Cross-curricular and Cross-subject Links: Middle management perceptions

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to consider the issues of management and coherence in the whole curriculum from the perspective of a subject area in order to evaluate them at the point of implementation. The subject area which has been chosen is history, partly because it is my own specialism and partly because the statutory orders actually require it to form direct links with other subjects as well as the cross-curricular themes, perspectives and dimensions. However, although some points which follow will at times be subject-specific, the main focus of the findings is applicable to the organization of all areas of the curriculum. An attempt has been made to see how effectively departments consider that links with other areas of the curriculum have been developed by looking at three features. Firstly, links which history departments perceive they have with other subjects; secondly, the extent to which they have developed cross-curricular themes; and thirdly, whether internal organization of history in to faculties or autonomous departments has affected the subject's links with other areas of the curriculum. Given that the National Curriculum has certainly produced considerable changes, some attempt has been made to compare the situation before and after the introduction of History Orders in September 1991, and to suggest how this can be dealt with at both a departmental and a school level. © 1994, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.