Curriculum

Primary Years Program at GGLPS

GGLPS teaches the Australian curriculum using the Primary Years Program (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate as a framework to impart this. There are many different aspects to the Teaching and Learning program of the school and these are some of the rich learning experiences in which the students are involved.

Inquiry

In a Primary Years Programme (PYP) school, and therefore at GGLPS, our pedagogy, our way of teaching and learning is through inquiry. Inquiry is used throughout units of inquiry and within the teaching and learning of English and maths, along with specialist lessons. One way of thinking about inquiry is to ask what it looks like and what it sounds like.

Inquiry looks:

• Like many different things depending on the intention around what is being learned;
• Like students being given choice, voice, and ownership over their learning;
• Like Students doing different things;
• Messy at times;
• Like teachers working with students to understand where they are at in the learning and determining what comes next;
• Like students setting goals and working towards them;
• Like students using and developing skills that help them to learn. In the PYP, these are called the ‘Approaches to Learning’ and there are 5 skills areas: communication, research, thinking, social and self-management skills;
• Like focusing on the process of learning with less emphasis on the product. This is because the process is where the learning happens and is where students learn how to learn. The product is a result of the process;
• Different in different classrooms because there are different students;
• Explicit teaching of some processes and knowledge so that students can apply this to what they are learning;
• Like students developing their disposition as a learner which includes the development of their attitude, motivation, perseverance, and attributes of the learner profile; and
• Like students changing, growing, and developing their thinking, ideas, and skills.

Inquiry sounds like:

• Teachers and students learn together;
• Questions;
• Researching and seeking understanding;
• Students sharing their learning;
• Discussion including different points of view;
• A discussion where students express their critical and creative thinking;
• Discussing and thinking about big ideas;
• Quiet at times when students are given thinking time to process, or time to focus individually on a task;
• Teachers giving feedback to feed-forward;
• Teachers notice times to be silent and allow students to work together to solve problems and read understandings; and
• A dynamic conversation where everyone’s contribution is valued.

This provides just a glimpse into what inquiry learning looks and sounds like in the classroom. It is very different from my schooling and, from my point of view, is so much more engaging! I would love to come back to school and learn through inquiry! 

Jayne Zadow

PYP Coordinator