FAQs NOVEMBER 2017

The Learner in the enhanced PYP

ACTION

1) Should students be made explicitly aware of the terminology for the different demonstrations of action?
a) Students should be aware that there are multiple ways of demonstrating action – schools have the flexibility to explore
these in similar ways to how they would explore the attributes of the learner profile and the approaches to learning.

2) Will there be expectations of a balance in the demonstrations of varied action types across the years?
a) No. Demonstrations of action should be authentic and contextual.

3) How can action – specifically social justice and entrepreneurship - be addressed in ways which remain safe and
age appropriate but also context relevant?
Increased clarity around demonstrations of action in the enhanced PYP, together with teacher support materials, will
help to unpack this more for teachers.

AGENCY

4) How will agency be evaluated in a school?

a) Agency is not a skill, so cannot be measured as such. It is more about creating a culture which honours the full
participation of the learning community in learning and teaching.

5) In schools that have prescribed curriculum, how will we enable agency in what students learn?
a) Agency is a further development of our student-centred learning approach, involving the entire learning community.
Agency does not negate the need for the schools to create a written curriculum that incorporates appropriate local,
national and IB guidance.

6) What is personalized learning and how is this different from differentiation?

a) With differentiation, the teacher adapts the curriculum to groups of students according to their needs while
personalisation involves students in determining their own goals according to their interests and needs.

7) Why agency AND action? Isn't agency part of action?

a) Agency supports action. When students are supported in exercising their agency they are confident and capable in
taking student-initiated action.

EARLY LEARNER

8) What is the rationale behind allowing 4 units of inquiry for 5-6 year olds? What if we had an MTBA for this in our
last report? Will we still have an MTBA for this if our authorization/evaluation is before Oct 2018?
a) Younger students require more time for their inquiries, as reported by many of our existing PYP schools. With regards
to matters to be addressed and forthcoming authorization and evaluation, these will be addressed in the transition
plan.

9) How does the IB define play?

a) As defined in the multilingual glossary for the enhanced PYP - play describes a range of child-initiated activities that
involve freedom and choice.

10) Won't 4 units for the older early years learners result in less 'coverage' of the curriculum?
a) This would depend on how the curriculum is mapped to the transdisciplinary themes and the learning experiences
designed in the units of inquiry. Four units allow more time for student initiated inquiries and deeper exploration of the
transdisciplinary themes.

11) What about the role of play for students beyond the early years?
a) There is definitely a role for play for students beyond the early years. Schools have the flexibility to plan for play as
they see fit.

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FAQs NOVEMBER 2017
The Learner in the enhanced PYP
12) With the extension in age range for the early years and call for uninterrupted play, what role do/should specialist
teachers have in this area?
a) All teachers, regardless of their roles or subject expertise support early years learners by fostering capacities such as
investigating, asking questions, solving problems and thinking critically. Play is the starting point for young learners to
experience and build these capacities along with language development, self-regulation and conflict resolution for they
do not compartmentalise their world into subjects at this age.

13) Would we still be required to address all the key concepts across the four units of inquiry for students from 3-6?
a) More information about concepts will be shared in the January 2018 release ‘Learning and teaching part 1’.

14) Would we still implement six units of inquiry for students 5-12?
a) A minimum of four units of inquiry will be required for students aged 3-6 years, with a minimum of six units of inquiry
for students aged 6-12 years. More information on developing a programme of inquiry will be released in ‘Learning &
Teaching part 2’, in March 2018.

EXHIBITION

15) When it says “start from a guided exhibition and move to a student led exhibition? Does this mean over the
course of one exhibition or over the course of several years?
a) This means over the course of several school years. Schools may wish to move from a more guided experience to a
more student led experience as they become more comfortable with the exhibition over the course of a few years.

16) Will the exhibition be assessed and reported on?

a) Assessment includes student reflection, and teachers' monitoring and documentation of students' learning throughout.
As the exhibition is an example of student agency, students are encouraged to regularly reflect upon the goals and
success criteria set out for their exhibition.

17) Can we have 7 units in the final year of the programme? Do we still have to do all 6 transdisciplinary themes?
a) Yes, and yes. Schools will now have the flexibility to implement the exhibition outside of the programme of inquiry.
This is optional. Schools may also choose to keep the exhibition inside the programme of inquiry.

18) What is an example of an exhibition outside the POI, does it need to connect to a TD theme?
a) As the exhibition is intended to be student designed it is difficult to give a specific example. Teachers may choose to
have students create central ideas that sit inside one transdisciplinary theme or create a central idea that
encompasses concepts from more than one transdisciplinary theme.

19) Does the exhibition still have to be organised around an issue or opportunity or can it be around an interest area?
a) With the enhanced content, students may wish to inquire into issues or opportunities based on their interests.

LEARNER PROFILE

20) Should we still be explicit with the attitudes or just let them 'rest' within the learner profile?
a) The attitudes are embedded within the descriptors of the learner profile attributes. As such, schools are still expected
to support students in developing these attitudes, but there is no longer a separate list of these in the programme.

21) Is it essential to have the LP attributes included formally on the programme of inquiry?
a) Learner profile attributes have relevance across the transdisciplinary themes and for all grade/year levels. The
attributes are flexibly explored, developed and revisited through units of inquiry and through subject-specific
investigations. These are documented on PYP planners and other curriculum documentation as part of the
collaborative planning process.

22) Can we modify the learner profile?

a) Schools can currently add to the learner profile attributes to reflect their context, providing they are still using the full
set of IB learner profile attributes. This will remain unchanged.

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© International Baccalaureate Organization 2017

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FAQs NOVEMBER 2017
The Learner in the enhanced PYP
PYP FRAMEWORK

23) Is the new graphic the programme model for the enhanced PYP?
a) No, the current graphic being used in communications was designed to illustrate the new organising structure of the
PYP. The existing programme model will be slightly amended to align better with the enhanced PYP and other IB
programmes in 2018.

24) What about some of the key aspects of the programme, are they changing?
a) Check out our release from May 2017 – What’s not changing.

25) Will we still have the written, taught and assessed curriculum?
a) Introducing the concept of agency changed the way we looked at the framework. Augmenting the original learning and
teaching focus of the ‘written, taught, assessed’ structure with the human element—the learner and the learning
community—underlines that everyone connected to the school community has an important role to play in supporting
student learning. Learn more in communications relating to ‘Learning and teaching parts 1 & 2’, to be released in
January and March 2018.

26) Are the essential elements still present?

a) Yes, the essential elements are still present in the programme, however ‘attitudes’ will be embedded within the
descriptors of the learner profile attributes.

27) Will the old documents still be available? Will they still be relevant or are they all being replaced?
a) MTPYPH and supporting documents will remain on the programme resource centre until the transition period is
concluded. The new digital platform will become your one-stop resource for all new materials relating to the enhanced
PYP.

28) Will we be able to access/print the replacement content when offline?

a) Yes. You will be able to bookmark and save content for later use, download, or print.

TRANSITION

29) When will we learn more about transition from the existing to the enhanced PYP?
a) More information on transition and what it means for your school(s) will be available in 2018. You will be notified as
soon as we have confirmed dates for the updating of internal and external facing systems for authorization and
evaluation.
30) When is first teaching?
a) First teaching dates will be confirmed alongside release of first PYP transition summary in spring 2018. Transition will
be a phased process, more details and timeline to follow in 2018.

OTHER GENERAL QUERIES

31) Do schools still have to have a PYP coordinator? Is this person still the point of contact for the IB?
a) Yes, and yes!

32) What about PD, will this be changing?

a) Following your current programme of Professional Development (PD) is highly recommended as this will support your
progress towards implementation of the enhanced PYP. You can find more details of NEW and existing PD and
School Enhancement Services in the 2017-18 PD catalogue.

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© International Baccalaureate Organization 2017

International Baccalaureate® | Baccalauréat International® | Bachillerato Internacional®