Implementing the Curriculum - English in an Integrated Curriculum http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/english/integrated.

htm

Especially for Co-ordinators - Implementing the Curriculum

English in an Integrated Curriculum

What is Integrated Curriculum?

Essentially, an integrated curriculum is one that transcends the boundaries imposed by

traditional subject groupings. It allows students to move across ‘disciplines' as they learn about
their world. Integrated curriculum does not do away with the distinction between those subjects
or learning areas — these remain important for the purposes of balance and organisation.
(Murdoch and Hornsby, 1997, p. 1)

Why Integrate?

Schools choose to integrate the curriculum for a number of reasons:

it provides a meaningful context and purpose for learning;

It is time efficient in a crowded school day;
it provides for a range of interests, learning styles, levels of understanding.

How can the English Co-ordinator support English in an Integrated Curriculum ?

In secondary schools, English can become lost in an integrated curriculum. This is particularly
the case when there are inexperienced teachers or non English specialists teachers teaching in
a middle school situation. You should take the following steps to support teachers teaching an
integrated curriculum:

provide P.D. about the value of the integrated curriculum

provide advice on the place of English in the integrated curriculum
provide opportunities for sharing of successful integrated units of work
provide opportunities for teachers to meet and jointly plan
provide resources to support English in an integrated curriculum

Key Areas in Planning for an Integrated Curriculum

Planning

There are a number of strategies you can use to support planning for the integrated curriculum:

plan unit of work around a shared experience such as a trip, guest speaker, book or poem
use the planning cycle to plan relevant activities and teaching strategies
identify and document main learning areas to be covered within unit of work
identify key questions/understandings and relevant outcomes within each learning area
Collect resources

Starting Points

There many different ways to get started:

identify students interests, level of understanding,

identify texts: film, video, contemporary literature, radio
use shared experiences such as a trip to Molesworth or Roaring Beach
use a "big idea" such as feelings or time shift
focus on specific learning outcomes

Assessment

Before you begin, you need to make some important decisions about assessment. Make sure
that you target knowledge, skills, strategies, values and attitudes. Think about how you will use
different types of assessment such as work samples, observation and self-assessment. You also
need to decide how you will use assessment criteria, TLOS, English and other relevant learning
area outcomes.

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Implementing the Curriculum - English in an Integrated Curriculum http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/english/integrated.htm

For more information

For detailed information about the integrated curriculum, have a look at integrating English and
teaching units. Refer also to Lively Lines and the Integrated Units Collection available from the
DoE store and the Curriculum Corporation.

The url for this page is http://wwwfp.education.tas.gov.au/english/integrated.htm

Authorised by: Executive Director (Curriculum Standards and Support)
Produced by: Department of Education, Tasmania, School Education Division
Queries: eCentre.Help@education.tas.gov.au
Modified: 11/09/2007
© and disclaimer
For other Tasmanian Government information, please visit the Service Tasmania website.

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