CIS is an IB PYP Candidate School

Alberta and IB Framework of Teaching and Learning

加拿大艾伯塔课程与IB的教学框架

Enriching our Learning and Teaching Community with Yet Another Prestigious Accreditation

We are very excited to be pursuing yet another world-renowned accreditation, one that will truly enrich our community and add a feather in our academic cap. The IB PYP framework, just like the Canadian (Alberta) curriculum, delivers universal academic excellence, offering a dynamic learning environment focused on inquiry and agency, in an effort to create lifelong, international-minded learners – learners who value engaging with both local and global communities. When we examined both the Canadian curriculum and the IB framework, we realized both are very closely aligned. The IB philosophy and learner profile attributes match the Alberta core competencies and our CIS mission, vision, core values and philosophy, and the similarities are very apparent. Our subject areas are also very closely aligned to each other. This will ensure a seamless merger of both educational philosophies (the fusion of a framework and a curriculum), ensuring that CIS is on track to deliver an even better educational experience to learners aged 3-12.  

The Alberta Core Competencies and IB Learner Profiles are closely alligned

Our IB PYP Accreditation Journey Thus Far

Our CIS School leaders have already began attending IB professional development workshops to gain a better sense of the philosophy, and to engage with the global IB community.

Our Primary teachers have been in a training session, and have begun to shifting progressively towards aligning our Canadian curriculum with the five essential elements of the PYP framework: Concepts, skills, knowledge, attitudes, and action. Merging these five elements of the framework with the learning outcomes of the Alberta curriculum will ensure that teachers can help students construct their own understandings of the world and how their actions can shape both the communities they live in and others around the world.

And, most notably, students, as they start to learn about the PYP in action, will soon begin to shape their own teaching and learning – through developing their own questions that then informed planning for learning across all subject areas.

The Model of IB Transdisciplinary Learning

A Rewarding Journey of Growth

The next few weeks at CIS will be a journey of growth, open-mindedness and determination, and one that will strengthen our learning community. Our classrooms already breathe a sense of intellectual freedom, where each learner is unique and the driver of their own learning. Now, over the next few months as we pursue accreditation, we will delve deeper into ensuring that we meet both our Canadian curriculum learning outcomes and adhere to the IB framework and its commitment to inquiry and transdisciplinary learning. The journey will be immensely challenging but also very rewarding. It will further transform the whole CIS community into lifelong learners.