Does integrating school curriculum areas work?

<h3>According to a new NZCER study&comma; principals and teachers view their curriculum integration experiences as successful&period; Curriculum integration is common in primary schools and nearly two-thirds of secondary schools are combining two or more learning areas at some level of the school&period;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p><i>Curriculum Integration&colon; What is happening in New Zealand schools<&sol;i>&quest; is the latest research report from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research&period; The purpose of the research was to learn more about teachers’ reasons for integrating curriculum&comma; the ways they go about it&comma; and the learning opportunities it offers students&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We wanted authentic learning activities that could engage our students in problem solving and working like people do in the real world&comma; &lbrack;and to ensure&rsqb; relevance&comma; excitement&comma; choice about what they did&period;” <br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8211&semi; <&sol;i>Primary teacher&comma; Wellington<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>The study found that teachers chose to integrate learning areas to make learning more relevant and equitable&period; Their difficulty was ensuring students continued to build knowledge in each of the learning areas&period; Maths was especially difficult to integrate&comma; and many teachers chose to continue teaching this as a single learning area&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Schools reported positive outcomes from integrating curriculum areas&period; The challenge was balancing <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;developing-opportunities-at-school-with-a-view&sol;" title&equals;"opportunities" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">opportunities<&sol;a> for student choice and agency with opportunities to build disciplinary knowledge&comma;” <br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8211&semi; <&sol;i>Sue McDowall&comma; lead researcher  <&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"article-left-box-wrapper"> <&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>The study draws on the findings of NZCER’s 2019 National Survey of Secondary Schools and 3 workshops that researchers ran in 2018 with primary and secondary school teachers from schools that integrate curriculum areas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These findings come at a time of significant change in the education system&period; As part of the reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system&comma; the government has committed to establish a nationally-based Curriculum Centre to provide curriculum leadership and expertise&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nzcer&period;org&period;nz&sol;research&sol;curriculum-integration" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">See the full research report by clicking here&period;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;