Teaching Social Studies: Exploring the impact of a transdisciplinary approach towards initial teacher education

This article examines the impact of a transdisciplinary approach on the delivery of social studies Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in a Scottish University, particularly focusing on student confidence and impact on their first placement in a secondary school. The restructuring of Scottish secondary schools into faculties, where geography, history, and modern studies are often taught by a single teacher, has prompted a re-evaluation of traditional university-based teacher education, which typically
emphasises subject-specific specialism.
A new immersion programme was developed to address this discrepancy, integrating social studies ITE students in a collaborative and immersive learning environment to develop their pedagogical skills and subject knowledge. This study does not critique school restructuring, but rather, explores its influence on early career teachers as they build their professional understanding during ITE.
A deductive approach was taken to assess the effectiveness of the immersion days in enhancing placement outcomes for Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) students specialising in geography, history and modern studies. Data was collected via an online questionnaire administered to all participating students after their first placement, capturing their perceptions of the initiative and its value as professional learning. This data was then triangulated with observations of practice made by the researchers during the student placement period. This research found that students undertaking placement experiences in transdisciplinary social studies departments valued immersion days as a mode of professional learning. The experience of collaboration beyond their core expertise during the immersion days enhanced students’ impact on placement.