There should be a balance of interdisciplinary learning and learning within the subject areas and disciplines across a term, year and phase. Individual schools and establishments are best placed to decide what the right balance is for them as they respond to their context and to the needs of their learners.
When planning for overall coherence and progression schools and establishments need to take account, where relevant, of factors such as associated schools groups, transition arrangements, links with colleges and other partners and the possible roles of support for learning staff, visiting specialists and the wider community.
They also need to create the time and provide the support for teachers to plan collaboratively for interdisciplinary learning. Such provision of time and support makes a very important contribution to teachers’ continuing professional development.
Across sectors it is possible to develop aspects of interdisciplinary work, whether within arrangements for curriculum planning in early years and primary or within timetable arrangements in the secondary sector, that do not explicitly provide for interdisciplinary projects.
This may include:
- a subject specialist supporting the development of a theme in an early years department
- problem based learning within curriculum areas, for example drama and music, or across several curriculum areas or departments
- team approaches, in which teachers of different subjects or different primary classes act as mentors and guides after teaching the disciplinary content and skills that learners are applying.
There should be systems in place to continually monitor the appropriateness of the balance between interdisciplinary learning and opportunities for learning in discrete subject areas and disciplines over the year.
