PYP in Tallinn English College

The IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), taught in English in forms 1-4, focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside. The aim of the PYP is to create a transdisciplinary curriculum https://www.ibo.org/pyp/curriculum/ that is engaging, relevant, challenging and significant for learners. The PYP curriculum is expressed in three interrelated ways:

• the written curriculum (What do we want to learn?)
• the taught curriculum (How will we learn?)
• the assessed curriculum (How will we know what we have learned?)

The PYP model

The Written Curriculum

In the PYP a balance is sought between acquisition of essential knowledge and skills, development of conceptual understanding, demonstration of positive attitudes, and taking of responsible action. The most significant and distinctive feature of the IB Primary Years Programme is the six transdisciplinary themes:

• Who we are
• Where we are in place and time
• How we express ourselves
• How the world works
• How we organize ourselves
• Sharing the planet

The six themes of global significance create a transdisciplinary framework that allows students to think and explore beyond the confines of learning within subject areas. The programme offers a balance between learning about or through the subject areas, and learning beyond them. The traditional disciplines retain a role in the IB Primary Years Programme. The six specified subjects are language, mathematics, science, social studies, arts, and personal, social and physical education.

The Taught Curriculum

Students inquire into, and learn about, the globally significant issues of the transdisciplinary themes in the context of the units of inquiry, each of which addresses a central idea relevant to a particular transdisciplinary theme. These units collectively constitute the school’s programme of inquiry.

The Assessed Curriculum

Assessment is an important part of each unit of inquiry as it both enhances learning and provides opportunities for students to reflect on what they know, understand and can do. The teacher's feedback to the students provides the guidance, the tools and the incentive for them to become more competent, more skillful and better at understanding how to learn. Students and parents will develop an understanding of the IB learner profile. The ten aspirational qualities of the learner profile inspire and motivate the work of teachers, students and schools, providing a statement of the aims and values of the IB and a definition of what the IB means by "international-mindedness". IB learners strive to be inquirers, thinkers, communicators, risk-takers, knowledgeable, principled, open-minded, caring, balanced and reflective.

The Exhibition

In the final year of the PYP, students participate in a transdisciplinary inquiry project, the PYP exhibition. It is a culminating experience marking the transition from the PYP to the Middle Years Programme (MYP).

The IB Primary Years Programme prepares students to be active participants in a lifelong journey of learning.  At the heart of the programme's philosophy is a commitment to structured, purposeful inquiry as the leading vehicle for learning. This is a challenging programme that demands the best from both motivated students and teachers.

For further information contact anette.vetik@tik.edu.ee.