Environment
Providing essential structures, systems and resources
Leadership and governance
Review the job descriptions of the pedagogical leadership team to ensure that there is clarity around roles and responsibilities for the implementation and ongoing development of the programme.
Consider how the job description and role of the coordinator accounts for ongoing IB professional development opportunities for the coordinator and adequate time to meet with collaborative teams, the school community and other stakeholders.
It is the responsibility of the coordinator to aid in educating all members of the learning community about the philosophy and framework of the PYP. This may include:
Whole staff professional development opportunities
Collaboration amongst teaching teams
Community education and engagement with elements of the programme
Modeling practices, or co-teaching within the classroom environment
As whole school and classroom schedules are developed, consider how learning blocks are structured and labeled to support the transdisciplinary nature of the programme and an inquiry based approach to teaching and learning.
Instructional blocks are sometimes labeled as disciplinary (for example: 'Reading workshop') however, it is important to remember that when units of inquiry support transdisciplinary learning, unit related concepts are most likely being explored throughout the day. Think about how this may be reflected in how daily schedules are reported.
The PYP coordinator may be tasked with determining how policies and curriculum documents are stored and shared. All teachers responsible for the education of students will need access to written policies and unit of inquiry documents in order to holistically support learning.
Think about which resources (digital and physical) support accessing and sharing relevant IB documentation.
In addition to informing school staff about the PYP, the coordinator may play a pivotal role in educating the school community about the programme and how it is being implemented. This might include:
Posting information on the school website.
Hosting sessions for guardians/families to learn more about elements of the PYP (such as attributes of the Learner Profile, Inquiry, Approaches to learning, etc.).
Presenting at school assemblies and/or school sponsored events.
One challenge that a coordinator may encounter is scheduling collaboration time between subject specialists and classroom teachers. Think about how this ongoing collaboration may take place in order to support the transdisciplinary nature and design of the programme.
Some ways in which this may be accomplished include:
Connecting subject specialists with classroom teachers during whole school professional development sessions.
Periodic connections before or after the instructional day. This may be on a rotating basis and serve to make both subject specialists and classroom teachers aware of upcoming learning in both contexts in order to support authentic and intentional connections for students.
Digital collaboration and communication by sharing and providing feedback on curriculum documents such as unit planners. This collaborative planning webinar is available for ongoing reference and guidance.
Student support
Discuss funding and budgetary processes with school leadership and the governing body. It may be important to put systems in place to support staff in acquiring the resources needed to implement engaging learning experiences.
Determine a system for requesting, ordering, acquiring teacher requests such as: books, realia, consumables, field experiences, guest speakers, etc.
Support staff in examining their physical learning environments, including access to appropriate technology resources.
Consider how learning spaces are designed to support:
Both independent and collaborative learning
Access to resources that promote inquiry based learning
Student agency
Collaborate with the library/media specialist to ensure that resources (books, spaces, people) are available that:
Connect students with concepts they will be uncovering throughout the programme of inquiry.
Support translanguaging and multilingualism within the school community.
Promote the attributes of the IB Learner profile.
Develop, or review, the school inclusion policy so that all those responsible for student learning are aware of the importance of identifying and meeting student needs.
Consider how to focus on meeting the social, emotional, and physical well-being of students and teachers.
This may include:
Collaborating with school counselors, social workers, or other support staff with expertise in this area. Staff in these roles may be able to provide professional development for staff, teach/co-teach lessons in the classroom context and/or help present information to parents and guardians.
Establishing the attributes of the learner profile as common language to discuss and foster social, emotional and physical well-being in the school community.
Utilize community support in the implementation and development of the programme.
Invite parents/family members with special skills, passions and talents to share with students throughout the programme of inquiry. This may look like sharing unit related concepts and surveying parents regarding their interest and availability in supporting learning.
Think about community partnerships that may aid in the sponsoring of learning and teaching across the school environment.
Teacher support
Ensure that all teachers have access to IB documents and resources.
Once access is granted, help teachers connect with MyIB and consider utilizing this resource during grade level collaboration and whole group professional development sessions.
Determine a system and schedule for staff to attend IB professional development.
This may include regional, in-school or online workshops.
All teachers will be required to attend a category one workshop.
Consider how to be strategic with the ongoing training for established teachers:
If offering an in-school training, think about any neighboring schools that may share in the attendance/cost of the workshop.
If sending teachers to regional workshops, think about how to diversify their learning so that they can bring back new learning to the greater staff community.
One of the largest roles that the coordinator will play is that of supporting teachers in effective collaboration.
To foster a culture of ongoing collaboration, consider how the following will be implemented:
Develop a schedule for regularly facilitated collaborative planning and reflection that is dedicated to IB/PYP learning and teaching.
Support teachers in forming essential agreements for their collaboration and regularly revisit these agreements.
Co-construct an agenda that will move unit planning forward and educate staff on the elements of the PYP. One agenda example may include the following sections:
Connecting (sharing what is going well with PYP implementation)
Learning (digging into IB documents to support the development of unit planners)
Managing (discussing logistics or follow up tasks)
Utilize physical space to aid in planning. Think about, post and provide resources in the space to reference and share learning with others.
Determine how to include subject specialists into the collaborative process.
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