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The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
Ajmera Global School offers IB’s Primary Years Programme from Nursery (3 years) to Grade 5 (11 years). The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) is designed for students aged 3 to 11 years and emphasizes on the holistic development of the whole child through focus on the cultural, emotional, intellectual, physical, social and spiritual needs. At the heart of the PYP’s philosophy is a commitment to using guided, purposeful inquiry as the primary vehicle for learning. The programme actively engages students in their own learning and encourages them to develop a lifelong curiosity about the world. Students are encouraged to ask questions and reason things to develop a sound method for evaluating information and building knowledge.
Primary Years Programme
The PYP programme is an excellent curriculum that provides inquiry-based, transdisciplinary learning that enhances the knowledge, conceptual understanding, skills and character traits of students.
The IB Primary Years Programme Framework
The IB PYP pedagogy recognises the inherent potential of learners and makes them emissary of their own learning process.
Agency, Efficacy, and Action
Agency and self-efficacy are fundamental to learning in the PYP. Throughout the programme, the learner is an agent for their own and others learning.
Assessment in PYP
The PYP approach to assessment gives the students a vital role in the assessment process and engages the teachers in considering assessment as fit for purpose.
International Mindedness
International mindedness is a view of the world in which people see themselves connected to the global community and assume a sense of responsibility towards its members.
IB Learner Profile
PYP Exhibition:
The exhibition is a culminating and collaborative experience in the final year of the PYP.
The PYP programme is an excellent curriculum that provides inquiry-based, transdisciplinary learning that enhances the knowledge, conceptual understanding, skills and character traits of students. AGS, a recognized international PYP school enables students to be an active participant in developing their skills other than just academics. We ensure that the curriculum offered is engaging, relevant and challenging thereby developing the critical thinking and self-confidence of students.
The IB PYP pedagogy recognises the inherent potential of learners and makes them emissary of their own learning process. Students are given opportunities to create their own contexts based on their prior learning and experiences and the current learning requirements. This kind of transdisciplinary learning helps students to boost their confidence, develop their knowledge, and enhance their communication and collaboration skills.The PYP curriculum emphasizes four components of the written, taught and assessed curriculum.
Knowledge
Engaging and challenging subject matter, that are significant and relevant regardless of where students are in the world and to which ethnic or cultural groups they belong.
Concepts
Concepts are powerful, broad and abstract organizing ideas which have relevance within and across the disciplines and which learners must explore and re-explore to develop understanding.
Approaches to learning
Five categories of interrelated skills and sub-skills that aims to support students of all ages to become self-regulated learners who know how to ask good questions, set effective goals and pursue their aspirations with the determination to achieve them. These skills also help to support students’ sense of agency, encouraging them to see their learning as an active and dynamic process (IBO 2017).
Action
Taking positive action within and beyond our community.One of the most significant and distinctive features of the IB Primary Years Programme are the six transdisciplinary themes. These themes provide IB World Schools with the opportunity to incorporate local and global issues into the curriculum and effectively allow students to ‘step up’ beyond the confines of learning within subject areas.
Who we are
An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.
Where we are in place and time
An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations and migrations of humankind; the relationship between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspectives.
How we express ourselves
An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic.
How the world works
An inquiry into the natural world and its laws, the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.
How we organize ourselves
An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment.
Sharing the planet
An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and other living things; communities and the relationship within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.
Students inquire into, and learn about, these globally significant issues in the context of units of inquiry, each of which addresses a central idea relevant to a particular transdisciplinary theme. Lines of inquiry are identified in order to explore the scope of the central idea for each unit. These inquiries are substantial, in-depth and usually last for several weeks. Since these ideas relate to the world beyond the school, students see their relevance and connect with it in an engaging and challenging way. Students who learn in this way begin to reflect on their roles and responsibilities as learners and become actively involved with their education. All students will come to realise that a unit of inquiry involves them in an in-depth exploration of an important idea, and that the teacher will collect evidence of how well they understand that idea. They will expect them to work in a variety of ways, on their own and in groups, to allow them to learn to their best advantage. The PYP offers a balance between learning about and through subject areas and learning beyond them. There are six subject areas in the PYP-arts; language; mathematics; physical, social and personal education; science; and, social studies. These subject areas provide students with knowledge, skills, and concepts which students can explore to understand the interconnected nature of the subject areas and the transdisciplinary themes.
Agency and self-efficacy are fundamental to learning in the PYP. Throughout the programme, 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 programme’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.
The PYP approach to assessment gives the students a vital role in the assessment process and engages the teachers in considering assessment as fit for purpose. Effective PYP assessment practice holistically integrates assessment for, of and as learning (Harlen, Johnson 2014) to support effective learning and teaching. Highly effective assessment shares some key characteristics (Adapted from Clarke 2012).
Authentic
It supports making connections to the real world to promote student engagement.
Clear and specific
This includes desired learning goals; success criteria and the process students use to learn.
Varied
It uses a wider range of tools and strategies that are fit for purpose in order to build a well-rounded picture of student learning.
Developmental
It focuses on an individual student’s progress rather than their performance in relation to others.
Collaborative
It engages both teachers and students in the assessment development and evaluation process.
Interactive
Assessment encompasses ongoing and iterative dialogues about learning.
Feedback to feedforward
It provides feedback on current learning to inform what is needed to support future learning (Hattie, Timperley 2007) and raises students’ motivation.
International mindedness is a view of the world in which people see themselves connected to the global community and assume a sense of responsibility towards its members. Internationally minded people appreciate and value the diversity of peoples, cultures and societies in the world.The learner profile attributes and the approaches to learning (ATL) provide the foundational skills and dispositions for the development of international mindedness. An internationally minded learner:
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The exhibition is a culminating and collaborative experience in the final year of the PYP.The exhibition is an authentic process for students to explore, document and share their understanding of an issue or opportunity of personal significance.It is student-initiated.A demonstration of what it means to be a PYP student, applying what they have learned and who they have become throughout their journey in the PYP (essential elements)
