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Parent workshop: Approaches to Learning

  • IB ATLs
  • Parent workshop: Approaches to Learning

How to introduce approaches to learning to teachers and parents

This page is written as a presentation to introduce the importance of the IB approaches to learning to teachers and parents.

Before introducing the actual five ATL skillsets we consider the importance of teaching skills.

Parents have their own expectations based on how and what they were taught. Some techers, as subject specialists, question how to teach skills (in addition). This workshop emphasizes the importance of developing skills in students.

Introduction

In this workshop we explore how the approaches to learning skills prepare students for the skills they need in their future.

Welcome to our workshop on the International Baccalaureate (IB) approaches to learning (ATL). Today, we delve into a set of skills designed to empower students to "learn how to learn." These skills transcend curriculum boundaries, offering a shared language for both teachers and students to reflect upon and enhance the learning process. Rooted in the belief that learning how to learn is pivotal for a student's life within and beyond school, the IB approaches to learning skills play a crucial role in fostering adaptability, innovation, and resilience in the face of future challenges. Join us as we explore the significance of these skills in shaping your child's education and preparing them for the demands of the ever-evolving future.

The presentation (with notes)

I am very grateful to Richard Quantrill, Economics DP teacher from Newton College, Lima, Peru for providing the ideas and much of the design of this workshop. 

  

  • Introduction: This workshop focuses on how IB programmes cultivate essential learning skills for students to navigate both their present and future.
  • Starter activity: Consider a global issue (climate change) to reflect on skills needed for problem-solving. Emphasizes the importance of transdisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and disciplinary knowledge.
  • Brainstorming: Encourage parents to see the big picture in education, preparing students for new challenges. Connects to later discussions on reports from WEF & OECD.
  • System approach: Underscores the need for a holistic learning approach in alignment with future skill requirements.
  • Inspirational quote: Encourages parental reflection on the workshop's significance.
  • Skills for the Future: Sets the scene for equipping students with future skills alongside academic knowledge.
  • VUCA World: Explore the terms (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) and provide examples showcasing the challenging nature of the world.
  • Educational change video: View video to understand how education is evolving to meet the demand for essential skills.
  • Resources: Point to research resources below, emphasizing how IB's approaches to learning align with the need for new skills.
  • Education 4.0 Report: Highlights the shift from traditional learning to technology-based tools for a non-traditional educational experience.
  • Student Voice: Discuss what children say about their education, emphasizing engagement.
  • OECD Framework: Introduces a framework considering skills, knowledge, and aptitudes beyond academic subjects.
  • Workshop review: Ask parents to review workshop content for a short elevator pitch.
  • Exit Ticket: Provides an opportunity for all voices to share key takeaways.

Supporting resources

This video (from OECD) considers what the future of education and skills looks like.

The OECD Learning Compass 2030 envisions the future of education. This framework serves as a guide toward the desired future of individual and collective well-being. Drawing on the metaphor of a learning compass, it underscores the importance of students acquiring the skills to navigate unfamiliar contexts independently.

The OECD have also produced Four OECD Scenarios for Schooling showing not a single path into the future, but many. Using these scenarios can help us identify the opportunities and challenges that these futures could hold for schooling and education more broadly. We can then use those ideas to help us better prepare and act now.

The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report (May 2023)

The World Economic Forum's "The Future of Jobs Report 2023" examines the evolving job landscape and skill requirements for the next five years. It identifies the top 10 skills in demand by 2025, including analytical thinking, active learning, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence. The report anticipates significant job changes, with up to a quarter of jobs expected to transform in the next five years.

Education 4.0 aligns with the fourth industrial revolution, emphasizing smart technology, AI, and robotics' impact on daily life. The World Economic Forum's white paper introduces a comprehensive Education 4.0 learning taxonomy, amalgamating skills for future economies. This document serves as a common foundation to transform education systems. Education 4.0 encourages a departure from traditional learning, endorsing technology-based tools for a non-traditional educational experience beyond traditional classrooms and textbooks.

Links

The following pages provides you with additional material to explore what the future of education may look like. They can be used as additional mini workshops for use with teachers and parents.

How can we re-think education? 

Is Covid-19 a game-changer for education? 

Will things be different when we go back to school? 

Extra resource

Transcend have launched a project called Transform Learning with Community-Based Design. It acknowledges the need for resetting education, and involving all stakeholders in the community - especially students - in redesigning both the learning experience and the learning outcomes (around intellectual prowess + Wayfinding + Well-being). This is an excellent (short) document to use in discussion forums.

Transcend’s Leaps for Equitable, 21st-Century Learning describes the key ways they believe the student experience must change so that schools can prepare all young people to thrive in and transform the world.

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