Collaborative curriculum delivery in the middle years
Cross-curriculum learning
Several different approaches to the delivery of curriculum in the middle years of schooling have been used to address concerns over disengaged learners. These approaches include 'teaming' where a small number of teachers work as a team to teach all of the curriculum, as well as processes of negotiating the curriculum, where students are involved in identifying the curriculum of most interest to them. While each of these approaches has strong success in some areas they face the challenge of maintaining the integrity of the disciplines within an integrated context. Recently, a number of schools have used the Quality Teaching Framework dimension of 'significance' as the basis of collaborative curriculum delivery in the middle years.
Delivering a cross-curriculum unit in a Central school
The cross-curriculum unit developed at Norfolk Island Central School was designed to provide students with the opportunity to appreciate the significance and interconnected role that different subject areas play in addressing issues of common concern.
The focus of the unit was on human skin and the impact of the sun. This unit involved the staff from Mathematics, Science, PDHPE, Industrial Arts, Home Science and Art collaboratively teaching the relevant syllabus content.
