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Curriculum integration has long appealed as a way to both unite knowledge and meet the educational needs of young people. Yet contemporary educators have tended to dismiss this as a romantic but unworkable idea. This book examines curriculum integration with respect to the educational needs of young adolescents in the New Zealand context. It draws from American and British understandings about integration developed throughout the twentieth century. The central research explained in this work relevant to any Western education system is a theoretical analysis of the student-centred and the subject-centred models of curriculum integration. It concludes that the student- centred integrative curriculum´ model developed by Professor James A. Beane from the USA is best suited to middle level education. This book will be of particular interest to professionals who specialise in the middle years as well as advocates of middle schooling who are committed to developing relevant, challenging, integrative and exploratory curriculum designs for young people.

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Dr Tony Dowden is a lecturer of Foundation and Professional Studies in Education at the University of Tasmania in Australia. Earlier in his career he was a secondary teacher in New Zealand and Samoa. His research interests include curriculum integration, reform of education for young adolescents and transition from primary to secondary schooling.

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