

Activity 3:

In your subject area group look through the units taught by other departments during Year 7, (and

possibly in Years 8 & 9 t00). Identify one or two that may potentially allow some interdisciplinary opportunities and work with those other subjects to complete an interdisciplinary planner.Remember…

Is the learning purposeful ?Is the learning grounded in the subject ?Is the learning integrative?

Overheard…

“Let’s try it”“How can they make puppets in DT without a

play/product at the end?”“We can shift our units around, it’ll make more

sense to everyone!”“Why don’t we work with PE on that?”“Can we have more meetings like this, its so

much more useful than normal Wednesday afternoons!”

Collaborative planning – some results

Some selected units taught so far (or coming soon)…• How do stories transform?

• English Language A and Performing Arts Year 7

• How can we reduce our energy consumption at school?• Science and Technology Year 7

• Do patterns have rules?• Maths and Visual Art Year 8

• Do we all respire in the same way?• Physical Education and Science Year 8

• How can we measure the human impact on the environment of, and what are the differing perspectives on, conservation• Science and Humanities Year 9

Whilst this was going on…• Information mornings with parents• Presentation to Primary Years teachers• Introduction to the programme for students• Meetings with the Head of Secondary and SLT

Issues arising for discussion at senior management level

1. Staffing , part of the difficulty in getting people together for productive collaborative planning time is the number of teachers involved – over 40 for example teach year 8 (4 classes). This is because a) many teachers have a strong desire to teach all sectors of the

schoolb) the MYP is seen as a section with many challengesc) Heads of faculty in the past had totally freedom on how to

deploy their staff

2. The physical internal structure of the school designed around the faculty system

3. The timetable and building in time for collaborative planning (see staff survey result)

Results of these issues (1)

Staffing:• Some teachers have expressed an interest in teaching in fewer

years (a benefit for them) in more than one subject (for example one of our PE teachers will be delivering Year 7 science next year)

• Recruiting teachers who are able (and willing) to teach more than one subject (for example we have recruited an English teacher who also enjoys teaching Humanities)

• Recruiting teachers who express a genuine interest (and possibly experience) in interdisciplinary teaching (our new head of performing arts has already delivered units with the History and English departments)

Results of these issues (2)

• Physical School Organisation– The school owner has agreed to invest a large sum

of money in updating the main teaching building (now 15 years old) and has employed an architect who has just (last week) undertaken a preliminary visit to the school. One aspect of this will be the development of Year group(s) areas within the school where they will be based for some of their lessons

Results of these issues (3)

Timetable and Collaborative planning opportunities• The school day has been shortened providing

additional planning time between the end of school for students and staff leaving time

• Staff will be expected to do only 1 ‘activity’ as opposed to the 2 currently demanded, thus freeing up an additional after school slot for amongst other things collaborative planning (on a regular basis)