Paddle, Hermione; (2025) Teachers’ Perspectives on Interdisciplinary Learning: Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment in the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

Text Paddle_Thesis.pdf - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 1 December 2026. Download (8MB)

Abstract

Interdisciplinary curricula has become prominent in secondary schools during the last half century. Developments in communication, technology and globalisation, have led schools to promote critical thinking skills as a way of solving complex, interdisciplinary problems. In order to analyse this phenomenon in more depth, this dissertation draws upon a qualitative investigation of 25 teachers in nine, European international schools. These International Baccalaureate (IB) schools all subscribe to the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), where interdisciplinarity is a mandated part of the curriculum, and this research explores the overarching research question: How are interdisciplinary curricula understood and enacted by teachers in MYP schools? This research draws on Basil Bernstein’s theories to illuminate ways of exploring the nuances of curriculum structures. In this way, it demonstrates the importance of teacher collaboration in achieving high standards of interdisciplinarity. It also shows how boundary crossing across subject areas can create unique spaces which challenge both disciplinary paradigms as well as subject loyalty. Secondly, the research draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s discussions of social space and capital. This provides a way to explore the various power dynamics and relationships that are challenged by interdisciplinary collaboration. This research found that interdisciplinary learning in the MYP is a complex process but one that is firmly based in disciplinary knowledge, and that this remains integral to the success of the curriculum units. School context and structures, teacher attitudes and communication, and collaborative assessment practices all affected the way that interdisciplinary learning was implemented. The implications of this suggest that teachers feel very much aligned with their own school subjects, and that there is often a fear that boundary crossing, through the merging of categories and ideas, dissolves the principles of social order that are based on the ‘sacred’ notion of existing disciplines and school subjects. Consequently, it is recommended that MYP schools provide adequate collaborative time, scaffold disciplinary knowledge, and develop a shared lexicon to improve discourse and pedagogy around an interdisciplinary curriculum.

Download activity - last month

Export as CSVJSONXML

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as XMLJSONCSV

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Archive Staff Only

View Item