26th April 2020
I have also enjoyed reading the responses. My children go to a primary school that follow the IB PYP model of inquiry. My son was engaged in learning, always telling me about something interesting that they had explored that day. It made more sense to him why he was learning and the freedom to extend their learning gave him ownership of his own learning experience. My daughter then went to a school that didn’t have PYP and was trying to ensure they got high NAPLAN results. She was disengaged, bored and found learning to be a chore rather than an exciting experience. We moved her to the other school and the change in her was immediate. She was excited again, chatting non stop about their learning plans and ideas.

It does help if the inquiry model is set out for teachers to follow, I believe that it should form part of the national curriculum that should be followed in some way. Perhaps part of a unit of study? The IB manages to do this and many Australian schools do merge it into curriculum somehow. Does anyone have experience with this?

In order for accountability and 21st century skills to occur, it must be implemented from a school wide implementation. If it isn’t clear to principals, teachers or students how these skills are to occur, then it won’t be clear who is accountable for it to happen. Incorporating 21st skills in a prescriptive fashion, within topics and subjects, would set greater clarity for schools and teachers to assign accountability for various skills and tasks.