The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme as an accelerator towards Competence-based Education: The case of IB schools in Spain

Author(s):

Maria Paz (Maripe) Menendez Escandon(presenting / submitting)Jesus Manso(presenting)Rocio Garrido Bianca Thoilliez

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

03. Curriculum Innovation

Format:

Paper

Session Information

03 SES 06 A, Citizenship Education and the Curriculum

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-24

15:30-17:00

Room:

NM-A106

Chair:

David Leat

Contribution

The responsibility of educators is no longer just to prepare good mathematicians, good biologists or good historians. The mission of schools is to prepare young people - the decision makers of tomorrow - to live in a complex multicultural society undergoing a rapid process of change and opening up a new world order. (Renaud, 1991).

There has been a shift in the role of education. This shift recognizes the relevance of education and learning in understanding and resolving global issues in social, political, cultural, economic and environmental areas. The role of education is moving beyond the development of knowledge and cognitive skills to the building of values, soft skills and attitudes among learners. Education is expected to facilitate international cooperation and promote social transformation in an innovative way towards a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable world. (UNESCO, 2014).

In a globalized world, education is putting more emphasis on equipping individuals from an early age, and throughout life, with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors they need to be informed, engaged and empathetic citizens.

"We must foster global citizenship Education is about more than literacy and numeracy. It is also about citizenry. Education must fully assume its essential role in helping people to forge more just, peaceful and tolerant societies"

UN Secretary - General Ban Ki Moon, 26 September 2012 at the launch of the Secretary-General's Global Education Initiative.

The different shifts of Spanish educational reforms have not yet overcome the poor results of Spain on the different international assessments. Some of the leading schools in Spain are implementing the International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes in primary education as a curriculum that aligns with the skills and knowledge students need to become active citizens in a globalized world. These schools are using the IB PYP to accelerate the change in approaches to teaching and learning from a recall to a competence-based education.

The Spanish educational system has adopted the European Union recommendation of the Key Competences to be acquired by students during their primary education. The Lisbon Council conclusions and the following detailed work programme called for a European framework for basic skills to be provided through lifelong learning. It also takes into account the Bologna process in the development of the European Higher Education Area.

Key Competences represent a transferable, multifunctional package of knowledge, skills and attitudes that all individuals need for personal fulfillment and development, inclusion and employment. These should have been developed by the end of compulsory schooling or training, and should act as a foundation for further learning as part of lifelong learning. (European Commission, 2004). The 7 basic competences in Spanish context to be developed from primary education are:

- Communication in languages

- Mathematical literacy and basic competences in science and technology

- Digital competence

- Learning-to-learn

- Social and civic competences

- Sense of Initiative and Entrepreneurship

- Cultural expression

While the new law (LOMCE) highlights the importance to comply with EU recommendations, primary schools lack the knowledge and training to put into practice these recommendations. Some schools are finding in the International Baccalaureate a guide to accelerate the lack of pedagogical expertise and professional development and this investigation is set out to describe this approach to competence-based educational development.

Method

This research study “The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme as an accelerator towards a competence based education: The case of IB schools in Spain" aims to find those key aspects of the IB IBPYP framework which has helped Spanish IB schools to move from a recall to a competence-based education at primary level. We have addressed this general aim by focusing into two different but complementary phases: PHASE 1: The comparative phase of the study consists of a comprehensive document review to contrast academic, non-scholastic, assessment and philosophical dimensions of the IBPYP and the Spanish curricula in regards to competence acquisition. PHASE 2: This phase of the research aims to report perception of teachers in regards to student’s competence acquisition within IB schools in Spain. The first comparative phase of the study consists of a comprehensive document review to contrast difference elements of the IBPYP framework and Spanish curricula. In this phase, the research team has used the research methodology for comparative education. The decision process to identify the units of comparison, should rely on the principle of responding to the research questions that underline this investigation which are the following: a) In what ways does the IBPYP align with national education requirements with regards to: - Primary secondary education curriculum objectives content and core competencies? - Pedagogical approaches? - Assessment practices, and? - Philosophical underpinnings? b) In what ways does the IBPYP framework support Spanish schools in fostering European Union Key Competences acquisition for Life Long Learning? The second phase will be address by the use of quantative research tecniques. A questionnaire has been developed for data collection. The questionnaire consists of 5 sections. Section 1 requests demographic information through attribute questions. Section 2 includes statements which refers to the acquisition of the European Union Key competences through the IB PYP programme versus the national curriculum and the fostering of a concept based learning on detriment of a recall based system. Section 3 includes statements which refers to teaching and assessment in the IB PYP programme. Section 4 included statements which refers to the OXFAM typology of Global Education composed of 3 parts (knowledge and understanding, skills, and values and attitudes). and section 5 included statements which refers to skills and competence that employers and educational providers believed to be important to find a quality job. (McKinsey, Education to Employment, 2012).

Expected Outcomes

The OECD already proposed in 1997 that education systems in industrialized societies needed to equip their future citizens with the levels of competence and skills expected by their respective workplaces, and recommended that governments respond to this expectation. The European Union in 2004 extended this recommendation for its member states. While the Spanish Educational authorities has incorporated OCDE and EU recommendations in their educational reforms, in 2015 schools are still in the process to equipping themselves with human and technical resources to achieve this goal. Some schools have taken the lead to accelerate the process by implementing the IB PYP programme. Central to the philosophy of the IB PYP there is the principle that enquiry is a powerful vehicle for learning that promotes meaning and understanding and challenges students to engage in significant ideas promoting a competence-based education. Schools in Spain have found that by using IB PYP units of enquiry as their core pedagogy tool, they have been able to address the contents of primary education as stated in the law but with a concept-driven approach to teaching and learning. By developing an individual unit of enquiry, organized around a central idea, teachers at Spanish based IB schools have found that content out of the Spanish law becomes: - Engaging: Of interest to the students, and involving them actively in their own learning - Relevant: Linked to the students’ prior knowledge and experience, and current circumstances and therefore placing learning in a context connected to the lives of the students. - Challenging: Extending the prior knowledge and experience of the students to increase their competences and understanding. - Significance: Contributing to an understanding of the transdisciplinary nature of the theme, and therefore allowing students to acquire competence while complying with National regulations.

References

European Commission (2004). Implementation of «Education and Training 2010» Work Programme. Working Group B: «Key Competences». Key Competences for Lifelong Learning. A European Reference Framework. European Commission (2004). The European Chapter and Code for Researchers. http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/index.cfm/rights/europeanCharter. Frankfort-Nachmias, C., Nachmias, D. (1992). Research Methods in the Social Sciences. London: Edward Arnold. International Baccalaureate. (2007). Making the PYP happen: A curriculum framework for International primary education. Geneva: IBO. International Baccalaureate (2008). Towards a continuum of international education. (Technical Report). Geneva: IBO. International Baccalaureate (2012). The IB learner profile review: Resources of reflection. (Technical Report). Geneva: IBO. International Baccalaureate (2013). What is an IB Education?. (Technical Report). Geneva: IBO. MECD (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte). (1970). Ley Orgánica 14/1970, de 4 de agosto, general de educación y financiamiento del sistema educativo. Madrid: BOE. MECD (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte). (1990). Ley Orgánica 1/1990, de 3 de octubre, de ordenación general del sistema educativo. Madrid: BOE. MECD (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte). (2006). Ley Orgánica 2/2006. de 3 de mayo, de educación. Madrid: BOE. MECD (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte). (2013). Ley Orgánica 8/2013, de 9 de diciembre, para la mejora de la calidad educativa. Madrid: BOE. MECD (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte). (2014). Estadística de las Enseñanzas no universitarias. Subdirección General de Estadística y Estudios. Madrid: BOE. MECD (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte). (2014). Real Decreto 126/2014, de 28 de febrero, por el que se establece el currículo básico de la Educación Primaria. Madrid: BOE. MECD (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte). (2014). El Sistema Educativo Español. Madrid: BOE. OCDE (2012). Pisa 2014 results in focus: what 15-year-olds know and what they can do with what they know: key results from PISA 2012. Paris: OCDE. Renaud, G. (1991). The international schools association, historical and philosophical background. World Yearbook of Education: International Schools and International Education. London: Kogan Page Limited. Silova, I.; Hobson, D. (2014). The pedagogy and politics of global citizenship in international schools. In Daphne P. hobson and Iveta Silova (Eds),Globalizing Minds Rethoric and Realities in International Schools (pp.3-14). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing. Strike, K. (1990). The ethics of educational evaluation. In J.Millman and L. Darling-Hammond (edds). A New Handbook of Teacher Evaluation. Newbury Park, CA: Corwin (pp- 356-373). Young, M. & Coomins, Y. (2002). Global citizenship: The handbook for primary teaching. Cambridge: Oxfam/ Chris Kington Publishing.

Author Information

Maria Paz (Maripe) Menendez Escandon (presenting / submitting)

International Baccalaureate

Pozuelo de Alarcon

Jesus Manso (presenting)

UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE MADRID

DIDACTIC AND THEORY OF EDUCATION

MADRID

Rocio Garrido

Universidad a Distancia de Madrid, Spain

Bianca Thoilliez

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Madrid

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