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Personal and Professional Skills

  • Personal and Professional Skills

What is PPS?

Personal and Professional Skills is a compulsory component of the CP core: a 90 hour course of personal and professional transferable skills for students to develop over the two years of the CP course. It is just one of the elements of the CP Core but at the heart of what makes this IB programme unique; schools can create a course that is bespoke for their students’ individual needs and school community not only to fulfil the requirements of the CP course but also to prepare them fully for future pathways.

Beginning the PPS course

Don't forget to explore the PPS resources!

Remember that if you want to peruse what this section of the site has in store for you, click on PPS Matters here or below for a taste of different resources across the breadth of the PPS course.

PPS inspiration

Looking for new ideas?PPS is an exciting course that is always evolving if you let it. Many CP educators talk about 'embracing the messiness' which can feel somewhat daunting. This page puts a spotlight...

Getting going in those first important weeks

After the intense focus on authorisation, it can sometimes come as a little surprising that we finally get to teach this course. Let's start with 'the mothership' - PPS. You've got the outline but what might be the best way of starting? The flexibility of the PPS course may be its greatest strength but it also can cause worry that we are 'getting it right'. Whilst this is certainly not intended as prescriptive, here are tips and suggestions for making those early weeks easier as you all find your stride and how you can make use of this site to support you.

Structure for launch

Introduction: First 2-4 weeks
Depending on how much time you have scheduled, the following is based upon an hour a week PPS but it may well be that you can cover this with other timetabled aspects of the core
Get the purpose of PPS as well as reflective practice off to the right start by asking students to connect all the elements of their CP course together and find the commonalities. Creating a visual early on in the course, sets the theme of connection firmly in place and can be built on continuously throughout the course.

Inquiry questions

What is the CP, CRS, Core and PPS?
What tools will we use to manage my courses?
What is Service Learning?
What is Language Development?
How can I be organised?

  1. What is the CP, CRS, Core and PPS?
    This is an opportunity for students to research the course they have chosen and give an early presentation from their perspective. Why have they chosen this course? What are their initial hopes? What burning questions do they have? You may like to do the presentation part after they have explored the following questions.
  2. What is the learner profile and why do we refer to it?
    This can be an extension of the previous exercise where students become familiar with where they stand with the learner profile with the intention that this will be used as a reflective tool throughout the course and they can explicitly explore how they are developing in each characteristic.
  3. What tools will we use to manage my courses?
    This is the time to introduce specific programmes you use as a school to manage your courses; for example you may use Managebac, google classroom etc. This is the time to explore with students the folders, trackers and portfolio system that you will be using. Even more importantly, this is the time to introduce your Academic Integrity contract which your students may or may not have signed already. A review of what constitutes plagiarism and a general overview of how attributing sources is essential throughout all their subject areas.
  4. What is Service Learning?
    This may well be covered in the previous question if you have a centralised system but this is an opportunity to establish with the students how Service Learning will be delivered in your context, who will deliver it, when and what the student's responsibilities are.
  5. What is Language Development?
    Again, this may well be covered in the previous question if you have a centralised system but this is an opportunity to establish with the students how Language Development will be delivered in your context, who will deliver it, when and what the student's responsibilities are. If students have all made different language choices or have yet to make their choice, or you are all taking on the same language together, then it is a nice opportunity to discuss this.
  6. How can I be organised?
    All students will come to this course with a different aptitude towards organisation (for some it is a natural disposition but for others, a hard-fought battle). General discussions and collective mindmaps on basic organisational skills and habits is a good starting point. It is also a good opportunity to put one thinking routine or process into practice in terms of research methods; for example a news headline and article from the very day they start the course; ask student to write down 3 'facts', 2 quotes, 1 question they have plus the author of the article.

PPS: Personal Development and Intercultural Understanding

Who am I? 6 weeks +
Early on in the course students need to establish the role self-awareness and cultural identity play in this course and these are essential to establishing SMART goals for assessing progress and development throughout the course.
See below for activities and links to supporting pages
Inquiry questions:

What makes me me? What is culture? What are cultural influences and values? What are my cultural influences and values? What is my personality & identity?
Why and how might I reflect?
Do cultural stereotypes serve a purpose?
What is my perspective on global conflict?

  1. What makes me me? What is culture? What are cultural influences and values? What are my cultural influences and values? What is my personality & identity?
    Firstly, start with the student and their self awareness - the lesson plan in Personal Development takes students through the first wave of getting an idea about themselves and their identity. Then, collectively as a class, it is important to define culture through a mindmap before exploring what different aspects of culture as well. Click on Intercultural Understanding and the introductory lessons for even more developed ways to introduce this theme. From here students can start marrying up personal and cultural identity and their understanding of cultural identity and their values. This might be the time for students to take an EQ test and discuss the results. Depending on your cohort, it might be a chance to explore the role of empathy more which you can do through exploring Exercises in Empathy. 
  2. Why and how might I reflect?
    So this is just the first of many opportunities for developing reflection and the key is to introduce thinking routines in a differentiated way as well as making sure there are a variety of tools the students can use. Otherwise they will sleepwalk through reflective processes. There are many reflective routines on this site but check out Reflective Thinking to pick out routines to start students off. A simple 'I used to think ... but now I think' after exploring their culture and EQ would be a great introduction.
  3. Do cultural stereotypes serve a purpose?
    This is an open question which would make a great start for research practices and informal debate in small groups. Check out Starting discussions and debates for more assistance here
  4. What is my perspective on global conflict? 
    With a good base understanding of the role culture plays in identity and how this has great similarities and differences globally, it can be a good time to introduce the notion of conflict. Exploring a topical news story that raises issues of cultural conflict allows students to discuss international-mindedness in an authentic way and is also a natural introduction to discussing ethical dilemmas and the role multiple perspectives play. Look at Navigating world issues for ideas here.

Selected Pages

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