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Curriculum integration in Singapore: Teachers'perspectives and practice

ARTICLE in TEACHING AND TEACHER EDUCATION · APRIL 2013

Impact Factor: 1.32 · DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2012.11.004

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Chi Chung Lam

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

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Theresa Alviar-Martin

Hong Kong Institute of Education


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Susan A. Adler

University of Missouri - Kansas City


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Jasmine B.-Y. Sim

National Institute of Education (NIE), Singa…


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Curriculum integration in Singapore: Teachers’ perspectives and practice

Chi Chung Lam a,1, Theresa Alviar-Martin b,*, Susan A. Adler c, Jasmine B.-Y. Sim b

a Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong b Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, NIE7-03-52, 1 Nanyang Walk, Singapore 637616, Singaporec School of Education, University of Missouri e Kansas City, USA

h i g h l i g h t s

< Teachers’ conceptions of integration reected various interdisciplinary models.

< Perceived benets to integration included greater engagement of learners.

< Perceived barriers included teachers’ lack of subject knowledge.

< Other barriers were misalignment of assessment and societal valuing of competition.

< Barriers to integration are discussed in light of global trends in education.

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 27 November 2011

Received in revised form

12 November 2012

Accepted 19 November 2012

Keywords:

Integrated curriculumCurriculum reform

Teacher conceptions

Singapore

a b s t r a c t

In this qualitative study, we examined eleven Singapore teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning as

related to their experiences implementing integrated curriculum. Interviews revealed that the teachers’

conceptions of integration spanned the spectrum of ideas found in relevant literature. Further, although

participants saw benets to integration, including greater engagement of learners, they also spoke of

signicant obstacles to its implementation, such as teachers’ own perceived lack of subject knowledge

and a misalignment with the assessment system. The ndings, while echoing previous studies conducted

in various countries, highlight implementation dif culties in settings where high stake examinations and

disciplinary-based curriculum prevail.

2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

How a school curriculum should be organized has long been

a hotly debated issue in curriculum design and development

(Ornstein & Hunkins, 2004; Schiro, 2008). Whether middle-level

and secondary school curricula should be interdisciplinary or

subject-based is especially controversial because it involves distinct

differences in beliefs about the type of knowledge that should betaught to young citizens who are soon to participate fully in

a nation’s polity and workforce (Association for Middle Level

Education, 2010; Dewey, 1938/1997). Scholars adhering to varying

educational philosophies have argued over the issue of inter-

disciplinarity since the early 1900s (Applebee, Adler, & Flihan,

2007; Jackson, 1992). These arguments have unfolded within

wider economic and socio-political contexts. In the United States of

the 1960s, disenchantment with the Vietnam War and growing

poverty cast skepticism on subject-based curricula’s potential to

address social problems that were dividing the nation. Educators ’and the American public’s attention turned e albeit briey e to

progressive, integrated curricula that were organized around real-

life problems and issues rather than discipline-based content

(Dowden, 2007; Vars & Beane, 2000). As the push foraccountabilityand standardized testing later increased, however, the voices sup-

porting integrated curricula receded (Marsh & Willis, 2007).

Schools in Asia have witnessed similar shifts. Most East Asian

countries, such as China, have customarily adopted discipline-

based curriculum in secondary schools, but since the turn of the

millennium, integrated curriculum has been touted as a means of

expanding young people’s international awareness and preparing

them for participation in the global economy. Singapore is one of

those countries in which various forms of integrated curricula have

recently been proposed and, in some cases, implemented (Sharpe &

Gopinathan, 2002).

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ65 6790 3857; fax: þ65 6896 8950.

E-mail addresses: [email protected] (C.C. Lam), theresa.alviar@

gmail.com (T. Alviar-Martin), [email protected] (S.A. Adler).1 Tel.: þ852 2609 6947.

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Teaching and Teacher Education

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c om / l o c a t e / t a t e

0742-051X/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2012.11.004

Teaching and Teacher Education 31 (2013) 23e34

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Like many educational reform efforts, the development of

integrated curriculum is a complex process. Teachers’ decisions

about their practice impact the effective implementation of

curriculum reforms (Fullan, 2007). Teachers’ decisions, in turn, are

inuenced by their conceptions of the reform and the contexts in

which they will be implemented (Gopinathan & Deng, 2006).

International research similarly suggests that successful delivery of

integrated programs relies on teachers whose practices are guided

by their conception of curriculum. However, teachers hold different

conceptions of integration and which forms of integration are

desirable (Lam, Chan, & Zhang, 2006). Such diversity in teachers’

conceptions could be partly attributed to the different classica-

tions and assertions of the nature of curriculum integration ( Beane,

1997; Drake & Burns, 2004; Jacobs, 1991). Teacher development

studies have, moreover, indicated that hands-on experience in

implementing new curriculum initiatives is more likely to induce

attitudinal and conception changes (Fullan, 2007).

In this qualitative study, we draw on principles that posit

teachers as key participants in curriculum reform and imple-

mentation (Darling-Hammond, 2009; National Commission on

Teaching and America’s Future, 1996; Thornton, 1991, 2005) as we

examine eleven Singapore teachers’ conceptions of teaching,

interdisciplinarity, and their experiences in implementing inte-grated curriculum. By conceptions, we refer to teachers’ beliefs and

knowledge that are rooted in their experiences of practice

(Calderhead, 1996; Pajares, 1992). This research is intended to shed

light on the ways teachers reconciled their conceptions with local

school conditions and the wider context of Singapore ’s educational

policies. By exploring teachers’ conceptions, we seek to inform

research on the enactment of integrated curriculum, illuminate

barriers to curriculum integration in a context where high stakes

examinations and discipline-based curriculum prevail, and provide

a base from which to suggest futuredirections in teacher education.

2. Review of the literature

To survey the literature, we attend to the philosophical origins of discipline-based and integrated curricula. We then review inter-

national research to discuss teacher conceptions and preparation in

light of curriculum integration principles.

2.1. Philosophical origins of discipline-based and integrated

curricula

Despite its ubiquity in educational literature, discussion around

integrated curriculum is hindered by a lack of consensus regarding

terms and denitions (Dowden, 2007). Broadly dened, “curric-

ulum integration” refers to curricular programs that are aimed

toward making subject matter more relevant to students’ experi-

ences “with less concern for delineating disciplinary boundaries

around kinds of learning”

(Gehrke, 1998, p. 248). Curriculum inte-gration has gained critics and advocates, because major educational

philosophies e perennialism, essentialism, progressivism and

reconstructionism e have in turn drawn on philosophical orienta-

tions (idealism, realism, pragmatism, and existentialism) that

differentially dene the nature of reality and knowledge, the aims

of schooling, and teachers’ roles [see for example, Ornstein and

Hunkins (2004) for a discussion of philosophies]. Perennialism

and essentialism have been most inuential in shaping discipline-

bound curricula (Posner, 2004). Rooted in realism, which deems

human behavior as rational when it conforms to the laws of nature,

perennialism emphasizes knowledge that is permanent, charac-

terized by distinct subjects such as classical literature, mathe-

matics, and science. Among perennialists, teachers are experts who

guide students toward a deeper understanding of universal truths.

Similar to perennialists, essentialists are concerned with the past;

however, essentialists study enduring knowledge as it is applied to

the contemporary scene (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2004). The launching

of the Russian satellite, Sputnik, in 1957 renewed interest in

perennial education in the United States, bringing attention to

schools’ perceived inadequacies in cultivating students’ knowledge,

especially in science and mathematics. Beyond the structuring of

schools around delineated subjects, perennialist and essentialist

tendencies are evident in the narrow measurement of student

achievement through testing and concerns to prepare students for

specialized disciplines (Eisner, 2002).

In contrast to the two traditional educational philosophies,

progressivism and reconstructionism regard an integrated curric-

ulum as central to meaningful learning (Beane, 1997; Vars, 1991).

John Dewey (1907/1991), for example, argued that the earth was

not “stratied” into subjects: “all studies grow out of relations in

the one great common world” (p. 91). Both perspectives draw on

pragmatic philosophy, which posits knowledge as a process in

which reality is constantly changing. Teachers serve as guides to

children in problem-solving and scientic projects, and books and

subject matter are drawn upon as instruments of the learning

process rather than sources of ultimate knowledge (Ornstein &

Hunkins, 2004). Inspired by Dewey’s works, progressives viewthe school as a microcosm of democracy. They aim for youth to

learn skills of inquiry, collaboration and self-discipline in order to

democratically solve issues in society. Although closely aligned to

progressivism, reconstructionism is characterized by a more critical

stance toward social issues. The issues that concerned many

reconstructionists, including racial inequality and poverty, remain

pertinent today (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2004; Schiro, 2008).

Curriculum integration encompasses approaches with differing

levels of adherence to progressive and reconstructionist tenets and

degrees of unity across disciplines (Czerniak, Weber, Sandmann, &

Ahern, 1999; Grossman, Wineburg, & Beers, 2000). Several advo-

cates of interdisciplinarity (see Applebee et al., 2007; Drake, 2000;

Vars, 1991) have illustrated how curriculum integration models

differentially link discipline-based content (Klein, 2006). Multidis-ciplinary approaches juxtapose subject areas according to a theme

identied in two or more subjects ( Jacobs, 1989); however, disci-

plines “speak as separate voices” (Klein, 2006, p. 5), and the orga-

nizing theme is subordinated to established subject areas.

Examples of multidisciplinary approaches are sequenced, threaded

(Fogarty, 1991) or correlation (Vars, 1991) approaches, where

subjects are taught separately but arranged chronologically in

order to focus on parallel topics. Among interdisciplinary programs,

subjects are blended and may be taught through team teaching.

Shared, webbed, integrated (Fogarty, 1991), and fusion (Vars, 1991)

models, where disciplines become tools to study a theme, problem,

question, or idea in-depth, typify the interdisciplinary approach.

Transdisciplinary (Drake & Burns, 2004) approaches call for the

greatest degree of integrative restructuring, where subjectboundaries are blurred and connections magnied in a new orga-

nizational framework (Klein, 2006). Transdisciplinary approaches

are embodied in integrative (Beane, 1997) and structured, and

unstructured core curricula (Vars, 1991) that entail collaborative

and student-centered teaching, where the student’s interest

becomes the heart of learning. Table 1 illustrates examples of cross-

disciplinary approaches and integrated curricula.

Curriculum integration, although characterized by a variety of

approaches, nds unity in its pragmatic impetus. Wraga (2009)

identied three major rationales for integrating curriculum. The

rst contends that making connections across disciplines will foster

the “cumulative impact of all learning experiences ” (p. 92). The

second focuses on the interrelatedness of experience and the idea

that schools should help learners better understand those

C.C. Lam et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 31 (2013) 23e 3424

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4/13

experiences. The third rationale argues for schools to equip learners

with the ability to address social problems and issues. Echoing

progressive and reconstructionist tenets, advocates of integrated

curriculum argue that if schools are to prepare citizens who can

make decisions in a complex globalized world, there must be

opportunities for learners to integrate and apply knowledge across

traditional disciplines (Parker, 2008).

2.2. International efforts in curriculum integration

Intermittent interest in progressive educational approaches

since the 1920s served as a vehicle for the spread of integrated

curricula worldwide. In the 1970s, integrated curriculum in theUnited States was a focus of the middle school movement. Starting

in the 1990s, a wave of curriculum reform swept through Asia, with

many countries adopting integrated curriculum as a means of

promoting the learning of “21st century skills” such as problem-

solving and its higher relevance to students’ daily life (Lam,

2002). Taiwan, for example, introduced “Social Studies” to replace

Geography and History in junior secondary schools in the late

1990s. China took similar measures to introduce Integrated Science

at junior secondary level. In 2009, a new integrated subject, Liberal

Studies, was made compulsory for all senior secondary students in

Hong Kong (Education and Manpower Bureau, 2005).

Echoing debates that have surrounded the varying educational

philosophies, such attempts to introduce integrated curricula have

not been without resistance. For example, in recent years,

secondary school programs in New South Wales, Australia, reverted

to disciplinary-based curricula after almost a decade of integration.

On the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, studies have revealed

serious implementation problems of integrated programs (Lam &

Chan, 2011; Zhang, 2007). Even in the United States, despite

considerable advocacy and a relatively long history, little change

has actually been sustained. Across these settings, proponents of

integrated curricula faced questions regarding students’ abilities to

master subject-based content when disciplinary lines were blurred

(Ellis & Fouts, 2001). Ball (1987) further observed that schools’administrative structure have long been subject-based, and the

introduction of integrated programs may be perceivedas a threat to

the status and resources of existing subjects.The tenacity of subject-based curricula has been reinforced by

global trends toward neoliberalism, a political ideology where the

state “installs apparatuses and knowledges through which people

are recongured as productive economic entrepreneurs” (Davies &

Bansel, 2007, p. 248). Applied to education, neoliberalism forwards

essentialist and perennialist agendas, embodied in standards-based

reforms, high-stake examinations, accountability and ranking, and

discourses focused on excellence (McKenna & Richardson, 2009).

Nussbaum (2010) has argued that neoliberal, essentialist, and

perennialist mentalities have calcied divisions between disci-

plines and marginalized subjects such as the humanities, which are

deemed unessential in preparing youth to compete in the global

economy. The emphasis on examinations has likewise impeded

curricula aimed at fostering critical thinking skills that are dif

cult

Table 1

Examples of cross-disciplinary models and related integrated approaches.

Cross-disciplinary models Integrated approaches Description

Multidisciplinary

(Drake & Burns, 2004; Jacobs, 1989)

A curricular model that juxtaposes subject areas according to a theme

identied in two or more subjects. Organizing theme is subordinated to

established subject areas.

Correlationa Teachers of different subjects all deal with aspects of one topic at the

same time.

Sequenced

b

Units of study are rearranged and sequenced to coincide with oneanother. Similar ideas are taught in concert while remaining as separate

subjects.

Threadedb The approach threads thinking skills, social skills, multiple intelligences,

technology, and study skills through the various disciplines.

Interdisciplinary

(Drake & Burns, 2004)

Content is blended. Although disciplines speak in separate voices, they

become tools to focus closely on an organizing theme, problem,

question, or idea.

Fusiona Teachers take integration further by combining the content of two or

more subjects into a new course with a new name.

Integratedb Views the curriculum through a kaleidoscope: interdisciplinary topics

are rearranged around overarching conceptsand emergent patternsand

designs.

Sharedb Shared planning and teaching take place in two disciplines in which

overlapping concepts or ideas emerge as organizing elements.

Webbedb A fertile theme is webbed to curriculum contents and disciplines;

subjects use the theme to sift out appropriate concepts, topics, and

ideas.

Transdisciplinary

(Drake & Burns, 2004)

Cross-disciplinary approaches that call for the greatest degree of

restructuring, where subject boundaries are blurred and connections

magnied in a new organizational framework.

Integrativec A curriculum design theory aiming to enhance the possibilities for

personal and social integration through the organization of curriculum

around signicant problems and issues without regard for subject area

lines.

Structured and

unstructured coreaStudent- and society-centered curricular approaches. Teachers identify

the needs, problems, and concerns and skills and subject matter from

any pertinent subject are brought in to help students deal with those

matters. In structured core, teachers design units of study that are

relevant to students; whereas in unstructured core, teachers and

students together develop the units of study.

a Vars (1991).b Fogarty (1991).c Beane (1997).

C.C. Lam et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 31 (2013) 23e 34 25

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to assess through summative evaluations (Bailey, 2003; Hinde,

2005).

International efforts at implementing integrated curricula,

despite their mixed results, have yielded scholarship focused on the

enactment of such programs. The lack of agreement about the

nature of integrated approaches, however, poses challenges to the

study of curriculum integration. The various integration models

provide categories that are conceptually rich, but not necessarily

reective of work in schools (Applebee et al., 2007). Confounding

this operational issue are variables associated with inter-

disciplinarity, such as adherence to student-centered instruction

and collaboration between teachers and other school personnel.

Thus, it is dif cult to draw conclusions about the relative strength of

integrated programs over subject-based curricula (Ellis & Fouts,

2001; Lam, 2002).

2.3. Teacher education, conceptions, and practice

Hargreaves and Fullan (1998), Darling-Hammond (2009) and

Thornton (1991, 2005) maintain that teachers are critical partici-

pants in curriculum reform. It is through teachers ’ beliefs about

education, their knowledge, understanding of policies, and day-to-

day experiences of practice that teachers interpret curricular goalsand students’ learning experiences. Ultimately, the nature of

teaching and learning is highly dependent upon teachers ’ beliefs

and their perceived capacities to enact learning goals within their

educational and professional contexts (Pajares, 1992). Research

indicates that teachers’ enactment of integrated programs stems

from a characteristically progressive concern: that of making

learning more relevant to students (Applebee et al., 2007;

Hargreaves & Moore, 2000; Lam & Chan, 2011).

Evidence suggests that teachers’ beliefs about notions of

teaching within subject-based curricula pose barriers to the intro-

duction and longevity of integrated programs. This subject-based

orientation stems from both the type of education teachers expe-

rience as youngsters and as pre-service teachers. Previously, we

discussed how essentialist and perennialist philosophies havedominated the nature of schooling. The arguments for discipline-

based education have similarly inuenced teacher education

globally (Lam & Chan, 2011; Zhang, 2007). Although progressive

and reconstructionist principles, such as attending to children’s

different interests, are taught in teacher education courses, pre-

service teachers mostly experience a curriculum that caters to

enhancing discipline-based content knowledge (Darling-

Hammond, 1999; Labaree, 2008). In the United States, for

example, “highly qualied teachers” are likely to be dened

through mastery of subject matter and in particular, test scores on

mathematical and verbal ability, with less emphasis placed on

pedagogical skills or knowledge of curriculum planning (for

example, U.S. Department of Education, Of ce of Postsecondary

Education, Of ce of Policy Planning and Innovation, 2002, p. viii-9).In places where teachers are trained as discipline specialists,

teachers’ resistance to integrated curriculum has been strong.

Goodson (1983) demonstrated that secondary school teachers in

England identied themselves primarily as teachers of particular

subjects. More recent studies in the United States, China, Taiwan,

and Hong Kong reveal similar kinds of teacher identity that stems

in part from teachers’ discipline-based preparation (Lam & Chan,

2011; Little, 1990; Zhang, 2007). When integrated curriculum is

introduced in secondary schools, teachers are required to teach

subject content which they believe to be beyond their personal

body of knowledge. Furthermore, integration usually calls for forms

of pedagogy that may be unfamiliar to teachers. Hence, they may

feel deskilled (Lam & Chan, 2011). To deliver the new integrated

programs, they would need to reskill themselves (Lam et al., 2006).

When determining whether or not to implement some degree

of curriculum integration, schools and teachers must consider

a number of trade-offs and address several issues, including suf -

cient planning time, the availability of resources, and the social and

political context in which curriculum reform unfolds (Applebee

et al., 2007; Hinde, 2005). The context of curriculum change var-

ies among nations. Many East Asian countries have had a high-

stake examination culture and a long history of discipline-based

school curriculum, but are now aiming at nurturing higher order

thinking skills and making education more relevant to students ’

daily life. Singapore, being one of these countries, provides an

interesting setting to understand the enactment of curriculum

integration. In the following section, we sketch the milieu of

curriculum integration in Singapore.

3. Curriculum integration in Singapore

The emergence of integrated curriculum in Singapore can be

viewed as a response to global, neoliberal economic trends

(McKenna & Richardson, 2009) and the recognized need to shift

schooling toward a more student-centered focus (Gopinathan &

Deng, 2006). In the 1990s, government leaders and public gures

questioned local schools’ capacities to equip students with theappropriate mix of skills, abilities and knowledge required by the

new economy (Gopinathan, 2007). Two initiatives were launched

to address these concerns: “Thinking Schools, Learning Nation”

(TSLN) in 1997, and “Teach Less, Learn More” (TLLM) in 2004. The

TSLN initiative focused on developing “students into active learners

with critical thinking skills and.a creative and critical thinking

culture within schools” (Tan & Gopinathan, 2000, p. 7). Key TSLN

strategies included the reduction of subject content and the revi-

sion of assessment modes to emphasize process instead of

outcomes (Tan & Gopinathan, 2000). The TLLM initiative empha-

sized a student-centered education that fostered active learning,

character development and life-long learning. The TLLM programs

involved school-based curriculum development (SBCD) to

encourage schools to innovate with the existing curriculum toaddress students’ learning needs. Curriculum directives suggested

innovations such as organizing content “around a certain theme,

engaging in curriculum integration that might require the cooper-

ation of teachers from various departments” (Gopinathan & Deng,

2006, p. 99). Integration was, thus, seen as a pathway to address-

ing the new curriculum directives.

Aside from grassroots SBCD efforts, curriculum integration in

Singapore has evolved topedown. For example, students at the

secondary level take Social Studies, an examinable integrated

courseaimed at developing students into “responsible citizens with

a sense of national identity and a global perspective ” (Singapore

Examinations and Assessment Board, 2008, p. 3). Another

program, entitled National Education, comprises citizenship

education involving curricular and non-curricular activities aimedat strengthening young Singaporeans’ attachment to their country

amid concerns that the globalized economy would strain their

national loyalty (Gopinathan, 2007). In the early 2000s, the

Ministry of Education (MOE) explored the Integrated Humanities

program that would combine History and Geography at the lower

secondary level. Eventually, because of implementation issues, the

idea was abandoned. Discussion about the initiative however,

brought about curriculum innovations in various schools.

School-based and topedown initiatives aimed at curriculum

integration in Singapore have resulted in a variety of integrated

models, from multidisciplinary to transdisciplinary (Leong, Sim, &

Chua, 2011). These initiatives provided an opportunity to explore

how teachers enact their integrated curriculum ideas and factors

shaping their practices. Drawing on scholarship in curriculum


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integration and educational reform, we crafted an investigation that

positioned teachers at the heart of curriculum change efforts.

Teachers’ understanding of curriculum, and how teachers imple-

ment e or fail to implement e intended changes can have

a substantial impacton theoutcomes of those changes.It is with this

understanding that we explored the conceptions and practices of

eleven Singaporean teachersengagedin variousforms of curriculum

integration. This study specically examines teachers’ efforts to

reconcile an initiativetoward integrated curriculum and progressive

goals articulated by the Ministryof Education with a high-stakes test

culture in which exam performance is the main measure of success

for both students and teachers. Although focused on Singapore, this

study aims to illuminate the dilemmas faced by teachers in many

Asian and Western societies who seek to reconcile progressive

educationgoals withessentialist, perennialist,or neoliberal agendas.

4. Methods

To better understand teachers’ conceptions and curriculum

practices in relation to the demands of their professional context

requires an in-depth examination of teachers’ thinking and expe-

rience. For this reason, we adopted a qualitative case study design.

Specically, we employed an instrumental case study approach.Stake (2005) distinguishes between typical and instrumental case

studies. The former is built around cases that hold inherent char-

acteristics that are of interest to the researcher, whereas in

instrumental case studies, researchers choose specic cases to

inform an “external interest” (Stake, 2005, p. 445). In this study,

a case of eleven teachers became the basis of illuminating the

external issue, perspectives and enactment of integrated curric-

ulum. The case of teachers was bounded (Stake,1997, 2005) by their

experiences of working within integrated programs that were

shaped by local education policies and the broader Singaporean

socio-political milieu. We framed the investigation around two

research questions: (a) What is the nature of teachers’ conceptions

and practice of integrated curriculum within their schools? and (b)

What are teachers’ perspectives of the enactment of integratedcurricula within the Singaporean educational context?

4.1. Data collection

The research team comprised four investigators af liated with

the sole teacher education institution in Singapore. The researchers

recruited teachers for the study by inviting students from their

teacher education classes to participate in interviews. The number

of participants increased as interviewees referred the researchers

to colleagues and acquaintances that were involved in integrated

curricula. Scholars maintain that the interview is an effective data

collection method to illuminate teachers’ conceptions (Calderhead,

1996) and reveal the complexity of the teaching world ( Merriam,

2002; Patton, 2002). The researchers conducted interviews con-

sisting of semi-structured questions that covered three general

areas: (a) understanding of integrated curricula; (b) efforts related

to integrated curricula; and (c) perceived benets and barriers to

implementation. In all phases of the investigation, the researchers

adhered to ethical guidelines stipulated by the university’s Insti-

tutional Review Board. Participants were informed of the purpose

of the study and measures were taken to ensure condentiality and

anonymity. Each investigator interviewed at least two participants.

With the participants’ consent, the interviews were audio-taped

and transcribed in full.

In all, eleven secondary school teachers, six women and ve

men, participated in individual interviews lasting between 60 and

100 min. The teachers comprised a purposive sample that repre-

sented six schools that had embarked on various forms of inte-

gration, a range of years of teaching, at least two years of workingon curriculum integration in their schools, and differing roles

within the integration programs. Table 2 summarizes the partici-

pants’ background.

Five participants came from schools that had initiated inte-

grated programs as core features of the curriculum at the

Secondary One and Two levels. Three of the ve participants

(Jonathan, Diana, and Ai Ling) were from St. Anne’s Secondary

School, a school that pioneered the development of the Integrated

Humanities (IH) program that merged History and Geography. The

teachers joined the IH program at different junctures of develop-

ment. Two teachers from this group came from typical,

government-funded schools that had instigated integrated

programs lasting for at least one semester. Hui Ping was from

Achieve Academy, which was anticipating a possible directive toadopt the IH program. Hariff was the head of the Social Studies

department at Hijau Secondary. He was a proponent of integrating

subjects within the school’s National Education (NE) program.

The six other teacher-participants worked on integration

initiatives that were peripheral to the formal curriculum. Although

these programs spanned two weeks or less, they involved teachers

Table 2

Participants ’ background information.

Namea School Years of teaching Disciplinary

background

Integrated school

program

Subjec ts i nteg rated Ro le an d years of

involvement

Core integrated programs

Jonathan St Anne’s Secondary Over 10 Humanities &

History

Integrated Humanities History & Geography Planner: 6

Diana 3 Geography Planner, teacher: 3

Ai Ling 4 History Planner, teacher: 4

Hui Ping Achieve Academy Over 10 Geography Integrated Humanities History & Geography Teacher: 2

Hariff Hijau Secondary Over 10 History National Education Values, History, Geography,

Social Studies

Planner, teacher: 6

Non-core integrated programs

Katie Trinity Secondary 6 English &

Literature

Education for Life Social Studies, Geography,

English

Planner, teacher: 2

Lisa 7 Planner, teacher: 2

Kavitha 4 History, English, Science Planner, teacher: 3

Xu Ping 3 Science Information Technology

& Science

Planner, teacher: 2

Li Wah Jingga Secondary 7 Geography Enrichment History & Geography Planner, teacher: 2

Curriculum developer: 1

Alex Ungu Academy Over 10 History Values Education Social Studies & Values

Education

Teacher, researcher: 2

a

Participants’ and school names are pseudonyms.


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7/13

from more than one subject department. Four of these teachers

(Lisa, Katie, Kavitha, and Xu Ping) came from Trinity Secondary

School, which had implemented the Education for Life (EFL)

program. The EFL comprised learning units that linked subject

areas aimed at invigorating the school’s professed values. The EFL

modules took on different forms. Katie and Lisa co-taught

Secondary Three Geography, History, and English. Kavitha co-

taught with two other teachers. The team’s week-long EFL units

combined Secondary One History, Literature, and Science. Xu Ping’s

EFL units linked Science and Information Technology at the

Secondary Two level. The two remaining teachers came from

typical, government-funded schools, and had been involved

extensively in researching, planning, or teaching integrated units. Li

Wah was a former teacher and curriculum developer at Jingga

Secondary School who had planned and implemented an enrich-

ment module on History and Geography. Finally, Alex was a senior

Social Studies teacher who was assigned by his school, Ungu

Academy, to investigate the feasibility of implementing values

education in Social Studies. The participants collectively provided

different perspectives on the integration process and the demands

on the teachers, the school, and the educational system. Further-

more, the homogeneity and variation within the sample bolstered

the study’s external validity by providing a solid basis for gener-alizing the ndings to other secondary teachers involved in

curriculum integration in Singapore (Glaser & Strauss, 1967).

4.2. Data analysis

Analysis employed the constant comparative method (Miles &

Huberman, 1994), an inductive approach aimed at reducing the

data into a manageable number of themes that addressed the

concerns of the study (Creswell, 2008). The analytical process

occurred in stages similar to those outlined by Boeije (2002). In the

initial stage, the researchers subjected individual transcripts to

open coding that entailed processes of fragmenting and connecting.

Fragmenting emphasized the separate codes that emerged during

the interview and the lifting of the coded pieces out of the inter-view context. To connect the data, we compared one coded

segment with another. If a similarity was detected, the criterion of

convergence became the basis of developing a category. For

example, one coded fragment identied in Jonathan’s interview

was “protected planning time”. We found that other codes in the

interview, such as “shared venues” and “collaborative instruction”

were linked to “protected planning time” because each evidenced

school action in support of integration. We connected the similar

coded fragments by collectively labeling them under the category,

“school support.” By fragmenting and connecting the data, we

captured the essential message contained in each interview. The

process likewise enabled us to check for internal validity: each

researcher read and coded the interviews separately as a way of

determining the consistency of ideas within each transcript.

The second stage involved comparing interviews within the

same group. Employing axial coding, we searched for characteris-

tics across interviews to dene common concepts and discover

combinations of codes within each concept. As shown in Table 2,

the groups comprised two types of participants: a) teachers from

schools where integration was a core curricular feature and b)

teachers from schools where integration was peripheral. In

comparing participants within the rst group, we found the cate-

gory, “school support” from Jonathan’s interview to be a common

feature. However, support manifested differently among teachers

who had come from other schools (Hariff and Hui Ping). For

example, in Hariff ’s case, “school support” was not exemplied by“shared venues” and “collaborative instruction”, but through

“protected planning time” and uniquely, the “National Education”

curriculum.

In the nal analytical stage, we compared the two groups with

regard to the participants’ perceptions of curriculum integration.

The cross-analysis served as a form of triangulation that allowed us

to validate categories and enrich the picture that emerged from the

rst group (Boeije, 2002). Further, the criteria on which some

interviews differed from others became the basis of developing

a matrix to construct descriptions of the teachers ’ experiences of

implementing integrated curricula. Table 3 includes examples of

these criteria (organizing principles, perceived benets).

The analysis yielded two broad themes that informed the

study’s research questions. The rst captures participants’ theo-retical understanding of integration, their views of the nature of

integrated curriculum, and attempts to integrate curricula through

their school-based practices. The second theme reects the

Table 3

Characteristics of integrated programs.

School and teachers Integrated program and

subjects

Type of integration

and duration

Organizing principles/themes Perceived benetsa Program used for

exam preparation

Core integrated programs

St. Anne’ s Secondary

Jonathan

Diana

Ai Ling

Integrated Humanities:

History & Geography

Shared: whole year Social & political issues: Singapore’s

aging population, inux of foreign

workers, pollution, sustainable

development

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Yes

Achieve Academy

Hui Ping

Shared: 1 semester Historical patterns: role of rivers in

shaping civilizations

1, 2, 3 No

Hijau Secondary

Hariff

Social Studies, National

Education

Webbed: 1 semester Social & political issues based on

Singapore’s history and National

Education themes

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Yes

Non-core integrated programs

Trinity Secondary

Katie

Lisa

Kavitha

Xu Ping

Education for Life: English,

History, Science, Information Technology

Threaded, webbed:

1e2 weeks

Historical patterns: how societies

respond to change

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 No

Environmental issues: sustainable

development, interconnectedness

Jingga Secondary

Li Wah

History & Geography Shared: 1e2 weeks Historical patterns: societies’

relationship with environment

1, 2, 3, 4 No

Ungu Academy

Alex

Social Studies & Values Threaded: N.A. “Values-inspired” themes N.A. No

a 1 ¼ authentic, real world learning; 2 ¼ enhancing student interest; 3 ¼ expanding perspectives; 4 ¼ critical thinking & problem-solving; 5 ¼ holistic learning;

6¼

differentiated learning; 7¼

camaraderie among teachers; 8¼

exam preparation.


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teachers’ perceptions of integrated programs within Singapore’s

curriculum reform initiatives. Notably, the teachers emphasized

that integration faced obstacles due to entrenched values, beliefs,

and practices. These themes are discussed below.

5. Findings

5.1. Conceptions, motivations, and practice of integration

Our study’s rst question concerned how teachers conceptual-

ized the nature of integration and enacted integrated curriculum in

their schools. Like Applebee et al. (2007), we observed that

teachers’ conceptions and practice of integration do not t neatly

into the models of curriculum integration identied in the litera-

ture. Most teachers learned about curriculum integration through

in-service seminars or short courses; thus opportunities to explore

models of curriculum integration were limited. Teachers’ concep-

tions of integration were, furthermore, linked closely with the

characteristics of the integrated programs offered in their schools.

Among teachers whose schools adopted integrated curricula to

implement core programs for a sustained period, teachers were

more likely to conceptualize integration through interdisciplinary

approaches that prioritized issues under study rather than themaintenance of disciplines that characterized multidisciplinary

approaches (see Table 3).

Four teachers approached integration through a multidisci-

plinary model. That is, they focused on themes that represented

real world problems; but assessments were built around the

specic skill expectations of the disciplines involved. Lisa and her

teammate, Katie, designed their EFL units around a week-long eld

trip for their students to a palm oil plantation in Malaysia. Lisa

noted that “integrated curriculum is a curriculum in which there is

no clear distinction about disparate subjects but rather the skills of

particular subjects are used specically for the students to solve

a problem ..” The teachers emphasized that problems relating to

the environment and sustainable development were the focus of

the unit; on the other hand, assessments were linked to the sepa-rate subjects through the use of rubrics that outlined the different

skills. Similarly, their colleague, Kavitha, explained that the school’s

Secondary One EFL units, organized under the theme of “How

societies respond to change”, was an opportunity to practice skills

learned in English, History and Science classes. For Alex, who was

tasked to develop an integrated program at Ungu Academy,

a feasible approach to organizing the curriculum was to anchor

learning through values-based themes that would then be

combined through discipline-specic assessment rubrics.

The remainder of the participants conceptualized their curric-

ular approaches through interdisciplinary models. A pair of

teachers characterized their integration as “webbed” (Fogarty,

1991), where organizing themes spanned the curriculum but

were implemented within subject areas. Hariff, who had led theintegration of NE in his school, explained: “There is a theme,cutting

across . horizontally and vertically wherebasically all the different

subjects are communicating these themes, so the students are able

to have a better understanding.” Hariff mentioned that historical

themes highlighting how Singapore had responded to social

upheavals such as water shortages and racial tensions were

explored extensively in Social Studies and Values Education classes.

Similarly, Xu Ping explained that to prepare students for their EFL

eldwork, which involved designing a bridge to serve a village in

a rainforest in Malaysia,he taught the students about the concept of

“interconnectedness” through a unit on ecosystems during Science

and “networks” during Information Technology class.

Diana, Ai Ling, and Jonathan from St. Anne’s Secondary School,

and Li Wah who were designated as their schools’

curriculum

developers, and Hui Peng, framed their understanding and practice

of integration similarly to Fogarty’s (1991) shared model. Diana saw

integration as “Something that, as much as possible, connects two

subjects . or teaching things that can lend itself to both disci-

plines.” Diana and Ai Ling explained that combining History and

Geography into the IH allowed them to focus on issues that were

relevant to students’ lives while preserving skills and concepts that

were af liated traditionally with the individual subjects. Ai Ling

mentioned that Singapore’s limited land area and its historical ties

to neighboring countries led to many issues that students could

ponder. Hui Peng recalled how she implemented a unit on “Rivers”

to facilitate learning about the longevity of ancient civilizations,

a topic that was taught in History and Geography. Diana explained

that she and her colleagues at St. Anne ’s designed IH units that

dealt mainly with social problems in Singapore, such as its aging

population, the inux of foreign workers, and pollution. A common

principle among these units was to emphasize how societies, in

order to endure, needed to adjust to social, environmental and

political changes.

The variations in programs notwithstanding, all except one of

the participants agreed that integration offered many benets,

particularly in cultivating students’ learning and interest (see

Table 3). These benets served as incentives for teachers as theyworked on their integrated units. The benets cited by the teachers

reected arguably progressive principles of student learning. This

was best captured by Hariff, who noted that the NE curriculum

could be taken “as propaganda.but we wanted the students to

approach social issues more critically.” Progressive principles were

evident in the pedagogical innovations introduced by the teachers.

Hariff said that his students tended to be social learners. This

inspired his teaching team to design strategies that involved

collaborative work. Jonathan and Ai Ling recalled that the IH subject

challenged them to avoid the usual didactic lectures and Power-

Point presentations. They developed role-play and cooperative

group activities that enabled them to address students’ different

learning styles.

Teachers likewise reported positive effects on camaraderie

among the teachers. Hariff and Jonathan reiterated that through

working together for the integrated program, team spirit among

the teachers was enhanced. At St. Anne’s Secondary School,

teachers relied on colleagues trained in different subjects to iden-

tify common concepts and skills in History and Geography. Jona-

than noted that teachers worked long hours between semesters to

craft their curriculum units together. He added that the common

teaching time enriched the exchange of ideas among teachers while

providing students with cross-disciplinary perspectives.

Across the twogroups, teachers said that they had learned about

integration through short-term seminars sponsored by the MOE.

Hariff, Hui Peng, Jonathan, and Li Wah mentioned that attending

a masters course on curriculum design introduced them to

“concept-based” approaches. Intriguingly, more than half of theteachers, while attempting to enact practices to support integra-

tion, expressed a sentiment that their efforts fell short of what

integration should be. Hui Peng, Jonathan, Kavitha, Li Wah, and Xu

Ping were among those who described a normative stance that

differed from their integration practices. Jonathan described the IH

program as adhering to Fogarty’s (1991) shared model; however,

his understanding of integration reached beyond the merging of

two subjects:

Rather than just limited to two disciplines, it’s to see connec-

tions between different elds of knowledge, and this

could mean two or more, but, basically to look out for how

different elds of knowledge are connected and to appreciate

more importantly, the connections. because, through


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integration.one of the advantages is that it is.applicable to

the real world . where knowledge is not compartmentalized

into subjects.

Hui Peng observed that she sought to link History and Geog-

raphy, but claimed that the curriculum had not fullled an impor-

tant criterion of integration, specically, the subsuming of subjects

within compelling relevant issues. She used a metaphor of a local

drink to explain the disjuncture in her thinking and practice:

In Singapore, “bandung” means rose syrup with milk, so just like

two subjects, they are supposed to mix until it becomes some-

thing brand new . But the way the syllabus is, the way the

curriculum is being designed doesn’t really allow us a lot of

scope to explore this integration.

Another intriguing pattern relating to teachers’ conceptions and

enactmentwas the varying level of support for integration based on

the programs’ role with regards to preparation for examinations. As

indicated in Table 3, teachers in schools where integrated programs

involved examinable subjects (St. Anne’s and Hijau Secondary

Schools) saw more benets to student learning and generally held

stronger support for such programs compared to their counterparts

where schools’ primary test preparation took place in traditional,

discipline-based subjects. The role of examinations and other

constraints to integrated curriculum will be discussed further in the

following section.

5.2. Obstacles to integration

The second area of interest concerned teachers’ views of

curriculum integration within the wider context of Singapore’s

educational initiatives. The teachers reported that a high

percentage of school-based integration they developed adhered to

interdisciplinary approaches in which content from disciplines

were organized around a theme. Transdisiplinary approaches that

“organize curriculum around student questions and concerns”

(Drake & Burns, 2004, p. 13) were uncommon. The participants ’responses indicated that resistance to transdisciplinary approaches

stemmed from four general factors that have been noted by other

researchers (see Grossman et al., 2000; Lam & Chan, 2011). These

include: (a) teachers’ perceived lack of subject knowledge; (b)

teacher subject identication; (c) the inadequacy of resources and

time needed for curriculum development; and (d) misalignment

between topics and assessment.

A feeling of inadequacy in subject knowledge was found to be

a concern of all except one of the teachers involved. Without ample

grasp of the subject knowledge, teachers found it dif cult to

identify the key ideas to be covered in their teaching. Li Wah

explained: “When designing what to teach in the new integrated

subject, it . is denitely a struggle because they won’t know.the

important aspects of the discipline to esh out.”

The only teacherwho did not nd lacking of subject knowledge a problem was Katie.

She noted: “For a person just starting out (subject matter knowl-

edge) might seem quite daunting, but in Singapore we have enough

resources available to ll this knowledge gap.”The concern of subject identity was less apparent than subject

knowledge, but nonetheless posed a stumbling block to integration

efforts. Teachers whowere trained to teach a certain subject usually

identied themselves as a member of that subject. Hui Peng voiced

her concerns about this issue frankly: “Because I am a Geography

teacher .I nd that integration actually threatens the integrity of

the status of the subject.” This was especially true in upper

secondary S

Curriculum Integration in Spore

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