Integration of science subjects in lower secondary school in teachers’, heads’ of school and students’ opinions Cover Image

Opinie nauczycieli, dyrektorów szkół i uczniów na temat nauczania blokowego przedmiotów przyrodniczych w gimnazjum
Integration of science subjects in lower secondary school in teachers’, heads’ of school and students’ opinions

Author(s): Wojciech Grajkowski
Subject(s): Education
Published by: Instytut Badań Edukacyjnych
Keywords: national curriculum; science subjects; integrated teaching; focus group interview; FGI

Summary/Abstract: In Polish lower secondary schools biology, chemistry, physics and geography are taught as four separate subjects. School authorities however, can provide lessons during which two or more subjects are taught together. This is known as integrated teaching. A qualitative survey, based on focus group interviews (FGI) and individual in-depth interviews (IDI), was executed to determine how familiar teachers and heads of school were with the idea of integrated teaching, their attitudes towards it and obstacles that hamper its implementation. Results indicate that integrated science teaching is practically absent from Polish lower secondary schools. Although they often had the opinion that all science subjects should be grouped together, respondents in most cases could not imagine introducing regular lessons covering material from more than one subject into lower secondary schools. They perceived too many organizational, financial and content-related barriers, which, in their opinion, made it impossible to integrate science teaching at this level.

  • Issue Year: 121/2013
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 89-98
  • Page Count: 10
  • Language: Polish