From policy to practice: integrated curriculum planning and teacher professionalism in Israeli elementary schools^[1]

Abstract

This article examines two aspects of the development of an educational policy – ‘Integrated Curriculum Planning’ – in six Israeli elementary schools: the teachers’ understanding of the main concepts of the integrative approach and the characteristics of school-based integrative curricula. The research revealed that the teachers are only partially acquainted with the main concepts of the integrative approach and that their understanding of these concepts is largely intuitive. Teams of teachers are therefore planning curricular activities while lacking the appropriate theoretical background, and this affects the nature and quality of the integrative curricula developed in schools. In order to ensure the transition from discipline-based curricula to integrated curriculum planning, there is a need to act on three levels: (a) teacher education; (b) in-service training and guidance; and (c) the educational system and budgeting.