Page 14 - Jurnal Kurikulum BPK 2020

new business models and new social models. Increasingly, innovation springs not from
individuals thinking and working alone, but through co-operation and collaboration with others
to draw on existing knowledge to create new knowledge. The constructs that underpin the
competency include adaptability, creativity, curiosity and open-mindedness.” (OECD, 2018, p.
5)
AN INTEGRATED CURRICULUM

The mission of the Ministry of Education has been to make learning more meaningful and fun
and that it is imparted through existing subjects offered in schools. Meaningful learning
practised in schools is confined to particular subjects and although cross-curricular learning
has been advocated, but the measure of teachers moving across different disciplines during the
teaching and learning process is not known yet. In order for pupils to benefit from the learning
process, they need to connect it to their way of life and the world around them. Only when
they are able to make connections, learning becomes interesting and meaningful. Jack Petrash
(2009) in his book Teaching from The Inside Out has clearly stated the ability to observe,
compare, analyse, and synthesize helps young people better understand the world they are
inheriting and at the same time, prepares them for finding their place in the world. Because
Waldorf education requires inner responsiveness on the part of the students, graduates leave
school with a clearer sense of who they are and what they believe to be important, making it
possible for them to give direction to their own lives (p.86). The connectivity to life is seen as
they go through the process of investigation, experimentation, connecting between subject
areas to understand a content area learnt. A study conducted by the Curriculum Development
Division (2019) on the Implementation of the Primary School Standards-Based Curriculum
and Secondary School Standards-Based Curriculum revealed teachers conduct student-centred
activities via group work and project-based learning as shared by 12 primary school teachers
and 10 secondary school teachers. Although, project-based learning is conducted currently, this
does not ensure that there is cross-curricular learning taking place.
In the preface of his book, Curriculum Development in the Postmodern Era, Patrick
Slaterry (2006) clearly stated that in short, the world is my classroom, and the arts are my
vehicle for exploring the terrain. My goal is to challenge students to connect the subject matter
of the curriculum to the lived world experiences of their surrounding community. I ultimately
hope to inspire them to become prophetic voices for justice in schools and society. I reiterate
my belief that education is a prophetic enterprise seeking justice that curriculum is a public
discourse seeking transformation, and that teaching is a moral activity demanding compassion
and understanding. Teaching is not simply a technical human enterprise of information
transmission, cultural assimilation, or career development; rather, as Dwayne Huebner points
out, it is a creative process of healing, re-integration, remembering, and re-collection. (p. xxii)
Beane (1993, 1997) and Jacobs (1989) researches has cited “many descriptions and studies
have shown that curriculum integration can provide an engaging, purposeful, relevant, and
meaningful approach to teaching and learning” (as cited in Wall & Leckie, 2017). Curriculum
integration provides children authentic learning opportunities, which involves the integration
of both the content and process. Beane (1993) outlined four aspects of integration that
emphasize issues and align with democratic principles: integration of experiences, social
integration, integration of knowledge, and integration as a curriculum design. Integration of
experiences means that past and present experiences assimilated to facilitate new learning.
Social integration occurs when students from diverse cultural perspectives enjoy common
learning experiences. Integration of knowledge happens when content area concepts are
integrated through a focus on issues. Integration as a design emphasizes project-based learning
and other applications of knowledge. (as cited in Wall & Leckie, 2017)

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