Baccalaureate Primary Years Research Articles

두 지역의 IB 인증학교와 IB 후보학교 근무 경험에 대한 자문화 기술지 연구: 세 가지 측면의 갈등을 중심으로

This study aims to provide an understanding of how the introduction of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme affects the operation of the curriculum and teachers’ lives through the experience of one teacher. The researcher worked as an elementary school teacher at an IB world school and IB candidate schools in different regions. The autoethnographic research method was applied to reveal the researcher’s unique experience and explore its meaning, and conflicts were described with a focus on three aspects: relational, structural, and internal conflicts. First, the researcher experienced relational conflict, wherein teachers competed with or were alienated from each other depending on their expected roles in the IB school. Second, the researcher experienced structural conflict that arose from the formation of different commun ities between schools depending on the IB accreditation stage. Third, the researcher experienced internal conflict because of the burden of having to inform and persuade about the effectiveness of the IB along with the desire to be recognized as an IB education expert. On the other hand, the researcher experienced that the special characteristics of elementary schools can be expressed by restructuring the curriculum centered on transdisciplinary topics, which increased the actual cooperation of teachers and improved the quality of education. Therefore, indicators for teachers to develop their professionalism and a practical system for managing the quality of school education should be established.

IB PYP와 2022 개정 교육과정 비교를 통한 주제 중심 초학문적 환경교육 방안 모색

Objectives This study aimed to explore the direction environmental education should take in response to future societal challenges due to climate and environmental changes, as emphasized in the 2022 Revised National Curriculum. Methods To achieve this, we compared and analyzed official documents and related research from the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) and Korea's 2022 Revised National Curriculum. Through this analysis, we explored the potential effects and possibilities of applying a theme-centered integrated approach to environmental education. Results The research findings revealed that both curricula share similar educational goals. Additionally, connections were identified between the transdisciplinary themes of the IB PYP and the core ideas of the 2022 Revised Curriculum. Furthermore, it was discovered that the autonomy in the IB PYP and the school autonomy hours in the 2022 Revised Curriculum provide flexible structures that enable transdisciplinary integrated education. Conclusions The theme-centered transdisciplinary integrated environmental education proposed through this study is expected to play a crucial role in helping students learn sustainable lifestyles connected to daily life and develop an international mindset from a global perspective.

Walking the talk? Exploring curriculum implementation in the International Baccalaureate in the Australian context

ABSTRACT As one of the world's prominent international educational organisations, the International Baccalaureate (IB) and its curriculum have developed rapidly during the last few decades. Despite the popularity of the IB and its curriculum, little is known about its implementation in IB schools. Curriculum implementation is a complex and vital part of educational programmes. This study is part of large-scale research involving the IB curriculum, and utilises the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) Levels of use (LoU) as the measurement tool to explore curriculum implementation in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IBPYP) in the Australian context. The study outlines the curriculum implementation process and focuses on teacher implementation of the IBPYP curriculum. The findings of this study suggest that most teachers involved in the IBPYP are at a primary of LoU, and challenges of implementation are significant barriers for them. This study highlights the need for supporting teachers in curriculum implementation to walk the talk and sheds light on the complex nature of curriculum implementation and the importance of addressing these barriers.

Development and Application of Elementary School AI Education Program Using the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) Approach

The objective of this study is to enhance elementary school students' foundational understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and to foster their Computational thinking. This goal was realized through the creation of an AI education program integrating the ADDIE model and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) teaching methodology. Before developing the educational program, we conducted a preliminary needs analysis with 60 fifth-grade students from IB World School P Elementary and 36 staff members, aligning with the stages of the ADDIE model. Drawing from the outcomes of this preliminary needs analysis, we opted for the transdisciplinary theme 'How the world works,' as it resonated most aptly with AI-related content, as determined by participating educators. Real-life AI-based concepts were seamlessly woven into the educational material. Throughout the program, students actively engaged in exploratory activities centered on the chosen transdisciplinary theme and central concept. Collaborating on team projects, they collectively tackled problem-solving processes, completing activities and assignments aimed at fostering self-directed learning. To assess the effectiveness of the developed educational program on students' computational thinking, pre- and post-tests were administered. Validation results underscored that the program made a significant contribution to the enhancement of Computational Thinking among the participating students.

Wider horizons

A panel of education and early years experts discussed what the sector can gain from the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. By Gemma Goldenberg

Posner의 교육과정 분석이론을 활용한 2015 개정 초등학교 저학년 통합교과 교육과정과 IB PYP 교육과정 분석

This study aims to provide foundational information for the development and implementation of a more flexible and practical integrated curriculum by analyzing the 2015 revised lower elementary integrated curriculum and the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) curriculum. Drawing on Posner’s (1994) curriculum analysis theory, the analysis focuses on key questions related to curriculum development background, objectives and content, implementation, and critique in four categories. The findings are as follows: Firstly, in the curriculum development process, emphasis was placed on integrating students’ lives into interdisciplinary themes to connect with instructional learning. Secondly, differences were observed in the translation of educational philosophies into tangible curriculum components. Thirdly, challenges were identified in the operation of concept-based curricula centered around non-disciplinary themes in both the 2015 revised lower elementary integrated curriculum and the domestic execution of the IB PYP curriculum. Fourthly, the 2015 revised lower elementary integrated curriculum still reveals a connection to the framework of ‘subject-based’ education and struggles to break away from it, while the domestic implementation of the IB PYP curriculum faces difficulties in designing integrated inquiry units that align with the achievement standards of the national curriculum. Through these observations, implications for the development and implementation of a more flexible and practical integrated curriculum centered around non-disciplinary themes are presented.

Using teacher narratives to map policy effects in the Victorian Government International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB-PYP) context

PurposeGovernment primary schools in Australia increasingly take up the International Baccalaureate's Primary Years Programme (IB-PYP) to supplement government-mandated curriculum and governance expectations. The purpose of this paper is to explore how teachers navigate and contest dual policy-practice expectations in the Victorian Government IB-PYP context.Design/methodology/approachThis study used a narrative inquiry approach. The narratives of two teachers were generated through a narrative interview and then re-storied with participants through a set of conceptual lenses drawn out of the policy assemblage and affect studies theoretical spaces.FindingsThe stories participants told show that competing mandatory local policy expressions are experienced and contested both to stabilize a technocratic rationality and produce alternative critical-political educational futures.Originality/valueThere a few accounts of teachers' policy experience in government school settings implementing the IB-PYP. In addressing this gap, this paper directly responds to prior claims of the IB's failure to promote an emancipatory pedagogy, showing instead that when teachers who bring a more critical understanding of educational purpose to their work take up the IB-PYP policy to support the enactment of that purpose.

International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme: a systematic review

This article arises from a systematic review of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP). Four databases were consulted, and after the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 21 articles were selected and analysed in the following categories: year and author, country, type of research, participants, purpose and results. The results show a growth in PYP research in recent years, coming from several countries around the world, using mainly qualitative or mixed methodologies with small samples of teachers, students, administrators and families in IB schools. There is great variety in the purposes of the studies, the most representative being comparative analysis of the implementation of the programme, the use of a language for IB teaching other than that of the country in which the school is located, and the treatment of interculturality. These studies find differences in the ease of implementation of the programme depending on the context and geographical location of the schools, and also highlight the benefits of the programme for intercultural education and foreign language learning. Some tensions can be observed between the PYP curriculum and national policies, and also in the training and predisposition of teachers towards this particular methodology. More research is needed on the academic benefits of the PYP in comparison with other methodologies that are also working well at the curriculum level.

Teachers’ Perspectives Implementing Inquiry-Based Learning in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program

The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IBPYP) curriculum for students ages 3–12 is implemented using inquiry-based learning. However, there is a lack of understanding of primary international teachers’ perspectives about implementing inquiry-based learning in this setting. This basic qualitative study's purpose and research question addressed the identified lack of understanding about international IBPYP teachers’ perspectives in an urban setting in the International Baccalaureate Africa, Europe, and Middle East region about their implementation of inquiry-based learning. The Reggio Emilia approach served as the conceptual framework of this study. Data were gathered from 11 participants through semi-structured interview questions, triangulated through a researcher journal, audit trail, and thick descriptions during a deductive and inductive coding process. The results of this study indicated six themes emerging from the data: how teachers plan their units, training required, the flexibility of curriculum, student-centered instructional strategies, maintaining a learner-centered focus, and limitations to implementation. The findings of this study could help educators improve their implementation of the inquiry-based learning component of the IBPYP and aid administrators in evaluating the school schedule and teacher training. Recommendations include studies focused on how teachers implement inquiry-based learning and administrators’ role related to implementation, which could create positive social change with future educators meeting the learning outcomes reported in past studies about the IBPYP.

Fields, Habitus and the International Baccalaureate’s Interpretation of International Mindedness

International Mindedness (IM) is recognised as being a key component of an international education (Hill, 2015). However, IM is also acknowledged as an ‘under-reported and under-researched aspect of elite [international] education’ (Bunnell et al, 2020). This has led to the concept being described as ‘enigmatic and under-defined’ by researchers (Poole, 2017) and ‘fuzzy’ by practitioners (Barratt-Hacking et al, 2016: 38). This paper will attempt to conceptualise IM by drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of fields and habitus. It will show that IM can not only be thought of in terms of a specific habitus but that the International Baccalaureate (IB) and the schools that offer International Baccalaureate programmes can, and do, also play a significant role in creating the field (and subsequent structures within the field) in which IM can take root in students. The data and analysis in this paper are taken from a more substantial, recent, mixed-methods case study focusing on IM. The case study was conducted in a Chinese IB international school (of the type described by Poole, 2019: catering largely for Chinese students) on the Chinese mainland that offers the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme and Diploma Programme. It is a private fee-paying school, which accepts students mainly from the local but also from the expatriate community.

Opportunities for the Use of Steam Projects in Primary Years Classes: the Points of View of International Baccalaureate Teachers

Considerable changes to the Lithuanian education system are associated with higher academic achievements, the development of students’ critical thinking and research skills, and sustainable practices of integrated teaching and learning in science and mathematics. It is also acknowledged that STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics) educational approaches address the objectives of integrated learning and teaching effectively. The same objectives are reflected in all the IB programmes. In the scientific discourse on the use of STEAM in science, there is a lack of research and examples of pedagogical practices with insights into different educational programmes and teachers’ experiences. The qualitative research (semi-structured interview) focuses on the points of view of teachers who implement the international baccalaureate primary years programme (IBPYP), and have a high level of project-based learning experience, of the possibilities of STEAM project implementation (6). The research findings reveal that teachers acknowledge the benefits of STEAM projects in terms of developing students’ research, critical thinking and independent learning skills, while implementing integrated teaching and learning strategies. The informants also recognise the importance of STEAM education in planning and organising integrated mathematics and science lessons.

Researching Effective School Qualities and School Culture in Schools That Apply International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) in Turkey

Researching Effective School Qualities and School Culture in Schools That Apply International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) in Turkey

The Impact of Implementing the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme on Students' Self-efficacy Beliefs

The holistic approach of the International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes encourages students to become active, compassionate and life-long learners. The IB defines its international education programmes through a learner profile that consists of ten attributes; inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, and reflective [33]. For students to reach all IB learners profile attributes they need to be self-regulated learners [36]. Students’ self-efficacy beliefs are one of the components of self-regulated learning [15], and a key component of social cognitive theory [4]. Self-efficacy beliefs also contribute to students’ academic achievements, motivations and learning [41]. The Primary Years Programme (PYP) is the IB curriculum framework for children aged 3-11 that offers an inquiry-based, transdisciplinary curriculum framework building conceptual understandings. By learning through inquiry PYP students use their initiatives and take responsibility for their own learning [33]. This approach in learning claims to build students’ self-efficacy that contributes to self-regulation [36]. The paper presents an inductive qualitative study capturing the impact of implementing the IB PYP on students’ self-efficacy beliefs. The study was conducted in an IBPYP candidate school in Alexandria (second largest city in Egypt), which had been implementing the PYP for two years. Data was collected through four focus group discussions from different stakeholders; leaders, teachers, students and parents. The study findings revealed the perspectives of the different stakeholders about the reasons behind students’ self-efficacy beliefs. The study resulted in an interpretation of a spiral for the different aspects of PYP pedagogy that relate and integrate to support students’ self-efficacy beliefs. The study resulted also in identifying specific aspects in school culture that support students’ self-efficacy beliefs. The findings of the study will be beneficial to students, teachers, leaders, syllabus designers, and policy makers in IBPYP schools.

PYP Journey at KNUES

Education in our era calls for global learners who reflect on themselves with an open minded and inquiring attitude and lead positive changes in the world in preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the transition to a hyper-connected society. Therefore, our school is working hard on researching and implementing innovation in elementary education by running a program that incorporates the characteristics of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) for the first time in public schools. Kyungpook National University Elementary School (KNUES) has been conducting the Primary Years Program (PYP) since September 1, 2019, after being certified as an IB candidate school. The IB PYP has only been implemented at a few foreign private schools in Korea, and this is the first time that the curriculum has been introduced at a non-private elementary school. As a school leading the national curriculum, the foremost purpose of our school in implementing the IB PYP is to seek practical methodologies to enhance the effectiveness of the Korean National Curriculum. Therefore, based on the Korean National Curriculum, the IB program naturally incorporates the characteristics of the education system and continues to review the optimization of the Korean elementary education program. This is the major difference between IB education and main education at foreign schools in Korea. Our students are growing into self-directed lifelong learners by asking themselves questions and cooperating with friends through concept-based inquiry classes that transcend the subject. Through implementing the IB PYP education program, our school will improve the student-centered classroom culture and the curriculum-based teaching methods.

Music Curriculum in International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme

Music Curriculum in International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme

A Proposal for integrated primary English instructional design based on the International Baccalaureate Primary Years’ Program framework

A Proposal for integrated primary English instructional design based on the International Baccalaureate Primary Years’ Program framework

Inquiry-based Learning in English Teaching at a Candidate School of IB PYP: Implementation and Benefits

This paper aimed to investigate the implementation of inquiry-based learning (IBL) in English teaching at candidate school of International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) in Surakarta and explore the benefits of its implementation in English teaching. Three English teachers at a candidate school of IB PYP in Surakarta participated in this study and they were chosen purposively. This research employed a qualitative approach and emphasized on a case study. The techniques for collecting data comprised in-depth interview and observation. The collected data were analyzed by the researchers through Constant Comparative Method (CCM). The results revealed that the implementation of inquiry-based learning in English teaching in this school used Bruce and Davidson's view and some features of IBL. That cycles involved asking, investigating, creating, discussing and reflecting. And the benefits of this method in English teaching based on IB PYP were 1) the teachers can create meaningful activities for the students, 2) teaching and learning were student-centered, 3) the students learn through language and get endurable understanding, and 4) it promotes students ’skills and attitude at teamwork.

Investigating the cultural understandings of International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme teachers from a transcultural perspective

It is now generally accepted that the teaching of cultural understanding is central to international education, exemplified in globally directed curricula such as those of the International Baccalaureate. However, research in this area has tended to focus on student outcomes of cultural education, even though globalisation and the nature of modern society has heightened the need for teachers who have the expertise to teach cultural education in ways that are more contemporarily relevant. Studies of teacher capacity to meet the specific demands of cultural learnings have been under-researched, tending to be situated within discourses that do not reflect the complex cultural reality of 21st century society. Using the context of a research study of Primary Years Programme teachers in International Baccalaureate schools, this paper argues that cultural education could be improved if teacher expertise is developed under the more inclusive paradigm of transculturalism.

Digital and information literacies and the school library

You can’t teach people everything they need to know. The best you can do is position them where they can find what they need to know when they need to know it. (Seymour Papert)
 For school librarians, this is certainly part of a core responsibility, to provide students with digital literacy skills and strategies that will enable them to find and access information at point of need, in order to create knowledge (Farkas, 2011). While students are growing up in this digital age, research reveals they are not necessarily skilled in reading to locate and use online information effectively (Leu, Zawilinski, Forzani, & Timbrell, 2014b; Pickard, Shenton & Johnson, 2014). This is significant when “students overestimate their ability to engage with information in a critical and literate manner” (Kirkwood in Beetham & Oliver, 2010, p.162). Yet, students are required to be ethical and critical thinkers, and engage as collaborators and creators in participatory digital environments (Coiro, 2003; Mackey & Jacobson, 2011; Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), 2015).
 This exploratory case study seeks to investigate Year 5 students’ (ages 10-12) learning experiences within a school library program. It endeavoured to explore the pedagogical background, motivation and steps in implementing digital and information literacies. Did these sessions provide students with the emergent skills and strategies to support independent research and collaborative inquiry as they began their International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) Exhibition?

The integration of ICT in educational process in IB education - A comparative case study

This study aims to gain a deep understanding of international baccalaureate (IB) primary years programme (PYP) teachers' perceptions about the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in IB PYP classes. Moreover, it seeks to critically identify the teachers' barriers and needs in order to integrate ICT into teaching and learning. Following a qualitative comparative case study research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with IB PYP teachers and coordinators in Sweden and Greece. Critical theory, critical pedagogy and critical theory of technology (CTT) were used as the theoretical framework for analysing teachers' perceptions. From a critical point of view, the study reveals that deskilling of teachers, intensification of teachers' work, low school's financial budget, parents' financial burden, commodification and privatisation of IB education are the fundamental factors that negatively intervene in teachers' work in both schools and perpetuate the status quo of teaching and learning processes through integration of ICT. Keywords: International baccalaureate (IB), international and comparative education (ICE), integration of ICT, critical pedagogy, critical theory of technology (CTT).