The integration of vertical alignment in teacher collaborative planning in the international baccalaureate primary years program

Abstract

This qualitative research study aimed to answer the question, "How do IBPYP teachers in a naturalistic collaborative approach experience the vertical alignment of their Program Of Inquiry?" The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IBPYP) provides no explicit content, external examination, or moderation and the Standards and Practices are intentionally left broad to accommodate all the International Baccalaureate (IB) schools. This contextual exploratory study investigated how teachers structured their curriculum with alignment in mind based on the guidance they received. Two case studies in a private international IBPYP school in Europe that followed the IBPYP standards alone and a publically funded national school in the U.S. that followed an additional layer of national standards sought to uncover the experiences and strategies the IBPYP teachers developed. Four themes emerged from semi-structured group interviews of K-5 classroom teachers: (1) Teachers' assumptions about collaborative planning demonstrated that collaboration doesn't just happen and requires pre-requisite structure and ability to deal with conflicts; (2) Teachers' assumptions about curriculum and curriculum alignment revealed the perception that all teachers are responsible for curriculum alignment and disclosed some related barriers; (3) Teachers' challenges in planning their Program Of Inquiry detailed the design steps and challenges. (4) Alignment processes and strategies summarized the perspectives and strategies used in schools, and the need for explicit IBPYP curriculum alignment guidance.