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PPS and ATLs

The next stage of PPS course design

The way that a school approaches its design of its Personal and Professional Skills course can be really effective in reviewing and renewing its understanding of Approaches to Teaching and Learning. Often skills are implicit in the subjects that the students are taking but this only goes so far in helping students; skills need to be explicitly taught so students are absolutely aware that they have that skill in their toolbox to use within a range of contexts.

Using Approaches to Teaching and Learning in your PPS course design

This is where PPS can really come into its own as there are so many opportunities to respond truly to the needs of your students and colleagues by focusing explicitly on ATL skills in the five key areas; Social, Communication, Self-management,Thinking and Research.

Closer inspection of the five key PPS themes will lead to the conclusion that there is a clear parallel beween ATL and PPS.

Using a collaborative approach to PPS course design not only makes for a contextually relevant curriculum with staff buy-in, it also completely ensures that the IB philosophy of constructivist education is the backbone of what you create. You may have a staff with a huge array of experiences and many years of IB teaching under their belt; remember the term 'lifelong learner' is for everyone and creating opportunities for staff, irrespective of experience, to review and reflect upon their understanding of the Approaches to Teaching and Learning is very important for the creation of a positive school culture. Not to mention important for your 5 year evaluation.

Examples of the Approaches to Learning skills areas
Social and Communication skills
  • be able to interpret and use modes of non-verbal communication
  • be able to paraphrase successfully
  • be able to effectively structure information in different modes such as summaries, essays and reports
  • be able to organise information and display it logically
  • be able to communicate with a range of audiences using a variety of media confidently
  • be able to work both peers and experts using a variety of digital environments and media
Self-management skills
  • be able to be mindful and create strategies to focus and concentrate
  • be able to persist and persevere
  • be able to reduce stress and anxiety
  • be able to analyse and understand reasons for failure
  • be able to be resilient and deal with change
      Thinking Skills
      • be able to use visible thinking strategies to generate new ideas and lines of inquiry
      • be able to consider a range of alternative solutions including the unlikely or impossible
      • be able to make unusual connections between ideas
      • be able to create original solutions to real-life problems
      • be able to identify underlying assumptions and bias
      Research
      • be able to communicate ideas to multiple audiences using a range of media and/or formats.
      • be able to collect, record and verify data
      • be able to make connections between a variety of sources of information
      • be able to effectively use critical-literacy skills to analyse and interpret communication
      • be able to find multiple perspectives from a range of sources
      Collaborative skills-based learning design
      Select a skill from one of the above areas that you see as particularly relevant to both your course and real world application. Take turns to develop ideas and discuss the following questions: 
      1. How is it a skill that is developed in my own specific subject and what sort of learning activities do I use to develop this skill implicitly?
      Give an example of an activity or learning engagement
      2. Without drawing on content specific criteria, how could this skill be developed explicitly in an interactive and relevant way to the students?
      Design an activity
      Collaborative discussion on meeting the needs of students through Approaches to Teaching and Learning

      Now build on this initial discussion. Make a wider selection of skills from the ATL areas to discuss how these skills are met by the individual DP subjects.

      1. Where is there commonality and what does the same skill look like when transferred to a different context and subject?
      2. What might the value be in explicitly teaching students this skill in terms of their future career?
      3. Students begin the CP with many skills in the developing stage. Where do you think strengths lie and where do you think they struggle?
      4. Are there skills where students can become the teachers? Where can you find opportunities to empower them within different courses as well as during core subjects?

      CONCLUDING QUESTIONS:
      What skills do we want OUR students to leave school with?
      What personal and professional skills do we want OUR students to leave school with?
      Initial connection of ATL and the PPS themes
      As a CP core group, respond to the following questions:
      1. In what ways have you seen the ATL skills area relate to the PPS themes of Personal Development, Intercultural Understanding, Effective Communication, Thinking Processes and Applied Ethics?

      2. What initiatives/clubs/projects/trips/events already take place at school that relate to the 5 PPS themes?

      3. What projects would CP students really benefit from doing?

      4. Are there further skills we would add to our initial list of ATL skills that we prioritise our students needing throughout and after their CP course?
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