Our panel discussed what the programme is, what’s involved, how it can be used alongside the EYFS, and their experiences of using it.
They also looked at how the programme can enhance the quality and practice of early years education, and how it might address recruitment and retention issues.
Dr Peter Fidczuk, IB development and recognition manager, UK and Ireland gave an overview of the programme and its background.
He said the IB is an educational framework that offers flexible programmes of study to allow transition to different curricula, he said, for example as children transition to secondary school.
Founded in 1968 the IB is a not-for-profit educational trust that works with educators, and experts in 6,000 schools in 160 countries, with around two million students each year.
The IB programmes for young learners are based on best practice.
Fidczuk said, ‘For us international means developing programmes of study for our learners aged 3 to 19 based on the best of international practice.’
The PYP is 'an educational framework'. The six themes are: how we express ourselves, who we are, sharing the planet, where are we in time and place, how the world works, and how we organise ourselves.
Fidczuk added that the IB is ‘an idealistic organisation. Our slogan is education for a better world. How do we work with our young learners to develop better understanding of other cultures and opportunities in world of work and beyond to influence the society in which they grow up in.’
The primary programme covers the EYFS and Key Stage 1 and 2.
‘Like a stick of rock there are certain things that run all the way through, the development of skills, development of cultural understanding and learning attributes.’
He said there was also an age-appropriate element, with more prescription of content as children grow older.
‘With our youngest programmes primary years and EYFS we do not prescribe content, so it can be aligned with local requirements and language,' he said.
‘All the way through we believe in holistic education – knowledge skills, values and attitudes. In that we mirror the OECD’s 2020 learning compass. We’re looking at developing competencies for the future. We’re interested in making our students good citizens and citizens of the world. That they’re prepared for the next stage of education.’
He explained that the programme is a framework for learning and teaching, and that the learner profile in primary includes a mix of attributes and values.
Jan Dubiel, specialist in early years education and the construction of curriculum spoke about how the IB can support children.
‘Curriculums need to be owned and deigned by the people who use them… have to be individualised for the children you work with, ’he said.
‘The concept of attributes, what I would call learning behaviours need be central to the curriculum.’
He highlighted the IB’s concepts of sharing the world, digital knowledge and awareness, and cultural identity, and bilingualism.
Dubiel also highlighted how the IB also embeds the characteristics of effective learning.
Kelsey Winocour and Ingrid Mccormack shared their experiences of using the PYP in schools around the world.
Winocour is a teacher based in Dallas, Texas, but has also worked in Europe, Asia and United States.
On a day-to-day basis Winocour said, ‘It has added so much depth and value to what was already a pretty robust school, a Jewish school with a Reggio Emilia approach. This added depth and value to think about how we teach and how we learn.’
She cited the concepts such as ‘child agency’ and ‘choice and voice’, and ‘collaborative planning’, which the IB uses.
‘There’s a lot more project-based learning that happens, and real world concepts.’
She gave the example of how the sharing the planet unit led to a project on recycling, with the children starting a petition about how the school could recycle better and presenting their ideas to the board.
Summarising the IB approach, chair Gemma Goldenberg said, ‘This isn’t necessarily about throwing out the window everything you’ve been doing so far, it’s about taking the best practice you already have and refining it and deepening it and giving equal weighting to skills and developing critical thinking.’
McCormack, an educational consultant who has worked in schools in the UK, Africa and the Middle East, said everything is ‘very well laid out for you’. She described the PYP as ‘a 360 approach’.
‘It’s a beautiful programme to expand the horizon of thinking and learning. It transcends borders,’ she said.
On the training side McCormack explained how the training and professional development worked, and said there were 'a myriad of ways' in how schools can become PYP school.
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