Teachers’ Views on the Interdisciplinary Topic Health and Life Skills in the EFL Classroom: A Mixed-Method Study

Abstract

The Ministry of Education and Research implemented in 2020 a new interdisciplinary topic called health and life skills. Health and life skills is supposed to help the students prepare for life and promote knowledge about the subtopics within health and life skills. This MA thesis investigates English teachers’ views on health and life skills in the English classroom, and which tools and materials the teachers use to implement the topic. This project focuses on five subtopics from health and life skills: mental health, media use, sexuality, feelings, and economy. The following thesis question and sub-questions are being investigated: What are English teachers’ views on the interdisciplinary topic health and life skills? a) What focus are teachers giving the topics mental health, sexuality, media use, feelings, and economy in lessons about health and life skills? b) How do teachers implement the interdisciplinary topic health and life skills in the English subject? The method used to gather data for this research project is a mixed-method questionnaire. The results from the questionnaire are thematically analyzed with regards to Braun and Clarke (2016). Since this MA thesis is investigating teachers’ views, the teachers’ cognitions theory from Borg (2003 & 2015) is being used. The views the teachers have on the interdisciplinary topic health and life skills are also investigated with Goodlad’s curriculum inquiry that shows different aspects of curriculums (Garmannslund et al., 2011, p. 9). The results show that English teachers have divided and different views on health and life skills. This project narrows their views down to three different perspectives on the topic.Many of the English teachers define health and life skills as tool to help the students prepare for life and its ups and downs. The second perspective the teachers have is that the topic can be used as a language learning tool that can promote basic skills. The third view on to topic is that health and life skills can help students get to know their identities better and their relationships with others. Off the five subtopics this MA is focusing on, it is clear that the teachers are paying most attention to feelings and mental health, opposed to economy, which is receiving the least attention by the English teachers. Lastly, the results from the questionnaire show that teachers are using websites and literary texts most frequently in their lessons on the topic health and life skills.