Agency

Over the past couple years the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) have undertaken a review of the Primary Years Programme (PYP). Snippets of information have been slowly released in relation to proposed changes, we will know the final requirements when the Enhanced PYP is launched world wide in October this year.

One area that has featured in all of the releases is agency. In terms of the PYP, agency is:

“the power to take meaningful and intentional action, and acknowledges the rights and responsibilities of the individual, supporting voice, choice and ownership for everyone in the learning community.”  (IBO Transition Guide for the Primary Years Programme, June 2018)

Cutting through the jargon, what agency refers to in our context, is learning through activities and tasks that are meaningful and relevant to learners. This can be achieved through learning being driven by the interests and questions from the students. Put simply, agency gives students voice and often choice in how they learn. It provides them with a stake in choosing opportunities provided for them within the parameters of the curriculum and units of inquiry. Teachers may give students a choice between issues to inquire into or how to present a task that shows their knowledge and understanding about their inquiry. The ability of students to make informed decisions triggers a greater investment in interest, engagement and motivation. This does not mean that teaching is removed. We continue to be mandated as to what students need to know within Science, History and Geography curriculums. These requirements are our starting points for teaching and learning in the classrooms.

Agency empowers students to influence their own path of learning. By encouraging students to take initiative, you enhance their ability to take control, increase motivation, and ensure students respond to their activities.

In our classrooms NCL students are guided by the teachers influencing the students towards the best possible decisions for their learning. It’s like an elite athlete or an actor who has a representative that guides them to make the best career decisions. The teacher takes on a similar role to the representative by looking out for their students, helping them to make the best possible decisions for their learning and to be successful at it. They are personalising their learning. Students feel that their voice and self-direction are increased, even if they don’t get their way all the time.

Agency keeps students engaged since they are part of the lesson plan for direction in the first place. They are also responsible for demonstrating the knowledge and understanding they have learned within the curriculums by the tasks and activities they undertake. If students know what their goal is and trust their teacher is going to allow them to move through their chosen path to that goal while providing expert feedback, students are more invested in their own growth of knowledge and understanding.

As the teaching staff at NCL begin to unpack the enhancements of the PYP over the next few months and decide on how they can be developed in our classrooms, we are encouraged that we are developing the  practice of agency in our classrooms with our students.

Sue Gough – PYP Co-ordinator