The PYP curriculum framework begins with the premise that PYP students are agents of their own learning and partners in the learning process.
The PYP curriculum recognizes learners’ innate potential to inquire, question, wonder and theorize about themselves, others, and the world around them.
When learning communities recognize children’s emergent identities and competencies, they create an educational context that values children both for who they were, who they are in the present and who they will become in the future. In building from prior learning and experiences, PYP learners are uniquely placed to co-create their current learning needs.
This understanding of how students learn is foundational to the inquiry-based and concept-driven transdisciplinary model of learning and teaching.
As a result, PYP students demonstrate the agility and imagination to respond to new and unexpected challenges and opportunities, and to take action for a better and more peaceful world.
Fostering self-efficacy to enable agency
The stronger the sense of self-efficacy in students, the greater the likelihood that they will exercise agency. Self-efficacy influences the choices students are confident in making, which, in turn, influences the degree of ownership and impact they have in their lives.
When teachers acknowledge learner agency and the importance of self-efficacy, students become partners in the learning process. In this partnership, teachers work alongside students, meet with small groups and individuals as needed, and monitor learning and provide feedback.
The PYP exhibition
In the final year of the PYP, students take part in the PYP exhibition. The exhibition is an authentic process for students to explore, document and share their understanding of an issue or opportunity of personal significance. The whole learning community shares and celebrates this culminating event in the journey students have experienced through their PYP years.
Learn more about the PYP exhibition here
The early learner
The PYP acknowledges the unique needs of early learners, aged 3 to 6 years. It is a distinguishing feature of the programme which recognizes that learners in this age range require approaches to learning and to teaching that honor their developmental stage, and the importance of play as the vehicle for inquiry. Since experiences during the early years lay the foundation for all future learning, the PYP framework allows educators to make choices to best enable learners to flourish.
Early learning in the PYP is a holistic learning experience that integrates socio-emotional, physical and cognitive development. In the PYP classroom, it takes place in dynamic environments that promote play, discovery and exploration.
The IB learner profile in the PYP
The IB learner profile represents a broad range of human dispositions, capacities and traits that encompass intellectual, personal, emotional and social growth. Developing and demonstrating the attributes of the learner profile is an expression of what the IB means by international-mindedness.
The IB learner profile permeates all facets of school life in the Primary Years Programme (PYP). All members of the learning community from the youngest learners to school leaders to parents, educators and beyond, have a responsibility to be guided by and demonstrate a commitment to the development of the IB learner profile attributes.
