Exam (elaborations) Curriculum Integration430

In the consultation on curriculumstructure and time conducted by theNational Councilfor Curriculum and Assessment[NCCA] one offivemain themesto emergewasthatthere was broad agreementfor using amore integrated curriculumstructure forinfant classes[NCCA, 2018, 7].More broadly,the benefits ofthematic and integrated approaches were noted and respondentsfelt…“therewas a natural progression fromthemesto curriculumareasto subjects[NCCA, 2018, 8]. The purpose ofthis paperisto examine howto coherently express an intention of curriculumintegration in a re-devised Primary School Curriculumand in so doing identify the benefits and challenges ofsuch an approach. Specifically the paperfocuses on examining the following questions: • Whatis an integrated curriculum? • What does an integrated curriculumlook like? • Where can we find learning presented in an integrated way at the moment? • What are the possible benefits of presenting curriculumin an integrated way? Whatis an integrated curriculum? Before any consideration of how curriculumintegration can be expressed coherently itseemsimportantif not essentialto start by asking the question: Whatis curriculumintegration? The term “integrate” means to render something whole or at least to provide some sort of unity. This second sense is perhaps more appropriate here as there are different ways in which the diverse elements of curriculum can be given unity. For instance, a curriculum could be given unity around a set of outcomes, it could be given unity on the basis of pedagogical approach, it also be given unity in its approach to integration. Curriculum integration is therefore understood and presented by educators in a wide variety of ways and there are even more variations in practice [Hurley, 2001]. Integrated curriculum is also not a new phenomenon. For example, in the 1960s and influenced by the thinking of Dewey [1956], there was a movement of educators in the United States which promoted an integrated curriculum based on the pedagogical and even epistemological principles of constructivism which proposed that learners ‘construct’ their own knowledge and understanding and can be aided and motivated by teaching approaches that begin with the learners’ prior learning. 2 One clear curriculum expression of this progressive movement was the “project” method, where children completed a project which was experience based, offered learner choice, promoted collaborative work with the understanding that the group took full responsibility for its learning. Later, elements of this method were incorporated into not only projectbased unified curricula but also other ways of unifying and