Written by Making Space for Interdisciplinary Learning
As an MYP coordinator, I keep bumping into the same problem: there’s never enough time to plan interdisciplinary learning together, let alone assess it collaboratively. And yet I can’t stop thinking about why this work matters enough to find a way.
Here’s what draws me: authentic interdisciplinary learning helps students see something real—that the world’s actual problems don’t announce themselves as “math problems” or “history questions.” They’re messy and layered and require multiple ways of thinking. When we design units around real problems instead of disciplines, learning stops feeling performative. It feels like play, because it connects to questions students actually care about.
But getting there requires something I haven’t yet figured out: how to build momentum without burning people out.
The constraint is time. Our timetable is packed. The IB mandates interdisciplinary units as a compliance requirement, but that mandate doesn’t come with planning time. I’m asking colleagues to give up lunch breaks, and I’m wondering how to make this sustainable—which really means: how do I get senior leadership to sponsor it?
What I’m exploring is a structure of Monday meetings (45 minutes, every two weeks) paired with asynchronous work beforehand. The async phase could surface why we want to integrate learning and what questions students bring. Shared time could then focus on purpose, shared outcomes, and the student experiences we want to make possible. I’d use consensus-building protocols to make sure we’re actually hearing what matters, not just imposing a vision from above.
A previous attempt to link our work to the SDGs felt artificial. That taught me something: we need to start with students’ questions and the connections they notice, not with frameworks we have decided matter.
My next step is to find a few willing people (a coalition of the willing) and invite them into conversation. I haven’t done this yet. I don’t know what will build momentum. But I want to begin in a way that feels genuine rather than performative, and I’m curious what others have learned about making time for this work.
If you are interested in interdisciplinary learning or systems thinking, please reach out!
What have you noticed about what actually builds momentum for interdisciplinary work?
What structures have you seen that honour teachers’ time while still making the work possible?
Cheers,
Emilia 