CROSS-CURRICULAR LEARNING IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS!!!

My fourth blog will explore how cross curricular-learning could impact on a primary school.

This constant evolving world the children today will come into once they leave education will be very diverse to the present world today. The extraordinary rate of change through the development of technology and the progression of knowledge is formulating an unpredictable future (Barnes, 2011). Is it safe to say that education is acceptable as it is today, or does is need to shift its culture in an attempt to prepare the children for the progressing future?

The developments in technology has an impact by adapting the context of the work to the changes arising for the schools. Young children are already restrained to the digital world as their educational and social lives are increasingly being associated with this shifting technology. There are already high demands to be digitally competence in the present society and workplace, which can only mean for this requirement to increase in future. To reinforce this concept in Wales, 6 areas of learning and experience has been introduced to remove the distinctions between the ‘core’ subjects. This should enable teachers to help the children bring together and make links across different aspects as part of the four purposes. The framework for literacy, numeracy and digital competence should enable the teachers to have a responsibility for cross-curricular learning in their classroom (Donaldson, 2015).

To be digitally competent, is not merely to focus on using technological gadgets itself, but a greater skill development to use digital technology creatively. Here is a video from Deighton primary school who accomplished an overdrive project to demonstrate the use of digital technology in a creative way, supported by the cross-curricular digital competence framework (Young, 2017).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeDZQwcEiy0

This project enabled a group of children develop and display some impressive creative and collaboration skills. This is an example of cross-curricular learning as many aspects from the areas of learning and experience were utilised; expressive arts, science and technology, maths and numeracy and language and communication were all equally exercised.

Cross-curricular learning should be the fundamental focus on learning in the classrooms as it promotes authentic learning, highlighting key concepts and consistency in learning between the different subjects (Dean, 2001). Self-directed learning rather than didactic teaching could increase the motivation in children, who are overwhelmed by all the information they collect everyday and by the digital devices for constant entertainment on demand (Barnes, 2011).     

However, subject specialism is a tradition in the education setting, therefore, teachers will have a fear of changing their pedagogy methods. The teachers are used to having labels on them for subject specialisation and having a simple assessment criteria to follow. The emphasis on content will not be substantial, however, there will still be content based assessment. There are concerns that cross-curricular teaching could lead to insignificant, fragmented and repetitive teaching which will be very complex to evaluate for the assessments (Kerry, 2015).

In Scotland, the cross-curricular curriculum has already been implemented and there have been concerns that project learning is not explored in depths and thought to be superficial (Johnson, 2017). Professor Patterson’s main concern is that inequality will escalate due to the lack of basic knowledge explored. For children who will not acquire this knowledge at home will be completely reliant on the knowledge gained from their school. Therefore, they will descend into the category of inequality of learning (Johnson, 2017).

However, cross-curricular learning is one the key features of the Finnish curriculum. They have one of the finest education systems in the world. The central focus is to teach the students how to be a capable learner rather than teaching them content itself. They are taught to be in control of their learning experience and are trained to be intellectually curious to generate their own interpretations of a topic. There are no summative assessment during the year, just constant formative assessment to enable encouragement and guidance (Tay, 2017).  

References.

Barnes, J, (2011). Cross-curricular learning 3-4 (2^nd edition). London: Sage publications.

David, T. (2017/23/5/2017) Preparing the next generation for a new world. Available at: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/finn-fun (Accessed: 9/12/2017).

Dean, J. (2001). Organising Learning in the Primary Classroom (3rd edn). London: Routledge.

Donaldson, G, (2015). Successful futures: Independent review of curriculum and assessment arrangements in Wales. Welsh Government.

Johnson, S. (2017) Scottish curriculum 'could be disastrous for pupils but academics scared to speak out. Available at:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/03/scottish-curriculum-could-disastrous-pupils-academics-scared/     (Accessed: 11/12/2017).

Kerry, T, (2015). Cross-curricular teaching in the primary school : Planning and facilitating imaginative lessons (Second ed.). London: Routledge.

Nick Young (2017) Overdrive DCF Video. Available at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeDZQwcEiy0  (Accessed: 9/12/2017).