An integrated teaching approach has the ability to address issues and challenges related to teaching a large curriculum, where an excess of content and skills is required to be taught to students in the primary years of schooling (Boyle & Bragg 2008). Since the HASS Curriculum comprises two integrated strands, an examination of the recent educational research on this strategy is relevant to understand the advantages and implications of an integrated teaching approach.
A review of the Australian Curriculum (Australian Government Department of
Education, 2011) highlighted an excessive amount of content in the learning areas taught in the primary school years and raised concerns about an overcrowded curriculum. The reviewers reported the lack of integration of subjects, especially in the HASS Curriculum, had exacerbated the issue of overcrowding and increased the workload for teachers
(Australian Government Department of Education, 2011). The WA Curriculum, an approved alternative to the Australian Curriculum, posed the same issues and challenges for teachers.
The Australian Primary Principal Association (APPA) responded to the review of the Australian Curriculum with a call for ACARA to address pedagogy as well as curriculum
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content. The APPA believed ACARA needed to provide further guidance with regard to implementing an integrated, holistic approach (APPA, 2014).
Integrated teaching is referred to by several terms, such as cross-curriculum, interdisciplinary, blended learning and multi-disciplinary integration. The Department of Education and Training, WA (2011) promotes integrated learning for laying the future foundations of learning by building on children’s prior knowledge and learning experiences.
In the early years, children’s learning is integrated and experiential by nature, until they reach formal schooling where the curriculum is organised into learning areas (Department of Education and Training, Western Australia, 2011). Supporting integration in the early years of schooling assists children to be socially competent by providing opportunities for
collaborative learning experiences. Setting up learning spaces with appropriately resourced materials also ensures children have enough time for deeper learning and completion of activities (Department of Education and Training, Western Australia, 2011).
The professional demands of planning, teaching and assessment pose significant challenges for teachers. The assumption that teachers can seamlessly make connections between concepts and subject areas is questionable, because successful integration depends on teachers’ knowledge, personal motivation and epistemological commitment (Parker, Heywood & Jolley, 2011). A small-scale mixed method study by Parker et al. (2011) investigated the perceptions of postgraduate pre-service teachers who were studying a primary school education specialisation. Out of 112 participant responses to a questionnaire in the initial phase of the study, 92% claimed a positive view of cross-curricula integration.
While 14% of respondents professed to have substantial experience in integration, 75%
stated they had no experience with this teaching strategy. The second phase of the study involved ten participants from the first phase and entailed a three-hour workshop “in which art and science were combined to incorporate the interdisciplinary dimension of linking two subjects to develop conceptual insight into the properties of materials” (Parker et al., 2011).
The workshop was followed by a focus group discussion with the ten participants, from which the researchers identified three key themes. The first theme related to student motivation and intrinsic appeal, based on the notion that cross curricula approaches have the capacity to be more engaging due to increased relevance of the topics and links to real- life situations. The second theme was meaningful learning, which follows the ability of teachers to make connections between the subjects and real-life situations. The final theme related to developing criticality. Participants’ responses revealed although they believed a cross-curricula approach was beneficial, it is more problematic than teaching subjects discretely. A cross-curricula approach places more complex demands on teachers’
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pedagogical beliefs and content knowledge, which, through critical reflection and experience, can build teachers’ capacity for successful implementation of an integrated approach to teaching and learning (Parker et al., 2011).
Catling’s (2017) investigation examined the factors that constitute high-quality teaching in primary humanities across the United Kingdom through a review of UK school inspectorate reports. Analysis of these reports led Catling (2017) to conclude that the most effective humanities curricula are based on subject and cross-subject connections; and most effective teachers make learning visible, are flexible and enthusiastic, and display a
commitment to teaching humanities subjects. Access to a wide variety of resources and sources was also deemed an important aspect for successful integration of humanities learning experiences (Catling, 2017).
As suggested by Hinde (2005), the social sciences struggle for visibility in schools. In WA schooling from PP to Y2, teachers currently need to address 83 outcomes, and
according to Hinde (2005) there is simply not enough time to teach the humanities in an overcrowded curriculum. Her study also identified the issue of overcrowded curricula and she recommended integrated learning areas as a solution for teachers. Integration is not a new phenomenon, and as with the theoretical position of this investigation, has its roots in a social constructivist paradigm. Dewey (1859-1952) established the idea of an integrated curriculum in the 1890’s and early 1900’s as a vital element for effective pedagogy (Hinde, 2005). Parker (2005, cited in Hinde, 2005) described integration as a curriculum approach that purposefully draws together knowledge, perspectives and methods of inquiry from more than one discipline to develop a more powerful understanding of a central idea, issue, person or event. The purpose is not to eliminate individual disciplines but to use them in
combination (p. 106).
Hinde’s (2005) statement supports the analysis of The Rose Review of the English primary curriculum. In that review, Duncan (2010) proposed opening up curriculum programs to embrace a richer, more spacious curriculum that allowed greater scope for new, more flexible forms of teaching and learning.
Whilst there is support for an integrative approach to teaching and learning in the literature, Scoffam had an opposing view of integrated learning areas. In his qualitative study, Scoffham (2013) claimed the participating teachers found integration difficult to manage and suggested this approach takes time to develop and nurture. However, Hinde (2005) argued that the effectiveness of integration, as well as the more traditional,
segregated approach, relies entirely on the expertise and content knowledge of the teacher.
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Parker (2005) supported this view of effective integration and claimed that knowing when and how to separate or integrate topics is a major feature of skilful teaching (cited in Hinde, 2005).
As previously mentioned, an integrated teaching approach has the ability to meet the outcomes of an overcrowded curriculum, like the WA Curriculum and Assessment Outline.
Not only is an integrated approach recommended for teaching the two interrelated strands of Knowledge and Understanding and HASS Skills in the WA HASS Curriculum, it is also an inquiry-based teaching approach to HASS Skills for a deeper understanding of the content.
The following section examines current research into the inquiry-based teaching approach.