The Primary Years Programme (PYP) is an international, trans-disciplinary program designed by the International Baccalaureate (IB) to foster the development of the whole child. The PYP focuses on the total growth of students, including their social, physical, emotional, and academic development. It uses structured inquiry and six transdisciplinary themes to help students construct meaning. The program aims to help students develop important attributes and dispositions outlined in the IB learner profile, such as being inquirers, thinkers, risk-takers, and caring.

1. Primary Years Programme (PYP)
Introduction

2. What is PYP?
• An International, trans-disciplinary program designed to foster the
development of the whole child, not just in the classroom but through
other means of learning.
• PYP focuses on the total growth of the developing child,
encompassing social, physical, emotional and cultural needs in
addition to academic welfare.
• PYP combines best research and practice from a range of national
systems with a wealth of knowledge and experience from
international schools to create a relevant and engaging educational
framework for all children.

3. IB Primary Years Programme
• Provides an opportunity for learners to construct
meaning, principally through concept-driven inquiry.
• Traditional academic subjects are part of the PYP but it
emphasizes the interrelatedness of knowledge and skills
through a trans-disciplinary programme of inquiry.
• The PYP focuses on the heart as well as the mind and
addresses social, physical, emotional and cultural needs
as well as academic ones.

4. The PYP aims to develop in
students:
• Sensitivity to the experiences of others through the
curriculum
• The characteristics listed in the student profile
• The attitudes that are an explicit element of the
programme
• The expectation of socially responsible action as a
result of the learning experience.

5. What is trans-disciplinary
inquiry?
• Focus on big ideas/issues/CONCEPTS
• Essential KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS,
ATTITUDES are necessary and must be taught
• Focus on taking socially responsible ACTION
• Emphasis: inquiry, problem solving, critical
thinking
• Integrates where appropriate key learning areas

6. Internationalism: The PYP Perspective
• The PYP says that a school should be proud to send out into
the world a person we could call an internationalist.
• A PYP school regardless of location, size or constitution
strives towards developing an international person.
What is an international person?
• From PYP perspective it is a person with attributes and
dispositions described in the student profile.

7. What is the PYP learner profile?
The goal of the Primary Years Program is to create
internationally minded students.
IBO believes that students should be:
• Principled
• Caring
• Open-minded
• Well-balanced
• Reflective
• Inquirers
• Thinkers
• Communicators
• Risk-takers
• Knowledgeable

8. What do we want to learn?
The Written Curriculum
• The PYP strives for balance between search for
understanding, acquisition of knowledge and skills, the
development of positive attitudes and positive action.
• There are 5 essential elements of the curriculum:
 Concepts
 Knowledge
 Skills
 Attitudes
 Action

9. PYP Curriculum Model

10. The Curriculum Model
• Commitment to structured inquiry as the leading vehicle
for learning.
• Six transdisciplinary themes provide the framework for the
exploration of knowledge.
• Students develop an understanding of important concepts,
acquire essential skills and knowledge, develop particular
attitudes and learn to take socially responsible action.

11. ORGANIZING THEMES-
TheIB-PYPcurriculumisbuiltaroundsixorganizingthemes.
Who we are
- An exploration of the nature of the self; our
beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental,
social, and spiritual health; of our families,
friends, communities, and cultures; our rights
and responsibilities; of what it means to be
human.

12. Where we are in place and time
An exploration of our orientation in
place and time; our personal histories;
history and geography from local and
global perspectives; of our homes and
journeys; of the discoveries,
explorations and migrations of human
kind; of the contributions of individuals
and civilizations .

13. How we express ourselves
An exploration of the ways in
which we discover and express our
nature, ideas, feelings, beliefs and
values through language and the
arts.

14. How the world works
An exploration of the physical and
material world; natural and human-
made phenomena; of the world of
science and technology.

15. How we organize ourselves
An exploration of human systems and
communities; of the world of work, its
nature and its value; of employment and
unemployment and their impact on us and
the world around us.

16. Sharing the planet
An exploration of our rights and
responsibilities as we strive to share finite
resources with other people and with other
living things; of communities and of the
relationships within and between them.

17. The process of inquiry
Students learn to ask questions. They are
encouraged to develop their own questions
related to the materials being studied.
Through questioning, students learn there
are a broad range of "right" answers for a
given question and they begin to appreciate
the enormous, complex world in which
they live.

18. KEY QUESTIONS
The IB - PYP's fundamental concepts are articulated as key
questions and they drive the inquiry process. Each question is
comprehensive and integrates many ideas. The key questions
students should ask are:
• FORM - What is it like?
• FUNCTION - How does it work?
• CAUSATION - Why is it like it is?
• CHANGE - How is it changing?
• CONNECTION - How is it connected to other
things?
• PERSPECTIVE - What are the points of view?
• RESPONSIBILITY - What is our responsibility?
• REFLECTION - How do we know?

19. Attitudes
In addition to the concepts, content and
skills that are imbedded in the curriculum,
students are taught and they practise the
attitudes outlined by IBO. These attitudes
are descriptive of a person who is a
responsible citizen of his/her local and
world wide community.

20. Students should demonstrate
the following:
• Appreciation - Appreciating the wonder and beauty of the
world and its people
• Commitment - Being committed to their learning,
persevering, and showing self discipline and responsibility
• Confidence - Feeling confident in their ability as learners,
having the courage to take risks, applying what they have
learned and making appropriate decisions
• Cooperation - Cooperating, collaborating, and leading or
following as the situation demands
• Creativity - Being creative and imaginative in their thinking
and in their approach to problems and dilemmas

21. Students should demonstrate the
following:
• Curiosity - Being curious about the nature of learning and of the
world, its people and cultures
• Empathy - Imaginatively projecting themselves into another's
situation, in order to understand his/her thoughts, reasoning and
emotions
• Enthusiasm - Enjoying learning
• Independence - Thinking and acting independently, making their
own judgments based on reasoned principles and being able to
defend their judgments
• Integrity - Having integrity and a firm sense of fairness and honesty
• Respect - Respecting themselves, others, and the world around them
• Tolerance - Feeling sensitivity towards differences and diversity in
the world and being responsive to the needs of others