The PYP Enhancements retain the core IB philosophy of international mindedness and inquiry based learning while putting new emphasis on student agency and individual learning. The IB defines student agency as “the capacity to act intentionally” and give students voice, choice, and ownership of their learning. At Sunnybrook this will mean empowering students to be more engaged in the direction of their learning, to make choices on the subject they want to inquire into, and to initiate action independently as a result of that learning.
Agency at Sunnybrook involves student driven inquiry, individual goal setting, and learners moving at their own pace to maximize student engagement and academic progress. This might mean choosing to inquire into a topic related to their unit of inquiry but not explored directly in class, or it might take the form of personal action in their community based on a new understanding of issues in the world that comes out of their inquiry. Sunnybrook has a long, successful history of fostering this type of agency in the Grade Six PYP Exhibition, and we will see that kind of inquiry and action throughout the grades with the new emphasis on student agency.
