Primary Years Programme Making the PYP happen - ITARI

Making the PYP happen
What are the beliefs and values that drive the PYP
The PYP aims to synthesize the best research and practice from a range of national systems with the wealth
of knowledge and experience in international schools to create a transdisciplinary curriculum which is
relevant, challenging and engaging for learners in the 3–12 age range.
The driving force behind the PYP is a deeply held philosophy about the nature and future of international
education, a philosophy which is expressed in the statements which follow. The first, the mission statement
of the International Baccalaureate Organisation, expresses the IBO’s overall purpose as an organization.
The second, Internationalism: the PYP perspective, sets out the PYP’s beliefs and values about
internationalism as being defined by the nature of student learning in PYP schools. The PYP defines this
learning through a student profile which encompasses the aims of the curriculum. The perspective goes on
to identify elements in our schools which are worthy of our consideration as we strive to become ever more
international. The third, Beliefs and values, from a language, a mathematics, a science and technology and a
social studies perspective, forms the vehicle through which the student learning outcomes are explored.
The mission statement of the International Baccalaureate Organisation
Through comprehensive and balanced curricula coupled with challenging assessments, the
International Baccalaureate Organisation aims to assist schools in their endeavours to
develop the individual talents of young people and teach them to relate the experience of
the classroom to the realities of the world outside. Beyond intellectual rigour and high
academic standards, strong emphasis is placed on the ideals of international understanding
and responsible citizenship, to the end that IB students may become critical and
compassionate thinkers, lifelong learners and informed participants in local and world
affairs, conscious of the shared humanity that binds all people together while respecting the
variety of cultures and attitudes that makes for the richness of life.
Internationalism: the PYP perspective
The PYP believes that the attempt to define the ideal of internationalism in ever clearer terms and the
struggle to move closer to that ideal are central to the mission of PYP schools.
Given the complexity and variety of PYP schools and the abstract nature of the concept itself it would be
naive to propose any simple definition and expect it to stand up to rigorous examination. Rather, the PYP
would suggest that any definition is likely to be compound, reflecting a range of interrelated factors. What
these factors might be is suggested later in this perspective.
However, in examining these factors during the years since the inception of the PYP, one aspect of PYP
schools emerges, not only as the most significant, but also as the common ground on which PYP schools
stand, the essence of what they are about: this is the kind of student who we hope will graduate from PYP
schools, the kind of person we would proudly call an internationalist.
The PYP is suggesting then, as central to its definition of an international education, the following student
profile (figure 1). In so doing, the PYP is placing the focus of schools where it belongs, on student learning.
The PYP is saying that schools should be proud to send out into the adult world students who exemplify the
qualities expressed in this profile. The PYP is conscious that this profile is value-laden and, it would say,
© IBO 2000 3