The Challenges of Interdisciplinary Learning: ‘Reality Bites’

This article draws on data from the case study of a Middle Years teaching team’s experience of engaging with interdisciplinary learning. While the benefits of working across the disciplinary divides have long been acknowledged, attempts to enact interdisciplinary approaches to learning have a long and somewhat troubled history. Video-taping of the planning processes, classroom lessons and focus group interviews provided nuanced insights into how teachers’ theorising of interdisciplinary learning connected with their classroom practice. Data illuminated students’ capability to integrate knowledge and modes of thinking across disciplines, but also revealed the intellectual and pragmatic challenges of engaging students with the disciplinary perspectives.