Professional context - Crossing boundaries and creating connections

INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION

A definition of Interdisciplinary Collaboration is 'combining or involving two or more academic disciplines or fields of study'.  It is a common practice in medicine when a patient presents with complex symptoms that require treatment from more than one specialist. It is most authentic when no single discipline can adequately describe or resolve a complex problem.

In a primary school classroom it would involve the teacher (or a group of teachers) planning a unit of work that used more than one core curriculum area, and through using essential skills or key competencies, finding answers to overarching essential questions.  We might call is project-based or inquiry learning, and it is commonly accepted in most NZ schools as a way of connecting learners with real-life and complex problems. While harder to achieve within the constraints of a secondary system of discrete disciplines, it is still possible in an environment where teachers and leaders collaborate and work flexibly. 

Interdisciplinary collaboration starts to look quite different when you take on leadership roles in a school.  Leadership often requires you to work with agencies and service providers, sometimes outside of the education sphere.  You need to work collaboratively with these people and agencies in order to achieve the shared goal that in some sense benefits your school, your teachers  or your students.  

My interdisciplinary connection map

As the Principal in my school, I have purposefully made professional connections in order to receive support in my professional work.  A Principal's role is much the same as a specialist teacher in a school - you are the only one who does that work, and so you can become isolated from colleagues doing the same work elsewhere.  The guidance, encouragement and advice I receive from my colleagues is fundamental to my progress as a leader and my enjoyment of the job. 

One interdisciplinary connection I am looking forward to developing further is the establishment of the Kaipatiki Community of Learning, involving 3 ECEs, 6 primaries, 1 intermediate, 1 college and 1 special school.  The opportunity this brings for interactions with leaders in different education contexts to mine is exciting.  For leaders across a local education pathway to discuss the  challenges and opportunities they face collectively provides space to stretch our practice and encourage collaboration within and across our schools. 

The model represented in the article "A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration" (Mulligan and Kuban 2015) is one that the framework of CoLs (MoE booklet 2016) can deliver well.  

I am optimistic that the collaborative and inter-school relationships that develop out of the CoL will have significant impact on both student achievement and teacher practice.  I also believe it will provide a strong framework for building leadership capacity within the CoL, and this can only benefit the schools involved and the children they serve.  

References:

Ministry of Education (2016)  Community of Learning - Guide for Schools and Kura

Barton, K. C., & Smith, L. A. (2000). Themes or motifs? Aiming for coherence through interdisciplinary outlines. The Reading Teacher, 54(1), 54-63.1.

Mulligan, Laura MacLeod   & Kuban, Dr. Adam J. (May 2015)  A Conceptual Model for Interdisciplinary Collaboration,  ACRlog   retrieved from http://acrlog.org/2015/05/14/a-conceptual-model-for-interdisciplinary-collaboration./