The Pillars of the PYP Curriculum Framework

The transdisciplinary model extends across all three pillars of the PYP curriculum framework— the learner,  learning and teaching, and the learning community.

The learner: describes the outcomes for individual students and the outcomes they seek for themselves (what is learning?)

Learning and teaching: articulates the distinctive features of learning and teaching (how best to support learners?)

The learning community: emphasizes the importance of the social outcomes of learning and the role that IB communities play in achieving these outcomes (who facilitates learning and teaching?)

Agency, Self-Efficacy, and Action

Agency and self-efficacy are fundamental to learning in the PYP. Throughout the program, the learner is an agent for their own and others' learning. They direct their learning with a strong sense of identity and self-belief, and in conjunction with others, build a sense of community and awareness for the opinions, values ​​and needs of others.

Action, the core of student agency, is integral to the PYP learning process and to the program's overarching outcome of international mindedness. Through taking individual and collective action, students come to understand the responsibilities associated with being internationally-minded and to appreciate the benefits of working with others for a shared purpose.

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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 Program (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.

Approaches to Learning Skills

The IB approaches to learning skills (ATL) are grounded in the belief that learning how to learn is fundamental to a student's life in and out of a school context. In broad terms, IB programs support learners in developing:

-          Thinking skills

-          Communication skills

-          Research skills

-          Self-management skills

-          Social skills

The approaches to learning and associated sub-skills support students of all ages in being agentic and self-regulated learners. Through a variety of strategies, PYP teachers collaboratively plan for implicit and explicit opportunities to develop ATL both inside and outside the program of inquiry.