The impact of the PYP exhibition on the

development of international
mindedness, critical thinking and
attributes of the IB learner profile

Final Report

Submitted by

Dr Jane Medwell
Dr Lucy Cooker
Dr Lucy Bailey
Emily Winchip

The University of Nottingham School of Education

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 1

1 Executive summary.................................................................................................... 6
2 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 10
3 Literature Review .................................................................................................... 13
3.1 The PYP exhibition as inquiry learning .......................................................................................... 13
3.2 Collaborative inquiry ..................................................................................................................... 16
3.3 Authentic inquiry for 21st century learners.................................................................................... 17
3.4 Critical analytical thinking in inquiry learning ............................................................................... 18
3.5 Student transition across programmes ......................................................................................... 19

4 Methods and Methodology ..................................................................................... 20

4.1 Sampling ....................................................................................................................................... 20
4.2 Case studies .................................................................................................................................. 22
4.3 Interviews ..................................................................................................................................... 22
4.4 Observation within the school, and of lessons .............................................................................. 25
4.5 Documentary and website analysis ............................................................................................... 26
4.6 Survey ........................................................................................................................................... 27
4.7 Ages and first languages of student respondents to the survey .................................................... 29
4.8 Children’s future school destinations ............................................................................................ 30
4.9 Ethical considerations and challenges ........................................................................................... 30
4.10 Analysis of qualitative data ........................................................................................................... 30
4.11 Analysis of quantitative data ........................................................................................................ 33

5 Findings/Results ...................................................................................................... 33
5.1 Question 1: What variations in practice exist in implementing the PYP exhibition in case-study
schools? ..................................................................................................................................................... 33
• How do PYP teachers plan PYP exhibition study? .............................................................................. 33
• How do PYP teachers support PYP exhibition study? ........................................................................ 33
• What role, if any, is given to parent/guardians? How do PYP teachers assess the PYP exhibition? ... 33
• What feedback is given to parent/guardians and students during and upon completion of the PYP
exhibition? How does this support student learning? ................................................................................ 33
Structure of the exhibition and student agency .......................................................................................... 34
Choice of topics ............................................................................................................................................ 36
Timing and schedules ................................................................................................................................... 39
Components of the exhibition ..................................................................................................................... 40
Reflection, Assessment and feedback ......................................................................................................... 45
Action ........................................................................................................................................................... 47
5.2 Question 2. What do PYP teachers, students and parent/guardians believe to be the impact of
PYP exhibition study on: international-mindedness, critical thinking and IB learner profile attributes. ..... 49
The impact of the PYP exhibition on critical thinking .................................................................................. 49
International Mindedness ............................................................................................................................ 52
Cooperative or collaborative learning and inquiry ...................................................................................... 53
5.3 Question 4 What is the role played by the PYP exhibition in promoting parent/guardian
engagement with, and understanding of, the IB Programmes, for example through promoting
parent/guardian understanding of international-mindedness, critical thinking and IB learner profile
attributes? ................................................................................................................................................. 59
Qualitative findings about parental engagement ........................................................................................ 59
How were parents involved in their child’s PYP exhibition? ........................................................................ 60
Parent views of their children’s PYP exhibition experiences ....................................................................... 62
The qualitative data gave a subtler picture of parents’ views about the impact of the exhibition on their
children. As with the questionnaires, the parents were overwhelmingly very positive about these
experiences. .............................................................................................................................................. 63
5.4 How did mentor participation (where used) promote the IB learner profile attributes,
international-mindedness, and critical thinking? ....................................................................................... 66

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 Who were IB exhibition mentors? ............................................................................................................... 66
Recruitment and training of mentors .......................................................................................................... 69
What did mentors do? ................................................................................................................................. 70
IB learner profile attributes ......................................................................................................................... 71
International mindedness ............................................................................................................................ 73
Critical thinking ............................................................................................................................................ 75
5.5 What role does the PYP exhibition play in supporting student transition to the MYP? ................. 76
Preparation for Transition ........................................................................................................................... 77
Feedforward to the MYP .............................................................................................................................. 78
Connections between the programmes ...................................................................................................... 80

6 Discussion ............................................................................................................... 81
7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 86
8 Recommendations ................................................................................................... 87
9 References .............................................................................................................. 90
10 Appendices .......................................................................................................... 94
10.1 Appendix 1: Samples of ethical documentation ............................................................................ 94
10.2 Appendix 2: An example of how the transdisciplinary theme, central idea, lines of inquiry and
student questions are interlinked ............................................................................................................ 104
10.3 Appendix 3: The IBO Learner Profile Attributes ........................................................................... 105
10.4 Appendix 4: Examples from questionnaires to parents, teachers and students in different
languages ................................................................................................................................................ 106
10.5 Appendix 5: Further statistical analysis of the questionnaire outcomes ...................................... 113
Statistical findings about the IB learner profile ......................................................................................... 114
Student Cooperation Scale and Student Action Scale ............................................................................... 115
Parent/Carer Help Scale ............................................................................................................................. 118

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List of Figures

Figure 1: The IB Primary Years Programme ............................................................ 11

Figure 2: Screenshot of coding stripes in Nvivo 11 for Mac ....................................... 32
Figure 3: Infographic poster from case study school ................................................ 42
Figure 5: Lyrics written by students for the “exhibition song” .................................... 44
Figure 6: Item Hierarchy for IB learner profile Attributes Scale. Perception by parents,
teachers and students of how much IB learner profile attributes were strengthened by
student participating in the PYP exhibition ............................................................ 115
Figure 7: Student Cooperation Scale. Students identified the ways that cooperation
occurred during the preparation for the PYP exhibition ........................................... 116
Figure 8: Item Hierarchy for Student Action Scale ................................................. 117
Figure 9: Parent/Carer Help Scale. Student, teacher, and parent/carer perceptions of
parent/carer involvement in the PYP exhibition ..................................................... 118
Figure 10: Measures on Parent/Carer Help Scale by role. Measures in logits based on
Parent Help Scale items ..................................................................................... 119

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List of Tables

Table 1: Overview of intended fieldwork in each case study school ............................ 23

Table 2: Interviews conducted as part of the case studies ........................................ 25
Table 3: Frequency of responses by role and country ............................................... 28
Table 4: Participating schools by country ................................................................ 28
Table 5: Age of participating students by country .................................................... 29
Table 6: First language of students by country location of the school (%) .................. 29
Table 7: Student topic choice ................................................................................ 37
Table 8: Total “agree” and “strongly agree” responses for items relating to international
mindedness ........................................................................................................ 54
Table 9: Total “agree” and “strongly agree” responses for items relating to cooperative
learning ............................................................................................................. 56
Table 10: Teacher, parent and student agreement with items related to inquiry skills .. 58
Table 11: How were parents/carers were involved in the planning of their child’s
exhibition? ......................................................................................................... 61
Table 12: Who acted as mentors? ......................................................................... 67

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1 Executive summary

This report presents the findings and conclusions of a project to explore the impact of
the PYP exhibition on the development of international mindedness, critical thinking and
attributes of the IB learner profile.

The PYP exhibition is undertaken towards the end of the PYP, a curriculum for children
aged 3-12. The PYP exhibition takes place in the final year of the PYP and is the
culmination of a substantial piece of research involving group collaboration, inquiry,
social action and presentation to an audience.

This study included both qualitative and quantitative sources of evidence. The study
created seven case studies of schools in five countries undertaking the PYP exhibition. In
each of the case studies the data set focused on the perceptions of participants:
teachers, parents, students, managers, mentors and past students, as well as on an
exploration of relevant documentation and of the exhibition processes. In addition, the
study included surveys of parents, teachers and students in schools in the five target
countries: Russia, China, Mexico, the UK and Kenya. The surveys were completed in one
of four languages: English, Russian, Chinese or Spanish.

The key findings of the study, described and discussed in greater detail in later sections,
include the following:
• All the participants interviewed, including parents, teachers, students and
mentors, said that the exhibition embodied the values of the PYP and gave
students the chance to develop and display the attributes of the IB learner profile.

• The PYP exhibition was a key experience in engaging students in developing

critical thinking, which was closely linked to critical literacy and inquiry skills.

• Parents, teachers and students all characterised the PYP exhibition as an inquiry-
led process. Students emphasised new knowledge more than parents and
teachers, who placed more emphasis on inquiry learning skills and cooperative
learning skills.

• The action element of the exhibition was seen as a key element in developing
international-mindedness, though participants found it difficult to discuss
international-mindedness directly.

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 • The action element of the exhibition was particularly valued by parents, students
and teachers.

• Parents spoke about their children’s exhibition in terms of pride and wonder. They
were impressed by their children’s independence and capabilities. They viewed
independent learning and competence in presenting, working together and critical
thinking as valuable ‘real world’ attributes.

• Timing and management of the PYP exhibition in each country was influenced by
issues such as local curricula, local high stakes assessments and the pattern of
the academic year. This meant that PYP exhibition preparation could take
anywhere between five weeks and six months. Longer lead allocations of time
enabled students to choose more challenging topics, develop inquiry skills and to
be critical. Longer time allocations also produced more reflection and action.

• The PYP exhibition was perceived as a whole-school community experience with

high status in schools. It involved not only the students and teachers, but also
parents, the other students in the school, teachers from other parts of the school
and teachers and students from the MYP school. The exhibition was clearly
recognised, anticipated, valued and reflected upon by students above and below
the exhibition year.

• Nearly all the parents attended the exhibition of their own children and also
attended a school briefing towards the start of the process. However, many
parents were more closely involved in their child’s exhibition through discussion,
enabling visits and offering suggestions. Schools managed parent involvement to
ensure students remained able to act independently.

• Schools managed the exhibition process carefully to plan inquiry learning skills
and group-work skills into the experience. Students and parents valued the
structured approach to this sustained activity. However, there was a balance to
be struck between structure and student direction and decision-making.

• The choice of topics for the exhibition was important in offering different degrees
of inquiry, critical thinking and international mindedness. Well-chosen topics
offered engagement with all these attributes.

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 • Topics were usually selected in cooperation with the students but teacher
guidance was important in assuring sufficient depth in the choice, linking lines of
inquiry to broad topics and maintaining a focus on action.

• The topics of exhibitions were wide-ranging and student research included visits,
interviews and surveys. However, the resulting exhibitions were largely based in
a social sciences approach and included a high proportion of literature-led
research. Few were science or maths orientated in their methods.

• The way the exhibition engaged children critically with the literature was shaped
by local approaches to internet use.

• Schools engaged in reflection upon and improvement of their exhibition processes

and the improvements made as a result of this reflection were recognised and
valued by teachers, mentors, parents and students, offering a good model of
reflection in action.

• IT use observed in the case study schools include data searching, text
management, document sharing, co-writing, data presentation, a small amount of
problem solving and model making and a small amount of data logging.

• The importance of the experience of doing the exhibition was evident in the case
study schools. Schools who had done a number of exhibitions had clearer
structures and the participants understood their roles more clearly. In these
schools, annual training for teachers and mentors, with regular review, was
important.

• PYP Students, parents, MYP students and PYP teachers all perceived the PYP
exhibition as excellent preparation for the MYP, in particular, and further
schooling in general. This was stated less strongly and less often by teachers.

• Information about the PYP exhibition was not shared between schools across
transfer and this may be a possible development point in terms of policy and
guidelines.

• The assessment of the PYP exhibition involved on-going, formative assessment

and, in most cases, a summative assessment.

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 • Parents and students expected feedback about the PYP exhibition but were
uncertain about the form or timing of this. In most cases, it was part of a final
school report.

The project found the PYP exhibition to be a valuable and pivotal experience in the life of
the schools, families and students who were studied. The exhibition was inquiry-led but
the structured support of teachers emerged as a key factor in giving students space and
freedom to make decisions and conduct inquiry. This was somewhat in tension with the
need to organise every step of the process and share information with parents.
Teachers, mentors, parents and students played active roles and the reflections of all
participants were at the heart of continued improvement in the PYP exhibition
experience. However, it was clear that experienced schools were better able to manage
the experience to give students optimum experience, select challenging and action linked
topics and support students. Sharing this experience, between experienced and less-
experienced schools, would be valuable. Experienced staff have the potential to act as
critical friends and support reflection in less experienced schools. The project noted that
the value of the PYP exhibition experience could be enhanced by better transfer of
information across school transition.

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2 Introduction

The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP), shown

diagrammatically in Figure 1, offers a holistic education focusing on whole-child
development through an inquiry-driven programme of knowledge, concepts, skills,
attitudes and action. It forms part of a 3-19 continuum with the Middle Years Programme
focused on 11-16 year olds and the Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme
meeting the needs of 16-19 year olds. The aim of IB programmes is to offer a continuum
of international education that ‘encourage[s] both personal and academic achievement,
challenging students to excel in their studies and in their personal development’ (IBO,
2017).

The PYP culminates in the PYP exhibition: a collaborative, transdisciplinary, in-depth

inquiry into real life issues or problems (IBO, 2008) and the means by which the inquiry-
based learning which has taken place over the previous PYP years is assessed. The PYP
exhibition is used flexibly in the students’ final year of the PYP. The exhibition is one of
the six units of inquiry in the final year of the PYP and takes place under a
transdisciplinary theme at the discretion of the school. Therefore, the PYP exhibition
involves a good deal of planning for teachers and represents a significant event in the
life of a PYP school and student, bringing together the essential elements of the PYP and
sharing them with the whole school community.

The process of planning, supporting and giving feedback about the exhibition should
offer teachers multiple opportunities to promote learner attributes, critical thinking and
international mindedness. The exhibition also has the potential to play an important role
in transition to the MYP – an area that has, until now, gone unexplored. Although the
PYP exhibition guidelines (IBO, 2008) offer teachers the chance to self-evaluate the
exhibition there has been no in-depth exploration of the impact of the PYP exhibition on
the development of international mindedness, critical thinking and the attributes of the
IB learner profile.

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Figure 1: The IB Primary Years Programme

This study aimed to investigate participant views about the impact the exhibition had
upon them - and to share the practices that, in theory, develop international
mindedness, critical thinking and the attributes of the IB learner profile. The project
investigated the understandings and perceived impacts of the experience of preparing,
delivering and reflecting upon the PYP exhibition on pupils in the PYP and those in their
first year of MYP. The study also included investigation of the perceived impact of
planning, teaching and assessing the PYP on teachers and co-ordinators in schools.

The study was driven by the following research questions.

1. What variations in practice exist in implementing the PYP exhibition in case-study

schools?
a) How do PYP teachers plan PYP exhibition study?
b) How do PYP teachers support PYP exhibition study? What role, if any, is given
to parent/guardians?
c) How do PYP teachers assess the PYP exhibition?
d) What feedback is given to parent/guardians and students during and upon
completion of the PYP exhibition? How does this support student learning?
2. What do PYP teachers, students and parent/guardians believe to be the impact of
PYP exhibition study on

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 a) International-mindedness.
b) Critical thinking.
c) IB learner profile attributes.
3. What is the role played by the PYP exhibition in promoting parent/guardian
engagement with, and understanding of, the IB Programmes, for example
through promoting parent/guardian understanding of international-mindedness,
critical thinking and IB learner profile attributes?
4. How does mentor participation (where used) promote international-mindedness,
critical thinking and IB learner profile attributes?
5. What role does the PYP exhibition play in supporting student transition to the
MYP?
a) How do PYP teachers prepare students for transition to more independent
forms of learning in the MYP through the PYP exhibition?
b) What do MYP students who have completed the PYP exhibition believe to be
the effect of that study on their transition to the MYP?
c) How is exhibition feedback incorporated into supporting student transitions
into the MYP or elsewhere?
In the following section of the report, we provide an overview of the literature and the
key debates that have informed this research. This includes a discussion of inquiry,
collaboration and authentic learning and the support for the PYP exhibition available to
IB PYP schools.

In the succeeding section, the methodology of the study is examined. This includes
details of the survey instruments and case study methods used. The analysis of both
qualitative and quantitative data and an explanation of how these analyses were used to
address the research questions is set out. The ethical considerations of the project are
also presented here.

In the final sections, we set out our research findings, analyses and conclusions in
relation to the questions that guided this study. We conclude by offering a number of
recommendations that we hope will be helpful for the IBO, for schools that currently
offer the PYP and MYP, for candidate schools and for those that are considering offering
the PYP and MYP in the future.

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3 Literature Review

The PYP exhibition is a complex process with its roots in the values and beliefs about
learning that underpin the PYP. This literature review draws together some of the issues
most relevant to the PYP exhibition as a learning experience with relevance within and
beyond the PYP. The review considers the nature of inquiry learning, collaborative
inquiry, authentic inquiry, critical analytical thinking and the nature of critical thinking.
The review also considers issues of transition between programmes in the IB curriculum
or, indeed, transfers to other curricula, because the PYP exhibition aims to promote
learning that is lifelong and pervasive. Moreover, school transfer is internationally
recognized as a problematic issue.

3.1 The PYP exhibition as inquiry learning

The exhibition is intended to be a collaborative and student-led, in-depth inquiry during

which students can demonstrate agency and take responsibility for their own learning
(IBO, 2008). This review of literature summarises the background to this approach and
the importance of critical thinking and international mindedness within it.

The exhibition is a process that aims to engage students in inquiry learning (IL) because
it situates learning in problem-solving or investigations of complex phenomena. Inquiry
learning is multiply and ill-defined (Alfieri et al, 2011), but here we mean learning where
students conduct investigations related to one or more research questions, set by either
student or teacher. The term ‘inquiry’ as a search term in the online literature yields
publications related to primary and secondary education and there is some overlap with
the term “problem-based” in the HE literature. The notion of ‘inquiry’ is central to the
pedagogical approach and curricula articulated in the IB programmes, based on a
conviction that human learning is at its most effective when it arises as the result of
genuine questions on the part of the learner, although this philosophy has not always
been at the heart of popular pedagogical approaches. A rather different model of
education was typical of many 20th century classrooms – namely, the teacher was the
repository of all the knowledge that learners would need on any given topic; the
teacher’s responsibility was to pass on as much of that knowledge as possible to the
students; students would then be tested/examined on what they could remember of this
knowledge. This model of education may have been effective for an era of human history
in which the knowledge base needed to function effectively in society was relatively
limited and static, but the ‘knowledge society’ that we now live in requires new thinking
about what constitutes effective and engaging teaching and learning (Cho et al., 2015).

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We would also argue that, especially in the context of the rapid growth of international
schools, contemporary education demands an international perspective. Teachers are
now faced with the challenge that ‘former conceptions of knowledge, minds and learning
no longer serve a world where what we know is less important than what we are able to
do with knowledge in different contexts’ (Friesen, 2009, p. 3).

Recent research findings in the learning sciences suggest the effectiveness of a

constructivist, inquiry-orientated view of learning, though the research tends to be
concentrated in the learning of STEM subjects. Furtak et al. (2012), for example,
conducted a meta-analysis of science learning and found that students who did inquiry
with “minimal guidance” from their teacher learned more than children exposed to
“traditional teaching” techniques. Alfieri et al. (2011) conducted a similar meta-analysis
across subjects and found that, although inquiry-based learning with no instruction was
less effective than direct instruction, when students received adequate guidance during
inquiry, they learnt more. Moreover, although the ability to inquire does develop with
age, children as young as five years old could generate simple hypotheses, undertake
experimentation and evaluate evidence - and so were able to conduct inquiry.
Zimmerman (2007) summarises the research in this area by saying that children are far
more competent than first suspected, and adults less so. This places the teacher in a
very important position in inquiry learning, which tends to be seen as a student-led
approach.

Not surprisingly, then, controversy about inquiry learning in the literature has focused on
levels of instruction and the student role in learning. Kirschner et al. (2006) launched an
attack upon constructivist approaches to teaching and learning in science and what they
term ‘minimal guidance’. However, Hmelo-silver et al. (2007) argued that contemporary
inquiry-based methods involve high levels of scaffolding for pupil learning, effecting a
shift from whether inquiry learning per se is useful to an exploration of the conditions in
which inquiry learning is most effective. This has sparked a range of studies into
guidance levels in classrooms, culminating in the meta-analysis by Lazonder and
Harmsen (2016) of studies of the effects of guidance in inquiry learning. They drew upon
studies (and other meta-analyses) from STEM domains and all age groups. They
designed a new six level typology of inquiry learning guidance, from process constraints,
which are the least specific guidance and restrict the scope of the task, to explanations,
the most specific guidance, which specify how to perform an action, though other
taxonomies exist.

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The analysis showed that guidance is helpful in inquiry learning, both in short inquiries,
such as a single lesson, and longer inquiry projects. Adequate guidance is not the same
as very specific guidance and too much specificity can challenge the inquiry nature of the
task. However, if teachers want children to maximise their performance (not necessarily
their learning) such as in making a presentation to parents, then highly specific guidance
is probably necessary. The study found that young children do not necessarily benefit
from more specific guidance than older children but that that the frequency of guidance
of all sorts was important in improving outcomes. The way that guidance is used through
a longer project is an important issue - and the orchestration of guidance, by teachers
and pupils, merits further study. This is very relevant to the exhibition as a longer-term
activity which may involve a number of shorter inquiry tasks, an overall longer inquiry
and a presentation task. The research suggests that such a range of tasks will need a
range of types of teacher support.

Much of the power of an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning lies in its
potential to increase intellectual engagement and foster deep understanding through the
development of a hands-on, minds-on and ‘research-based disposition’ towards learning.
IB students learn to use this approach to develop as knowledgeable inquirers, thinkers
and risk takers. An approach through inquiry recognises the complex, interconnected
nature of knowledge construction, and provides opportunities for both teachers and
students to collaboratively build, test and reflect on their learning (Lüddecke, 2015).

There have been a number of attempts across the world to embed a more inquiry-led
approach into mainstream education. Harste (1990) stressed the link between inquiry
and modern iterations of literacy, while Wray (1999) and Perkins (2010) emphasised the
importance of inquiry as underpinning a distinctive pedagogy across the entire
curriculum. It would be fair to say, however, that these attempts have not met with a
great deal of success. Most jurisdictions appear to have retreated during this early part
of the 21st century to a reductionist model of a knowledge-centred curriculum, often
drawing inspiration from such theorists as Hirsch (1987), whose ‘cultural literacy’
approach is centred around a centralised definition of what counts as knowledge for
students, rather than a more organic conception of knowledge led by student interest.

The IB programmes represent one of the few, current, centrally-sanctioned attempts to

put student inquiry at the heart of the teaching-learning process.

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3.2 Collaborative inquiry

The PYP exhibition is intended to give students the opportunity to develop both individual
and group skills and, as such, ways of working are of as much interest in this research
as the outcomes of working.

Both co-operative and collaborative learning focus on peer interaction and the promotion
of social skills within groups and the terms are often used interchangeably though co-
operative learning is usually more structurally defined than collaborative learning. The
shared, student-led nature of the PYP exhibition is a key issue of interest in this project
and schools may use both approaches to group work within the PYP exhibition process.

One of the major results of research into learning in schools during past decades is that
co-operative learning has been shown to evoke clear positive effects on three principal
categories of outcomes: achievement, attitudes and perceptions (Kyndt et al., 2013). In
a review of 122 studies, Johnson et.al., (1981) noted that that co-operation was
considerably more effective than interpersonal competition and individualistic efforts and
identified eight co-operative learning methods, all of which had a significant positive
impact on student achievement, when compared with competitive learning (Johnson et
al., 2013). The consistency of the results and the diversity of the co-operative learning
methods provide strong validation for the effectiveness of co-operative learning and in
the last decade a range of meta-analyses of studies of co-operative learning and
instruction in schools have been published. These analyses have suggested moderate
and above effect sizes, varying by student age and subject domain (Igel, 2010; Kyndt et
al., 2013; Nunnery, Chappell & Arnold, 2013; Puzio & Colby, 2013).

The PYP exhibition exemplifies the five defining characteristics of successful co-operative
learning as identified by Johnson et al., (2008).
• Groups work together to accomplish shared goals.
• Group members make each other accountable for producing high quality work
and achieving goals.
• Group members work face to face and support each other to produce joint
products.
• Group members are taught social skills and are expected to use them to work
together to achieve their goals.
• Group members analyse how effectively they are working together in achieving
their goals.

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These are features of a co-operative approach, which values student reflection on roles
within group work. However, teachers may also use more loosely structured, student-led
collaborations and the choice of strategy may depend on either student characteristics
such as maturity (Rookwood, 1995a) or on the nature of the material and desired
learning outcome. (Rookwood, 1995b).

This research examines ways in which the characteristics of effective co-

operative/collaborative learning are enacted and understood by teachers, students and
parents in different IB PYP exhibition settings, and how this impacts upon their
development of critical thinking, international mindedness and IB learner profile
characteristics.

3.3 Authentic inquiry for 21st century learners

This research was based on the proposition that the authentic nature of the PYP
exhibition as an action-focused activity is not only unique, but important for the
development of international mindedness, critical thinking and the attributes of the IB
learner profile. Conventional problem-solving of pre-structured problems, and related
instructional practices, have limitations in a modern learning environment where people
flexibly solve novel problems, with no single right answer, in a constantly changing world
(Thomas and Brown, 2011).

A key problem identified by research in the learning sciences is the failure of learners to
use what has been termed ‘inert knowledge’ and prior experiences when solving new
problems. This happens when learners are faced with new contexts with changed surface
features (Gentner et al., 2003) and can severely limit students’ new learning. However,
it is through inquiry into “messy” or “ill defined” problems that students can learn to use
this internal knowledge flexibly. Bevins and Price (2016) claim that ‘We believe that
inquiry is currently the best way for students to leverage their existing knowledge and
their investigative skills to find, and internalise, new knowledge and solutions to
questions they have formulated’ (p. 19). The PYP exhibition aims to give pupils the
opportunity to collaboratively solve complex, semi- or unstructured problems related to
the real world - that is, authentic problems with an action focus:

Teaching and learning in the IB celebrates the many ways people work together
to construct meaning and make sense of the world. Through the interplay of
asking, doing and thinking, this constructivist approach leads towards open,
democratic classrooms. An IB education empowers young people for a lifetime of

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 learning, independently and in collaboration with others. It prepares a community
of learners to engage with global challenges through inquiry, action and
reflection. (IBO, 2013, p. 4)

Authentic learning models offer students and teachers the opportunity to tackle the inert
knowledge problem and to develop key competences for twenty first century learners,
which have been identified (NRC, 2012) as cognitive, intrapersonal and interpersonal,
detailed breakdowns of which are very similar to the attributes of the IB learner profile.
By working collaboratively on an authentic inquiry, IB PYP learners ought to have
opportunities to engage in critical thinking, collaborative knowledge building, self-
regulation and the development of transferable skills (Cho et al., 2015), although this
prediction is, as yet, untested by research. Moreover, we argue that authentic problem
solving, as the PYP exhibition is designed to be, is part of the culture of the IB PYP and,
indeed, the very heart of the MYP. This is important, as students learn about problem
solving and inquiry as community practices (Lave, 1988; Brown et al., 1989). Thus,
authentic inquiry learning may well be allowing students in the IB PYP to engage in
community practices of authentic learning, providing models for them to employ in their
future learning.

3.4 Critical analytical thinking in inquiry learning

The term “21st century Skills” is widely used but there is limited agreement about what
these are (Higgins, 2014). However, some of the skills Dede (2010) identifies as
“perennial” - not new, but still of importance in this century- are the skills of critical
thinking. These skills are central to the teaching and learning approach underpinning the
PYP exhibition. Critical thinking is generally thought of as the capability to think clearly
and rationally and definitions tends to imply reflectiveness. McPeck (1981) defines
critical thinking as ‘‘the appropriate use of reflective scepticism within the problem area
under consideration’’ (p.7) while Ennis (1987) focuses more on the reflective aspects,
defining critical thinking as ‘‘reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding
what to believe and do’’(p. 45). A simpler definition by Kuhn (1991) conceptualised
critical thinking as a specific instance of the sense of reasoned justification of argument-
the sort of incidence that might be expected in an inquiry led project such as the PYP
exhibition. Kuhn (1991) echoed Ennis’ (1987) and McPeck’s (1981) assumptions that
dispositions and skills occur within the global concept of critical thinking. Kuhn’s
perspective, that critical thinking employs not only logic but also broad intellectual
criteria, underpins a growing belief that such thinking is associated with the learner’s
own ability to reflect on his or her learning progress (Brown & Campione, 2002). This

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 18

development of reflective skills is built into the IB Learner Attributes and is an important
part of becoming an inquiring learner.

In the context of the PYP exhibition there may be conditions promoting critical thinking.
These may be related to the characteristics of the learners, including age, although there
is evidence that young children are able to engage in many aspects of critical thinking as
well as older children (Murphy et al, 2014) The promotion of critical thinking may also be
related to the content matter being studied and, therefore, the choice of topic for an
inquiry such as the exhibition. To promote critical thinking in the classroom, some
authors recommend the use of activities based on authentic, real-life problems (as
discussed above) as opposed to the routine exercises usually worked through (Pine, et
al., 2006). The development of critical thinking has also been linked, through
constructivist notions of the relationship between language and thought (Vygotsky,
1978), to the development of co-operative and collaborative group work (discussed
above), particularly through certain types of discourse (Murphy, et al, 2014) and
exploratory talk (Mercer, 2009). Moreover, critical thinking may be defined and enacted
differently in different cultural settings. Fung and Howe (2014) considered critical
thinking in a Hong Kong context and argue that collaborative group work is more
effective than whole-class instruction in cultivating students’ critical-thinking abilities in
that context. They see the teacher direction of group work as a very important part of
successful critical thinking because it promotes social and communicative skills.
Moreover, teacher intervention motivates children to expand and develop their
arguments. This summary of literature about critical thinking suggests that, in the PYP
exhibition, students may experience different opportunities for critical thinking
depending on their cultural setting, pedagogy and topic. We aimed to explore these
ideas in this project.

3.5 Student transition across programmes

The literature on the transition of students between phases within one school and
between phases across schools indicates that the change from primary to secondary
schooling can pose specific challenges to students (Murphy et al, 1998) and can be
difficult for schools and parent/guardians to manage. Little work has previously been
carried out looking at transitions and transfers 1 of IB students between the PYP and the
MYP but one study, focused in an international school, found that students expressed

1
Here, we follow Demetriou et al. (2000) and use ‘transitions’ to refer to movements between
programmes in the same school, and ‘transfers’ to refer to movements between programmes
across different schools.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 19

anxiety about moving from the PYP to the MYP, due to perceived increases in cognitive
difficulty of work, and an increase in homework (O’Boyle, 2009), fears which have been
identified elsewhere in non-IB settings (Mackenzie, McMaugh and O’Sullivan, 2012).
However, surprisingly, once students had made the move into the MYP, they perceived
the PYP to be more academically challenging than the MYP because of the demands of
the exhibition (O’Boyle, 2009). The MYP involves a good deal of inquiry-led learning and
the experience of the PYP exhibition as an introduction to the greater autonomy in
inquiry offered by the MYP is something that has not been considered in earlier research.
This suggests that there is value in exploring how the PYP exhibition process and
feedback is communicated between teachers in the two programmes, and to what extent
the PYP exhibition serves as a formative experience in preparing students and
parent/guardians for the MYP.

4 Methods and Methodology

As indicated previously, this study is focused on participant views of the experience of

the PYP exhibition and how it promotes critical thinking, international-mindedness and
the attributes of the IB learner profile in five countries. This mixed methods project drew
on both qualitative and quantitative sources of data to investigate views about the PYP
exhibition, and aimed to combine a multi-site case study methodology and the use of
questionnaire surveys to develop a wider, informed picture of the PYP exhibition.

The fieldwork aimed to document both the extent and the character of the PYP
exhibition, by drawing upon self-report measures (survey and interview) that involved
students, parents, classroom teachers, coordinators and school leaders. We see this
study as drawing on a tradition of appreciative inquiry (Cooperrider et al., 2008) in that
the focus was on identifying what was working well, understanding not only what that
looked like, but how it was achieved, and helping others apply learning lessons to their
own contexts in order to bring about change. This study is concerned with the views and
beliefs of participants and so, of necessity and choice, is a shared enterprise with the
case study schools.

4.1 Sampling

Five target countries were identified in negotiation with the IBO: China, Russia, Kenya,
Mexico and the UK. All schools offering both MYP and PYP were invited to participate in
the research by email and responses enabled the team to identify seven schools in the
five countries to participate. Where a volunteering school was small, another school in

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 20

this country was included. This allowed us to include the perspective of schools with
different levels of IB experience- from those who have run an exhibition for over 10
years to a school doing so for the first time.

We are keen to maintain the anonymity of schools (and individuals) as this was an
undertaking we gave to all participants. For this reason, we have chosen not to present
individual anonymized profiles of the participating schools as this would not be
compatible with ensuring non-identification. To provide readers with important
contextual information we offer the following background information about the sample
of schools involved. Where specific school features impact on the findings we refer to
these in the relevant section of the results.

This study is based on visits to the seven schools that accepted the invitation to
participate from amongst all eligible schools. Two of these schools were located in China,
two in Russia, one in the UK, one in Mexico and one in Kenya. School sizes varied from
under 250 students to just over 1000.

The student profiles of the seven schools varied considerably by school. In Russia,
almost all of the children in the schools were of Russian origin and this was reflected in
the many lessons taught in Russian. In Kenya, most of the children were Kenyan. In
China, a high proportion of the children had one Chinese parent, reflecting local
legislation that restricts host country nationals attending international schools. The
Mexican school included approximately 80% Mexican or Mexican American students and
20% children from other origins. The London school included a higher proportion of
expatriate children and the biggest range of first languages. The size and population of
these schools reflects the wide range of international schools studying the PYP across the
world.

A questionnaire survey for parents, students, teachers and coordinators was developed
on the basis of these case-studies, to give a wider picture of the impact of the PYP
exhibition on the development of IB learner profile attributes, critical thinking and
international-mindedness. The sample for this survey included all the IB schools that
offered the PYP (and therefore, the exhibition) and the MYP, in the five case-study
countries. The survey was administered in English in Kenya and the UK and in English
and either Chinese, Russian or Spanish in the other countries. The analysis of this survey
will serve as a means of testing, validating and broadening insights gleaned from a more
fine-grained study of school practices in the case studies.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 21

4.2 Case studies

We conducted seven case studies in the five countries.

Prior to the visits, we emailed schools with project descriptions and an invitation to
participate in the study. When the school Principal gave his/her consent to participate,
we sent consent forms for all participants and negotiated parental consent for pupils. We
sent a detailed list of the interviews we wished to conduct to the principal and PYP
exhibition co-ordinator and negotiated the visit schedule by telephone and email. In
some cases, where the exhibition spanned more than two days and teachers and pupils
were, therefore, engaged, we extended visits to ensure that the full range of fieldwork
could be conducted at times when participants were available.

The pre-visit discussions and visits sought to establish, in some detail, what it was that
schools were doing towards, during and after the exhibition, and why. We sought and
received a high level of commitment from each school. For each case a member of the
research team made a visit of between one and four days to each school, including the
PYP exhibition days themselves. The schools also communicated with us outside of these
days. We appreciate this significant participation of schools, which allowed us to forge
useful relationships with them. The visits allowed us to identify issues within schools that
could not have been identified in advance, and then have time to follow these up.

During the visits in all cases, the researchers observed the exhibition day in detail,
including teachers, student and parent participation. Detailed notes and photographs
were taken, with the consent of the schools.

4.3 Interviews

The qualitative data collection focused on developing an understanding of how the PYP
exhibition was working in the selected case-study schools. This began with collection of
documentation before the visits, as discussed below.

The principal purpose of the visits was to observe the exhibition, as a stimulus for
discussion, and undertake interviews with key participants. In each case, schools were
provided with full details about the project, its aims and methods. We developed a
profile of the type of people/role holders that we wanted to interview for each school,
and asked the school to construct a programme of interview spaces and participants.
This involves some gate-keeping by the school, although we have no reason to suggest
that this was a problem in any school we worked with. Schools needed to take some

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 22

control over the organization of the research visit as constructing such a programme
inevitably was difficult, especially at such a demanding time as the PYP exhibition, where
all sorts of spaces were already occupied by preparations. In many cases, schools were
able to identify people important to the project whom the research team knew nothing
about - for instance, school librarians played a key role in the PYP exhibition in one
school. This collaborative approach to constructing a research programme was essential
and, in our view, had no compromising effects on the research. Table 1 shows an
overview of the planned fieldwork in each case study school.

Table 1: Overview of intended fieldwork in each case study school

Target Target Group or Key focus points

number of time individual
interviews
6 I hour Group • experiences and opinions of the PYP exhibition,
Exhibition • how they think it may have helped them develop
students their IB learner profiles, international mindedness
and critical thinking
• share artefacts they associate with the exhibition at
school
• discuss reflections
6 MYP 30 Group • experiences and opinions of the PYP exhibition,
students minute • how they think it may have helped them develop
their IB learner profiles, international mindedness
and critical thinking
• share artefacts they associate with the exhibition at
school
• discuss reflections
2-4 PYP 1hr Individual • experiences and opinions of the PYP exhibition;
teachers each • how they managed the process;
• how they assessed the PYP exhibition (both
formatively and summatively);
• how they view the impact upon their students; and
how they evaluated this.
MYP 1hr Individual • experiences and opinions of the PYP exhibition;
teacher each • views about contribution of exhibition to MYP
Co- 1hr Individual • experiences and opinions of the PYP exhibition, how
ordinators each they managed and assessed the process;
(usually • training and management of colleagues;
the PYP • how they view the impact upon their students;
Coord but • actions as a result of evaluations.
sometimes
a separate
Exhibition
coord)

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 23

 Mentors 1 hr Group • understanding of the exhibition;
• experiences of mentoring;
• training and their role;
Parents 1hr Group • understanding and experience of the exhibition;
• opinions about key points;
• communication with school;
• satisfaction.

Interviews were conducted in a range of formats. Most interviews with school managers
and teaching staff were conducted with individuals or sometimes in pairs, with
translators where necessary.

Interviews with students were always conducted in groups. The research team ensured
student interviews were conducted this way partly for child protection reasons, but
mostly because of the positive arguments that relate to group interviews. This enabled
the researcher to observe as students debated the issue between themselves and
provided interesting examples. This was particularly effective when mixed groups of
students debated their attitudes to, and experiences of, cooperative working on a project
where one group member was perceived to be contributing poorly. These types of
exchanges would be impossible in a one-to-one interview. IB students do not have a
monopoly on possessing good discussion skills but we would argue that a feature of an
IB education is that the students are often very articulate and those interviewed
certainly proved very capable of sustaining and directing reasoned debate. In this study
group interviews with students produced lively exchanges and provided rich data.

Parents were also interviewed in groups. Schools found it easiest to organize parent
interviews at one single time, especially during the exhibition days. Parents were drawn
from those involved in Parents’ Associations or parents who were able to “stay on” after
their child’s exhibition. All the parents we spoke with were very familiar with their
school. Parents were generally very positive, and this may reflect the small sample size
drawn from a particular source. However, there was no evidence that views might be
unrepresentative, and indeed parent interviewees were very forthright on some issues.
Although used for convenience, the advantages of group interviews that applied to
students could be said to extend to parent interviews, and the meanings expressed by
parents were enhanced and explained by the debate within the group.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 24

Table 2: Interviews conducted as part of the case studies (figures in brackets indicate
the number of people in each interview)
Numbers of School Total
interviewees A B C D E F G
by school
Principal (or 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 6
lower school
lead)
PYP exhibition 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7
coordinator
PYP Teachers 2 (7) 2 (3) 1(2) 1(2) 1(2) 1(3) 1(2) 21
MYP Teachers - 1(2) - - 1(2) 1(2) - 6
PYP Students 1 (6) 1(6) 2(10) 1(5) 3 (16) 3(18) 1(5) 66
MYP Students 1(6) 1 (5) - - 1(7) 1(4) - 22
Parents 2(14) 1 (7) 1(5) 1(4) 1(5) 1 (6) 2(13) 54
Mentors 1 (5) - 1(2) - 1(2) 1 (4) 1 (1) 14
Other 1 (lib) - - - - 1 1 4
1 (lead (deput
(grad ment y)
e or)
coord 1
) (uppe
r
schoo
l
lead)

As shown in Table 2, the case studies thus resulted in 59 interviews, which were
transcribed for analysis.

4.4 Observation within the school, and of lessons

The visits consisted of a single researcher working in a school for one to four days at a
time when the PYP exhibition was in preparation or taking place. There was considerable
opportunity to absorb the culture of the institution and of the PYP exhibition – including
the high levels of excitement this generated. In all cases researchers were given a
guided tour, usually conducted by PYP students. In some cases, following initial

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 25

orientation, researchers were left to navigate their own way around the school, finding
their own way to the next interview or appointment. In some cases, teachers welcomed
us into their classrooms, keen to show us the work they were doing, and how the
classroom environment they had created reflects the IB experience they wanted to offer.
In all cases the researchers observed the actual exhibition experience and the reactions
to it by parents, students, teachers and the many visitors who came to see it. All of
these experiences were very valuable and contributed greatly to our appreciation of the
rich dynamics of each school. However, ‘observation’ per se was not part of our research
design and although it is inevitable that researchers ‘absorbed’ what they saw, asked
questions about the process and presentation, there has been no systematic attempt to
analyse or compare the quality of what was observed.

4.5 Documentary and website analysis

Websites and other electronic platforms are a powerful means of communication and
many schools now use them as their principal means of communication, acting as a
channel for both internal and external audiences. Recognising this function of websites,
the websites of our case study schools were examined, with permission, for relevance to
the PYP exhibition. Content was recorded and analysed in so far as it shed light on the
research questions addressed in the study but we have avoided using direct quotes from
web pages in this report. Such quotes would be traceable and therefore could lead to the
identification of individual schools.

In conducting this study, we became aware of the important role played by internet-
based sources and platforms in the PYP exhibition. Much of the organisation of the PYP
exhibition was managed for teachers through school intranets and external sharing
platforms such as “Google Docs”, although the actual platform depended on local
restrictions. Where we have used this material, we sought hard copies and have been
careful not to use the text verbatim for the reasons of confidentiality discussed above.
Parents and children referred to websites as source material and platforms such as
“Google Docs” repeatedly as a structural part of their PYP exhibition.

For each case study, we collected a range of documentation related to the PYP
exhibition, support for teaching and learning in the PYP and transition across PYP/MYP.
This included:
• Teachers’ planning materials and assessment guidance, where schools were
willing to share this,

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 26

 • PYP exhibition artefacts in PYP schools, (including displays, leaflets, planners,
class journals, videos),
• Examples of PYP planning and assessment in case study schools (exhibition
reflection tool, individual student learning journals, teacher anecdotal records of
student work and performance),
• Case-study school websites for information about the exhibition within the IB
learner profile, school development plans, curriculum information, annual reports,
etc.,
• Guidance for mentors and mentor records, where mentors were involved.

The documents were discussed with relevant participants to ensure teacher, student and
parent perspectives were understood and notes about these documents were included in
the Nvivo 11 for Mac qualitative analysis.

4.6 Survey

The research team reviewed a range of existing survey research instruments used in
studies of inquiry-based, collaborative learning and transition but took the view that
none of them aligned exactly with the specific activity of the exhibition. Some
instruments identified particular elements of inquiry based learning or collaborative
learning, but not all elements (e.g. Cho et al., 2015; Johnson et al., 2013).

The aim of the survey was to enquire into respondents’ views about the impact of the
PYP exhibition and we generally sought participants’ views directly, using Likert scale
attitude statements for the most part. The key issues in the questionnaires were:

• The role of parents/carers in the PYP exhibition

• The perceived learning outcomes of the PYP exhibition
• The PYP exhibition and international mindedness
• The PYP exhibition and critical thinking
• The PYP exhibition as co-operative inquiry
• The PYP exhibition and moving on to the next school/MYP
• The role of mentors in the exhibition

We developed three versions of a single electronic questionnaire instrument, for use with
parents, students and teachers. In each of these versions, the words were not identical
but the key items were the same, phrased to address the student, parent or teacher
audience for each specific questionnaire. For example: the parents were asked to

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 27

indicate their level of agreement with the statement: “Doing the exhibition has enabled
my child to use different forms of language and literacy”. In the student questionnaire,
the equivalent statement was “Doing the exhibition enabled me to use different forms of
language and literacy.” And for the teachers the statement was “Doing the exhibition
enabled the children in my class to use different forms of language and literacy”.

We piloted questionnaires with school coordinators in case study schools. They gave
clear feedback that included insights into language use in these IB schools. Piloting
indicated that questionnaires in English worked well in Kenya and the UK, where the
local first language was English, but would be likely to exclude the participation of some
parents, students, mentors or teachers in China, Russia and Mexico. For this reason, the
questionnaires were translated into Chinese, Russian and Spanish by first language
translators with educational experience, and cross checked by second first language
speakers of each language (Examples are available in Appendix 4). The questionnaires
were hosted online using Bristol Online Surveys. Distribution of the questionnaire links
took place through the IBO, which contacted the school PYP coordinators on our behalf.
The school coordinators distributed links to parents, teachers and students. Reminders to
complete and return the questionnaires were sent on behalf of the research team by the
IBO.

The survey response consisted of 559 total respondents, made up of 334 students (60%
of the total responses), 128 teachers (23% of the total responses), and 97 parents (17%
of the total responses). As shown in Table 3, a significant portion of the sample came
from China and Mexico.

Table 3: Frequency of responses by role and country

UK Mexico China Russia Kenya Unknown Total
Students 31 108 149 12 34 0 334
Parents 0 15 38 2 19 23 97
Teachers 4 47 54 2 3 18 128
Total 35 170 241 16 56 41 559
(6%) (30%) (43%) (3%) (10%) (7%)

Table 4 shows the number of schools surveyed compared with the number of schools
from whom responses were received, thus indicating the response rate for the
questionnaire.

Table 4: Participating schools by country

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 28

 UK Mexico China Russia Kenya Total
Participating PYP 3 15 15 2 1 36
schools
Total PYP schools in 13 32 38 9 2 175
country
Response rate 23.1% 46.9% 39.5% 22.2% 50% 20.6%

The Kenya and UK returns were all in English. The other countries did return some
English language questionnaires. However, across the whole sample the majority of
returns (61%) were in Chinese, Russian and Spanish, especially for parents (65%) and
students (62%).

4.7 Ages and first languages of student respondents to the survey

The age of most students answering the questionnaire (given by the students) is shown
in Table 5. Most children were 10-12 years of age. There was a notable difference in
median age in the schools in each country. This is particularly noticeable between Russia
and Mexico with median ages of 10 and 12, respectively.

Table 5: Age of participating students by country

Student age
Median 10 11 12 13 No response
UK 11 7 24 0 0
Mexico 12 0 27 61 20
China 11 32 100 14 3
Russia 10 8 2 0 0 1
Kenya 11 11 22 1 0
N 58 176 76 23 1
Percentage 17.4% 52.9% 22.8% 6.9%
of all
student
responses

The questionnaire also asked students to identify their first language. The results (Table
6) suggest that a wide range of languages in the UK and China, with fewer in Mexico,
China and Kenya. This suggests the population in the responding IB schools in Mexico,
China and Kenya was characterised by families whose first language was Spanish,
Chinese and English, making them more likely to be of local origin.

Table 6: First language of students by country location of the school (%)

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 29

 Country
Language UK Mexico China Russia Kenya
English 45 3 11 0 71
Spanish 6 95 0 0 0
Chinese 3 0 75 0 0
Russian 3 0 1 92 0
English + another 0 1 2 8 29
Other 42 1 11 0 0
Missing 0 1 0 1 0
(N) 31 108 149 12 34

4.8 Children’s future school destinations

The parents were asked about the intended school destinations of their children the
following year and 88 (86.5%) of respondents said that their children would go into MYP
next academic year, 8 (8.3%) said they would not and for 5 (5.2%) their children’s
destinations were undecided.

4.9 Ethical considerations and challenges

The research design was approved by the University of Nottingham School of Education
Ethics Committee. This decision was informed by the University of Nottingham Code of
Research Conduct and Research Ethics, the British Educational Research Association’s
Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research (BERA, 2011) and the Economic and Social
Research Council (ESRC) Framework for Research Ethics. Particular consideration was
given to the non-identification of schools and respondents within those schools. The
ethical approval procedures have been revisited at several stages throughout the
research process to ensure compliance.

The need for cross-cultural understandings was recognized as important from the start of
the project. The IBO’s discussion document, ‘East is East, West is West’ (Walker 2010),
recognizes the challenges in the alignment between the culture and values that underpin
IB programmes and non-Western traditions. This was recognized in this study in relation
to predominantly Confucian based cultures and is likely to have presented similar
challenges in other contexts that were part of this study. In recognizing this issue we
have tried to mitigate it through transparency in our decision-making and judgments. It
is for readers to decide to what extent we have been successful or otherwise.

4.10 Analysis of qualitative data

Data was analyzed using NVIVO 11 for Mac software. The individual and focus group
interviews were transcribed and then imported into NVIVO. In the following section of

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 30

the report the procedures for analyzing the data and moving towards a statement of its
key themes is described.

Following the guidelines suggested by Charmaz (2003), the following questions were
asked about the data as it was being coded:
• What is going on?
• What are people doing?
• What is the person saying?
• What do these actions and statements take for granted?
• How do structure and context serve to support, maintain, impede or change these
actions and statements?

To show how coding was achieved, an example is given below of the way in which one
extract from one focus group interview was dealt with. The screenshot below shows the
transcript of responses made by a group of PYP exhibition students in response to the
prompt “What was the role of your mentor in your exhibition?”. Although this discussion
occurred in response to one interview prompt, it involved interaction between
interviewees and the interviewer probing further at certain points, to extend the
information derived, reflecting the semi-structured nature of these interviews.

The extract in Figure 2 shows the sections of the text (marked) that were coded in some
way during the data analysis and also the identifying coding (PYP exhibition students).
Each of the initial codes was derived from the data itself and the analyst’s judgment as
to meaning of utterances. In NVivo terms, this involved the development of free nodes,
although in a grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), this would be referred
to as open coding.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 31

Figure 2: Screenshot of coding stripes in Nvivo 11 for Mac

The codes used on this example include:

• Processes of the exhibition
• IB learner profile attributes
• Cooperative learning
• Critical thinking
• Topic choice
The sections of text coded are large, reflecting the substantial and complex concepts
being coded.

Open coding, following the above model, was carried out on the transcripts of the 59
interviews, case reports and case documents for each case using a constant comparative
approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) in which data and its categorisation was constantly
compared to what had gone before. By the conclusion of this process, 36 free nodes for
broad categories of data had been developed in NVivo. These codes were mostly
developed from the first half of these interviews and the analysis of the final half showed
that the coding saturation point had been reached with this data.

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The next round of coding was axial coding (Strauss and Corbin 1998). This meant
attempting to inter-relate the codes already developed into categories, first through text
searches then through visual displays of tree nodes. This produced tree nodes, or
categories (Gurdial Singh & Jones, 2007). The tree nodes identified from the IB student
data were as follows:
• Pride in achievement
• Enjoyment of the process
• Capabilities
• Topic selection and influence
• Qualities contributing to effective research
• Processes and challenges in designing, carrying out and reporting research
• Role of adults
• Children’s roles
• PYP exhibition and the future
The whole qualitative data set, including interviews, case reports, photographs and
documents was interrogated for each question.

4.11 Analysis of quantitative data

The quantitative data were initially downloaded as SPSS (Statistical Package for Social
Scientists) files from the Bristol Online Survey tool. These SPSS files allowed analysis of
the raw responses to give us a picture of the dataset and the trends in responses. Some
of these descriptive outcomes will be presented in the results below.

5 Findings/Results

In this section, we present our findings in relation to each of the research questions.

5.1 Question 1: What variations in practice exist in implementing the PYP

exhibition in case-study schools?
• How do PYP teachers plan PYP exhibition study?
• How do PYP teachers support PYP exhibition study?
• What role, if any, is given to parent/guardians? How do PYP teachers
assess the PYP exhibition?
• What feedback is given to parent/guardians and students during and
upon completion of the PYP exhibition? How does this support student
learning?

To the outsider, the PYP exhibition might be construed as a single event at which
students in their final year of the PYP have the opportunity to showcase their work and

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 33

to demonstrate their progress and learning over the previous years of PYP study. While
both of these elements are indeed important, it is the process of the exhibition which is
central to the life of the PYP school and which enables the exhibition to be a whole-
school, community-owned endeavour. As a process, it is complex, and the IB PYP
Exhibition Guidelines (IBO, 2008) offer a supportive framework to help schools plan for
and implement the exhibition. Within this framework, however, there is a lot of flexibility
for schools to make their own interpretations, which ensures that each exhibition is a
unique event. In this section, we look at some of the variations in practice that exist
amongst PYP schools and specifically how these impact upon international mindedness,
critical thinking and the development of the IB learner profile attributes. We attempt to
answer the four questions above through a thematic analysis of the data exploring the
structure of the exhibition and student agency; choice of topics and the role of “action”;
timing and schedules of the process and of the staging of the exhibition ‘sharing event’;
the components of the exhibition; and assessment and feedback.

Structure of the exhibition and student agency

The exhibition is structured according to the IB Primary Years Programme framework in

which units of inquiry are set within transdisciplinary themes. (Below, we outline the
three ways we observed this working in practice in our case-study schools.) Within this
very broad structure, students have varying degrees of agency in and ownership of the
work and these are commented on in further details below.

The first way we observed this working in practice was the most typical. In one Case
Study School the exhibition forms one unit of inquiry and this can take place under any
transdisciplinary theme. A central idea is developed, and lines of inquiry are then defined
from this. The lines of inquiry inform the students’ questions and often students with
questions stemming from the same lines of inquiry will work collaboratively to support
each other throughout the exhibition. (Please see Appendix 2: An example of how the
transdisciplinary theme, central idea, lines of inquiry and student questions are
interlinked).

The approach used in this case study school was very common, but we did observe
variations to this practice in another school, where the exhibition spanned two
transdisciplinary themes, 'Sharing the planet' and ‘How we express ourselves’ instead of
one. The process of developing the central idea and defining lines of inquiry varied from
school to school. In one school, different approaches had been tried in different years. In
the previous year, all children wrote on a post-it note what their interests were. Then
these post-it notes were collated and from those the teaching team tried to find a

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 34

disciplinary theme that they would all fall into. This had proven challenging, and had led
them to approach the task differently in the current year. They had instead chosen the
transdisciplinary theme ‘where we are in place and time’ as it had not yet been covered
in class. The teacher talked that through with the students, and then asked them to
choose questions related to that theme.

The PYP Coordinator explained how this worked:

So the head of SENCO and myself and the Y6 teacher and we also had
the EAL teacher there and the four of us sat down and sort of read
through the theme to make sure that we felt that it was broad enough
and of course the themes are broad. But were broad enough that
maybe all the children would find something that they had an interest
in. So then what we did was she took the theme and she broke the
theme down so that the children completely understood it. Then ..
once they had talked through the theme. She just said to them. ‘So
now write on a post-it note what you think you might be interested in.’

Students wrote on post-it notes what they were interested in within the theme, and then
they were grouped together into groups of between three and five. Teachers came up
with the central idea following the interests expressed on the post-it notes. From this
central idea, students worked in groups with the mentor to develop a line of enquiry
collaboratively. Finally, their individual research questions were refined from those
originally written on the post-it notes.

One PYP coordinator discussed the difficulties in starting with the interests of the
students for a piece of work that was inquiry-based and when not all areas of interest
had a clear ‘problem’ that was appropriate for inquiry:

We started off by the kids just giving them time to research anything
that they are passionate about and then we smack them with ..’Now
you have to find an issue with that.’ So if you love horses .. you need to
find an issue with horses .. because .. and it didn’t work that well
because we had kids who wanted to inquire into things that they
couldn’t find an issue with still .. if that makes sense where the
exhibition is about an issue or a problem. So we know how we are
going to fix that next year and to not be .. yeah raining on the kids

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 35

 parade of excitement of horses and then you need to find a problem
with your horse or whatever.

One noticeable variation in this structural organisation of the exhibition was in the
amount of agency and ownership afforded to students. In some cases, teachers decided
on the transdisciplinary theme and the central idea whilst students decided
collaboratively upon their lines of inquiry and wrote their own questions. Elsewhere, the
students wrote their questions and these were used to collaboratively decide upon the
central idea as well as the lines of inquiry. In one school a committee of students was
responsible for all decisions relating to the exhibition. With the IB's permission, the
school had abandoned having an overarching theme and tying it to specific units of
inquiry. Instead, the exhibition itself was a unit, each individual student writing their own
central idea for that unit, and the students were given entirely free-rein over question
choice. One PYP Coordinator talked of the importance for motivation in giving ownership
of the exhibition structure to students.

I give the lesson on the central idea. They build the central idea as a
class and then from there they choose their topics and once they have
their topics they as a team so maybe they are two or three people team
or four people team they develop their lines of enquiry. Which is in line
with the central idea and their topic. So then that just has .. they have
complete ownership of that. And that to me is critical. For them and I
mean you want them to be responsible and you want them to be
enthusiastic about what they are doing .. so .. why not then I give them
the power to do their own learning.

Choice of topics

Questionnaire data gave a broad background to the types of topic titles chosen by
students. The majority of topics were related either to environmental issues (76,
22.8%), to issues related to social or human rights (88, 26.35%) or to science topics.
(66, 19.8%). There was also a large category of humanities-focused topics which
included broad titles like “religion” and narrow titles like “Japanese cookware”.

In the case study schools, the more experienced schools were more able to manage the
creation of individual topics in relation to central themes. The topics chosen by the more
experienced schools, and also those schools with older children, were more problematic,
more global in their application and less likely to have “neat” answers, meeting the
characteristics of inquiry problems most likely to lead to transfer of learning to other

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 36

contexts, as discussed in the review of literature. Table 7 shows the analysis of student
topic choice.

Table 7: Student topic choice

Number Percent

Health 8 2.4%
Environmental issues 76 22.8%
Science 66 19.8%
Social and human rights 88 26.3%
History 14 4.2%
Personal improvement 15 4.5%
Humanities 59 17.7%

The qualitative data gave a greater insight into the topics chosen and the curriculum
coverage of the topics. Students pursued a “central theme” identified by the school, in
some cases this included participation by the students. Students identified lines of
inquiry as a group or individually. For instance, within the year group topic of The Great
Patriotic War (1941-45), children in one school identified topics such as “City Heroes”
and “Military Vehicles in the Great Patriotic War”. This is an unusually specific and local
choice of topic. In a school that identified a science central theme of “How human
innovation and technology impinges on our world”, topics chosen by groups included
“Technology and Health”, “Green Energy”, “Pharmacy” and “The Food Industry”. These
sorts of topics were more likely to be related to global issues and to a wider range of
action.

In all the case study schools, the students primarily investigated their topic using social
science methods. That is, they used a range of sources to research information and
evaluated this information to produce a presentation and report that aimed to be
balanced, well informed, referenced to a range of sources and, to a lesser degree,
critical.

Sources used by the students included books, industry materials, internet sites and
interviews with people in relevant positions and industries. Different schools engaged the
students themselves in obtaining materials to different degrees. For example, in Mexico,
students were supported to use parental contacts to write to prospective interviewees
and this learning included aspects of interpersonal communication, good manners and
interviewing technique. In Russia, children were directed to elderly relatives as a source
of information. Children in all the schools used the internet as a source to a greater or
lesser degree. For children in one case study school, use of the school iPads for this task

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 37

was a new experience and these children were aware that there would be a range of
information available. They assured the interviewer that it was important to “check with
the old books” to see what was true. In another school, the children used internet
sources throughout the PYP and, as part of their exhibition, had “extra” training about
evaluating the source and the intentions of internet information sources. This training
was delivered by school librarians as part of the programme of research training offered
to support the exhibition. The students in this school (and those who had already moved
on to the MYP) were very articulate about this aspect of their work and showed real
understanding of the role of author intentions and researcher criticality.

The research skills used in the exhibition included a small survey of some sort for most
children. Examples included surveys of parents’ opinions about technology use, surveys
of time spent playing computer games and surveys of attitudes to issues such as
disability or animal welfare. The results were analysed as descriptives and displayed as
charts. This gave a mathematics aspect to the PYP exhibition curriculum, though, in two
of our schools, the coordinator explained that maths was taught as a separate subject
throughout the period of the exhibition.

Although science topics for the exhibition were reported in the questionnaire, most of
these were topics such as “Living in space”, “Personal information leakage”, “Virtual
reality”. Though the questionnaire format did not allow us to make judgments about the
science content of these topics, it was clear in the case study schools that “scientific
inquiry” as described in the literature was not a strong feature of the PYP exhibition and,
although science and technology topics were common, they were investigated through
secondary research.

The selection of topics, from following central ideas to developing lines of inquiry, was a
major concern for the teachers and some mentors. They saw this as a balance between
the topic choice and group selection. Almost all the teachers aimed to give the students
some choice in both their final choice of topic and their group constitution, but they
aimed to ensure that no student felt excluded and that all students had some choice in
one of these dimensions. This did not mean that all children chose their own topic or
group colleagues to work with but all the children understood the decisions and how they
were arrived at, maintaining the students’ sense of ownership not only of the topics, but
of the whole exhibition process. The students showed great maturity in how they
described this process, and in discussing the strengths and weaknesses of their
colleagues, often in terms of their cooperative working.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 38

 I think that like everybody in our group we really did use critical
thinking when we were making the time machine like we were working
on it like and like if something was to go wrong we wouldn’t go running
to a teacher and we would like stop and like think about what we were
doing and then like fix it on our own without having asking for help and
we would be going .. really settle about what we had to do and like fix
all our problems and like and independently and without like getting a
master or anything.(Student)

The teachers in five of the seven schools aimed to support their students in choosing
topics that brought wider, global issues to their attention and did not have simple
solutions. Only in two schools were children allowed to choose more “closed” topics and
these were schools new to the IB PYP exhibition.

So all these things I think encourage critical thinking and so saying you
can .. you can try to think and come to your own and reflect and then
come to your own answer and not just necessarily go for the right one.
Which .. so I think that it definitely does and I mean .. choosing .. just
choosing their own topic. Why did you choose this topic? Why is it
interesting? They have to .. they have to become critical thinkers.
(Teacher)

Timing and schedules

The process of planning for the exhibition was usually lengthy. Often the process started
after the previous year’s exhibition by engaging in reflection on what was successful
about the exhibition and what required improvement. One major difference between
case study schools was in the amount of student involvement in this process. In one
typical case study school the processes of reflection were very teacher-led: the lower
school principal, PYP coordinator and Grade 5 (exhibition grade) teacher started to
analyse what had gone well and what required improvement to the exhibition as one
year’s event finished. This process of reflection amongst the leadership team continued
into the start of the academic year in April, with specialist teachers and mentors
becoming involved from October, and the children from January. In another case-study
school the process was much more student driven, with the PYP coordinator and grade 5
teacher forming a committee with student volunteers. This committee had a week away
to allow themselves space to reflect on previous years’ practices and to brainstorm how
they would like the exhibition to look in the current year.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 39

Exhibition timings also varied from school to school. In one school, they were
experimenting with a whole-year process to allow depth of engagement with the
research topics, although this did raise concerns that topics needed to be carefully
chosen to ensure students’ interest could be retained for the whole year; in another case
study school the whole exhibition process was between five and seven weeks, with
student activity compressed within an even shorter time. The exact length depended on
the year and the timing of other events, such as the school exchange visit. In most case
study schools the students’ involvement was a six-week process even though the PYP
coordinator and teachers may have been preparing and planning for much longer than
that:

we run it for six weeks and because .. but it is usually more than that
because the actual lead up to it is about two weeks long. The whole
prepping and the whole coming up with what our central idea is going
to be and then for the children to decide what they want to enquire into
and then for them to come up with the questions and then to come up
with your own .. enquiry cycle .. you know that is a good two weeks.
So I would say that anything between five weeks to seven weeks.
PYP Coordinator

The presentations and performances – called the ‘sharing event’ by the IB (IBO, 2008) -
also varied. In one school, they divided eight classes over three days, so that each class
had one day for their exhibition. In another school, all students were involved over a
period of two days. On Day 1 there was an opening ceremony and student presentations
to guests, followed by student presentations to their peers, students and teachers from
visiting schools on Day 2. Other schools had local “dignitaries” as additional visitors. In
other schools, the complete event took place on one day, and in one school the
exhibition was staged over one evening with only parents and teachers as audience.
Children from other schools did not attend, and nor did older children from the same
school, who were taught on a different campus located some distance away from the
exhibition event.

Components of the exhibition

The exhibition guidelines from the IBO advise that the exhibition should include the
following components:
• Examples of written work in a variety of formats and styles: poetry, reports,
persuasive texts
• Oral presentations, individually or in groups, to the school community

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 40

 • Uses of technology including ICT, working models, designs, science experiments
• Performances or compositions in any medium: dance, music, drama, visual arts,
film, video, mixed media (IBO, 2008)

In our visits to case study schools we found a large amount of variation in the elements
of the exhibition but all were within these guidelines. For example, one case study school
included the following seven components:
1. Research report
2. Infographic poster (see Figure 3)
3. Oral presentation of the research report and infographic poster
4. Performance based on students’ individual research ideas/reports.
5. Performance based on/inspired by a local art form.
6. Performance of drumming from around the world.
7. A conflict resolution exercise in Physical Education.

These components drew very explicitly on the expertise of teachers in the school. For
example, the infographic poster (Figure 3) was the result of input from the art teacher,
who taught students to map out a grid and use contrast and repetition as a way of
communicating information. The elementary school principal explained the aim of the
infographic poster and how the decision was taken to include this in the exhibition work:

But we are trying to teach visual literacy skills. So that they can
essentially create an infographic that they speak to rather than writing
a whole lot of things down that they then have to either read or just re-
iterate. We try and teach the power of symbolism and the power of
how can you show .. you know .. a disparity in numbers or something
by the size of the shape and what is visually effective from of
communication? … And we wouldn't ever have gone in this infographic
direction except that we had a fantastic art teacher and that is where
we went.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 41

Figure 3: Infographic poster from case study school

In another case study school, the exhibition included five components:

1. Research report including a persuasive piece explaining why they were doing the
research.
2. A creative piece (there was a lot of flexibility regarding what this was, but it was
emphasised that it needed to be ‘meaningful’). For example, it might be a song, a
skit, or a piece of art, or drama.
3. A musical piece as a whole year group.
4. A maths-related piece of work – this might be graphs, statistics. Again, the
emphasis was on this being meaningful, rather than just for the sake of it.
5. Use of ICT.

In all case study schools, the students produced a piece of written work, usually in the
form of a report, sometimes presented as a bound report, and other times displayed on
boards (see Error! Reference source not found.). We saw examples of persuasive
texts written in conjunction with research reports, but did not see other examples of
written work such as poetry.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 42

Figure 4: Photograph of an exhibition

In all case study schools’ exhibition ‘sharing events’ we observed oral presentations.
These were typically individual presentations, but done in the same small groups as had
been working together throughout the exhibition process (usually grouped according to
similar lines of inquiry). These were presented to other PYP students in the same school,
teachers, and parents. Often MYP students were also invited to listen to the
presentations. Sometimes students and teachers from other IB PYP schools were invited
to hear the oral presentations. Sometimes the oral presentations were part of a larger
sharing event at the same time as musical and dramatic performances; sometimes the
musical and dramatic performances took place at the opening ceremony, and then the
oral presentations formed a separate stage of the exhibition.

In all case study schools, the use of ICT was prolific. Students would use ICT skills
during the research stage of their work – searching using an online browser such as
Google, or using applications such as Skype or Facetime to communicate with each other
during collaborative group work. Students learned to organise their work using ICT –
using digital folders and email to communicate with teachers and mentors. In two of our
case study schools, work was prepared using Google Docs and shared using Google
Drive. During the ‘sharing event’ itself, frequently iPads or laptops were used to support
the oral presentations; digital recordings were used; sometimes a screen would be set-
up for students to project their images or digital presentations; and some students had
designed electronic quizzes or games to entertain their audiences as part of their
presentations.

In all case-study schools the research team observed music and drama being used by
individual students and by the whole exhibition year group during the ‘sharing event’ to

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 43

demonstrate collaboration and community. One student, from a case-study school where
the whole exhibition group had sung and danced together, explained why he had
enjoyed these:

I liked the song and also the dance and because it is a time when you
get loose from all the working that you have been doing and you can
just like let go .. and also I liked the fact that we got to work with new
people .. and I had never worked with any of my group members and
they are all girls and I am the only boy! But .. I have never worked with
them on any project before and so it was nice and it was nice to work
with new people and the dance was a good part.

Figure 5 shows the lyrics from one case study school’s ‘Exhibition Song’. The lyrics also
demonstrate how the song was used to reinforce some of the IB learner profile attributes
(open-minded and thinker) and to emphasise the goal of being internationally-minded
(for example, through references to living in peace, and ‘this is our global world’).

Figure 5: Lyrics written by students for the “exhibition song”

Other forms of drama observed by the research team included a piece inspired by the
Beijing opera; a ‘protest’ with banners relating to the issues students had been studying
as part of ‘sharing our planet’ such as ‘Stop War!’, ‘Don’t Abandon Animals!’ and ‘We Are
Equal!’; and a dramatic presentation entitled ‘War in the eyes of children’ involving some

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 44

dance, rousing martial songs, representation of the loss of relatives and a reading of the
names of family members, followed by a two minute silence.

In summary, the exhibitions in the case study schools were vibrant and varied. All
components of the exhibition listed in the guidelines published by the IBO were included
in some form by all schools, and in a wide range of variations across all schools.

Reflection, Assessment and feedback

Reflection was at the heart of the PYP exhibition processes in the case study schools.
This was planned into the activity of the exhibition in a variety of ways, either as
independent work done outside class or as a class lesson. For example, a PYP
Coordinator explained:

PYP Coordinator: Yes. Every week we have reflection and we have a

prompt for them and it is more of a .. and we decided to .. to give an
idea for a general reflection because we wanted all teachers to .. to look
for the same things. However if teachers wanted to reflect on
something additional to this general reflection then they could and they
have that liberty .. but in order to keep the formative assessment
common within our eight sections we ask the general.
Interviewer: So the reflection is part of the assessment?
PYP Coordinator: Yes. Yes.

In some schools, the planning of reflections by coordinators and teachers included

identifying reflections about key activities undertaken by the whole class. In others, the
reflection was focused around individual or group activities. The students discussed
reflections and, though some students said they had found reflections “boring at first”
they also recognised the importance of those reflections in improving the quality of their
work and of their participation in group work.

All the schools undertook a final reflection by students following the exhibition and this
was most incisive where students had undertaken regular reflections during the process
of the exhibition. In some cases, the final reflection was videoed and in others written.
In two schools, this was a group discussion activity. The focus of these reflections was
on the skills, knowledge and IB learner profile attributes the students had used, as well
as evaluation of the impact of their exhibition, related to action. Reflection was one of

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 45

the IB learner profile attributes that students found most visible and they referred to it
often in the interviews.

Assessment of the PYP exhibition was complex and took a number of forms in each case
study school and it was closely related to reflection because students also undertook
self-assessment on how they use IB learner profile attributes and PYP attitudes. All the
teachers interviewed were keen for students to understand the assessment criteria used
for assessment of pieces of work and the final exhibition.

Interviewer: So tell me a little bit about the assessment.

PYP Coordinator: So it is mostly reflection based because it is hard to
quantify something during the entire process .. but we .. we reflect on
skills and we reflect on meeting objectives which sometimes may be
curricular objectives and in this case we had a lot of science standards
embedded into our .. into our exhibition so we did look at them needing
certain bench marks for science. We look at how they are building their
IB learner profile attributes and so they will reflect on that .. so it is
basically in terms of knowledge, skills, attitude and concepts. Those
are .. those are the .. the indictors we use for reflection.

The assessment of the PYP exhibition included assessment of target activities throughout
the weeks of preparation. Schools planned the criteria and marked these activities in
different ways to reflect their structures and ethos. In some schools, the exhibition year
teachers planned the activities together and introduced an element of moderation of
marking through their planning. In other schools, the teacher responsible for a particular
curriculum area gave feedback on pieces of work related to that area (e.g. music
teachers, PE teachers).

In addition to assessment of the exhibition by teachers and through self-assessment,

some schools undertook peer assessment, to varying degrees. In some schools, for
example, the students used a rubric to evaluate their cooperative learning skills and had
done this regularly throughout the process of the exhibition. When discussing the
participation of other members of the group, these students were balanced and incisive
in their comments, despite the abstract nature of some ideas. They used examples well
and sought positive improvements. This was clearly a very well established process. In
another school, a similar rubric was used with mentors to self-assess cooperative
learning processes. In one school, a whole class reflection session was observed, led by
the teacher, with enthusiastic and experienced participation from members of a small

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 46

class. This reflection about cooperative learning was most obvious in schools with
significant experience of doing the PYP exhibition.

The PYP exhibition sharing event was also assessed using a rubric in all the schools we
visited. However, the mechanism and impact of this was different in each school. In one
school, visiting parents, teachers from the MYP and “dignitaries” completed rubric grids
to “judge” the event. These were the basis of a class discussion later. In another school,
students “assessed” each other’s presentation and the results from the rubric were
analysed and fed back by the teachers in a reflection session.

The schools we visited included comments about both units of inquiry studied - the
exhibition and one other– in end of term reports to parents, which, in some cases, were
also shared with the next school attended by the students. However, it was notable that
two of the MYP teachers said they did not use information about the PYP exhibition to
inform their work with the incoming students and the other teacher was not sure
whether such information was received by the school.

Finally, it is important to note that reflection was not confined to the children. The
teachers, mentors and coordinators we spoke to were involved in both a final and
ongoing reflection process. As one PYP coordinator said:

we are going to reflect on Monday about what now we are going to

tweak for next year and I guess what was quite cool about this year
was that it was truly like we were truly enquiring as well and like we
were .. Ahh! Right that was the wrong time to do that. Ahh! Let’s do
this. And it was such an organic process and we definitely know what
we will do better next year.

The teachers and coordinators expected to make changes to improve student learning
and experience and pointed out examples of changes made this year or previous years.

Action

The action element of the PYP exhibition was not always immediately evident in our case
study schools, but was clear to the participants in all of them. They described it in
relation to being caring, or being principled. Actions included leaflets, visits, videos,
shows and posters related to actions about raising awareness of issues investigated as
part of the PYP exhibition. Other actions included organising clothes collections for a
charity working in the student’s chosen field. Other groups of students produced films,

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 47

drama productions or musicals about their issues or about relationships and values.
These were presented to the school and wider community.

The parents, teachers and coordinators spoke in mixed terms about actions. As one
parent said:

You have a responsibility with this knowledge that you have gained to
do something .. and solve a problem in some way

However, principals and teachers said that action element of the PYP exhibition
presented a teaching challenge. To help students to choose novel, meaningful actions
was always difficult. A principal told us:

…but I have always been impressed that we have never ended up with
bake sales. It just doesn’t happen.

The principals and teachers spoke warmly about the impact of the action on students.
For example, a principal discussing an anti-bullying presentation for her school said:

it was interesting to me that to my adult eyes I found the actions fairly

passé ... but to the audience they were intended for, they changed the
school and the playground dynamic changed and became a more
harmonious place to be.

An issue that impacted upon the action element of the PYP exhibition was the time it
took and when that time was included in the planning for the exhibition. In schools
where the whole exhibition was confined to a short period, the action element of the
exhibition was seen as problematic and participants spoke about it less. Schools
inevitably encountered occasional problems with timing the whole sequence of the
exhibition and, in these cases, it was usually time for action that was squeezed. This
may be partly because the impact of the action element of the exhibition is not as
obvious (as a justification for use of curriculum time) as some other aspects of the
exhibition. However, the importance of action is subtle, pervasive and a key issue in the
promotion of international mindedness. Schools where the exhibition was planned for a
longer period and where action was considered well in advance found it easier to retain
the importance of this aspect of the exhibition.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 48

Although the action element of the PYP exhibition was a challenge for participants, it was
also identified as one of the key ingredients of what made the exhibition meaningful and
lifted it from being just another example of “school learning”.

5.2 Question 2. What do PYP teachers, students and parent/guardians believe

to be the impact of PYP exhibition study on: international-mindedness,
critical thinking and IB learner profile attributes.

Parents, teachers and students were overwhelmingly positive about the PYP exhibition as
the culmination of PYP studies in the interviews and also in survey responses. Teachers
saw the exhibition as an expression of the values and goals of the PYP. They cited it as a
key example of inquiry learning that involved all the IB learner profile attributes and
developed the critical thinking of students through their questioning, in-depth knowledge
and research skills. In the survey, responses showed a clear, shared view that the PYP
exhibition was a key, valued, learning experience that had an impact on international
mindedness, critical thinking and the IB learner profile attributes. Almost all the students
(320, 96.4%) agreed or strongly agreed that they had learnt a lot through doing the
exhibition.

The impact of the PYP exhibition on critical thinking

All the teachers we spoke to placed critical thinking as a key outcome of the PYP
exhibition and saw it as an essential part of the exhibition activities, although there was
a range of teacher views about the nature of critical thinking. Most teachers and school
leaders saw critical thinking as related to knowledge, critical research skills and critical
literacy, personal independence and, in some cases, wider global questions. So, when
the teachers, students and parents discussed the opportunities for critical thinking in the
PYP exhibition, they linked it to a range of experiences.

Some of the teachers and PYP coordinators linked critical thinking to action and
awareness of a wider global context, as well as the need to live with and understand
inequality and the action element of the exhibition. They identified critical thinking as a
characteristic of an internationally-minded student.

I think that they are given that the kids that we are teaching here .. not
so much about what is happening out there .. and you want to talk
about things .. and what about and be able to talk about things out
there and how about talk about topics and about what is happening

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 49

 locally .. because when you look at it .. and it is according to their social
community that is different. For example for poverty. ( Mentor)

So the students are investigating conflicts in different place in the world

and by learning about the conflict from another perspective and from
looking at both sites they .. they learn about different perspectives and
about the fact that people have different opinions and they are all might
be right from their perspective. (Teacher)

This quotation also illustrates the complex interplay of IB learner profile attributes such
as caring, being principled and the ways these attributes contribute to critical thinking
and international-mindedness.

All participants saw critical thinking as a literacy activity that was a fundamental part of
the process of inquiry. This was evident from the quantitative findings where language
and literacy was linked with the question items: using evidence, looking at different
points of view and reflecting on their own point of view. All the children we spoke to
understood the need to evaluate source material, although there were clear national
differences in the depth of this understanding.

Critical thinking? Of course. There is a selection of sources primary

sources and secondary sources. What are they? Verification of sources
and then once they select what they need for the project and they use
it to form their own opinion and to ... So .. this is one area how they
develop their critical thinking and listening to each other .. providing
feedback and constructive feedback .. receiving feedback .. I think this
is all relevant to critical thinking and provides a good foundation for
critical thinking. (Teacher)

The availability of resources and the support to select from them were different in each
country, reflecting internet access, wealth, local restrictions and different expectations in
different settings and this did have an effect on the way students discussed critical
literacy. Where students had more access to the internet in school, they spoke more
fluently about the limitations of that internet material and the unreliability of viewpoints.
In some countries, the independent and critical use of internet sources was heavily
scaffolded by librarians, for instance, whereas in others children did much of their
research at home, with less support to take a critical stance. When asked about critical
thinking, most students replied in terms of research into texts allowing them to be

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 50

critical about different sources of information and viewpoints. They recognised this as a
goal and as something they had achieved, at least in part. All the students expressed
some caution with use of internet sources but those students who had more support and
experience of internet use were much more critical about the sources and knew more
evaluation strategies. The use of internet sources was a concern for teachers in two
countries and a few parents in some countries. However, responsible use and protection
for the students was evident in all schools. Some students also discussed global issues,
the perspectives of others involved in conflicts and problem solving.

Critical thinking is like being knowledgeable and like thinking like how
you would do something and how you would fix a problem (Student)

Other students discussed critical thinking as a basic characteristic of meetings with

mentors and teachers. These discussions often highlighted how teachers or mentors
taught students to identify and evaluate viewpoints.

Critical thinking is usually in the mentor meeting. Like the teacher asks
somebody like some questions and then like we kind of put ourselves in
others’ shoes and think about what they would think ..(Student)

Critical thinking was one of the key issues identified by parents in our case study schools
as “real world” outcomes of the PYP exhibition, and one of the desirable outcomes of the
PYP. They saw this as empowering their children to operate in education, employment
and future careers.

Teachers and middle leaders built critical thinking into the PYP exhibition through
planning student activities to select topics and working groups and designing guidance
experiences for the students, such as mentor meetings. In at least one of our cases, co-
ordinators also built training about critical thinking for mentors into the programme.

In summary, the teachers, parents and students found the PYP exhibition was a truly
sustained opportunity to undertake critical thinking and that it brought together
attributes, skills and knowledge learnt in the PYP.

Critical thinking is not something that you learn in one lesson anyway ..but the
time.. uh length of the exhibition study gives them chances to develop depth.
Certainly this fosters critical thinking but it is not the last word and it is not the
first word and I mean .. that is you know .. a big part of IB. (Teacher)

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 51

International Mindedness

International mindedness was the most difficult issue for our parents, teachers and
student to discuss directly. They recognised the complexity of international mindedness
and found it difficult to quantify in their discussions, preferring to use examples of topics
or actions to make their points. Nevertheless, there was evidence that they saw
development of international mindedness as one of the key impacts of undertaking the
exhibition, often expressed in terms of knowledgeable, caring, open minded or principled
students and actions.

The teachers, parents and students said that the degree of international mindedness in
each exhibition depended on the topic chosen for the exhibition, and some topics had
more potential to develop international mindedness than others. As one principal put it

I think that it supports critical thinking and I think as far as

international mindedness .. I think that it depends on what their .. what
they are looking at and what their topic is.(Principal)

The students discussed the development of international mindedness as an outcome of

problem solving. Importantly, they recognised that many of the topics, issues and
problems they chose for their exhibition were things that could not be easily solved, that
did not have short term solutions, and were problems globally, if not locally.

So for me it helped me with the part for international mindedness. I

was looking at issues .. friendship issues all over the world and I found
out that we all have the same issues. (Student)

The parents we spoke to found the choice of topics interesting. Many of them admired
ambitious, principled or globally minded topics as offering their child broad horizons.
Parents valued the global perspective of the PYP and saw the exhibition as a key
example of this. They told us about their children’s growing awareness of the world and
the experiences of other children across it.

These topics you know .. animal adoption and conflicts and racism in
the states .. these are very huge and huge topics and maybe these
topics were not in their heads before in their boundary of life .. but now
they are .. you know .. they are familiar with them and they .. they
have lots of knowledge .. knowledge from this research and the one

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 52

 thing that I was impressed about was she tried to connect it .. connect
this topic to her own life. (Parent)

The choice of topic was described as “depressing” by one parent, provoking a discussion
amongst the parents in the group of how important it was for students to learn about the
wider world and how valuable an international education was in helping them to do this
in a non-threatening way. Many of the parents said they valued the “wider view” of the
world their child developed through doing the exhibition, and wanted their child to know
about a global outlook. Some parents identified these as important attitudes for their
child’s future prospects. Although they did not necessarily relate to the term
international mindedness, the parents identified this as one of the most important
outcomes of their child’s education and something they saw expressed in the exhibition.
This was also evident in the survey findings, where parents were very likely to say that
the students learnt a lot, but the most difficult things for them to agree with were that
the exhibition helped their child understand how other people use language, enabled
their child to explore information about other cultures, or enabled their child to
understand the action of people in other cultures. It appears that parents found the term
“international mindedness” less clear than the attributes of the IB learner profile - which
collectively aim to develop international mindedness in learners.

International mindedness in the survey results

Levels of agreement with the statements in the questions about international

mindedness, by teachers, parents and students in the three surveys, are shown in
Table 8 below.

Overall, a smaller proportion of students agreed with these statements about IM than did
teachers or parents, but the pattern of agreement showed that the highest proportion of
students (88.9%) agreed or strongly agreed that they had reflected on their own
perspective. Other statements had lower levels of agreement, especially those asking
about the perspectives of others (68.5%), the culture of others (66.4%) and the
language use of others (60.4%), reflecting the greater demands made by these notions.

Cooperative or collaborative learning and inquiry

The PYP exhibition was identified by teachers, students and parents as a sustained
experience of cooperative, or collaborative learning and inquiry. This was evident in the
strong expressions of ownership of both the sharing event itself, but also of the
processes and decisions that led to it. The extreme care and meticulous planning of
teachers and IB coordinators in the process of the exhibition was evident to parents in

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 53

most schools, and had an important role in their understanding of the exhibition.
However, despite this, the parents and children saw the process and product as a
student-owned activity. The very strongest message we received from parents, students
and teachers was one of pride in the students’ independence!

Table 8: Total “agree” and “strongly agree” responses for items relating to international
mindedness
Teachers Parents Students
(N=127) (N=97) (N=334)
Doing the PYP exhibition enabled:
The children in my class… Number (and percentage) either agreeing
My child… and strongly agreeing
Me…
to use different forms of language and 118 85 262
literacy (91.5%) (87.7%) (78.4%)
to use another language 74 71 157
(57.4%) (73%) (47.15)
to understand how other people use 89 68 202
language (69%) (70.1%) (60.4%)
to explore information about other 102 76 209
cultures (79.1%) (78.4%) (62.5%)
to understand the actions of people in 107 79 222
other cultures (83%) (81.5%) (66.4%)
to reflect on their own perspectives 120 93 297
(93%) (95.9%) (88.9%)
to reflect on the perspectives of people 100 76 229
in other cultures (77.5%) (78.4%) (68.5%)

A visual comparison of this data can be seen in the following figure.

% of respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing that children were

enabled ..

to use different forms of language and literacy

to use another language

to understand how other people use language

to explore information about other cultures

to understand the actions of people in other cultures

to reflect on their own perspectives

to reflect on the perspectives of people in other cultures

40 60 80 100
Teachers Parents Children

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 54

As discussed above, the students expressed this ownership and independence in their
commitment to challenging topics and the actions they identified related to these. They
also identified their ways of working as important. Students gave us examples of
negotiation, changing tasks, group members who did not perform and of working
together to solve problems. The students we spoke to discussed coaching sessions where
mentors had advised them about negotiating skills and about teacher-led lessons about
organising their work. Students in some countries used sophisticated document sharing
skills to work on their materials from home, sometimes across the network of their
group. Other children identified their use of “free” time, after lessons but still in school,
as the best time to work with their group of students. The tone of these discussions was
constructive and positive. Making decisions and working out differences were clearly, for
the students we spoke to, achievements to feel proud of.

I think today I am feeling happier because even though we got into

problems with my team mates .. the ones that didn’t like to study ..
today I saw them succeed and I was happy because I helped them a lot
and then they came to me and they said thank you .. so .. and I
recognised myself that they are not so dumb and like I thought myself
.. maybe I underestimated some. (Student)

Many of the varied working practices discussed by students showed the features of
cooperative learning. Groups were working together to accomplish shared goals and
were accountable to each other. These students were taught social skills and were
expected to use them to work together, but they were aware that mentors and teachers
were available to guide, resolve problems and offer advice. Finally, the teachers and
students showed us examples of written, and videoed reflections done as part of the
exhibition, which commented on the group work, decisions or difficulties students had
encountered.

in terms of just refocusing on constantly saying. ‘How have you

communicated well?’ And. ‘What can you do better?’ And. ‘Where are
you ranking yourself as a 2, what do you need to do get to be a four in
that particular area?’ So it is good. (Student)

The centrality of reflection as part of the exhibition process ran through their views
about cooperative learning as well as inquiry, critical thinking and international
mindedness.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 55

Cooperative learning in the survey results

Levels of agreement with the statements in the questions about cooperative learning, by
teachers, parents and students, are shown in
Table 9 below.

These responses show very positive responses of all three groups to statements that
experience of the exhibition had helped students develop their cooperative learning
skills, although the teachers tended to feel that students had found working with other
children challenging.

Table 9: Total “agree” and “strongly agree” responses for items relating to cooperative
learning

Teachers Parents Students

(N=127) (N=97) (N=334)
Doing the PYP exhibition enabled:
The children in my class to… Number (and percentage) agreeing and
My child … strongly agreeing
I…
worked closely with other children to 109 88 270
complete the exhibition (84.5%) (90.7%) (80.8%)
felt responsible to the other children 107 83 263
he/she/I was working with (82.9%) (85.6%) (78.7%)
found working closely with other children 105 58 223
challenging (81.4%) (59.8%) (66%)
improved his/her/my group work skills by 115 81 270
working closely with other children to do the (89.1%) (83.5%) (80.8%)
exhibition
exhibition topic led to action in the real 106 79 281
world (82.2%) (81.5%) (84.1%)
identified a range of tasks to complete the 121 85 291
exhibition (93.8%) (87.6%) (87.1%)
gave him/her/me the chance to use a 123 91 304
variety of resources (95.4%) (93.8%) (91%)
The exhibition topic gave him/her/me the 119 93 301
chance to reflect on their learning (92.3%) (95.9%) (90.1%)
The exhibition topic involved ideas from 121 88 280
different subject areas (93.8) (90.7%) (80.2%)
The exhibition was assessed by the teacher 111
as it took place (86%)
I understood how my exhibition was 287
assessed (85.9%)
helped him/her/me to look at different 122 81 296
points of view (94.6) (83.5%) (88.6%)
work out a range of ways to present 118 89 298
his/her/my topic. (91.5%) (91.8) (89.2%)

A visual comparison of this data can be seen in the following figure.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 56

 % of respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing that children ..

worked closely with other children to complete the exhibition

felt responsible to the other children he/she/I was working with

found working closely with other children challenging

improved his/her/my group work skills by working closely with

other children to do the exhibition

exhibition topic led to action in the real world

identified a range of tasks to complete the exhibition

gave him/her/me the chance to use a variety of resources

The exhibition topic gave him/her/me the chance to reflect on

their learning

The exhibition topic involved ideas from different subject areas

The exhibition was assessed by the teacher as it took place

I understood how my exhibition was assessed

helped him/her/me to look at different points of view

work out a range of ways to present his/her/my topic.

50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100

Teachers Parents Children

Inquiry skills in the survey results

The teachers and parents showed very high levels of agreement with the statements in
the questions about inquiry skills, as shown in Table 10 below.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 57

Both parents and teachers agreed most strongly that the students had undertaken
reflection on their own points of view, their selection of information sources and their
analysis of those information sources. A smaller proportion of teachers than parents
agreed that the students had discussed information with others or justified their
arguments using evidence and argument. This could suggest that the teachers had
underestimated the amount of discussion being undertaken with parents. However, both
parents and teachers were least likely to agree that the students had evaluated the point
of view or truthfulness of the sources, possibly because this is a somewhat more
demanding activity than reflection on their own point of view.

The students also showed high levels of agreement with the inquiry skill statements,
though lower across all questions than parents and teachers. They agreed most strongly
with the idea that they had selected sources, but other skills were agreed with by around
the same proportion of students.

Table 10: Teacher, parent and student agreement with items related to inquiry skills
Teachers Parents Students
(N=127) (N=97) (N=334)
The children in my
class… Number (and percentage) either agreeing or strongly
My child… agreeing
I…
selected sources of 119 91 321
information (92.2%) (93.8%) (96.1%)
analysed sources of 120 91 292
information (93.1%) (93.8%) (87.4%)
evaluated the point of view
103 87 280
and truthfulness of different
(79.8%) (89.7%) (83.8%)
sources of information
discussed choices of 109 95 282
information with others (84.5%) (97.9%) (84.4%)
reflected upon my/their own 120 93 289
point of view (93%) (95.9%) (86.5%)
justified arguments, using 116 89 278
evidence and argument (89.9%) (91.7%) (83.2%)

A visual comparison of this data can be seen in the following figure.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 58

 % respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing that children

selected sources of information

analysed sources of information

evaluated the point of view and truthfulness

of different sources of information

discussed choices of information with others

reflected upon my/their own point of view

justified arguments, using evidence and

argument

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Teachers Parents Children

Overall, the questionnaire responses suggest that parents, teachers and students valued
the PYP exhibition as an activity that gave students the opportunity to work
cooperatively, to develop critical inquiry skills and to learn about different perspectives.
They placed the highest value on student reflection on their own learning and point of
view, the opportunity to use a range of languages and literacies, to use a range of
resources and to select information.

5.3 Question 4 What is the role played by the PYP exhibition in promoting
parent/guardian engagement with, and understanding of, the IB
Programmes, for example through promoting parent/guardian
understanding of international-mindedness, critical thinking and IB
learner profile attributes?

Qualitative findings about parental engagement

The PYP exhibition promoted parents’ engagement with the exhibition through the
participation of parents in the exhibition process, which was carefully managed by school
staff. All the case study schools aimed to ensure that parents understood the process
nature of the exhibition and to manage parental expectations of participation.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 59

Parents discussed the exhibition in terms of key IB learner profile attributes of inquiry
and knowledge most, but also in terms of open mindedness, risk taking, caring, being
principled and reflection. As discussed above, they linked these to “real world” outcomes
of an international education. The parents we spoke to were keen for their child to
develop a global perspective and, though the term International Mindedness was not
much used, it was expressed in other ways.

What I like about it is the way that it encourages children to be academically and
intellectually adventurous and to draw different things together .. to apply
concepts globally and through history.

The parents prized reflectiveness and independence and these qualities, along with
confidence, skills and knowledge were qualities of the exhibition that represented the
outcomes of the PYP. Parents were also very aware of the importance of PYP as
preparation for MYP or other schooling and valued learner attributes, reflectiveness,
teamwork and inquiry skills as a feature of the exhibition, the PYP, and their child’s
future success.

For many of the parents we interviewed, the PYP exhibition vindicated their choice of an
IB education for their child and they also saw it as preparing directly for the MYP
because of the inquiry focus.

How were parents involved in their child’s PYP exhibition?

The questionnaire responses gave a general picture of high levels of parental

participation in the exhibition (see Table 11 below).

The parents reported a high level of involvement, although 68 (70.1%) of parents

agreed or strongly agreed that they “would like to be more involved in their child’s PYP
exhibition”. Involvement took a range of forms. Almost all parents reported attending
their child’s exhibition (94: 97.9%) and most attended a school briefing about the
exhibition (86: 88.7%) and discussed the PYP exhibition with their child (82: 84.5%).
Fewest parents reported discussing the exhibition with their child’s teacher (28; 28.9%),
acting as a mentor (30: 31.3%), helping to choose their child’s topic (28: 28.9%) or
helping their child to organise the child’s work (43: 45.3%).

Although most parents believed they would get written feedback (57: 60%) or verbal
feedback (58: 60.4%) from the school about their child’s assessment, 87 (89.7%)
agreed or strongly agreed that they “would like more feedback about their child’s PYP

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 60

exhibition”. This may be an area where parents and children need clearer expectations
about what feedback they will get.

Table 11: How were parents/carers were involved in the planning of their child’s
exhibition?

Don’t
Yes No
know
Attended a school briefing meeting 86 2 9
(88.7%) (2.1%) (9.3%)
Took part in school activities or trips towards the 65 3 29
exhibition (67%) (3.1%) (29.9%)
Helped my child to choose his/her topic 28 4 65
(28.9%) (4.1%) (67%)
Worked on researching material with my child 6 1 31
(6.3%) (1.1%) (32.6%)
Helped my child prepare elements of the exhibition 68 2 26
(70.8%) (2.1%) (27.1%)
I discussed the exhibition with my child’s teacher 45 52
0
(46.4%) (53.6%)
I (or another parent) attended (or will attend) the 94 2
0
exhibition (97.9%) (2.1%)
I got or will get written feedback about my child’s 57 15 23
exhibition (60%) (15.8%) (24.2%)
I got or will get verbal feedback about my child’s 58 16 22
exhibition (60.4%) (16.7%) (16.7%)
I helped my child to organise his/her work 43 2 50
(45.3%) (2.1%) (52.6%)
I helped to keep my child motivated 78 1 17
(81.3%) (1%) (17.7%)
I discussed the exhibition with my child 82 1 14
(84.5%) (1%) (14.4%)
I was a mentor 30 5 61
(31.3%) (5.2%) (63.5%)

A visual presentation of the percentages of parents claiming to have done these

activities can be seen in the following figure.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 61

 % of parents reporting that they ...

Attended a school briefing meeting

Took part in school activities or trips towards the exhibition
Helped my child to choose his/her topic
Worked on researching material with my child
Helped my child prepare elements of the exhibition
I discussed the exhibition with my child’s teacher
I (or another parent) attended (or will attend) the exhibition
I got or will get written feedback about my child’s exhibition
I got or will get verbal feedback about my child’s exhibition
I helped my child to organise his/her work
I helped to keep my child motivated
I discussed the exhibition with my child
I was a mentor

0 50 100

Parent views of their children’s PYP exhibition experiences

We asked parents about their children’s experiences of the PYP exhibition. The responses
to the questionnaire suggest that parents valued and understood the role of the PYP
exhibition in their child’s education. Of the 97 parents who responded to the survey,
91(93.8%) agreed or strongly agreed that the PYP exhibition was a good use of
curriculum time and 95 (97.9%) agreed or strongly agreed that “my child learnt a lot
through doing the exhibition”. 83 parents (85.5%) agreed or strongly agreed that the
PYP exhibition “improved their understanding of the PYP curriculum”.

In terms of the children’s understanding, use of and insights into how others use
languages and literacy, parents were aware that their children had developed their
reflection on and use of language. 93 (95.9%) agreed or strongly agreed that “Doing the
PYP exhibition has helped my child to reflect on his/her own perspective” and 85
(87.7%) agreed or strongly agreed that “Doing the exhibition has enabled my child to
use different forms of language and literacy”. Fewer parents 68 (70.1%) agreed or
strongly agreed that “Doing the exhibition has enabled my child to understand how other
people use language” and that “Doing the exhibition has enabled my child to use other
languages” (71: 73%). However, it should be noted that these figures are high
throughout and this may represent a learning progression whereby children reflect upon

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 62

themselves and their own action before they are able to reflect on the actions, languages
and perspectives of others.

We asked parents for their views about the critical information use of their children. Here
again, the item most parents 95 (97.9%) agreed and strongly agreed with was “During
exhibition study my child has discussed his/her choices of information with others”. The
second most agreed and strongly agreed item (93: 95.9%) was “During exhibition study
my child has reflected upon his/her own point of view”. This, again, indicates that
parents had understood the importance of reflection and the reflective opportunities the
PYP could offer for their children. Slightly fewer parents agreed and strongly agreed that
their child had selected sources of information (91: 93.8%) or analysed those sources
(91: 93.8%) and fewest (87: 89.7%) agreed or strongly agreed that their child had
evaluated the truthfulness of the information. All these levels of agreement were high
and suggested that parents thought that their children were involved in critical
information handling.

The qualitative data gave a subtler picture of parents’ views about the impact of the
exhibition on their children. As with the questionnaires, the parents were overwhelmingly
very positive about these experiences.

The PYP exhibition promoted parents’ engagement with the exhibition through the
participation of parents in the exhibition process, which was carefully managed by school
staff. Our case study schools had taken action to ensure parents understood the process
nature of the exhibition and parents told us about this many times.

I don’t think that the topic that they picked was as important as everything else
that they learned .. they used technology.. and the time. Having to organise
themselves and learn to work .. the team work .. the mentors … I mean. It is a
really…er…sustained project.

Schools shared an approach to the exhibition by inviting parents to briefings, through

regular communication with parents and also welcoming parents’ participation in the
exhibition of other year groups. The schools also took action to manage parental
expectations of participation. Although many aspects of parental participation were
“generic”, others showed a “school culture” of expectation. For instance, in one country,
strict limits were placed on parental spending on the PYP exhibition, to allow students to
create and value their own resources. In another country where schools ran an extended
day programme for most students, the parents did not seem to expect to be involved in
the exhibition and said they did not focus on it at home. Teachers saw this as an
expression of trust.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 63

Almost all the parents we spoke to attended their child’s exhibition, and many had
attended exhibitions of siblings. Most of the parents we spoke to had also attended a
briefing from the school about the exhibition and some found this exciting and
illuminating. The content of this briefing was important, because it not only informed,
but also gave the parents a vision of the role of the exhibition in the PYP and their child’s
future and reassured them that the exhibition was carefully structured and supported. As
one parent put it “the exhibition has taught me about the IB learner profile all over again
– I really get it.”

Some of the parents had played a direct role in the exhibition for their child’s class or for
some individuals in the class. We spoke to parents who had come into school as visiting
speakers to discuss particular skills or experiences, parents who had accompanied trips
which were part of the class exhibition and parents who had been interviewed by
individuals and small groups of children as part of their exhibition. These parents
contributed to the exhibition of children other than their own.

Most participation by parents was directed at their own children and here, parents often
experienced a tension between wanting to help their child and pride in their child’s
independent learning. Parents told us about help where they had particular skills, such
as writing, technology or internet searches. Parents had an important role as a source of
contacts for interviews, though parents were particularly impressed when their children
sought out and emailed unknown interviewees. Parents often “rehearsed” interviews with
the children and discussed presentations of surveys and reflections.

In addition to the initial briefing about the exhibition, most parents were keen to know
about their child’s exhibition work. The more experienced schools really understood the
importance of shared expectations and communication. These schools provided a very
clear structure for the exhibition including binders, worksheets and time plans. Parents
found access to their children’s planning and reflections illuminating and many of them
said it gave them new insights into the range and scope of the work their children did
and the skills they had as learners. One teacher gave a weekly bulletin about the
children’s progress on their exhibition, which parents loved. This allowed parents to feel
“connected” to their child’s exhibition despite a low level of universal parenting guilt
about whether they should have done more.

Parents spoke about their own children’s exhibitions in terms of enthusiasm and wonder.
They were impressed by their children’s achievements, skills and maturity. They

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 64

discussed the children’s achievements in terms, not of the school curriculum, but of the
“real world”. Skills like internet searching, evaluating information and, above all,
reflectiveness were valued because they are the skills and attitudes parents want their
children to take into their next school and onto the world of employment

For many of the parents we interviewed, the PYP exhibition vindicated their choice of an
IB education for their child and they also saw it as preparing directly for the MYP
because of the inquiry focus.

The parents we spoke to were keen for their child to develop a global perspective and,
though the term International Mindedness was not much used, it was expressed in other
ways.

What I like about it is the way that it encourages children to be academically and
intellectually adventurous and to draw different things together .. to apply
concepts globally and through history (parent).

The parents prized reflectiveness and independence and these qualities, along with
confidence, skills and knowledge were qualities of the exhibition that represented the
outcomes of the PYP. Parents were also very aware of the importance of PYP as
preparation for MYP or other schooling and valued learner attributes, reflectiveness,
teamwork and inquiry skills as a feature of the exhibition, the PYP, the MYP and their
child’s future success.

In some of our case study schools, parents were also very aware of the history of the
exhibition and of the changes schools had made in response to their evaluation of a
previous exhibition. Some parents had attended exhibitions of older children, had visited
the previous year’s exhibition or had simply talked to other parents. They spoke
positively about improvements schools had made in the structures and, in one case,
even the staff training.

The school has changed in what they are doing and it is seems a lot more
organised and a lot of it has been taken away and in a good way I think. Away
from the parent focus and being parent driven, to being school driven currently.
And I think that helps becomes more than a school driven and it also becomes
child driven and in the past it was a lot of parental involvement which to be fair I
don’t think was fair on the child…

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 65

One aspect of the exhibition which parents were confident about was its impact on the
future. They looked beyond schooling to discuss the way learning to manage
independent work, inquiry skills and a global view would prepare their children for a 21 st
century future. They also spoke about the exhibition as a direct preparation for MYP. In
particular, they had a clear view that the sustained inquiry was a preparation for MYP.

.. in doing this research it is important because the PYP does eventually lead
eventually to the MYP. (Parent)

A few parents wanted to see stronger links between their own child’s PYP and MYP
experiences.

It’s that they work on this huge project at the exhibition level and then it is all
forgotten. And you are saying to yourself .. what happened .. where and why?
And I think that is something that needs to be addressed. (parent)

However, it was notable that the exhibition was also seen as a key activity to prepare for
transfer by parents whose children were not going on to MYP.

5.4 How did mentor participation (where used) promote the IB learner profile
attributes, international-mindedness, and critical thinking?

This question addressed the use and participation of mentors in the PYP exhibition,
exploring who the mentors were, how they were recruited, trained and developed and
what they did to support students in the exhibition, before going on to examine their role
in the promotion of the IB learner profile attributes, international mindedness, and
critical thinking.

Who were IB exhibition mentors?

The use of mentors in the PYP exhibition is not mandated by the IB (IBO, 2008) but in all
case study schools, mentors were used to support the exhibition process. Whilst the IBO
suggests that mentors could be recruited according to student interests, or that different
mentors could be recruited for specific stages in the exhibition process such as research,
writing and presentation skills, this was not what was typically observed in the case
study schools. Instead, one mentor, usually a teacher of another grade in the school,
would be assigned to work with one group for the duration of the exhibition process.

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The IB advises that mentors can be community members, older students, parents and
teachers (IBO, 2008). However, in the case study schools in this project, the
overwhelming majority of mentors were teachers in the school, followed by others
working in school in non-teaching roles (such as librarians, teaching assistants and
support staff). Parents acted infrequently as mentors, although, as we explain below,
parents did often take on a less formal role as informers and guides. Table 12 shows the
responses from the questionnaire indicating the breakdown of who acted as mentors.

Table 12: Who acted as mentors?

Who acted as mentor?

Country Teacher Other My Another Don’t No Total
Staff parent parent know mentor

UK 21 10 0 0 0 0 31
(68%) (32%)
Mexico 70 20 1 11 2 2 106
(66%) (19%) (1%) (10%) (2%) (2%)
China 129 10 3 0 2 3 147
(88%) (7%) (2%) (1%) (2%)
Russia 8 0 1 1 0 0 10
(80%) (10%) (10%)
Kenya 33 0 1 0 0 0 34
(97%) (3%)

Total 261 40 6 12 4 5 328

79.6% 12.2% 1.8% 3.6% 1.2% 1.5%

Where mentors came predominantly from the school staffing body, by far the most
common scenario, this frequently caused problems with timetabling for schools due to
the large amount of time that mentors needed to dedicate to their mentoring role.
Mentors would normally meet with students between two to three times per week, and
for between twenty minutes and one hour at a time. This demanded what one
participant described as ‘juggling’. Strategies for dealing with juggling included leaving
the TA to manage the class, or meeting with students during out-of-class time:

most of the … mentors are class teachers and they are leaders of their
own departments and so you find that … they have to step out from
class and leave the TA in the class. So .. we.. and it is juggling time

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 and so if you have 20 to 25 kids in a classroom to take care of and you
also have to have go to a group and talk to them about where they are
at .. so it is juggling .. (Mentor)

Timetabling was particularly problematic in schools where only teachers were used as
mentors, as indicated by the Deputy Principal of one PYP school:

we are always thinking about that and thinking about how we manage
and juggle that.

And it was acknowledged that in general, the demands of the exhibition on the whole
school meant that other activities had to be sacrificed:

And in this way our full days’ school activities and our possibilities to
have all .. the whole school and the whole day I mean .. it is good. But
sometimes we need to sacrifice some different lessons or activities in
order to give them a chance to work together. (PYP Coordinator)

In contrast, in schools where parents, librarians and others were invited to become
mentors these scheduling difficulties were alleviated as teachers’ time was less
stretched. The research team did encounter parents in the role of mentor but this was
unusual. Parental involvement, where it did occur, was often constructed as a less formal
role, as expressed by this PYP Coordinator:

essentially it is an opportunity for the kids to share and for the parents
to go and give them some feedback and we do it as a rotation. So the
parents are involved.

In another school, parents were invited into school at each key stage of the exhibition
(topic choosing, research, report writing, action, exhibition presentation) and sat outside
the classroom offering consultations to individual students (or small groups if topics were
the same). Elsewhere, PYP Coordinators voiced reservations about using parents as
mentors in case they became too involved in students’ exhibitions and took an overly
didactic approach to support. Parents were valued though for their connections, and
what this could offer to the school in terms of opportunities for students to interview key
informers. One mentor commented on the ‘big contribution’ from parents ‘as they are
well connected’. Another mentor described the excitement that students and mentors
felt at being able to visit the Chief Justice of the city:

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 I remember a group that we had ... and I think that it was two or three
years ago ... but the focus was on justice and we went to meet the
chief justice. For us, even as mentors, it was a really big deal ..

It was very rare for students to act as mentors to other students. The research team
were only aware of one instance of a student acting in a quasi-mentor role when a
student from the Diploma Programme helped the PYP students by sharing her specific
skill set - building an architectural model of a local landmark.

The findings from this study suggest that IB World Schools could take a more creative
approach to the use of mentors in the exhibition. Recruiting mentors from a wider range
of people, adults and older students, could have a number of benefits, in addition to the
obvious advantage of making teacher timetabling somewhat less of a juggling act.

Recruitment and training of mentors

The recruitment of mentors happened in different ways in different schools. In some,

teachers were asked to volunteer as mentors via an email from the PYP Coordinator:

the way that we define our mentoring system is that we email all
teachers in the school and everyone, actually any staff member and
they just sign up (PYP Co-ordinator)

In other schools, students approached teachers directly and asked if they would be a
mentor for their group, and elsewhere there was more of a requirement that teachers
work as mentors, sometimes on a rota basis. Often, teachers considered the role of
mentor to be an enjoyable privilege, despite the extra demands placed on their time:

I mean I have been really lucky because I had the chance in all of my
four years to be a mentor every year.

The ongoing need for mentors within a PYP school, and the different modes of
recruitment of mentors, meant that mentor training was often considered an important
aspect of the exhibition demands on a school. Like recruitment, training would take
different forms: sometimes new mentors would have weekly or bi-weekly meetings with
the PYP Coordinator, sometimes there would be large training sessions as part of staff
meetings, and sometimes guidance and support for the mentoring process would be

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disseminated via email. In one school, they used a system of lead mentors. Lead
mentors had several years’ experience of mentoring, and would work with a group of
students together with a small team of assisting mentors:

So we had a mentoring session for the staff and so we are quite a large
staff because we are growing and we opted to have what we call a lead
mentor for each group and then a couple of assisting mentors so
everybody is attached to a group but in a different capacity. But we
also created mentor booklets for them and so we had a full training for
them in the staff meeting where they went through the booklet and
they actually got to know exactly what it is that they got and what they
expect from them and then the lead mentor who already had
experience at it. So that they could kind of guide the others. (PYP Co-
ordinator)

This notion of collaboration between mentors was evident in other schools too, and was
evidence of what was frequently observed by the research team as a whole-school
community approach to supporting PYP students with the exhibition:

so every Monday morning all the mentors would meet and we would
have a discussion about what expectations for the children. (Mentor)

What did mentors do?

The IBO describe the primary role of mentors as acting as ‘a guide and resource in the
accomplishment of specific tasks during the exhibition process’.(IBO, 2008, p. 5).
Indeed, many mentors commented on their efforts to support students with time-
management, keeping focused on the work, and some of the more logistical aspects of
developing the exhibition process. One of the ‘lead mentors’ talked about the importance
of keeping students focused:

… mostly you find that we just making sure that they are getting the
things done and just making sure that everyone is focused on the task
they are supposed to do.

And another mentor in the same school emphasised the importance of time-
management:

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 A lot of that .. time management and then getting things done on time
.. you know because again sometimes they lose focus (Mentor)

This theme was echoed by other mentors, who described the difficulties that young
students faced in learning how to meet deadlines:

I think that a big part of it is helping them to stay focused and on task
for like deadlines and because they are not .. I mean .. you know .. it is
also the first time that they are being allowed to set their own schedule
to a certain extent so .. you know .. and obviously they haven’t
developed the skills before so .. you know ... reminding them to stay
focused and reminding them to stay on track.

Mentors did take on tasks themselves to support learners. For example, arranging
speakers or visitors to talk to students about their areas of interest was a common
approach, and this mentor described how the logistical arrangements for such visits were
frequently part of the mentors’ responsibility:

One of the other things that I think is a major role with the way that it
works here is setting up the field trips and getting the guest speakers
and like it is up to us to kind of solicit them or find them and make that
first contact before they [the guest speaker] can come, and if they [the
students] can go anywhere [to visit experts to support them with their
research]..

Given the focus of this research project, it was noticeable how the role of the mentor
was less on supporting the development of the students’ thinking, and more one of study
skills support and practical arrangements. Nevertheless, mentors did have a role in
helping students with the substantive aspects of their exhibition work and supporting
them in understanding the IB learner profile attributes and making them relevant to the
exhibition, and developing critical thinking and international mindedness.

IB learner profile attributes

The IB learner profile comprises the central core of the PYP, as it does with all IB
programmes, and all learning takes place within the framework of the ten attributes (see
Appendix 3). As all mentors in our case study schools were teachers, other staff
members, or parents of PYP children, they were very familiar with the IB learner profile,

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and understood its central role in the development of the exhibition. The exhibition
mentors we interviewed believed that a) the IB learner profile attributes were tightly
integrated into the exhibition, and b) their development was a fundamental part of the
process of the exhibition. One exhibition mentor described how the attributes of
communicator, balanced, enquirer and knowledgeable were fostered through the
exhibition:

seeing them all communicate together .. and their team working skills
and their communication skills in terms of the IB learner profile and I
mean they just have to .. they have to do so many different activities
and work in so many different realms that it is obviously a balance ...
and they have to grow in this way and they have to be communicators
and they have to be enquirers .. and they have to develop knowledge.
So really it pushes them all in all of those areas.

One mentor commented on the fundamental nature of the IB learner profile and
expressed bemusement that it was the last construct (out of the three foci of this project
– critical thinking, international mindedness and IB learner profile attributes) that the
interviewer had asked about:

That is a huge thing that is required and I think that it is interesting

that it is put as the last one because it is kind of where they start with
the whole .. exhibition project .. you have to start reflecting on
everything that you have learned .. you know .. on the IB learner
profile and on all of the study you have to start by reflecting on all of
that stuff before you can plan where you are going to go.

For this mentor, reflections on the IB learner profile were an important starting point of
the exhibition planning, but other mentors spoke candidly about the fact that because
the IB learner profile was so well incorporated into PYP work it was sometimes over-
looked, resulting in the conscious, explicit consideration of how the attributes had been
developed being left until the end of the process, which was too late for students to gain
maximum benefit from this as a learning experience:

… with my group I think that I left it a little bit to the end and we did
sort of sit down this week and say right .. well let’s look at that IB
learner profile and now we have been enquirers and we have been good
thinkers. And then we started making how we enquired and how we

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 have been thinkers …but I think that really and it is my fault .. that
process should have happened and should have happened as we were
going along and so that you need to cover as much of that IB learner
profile as possible. so those IB learner profile attributes are what will
make a child .. a well-rounded child. So I think therefore it would make
sense that if at the beginning of that exhibition it is .. it is kind of
pointed out and made more explicit to the children. That this is really
what you are aiming for. You are aiming at to .. you know .. to cover
this list of IB learner profile attributes and to show this in your
exhibition.

Within the IB programmes, the IB learner profile is also regarded as a key tool for
developing international-mindedness in students.

International mindedness

The IB learner profile is considered a framework that ‘helps students construct a

foundation of values on which international-mindedness can flourish’ (IBO, 2013). In
other words, the IB learner profile encapsulates what is meant by ‘international-
mindedness’ within the IB programmes (IBO, 2009). Barratt Hacking et al (2016) have
referred to the many ‘fuzzy’ definitions of international mindedness, but have attempted
to consolidate these into 3 philosophical positions.

First, IM is relational in that it is about reaching out to how we perceive and

interact with others from diverse cultures. It then becomes intra-personal or
reaches in to better understand ourselves with respect to different others. Above
all, IM is a process or a journey and this process is more important than any fixed
definition. (p.2)

The mentors we interviewed as part of this study felt that the IB exhibition was an
important arena for fostering international mindedness and many talked about the
opportunities the exhibition offered for students to put international-mindedness into
practice. For example, one mentor talked about students showing tolerance and respect
to each other whilst working in a small group:

In my group they showed their curiosity. Ok .. umm .. tolerance and

maybe respect to each other and independence. It is for me it is very
good because it is very important for them to show their independence

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 to do something by themself and to find and to select and to make
conclusions and of course show their curiosity.

Another mentor talked of the importance of using the exhibition to celebrate the
different languages spoken in the school as an overt display of international-
mindedness:

I think that there is never a stigma and … to be international is just so

common place here and discussing things in different languages and
speaking about different places is so normal anyway that it is only
natural that in the exhibition it is sort of showcased.

One aspect of international mindedness that was commented on was the importance of
students knowing and understanding their local context in order to demonstrate
international mindedness more completely. There was a strongly held belief that unless
students had a thorough understanding of their direct world around them, they could not
be truly internationally-minded:

And they know very well that their world does not work in isolation ..
because we do try to bring that out but we have local issues for
example like the justice group they know that .. our justice system is
not unique and uniquely Kenyan .. and it .. it has been applied and it is
borrowed from outside .. and I think it came out when they spent an
hour with the chief justice and the mentors they were told to go out
stayed with the students and he talked to them about democracy and
who are your leaders and so on .. yes .. their international mindedness
.. I think sometimes it is state of mind also rather than where you have
been .. or where you go to but you have to know your local content ..
and not only that but what is happening around the world and so on ..

And yet there was also an acknowledgement that because of the elite nature of the
student body in the case study schools, their international knowledge and awareness
may be greater than their local knowledge and so an important function of the exhibition
was to help them gain local awareness:

Some are from the communities here but they might not know more
about what happens elsewhere like the UK .. and so it is really helps

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 and they are already quite international .. and so it helps to ground
them .. and then to see things locally too.

And it also depends on their investigating perspective at all because

clearly if they are investigating perspective then they are going to start
getting into more of an international mindedness of how other people
and how other cultures might address the topic or so on and so forth ..
but if the .. you know .. so it depends on the concepts that they are
chasing and stuff.

And even I think international mindedness. We live in a very like large

city with huge social disparity in .. and you know our population only
sees a very small sector of the city .. and just .. if you go into .. you
know .. air pollution and just drive an hour away in the car and them
seeing how other people live in their own city .. it opens up their world
.. and their city even .. you know.

While the concept of international mindedness may have been complex and difficult for
PYP teachers and students alike, there was plenty of evidence in our study of all
participants making serious attempts to ensure students’ horizons were broadened by it.

Critical thinking

As with our discussion with students, the mentors identified the mentor meetings are
key sites for critical thinking, learning about critical thinking and reflection on critical
thinking, as well as critical literacy. This role was something both teachers and pupils
shared with us.

Yeah .. well critical thinking and I mean .. again you know .. it is that ..
it is a good mentor asking and a good Y6 teacher asking .. you know ..
why are you doing that? What is the point of that? How has that
effected it? And I think that it is asking those questions and again I
think that .. you know .. IB says that obviously asking questions and
especially asking deeper questions it is not .. you know .. it is not
difficult to ask questions. But it is to get them to think on a .. on a .. on
a more deeper level about .. you know. Why? How is that? What is
that? (PYP Coordinator)

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The students also saw the mentor’s role as about supporting critical thinking.
Ok .. so when you say it was in the mentor meeting you mean the
mentor asked you questions which prompted you to think critically?
Yeah. (Interviewer and student)

The idea of critical thinking was aligned with different identification of viewpoints in
broadcasts, literature or online presence for all participants. This was the subject of
direct teaching in lessons, but also of the mentor meetings where the teaching was less
teacher-led. These meetings were but were reciprocal activities guided by students’
progress.

Ok. So the mentor suggested that you need to think about it from this
point of view?
No like .. she or he .. like gave us some questions that make us think in
that direction .. (Interviewer and student)

In some schools, students identified the importance of these meetings for maintaining
their focus and progress in independent work and also for getting advice about issues of
viewpoint and trustworthiness of views. The mentors also saw their role as maintaining
progress, developing depth in the projects and working with (and reporting to) teachers
to support students.

5.5 What role does the PYP exhibition play in supporting student transition to
the MYP?
• How do PYP teachers prepare students for transition to more
independent forms of learning in the MYP through the PYP exhibition?
• What do MYP students who have completed the PYP exhibition believe to
be the effect of that study on their transition to the MYP?
• How is exhibition feedback incorporated into supporting student
transitions into the MYP or elsewhere?

The survey data gave an overview of teacher, parent and student beliefs about the role
of the PYP exhibition in supporting student transition to the MYP/the child’s next school.
Responses suggest that the parents surveyed felt strongly that the PYP exhibition
supported transition to MYP or other further study. 92.3% of parents agreed or strongly
agreed with the statement, ‘I feel more confident about my child going on to the MYP/
the next school after doing the exhibition.’ In addition, 96.9% of parents agreed or
strongly agreed that the skills their child had gained through the exhibition would be
used in their next school/the MYP, while 94.8% felt that the attitudes developed through
the exhibition would be used, and 92.8% that the knowledge gained would be useful.

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However, it is possible that the parents overestimated the extent to which information
about the exhibition would be useful to future teachers. Just over half of parents
(53.1%) reported that their child would be remaining at the school where they had
completed the exhibition, and only slightly more (65.3%) stated that their child’s next
school would be aware that their child had completed the exhibition. A school unaware of
a child’s exhibition experience would presumably be unlikely to use information about
this.

Similarly, 91.6% of the teachers agreed or strongly agreed that the exhibition offered
good preparation for the next stage of schooling, and 89.8% of them felt more confident
about their students’ going on to this next stage after they had completed the exhibition.
94.4% of the teachers thought that the exhibition had helped the children to develop the
skills they would use in the MYP/ their next school, whilst 90.6% thought that useful
attitudes had been developed, and 87.2% believed that the knowledge gained by the
students would be used.

The students were less optimistic about the sharing of information with their next school
than their parents: only 47.7% thought that their next school would know about the
exhibition, and only 44.7% believed that someone from that school had attended the
exhibition. Nevertheless, they shared their teachers’ and parents’ belief that the PYP had
been useful in preparing them for their next stage of education: 82.5% felt more
confident about going on to the MYP/their next school after completing the exhibition
(although over half of them still felt nervous). They shared the beliefs of their parents
and teachers that the exhibition had developed useful skills (93.1%), attitudes (90.4%)
and knowledge (91.2%).

Whilst acknowledging that the survey numbers were not large, and that this group may
be unrepresentative, it is clear that these parents, teachers and students felt that the
exhibition was an extremely useful preparation for secondary education, developing
student confidence, skills, attitudes and knowledge. Its role in assisting transition was
seen as highly positive.

Preparation for Transition

The focus group discussions offered a more nuanced reflection on the preparation
offered by the exhibition. As one parent commented:

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 I think that the school and PYP has prepared her well for the MYP. Has
it prepared her well to go to a Chinese level school? Oh no! Has it
prepared her to go to Australia? I don’t know yet.

MYP students in all countries believed that the PYP exhibition had been extremely useful
in preparing them for the different expectations of MYP study. As one participant in a
MYP focus group commented:

The good thing about the exhibition was that you get a great kick start
to grade six because like what you do in grade five is like you get to do
every single week in grade six and so it just helps you to get into the
mood of it.(Student)

They felt that they were more confident than students who had arrived in the MYP from
local non-IB primary schools, citing presentations in particular as something they had
learnt to do through the exhibition that they were expected to do throughout the MYP.

The MYP students interviewed in Mexico were able to identify specific skills they had
learnt during the exhibition that they needed for MYP study:

Right now in 6th Grade we have to do a lot of research and we have to

cite all our research and in the exhibition we also started to given an
introduction to that and we .. we really had to do meticulous research
and which we have to do it in detail and so I think that helped us in 6 th
grade to do better research and write better essays.(Student)

They also felt that the independence, organization and planning skills they had
developed during the exhibition were essential and were expected of them in secondary
school, and summarized the impact as follows:

So it was like a creative start for us to like .. it was like an introduction

to what we were going to visit in the MYP.(Student)

Feedforward to the MYP

Preparation for the MYP is not an explicitly stated purpose of the exhibition, and none of
the seven case-study schools did teachers actively employ learning outcomes or
feedback from the exhibition to inform and support students’ transition to the MYP. In

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some schools, mentors included teachers from the middle school, but this was because
they were a handy resource, rather than because the schools were proactively using the
exhibition to support PYP-MYP teacher collaboration. MYP teachers also visited the
exhibition so they were aware of the type of learning achieved through the experience.
In one school, MYP teachers contributed to a judging panel, assessing the sharing event
and completing an assessment rubric. In summary, aggregate and impressionist
information about the exhibition was available to MYP teachers, rather than systematic
communication about the learning outcomes of individual students.

In one school, the Grade 6 teachers gave feedback to the students from the exhibition in
the form of things that they should concentrate on in the MYP, although this was not
formalized into communication with their future teachers:

We normally photocopy the rubrics and one individual one and then one
group one for each child and one of the assessors rubric .. I mean for
their group. We photo copy all three because at the end of the year we
give them a Y6 .. you know .. a packet and their leaving certificate with
their PYP graduation certificate and with everything about the
exhibition. All the rubrics that they need and we also have an oral
group feedback where we sit with them and we talk to them about what
went well and what are something’s that you can work on as you move
on to the MYP. (Teacher)

One school principal acknowledged that connections between the PYP exhibition and the
MYP were currently few, although MYP teachers did visit the exhibition:

The PYP teacher meets the MYP teacher post the exhibition because the
exhibition is quite late on in the year. They may have already liaised
and said .. ‘Oh are you going to have Will next year and Will likes
baseball and .. and he needs help with this but is very good at these
skills.’ But there is not that .. this displays the PYP skills and have a
look at it as the MYP staff. There isn’t that and perhaps we have
missed a trick there?(Principal)

Likewise, an MYP Coordinator informed us that:

We do not actually consciously look at what they did in the PYP. (MYP
Coordinator)

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In these schools, then, feed-forward to the MYP about the exhibition was minimal,
although both PYP and MYP teachers believed that it would be a useful source of
information. We would recommend this as an area for future development.

Connections between the programmes

It was felt that the transition between the PYP and the MYP could be enhanced further in
at least two ways. Firstly, there was a sense amongst some parents that little was done
during the MYP to build on some of the inquiry skills developed through the exhibition; it
was pointed out that an independent project on the scale of the exhibition was not done
until the MYP Personal Project, completed 5 years later. This view was shared by many
teachers and students.

One school principal felt that the skills developed in the PYP were not sufficiently built on
during the MYP, and that the standard of work in the MYP project was only slightly
advanced from that which the children had achieved four or five years earlier in their PYP
exhibition. He also noted that several students chose to take further the topic that they
had studied during the PYP. What this suggests, therefore, is that the possible
connections between the PYP exhibition and MYP work are insufficiently developed at
present.

Similarly, the Principal at another school also expressed the opinion that it would be
possible for the MYP to capitalize better on the learning achieved during the exhibition:

You know for me even it could be a problem because the primary

school teachers sometimes prepared for their investigations with their
students much more than middle school years. Yeah. So they are
making all that brilliant stuff and exhibitions and whatever and
conference with the parents and then they come .. they come to the
middle school and it is sometimes difficult. You know? So .. they are
something like over qualified .. for the MYP and we are working on this
of course we are working on this .. but you know the .. the primary
teachers teach students and the MTP teach subjects .. and that is why!
(Principal)

In one school, the parents and students alike felt strongly that the children should be
given an opportunity to do something akin to the exhibition in the early years of the

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MYP; no-one wanted an annual event, but it was deemed a pity that the learning
developed through the exhibition was not advanced. Similarly, the exhibition mentor in
another school also suggested that there was too long a gap between the PYP exhibition
and the MYP Personal Project, and that the children should be given an additional
opportunity to develop these research skills.

In addition to wanting an exhibition-like activity early in the MYP, some parents felt that
better connections between the programmes could also enhance the exhibition itself. For
instance, some parents had been frustrated that their children had not been given the
specialized help that secondary teachers could have offered their projects:

My daughter her topic is safe water .. safe water and she .. she wanted
to make little equipment to maybe a kind of sensor to learn when you
taste the water and when you wash your hand or when you take the
bus .. but she do not know who can help her to do this simple
equipment and so she took action stage she gave up on this idea so if
some science teacher can help her in the MYP it would be better I think.
(Parent)

In summary, many teachers, parents and students felt that an exhibition-like activity
after two or three years in the MYP would be beneficial, and some believed that further
connections between the programmes could also enhance student learning during the
exhibition.

6 Discussion

The PYP exhibition is a key activity at the end of the PYP in IB schools. In the case study
schools, we saw a complex, but well understood, experience which all participants
agreed was a sustained, inquiry-led piece of independent research by students in their
last year of the PYP. A number of issues were identified as affecting the development of
international-mindedness, critical thinking and the attributes of the IB learner profile.
These included the community nature of the PYP exhibition process; the flexibility of the
exhibition process around key principles; the importance of experience in managing the
exhibition; the nature of the inquiry undertaken; the way the IB learner profile and
action elements of the exhibition drove inquiry and the importance of sharing experience
across the IB community.

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We saw that the exhibition was a community engagement with the values of the PYP
curriculum, involving not only the year group undertaking the process, but also the rest
of the school and parents. Students in lower years learnt about the exhibition by visiting
their older colleagues’ events. They anticipated their own exhibition as a rite of passage
and sign of maturity. Students who had completed the exhibition remembered it with
pride and related it to their later learning experience. School staff talked about the
exhibition as a key part of the PYP, when students showed their ability to be independent
learners, using their IB learner profile characteristics to pursue an inquiry. Parents were
also involved in the exhibition and regarded it as the embodiment of the IB curriculum so
far and an engagement with the “wider world” of their children’s futures. They were
deeply proud of their children’s achievements, independence, knowledge and skills and
were surprisingly aware of the school processes for managing the exhibition. Parents, as
well as children, evaluated and reflected upon the exhibition and its processes. They
noticed changes from year to year and aimed to support their children to succeed.

The PYP exhibition operates flexibly across the world, in that the children in our study
undertook it somewhere between the ages of 9 and 12 years old, as they reached the
end of the PYP. Variation in how the exhibition is planned and operates have been noted
in other studies of the PYP (e.g. Kauffman, 2005) and some of this variation appears
simply to be the result of slightly differing interpretations by schools and teachers of the
purpose and nature of the experience. Thus, in the case of the schools which Kauffman
(2005) studied, one saw the exhibition focus as about students learning more about
themselves (increasing mindfulness in current parlance, e.g. Zenner et al, 2014), while
another saw it as the opportunity for students to create something lasting and
worthwhile for their school – a school garden in this case. The point made by Kauffman
is that each of these forms of the exhibition remained “easily consistent with the IBPYP”
(p.8).

In the current study, the age of the children had an impact upon the children’s activities
and their development of critical perspectives. This impact was seen in the choice of
topics by younger children and also in the range of skills and understandings, particularly
about points of view, that the students felt they developed. Children of all ages have
been shown to engage in inquiry and to develop critical faculties, so it is perhaps to be
expected that all the children felt they had created new knowledge, conducted inquiry,
worked cooperatively and gained a wider view of the world. However, younger children
focused on reflection, understanding their own points of view and justifying these,
whereas older children were more likely to be understand the points of view of others.
The exhibition has a great deal to offer students of all ages, but this study suggests that

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 82

the age at which they do it may have an impact upon their engagement with a process
which seeks to connect them with a wider world.

The way the PYP exhibition was organised depended on a number of local factors, such
as the nature and timing of other high stakes assessments in other curricula and on
academic term times. Some schools prepared for the exhibition with a long lead in time
and saw it as a very significant part of the year. Where the exhibition was “squeezed”,
for example by the need for children to do high stakes tests for a local curriculum,
students reported a less significant experience.

The level of experience of the school was also significant in how it operated and in the
opportunities it offered to students. Experienced schools engaged children (and parents)
more fully in the processes through longer lead in times, more precise planning and
clearer understanding of the roles of students, parents and mentors. These schools gave
students support to choose challenging topics that included a global dimension and
supported students to think critically. Palmer (2016) reports an evaluation of the PYP
exhibition in a school in Azerbaijan where the global dimension was paramount and this
reflects the ambitions and scope of the exhibition work undertaken in some of our case
study schools. Less experienced schools chose narrower topics that did not promote
international mindedness and sometimes limited critical thinking through over-structured
activities.

Schools with significant experience of running the exhibition benefitted in a number of

ways. They not only had previous plans and reflections to fall back on in their current
planning, but also knew the timescales of all aspects of the exhibition, including the
location and training of a supply of mentors, the incorporation of research skills into the
rest of the curriculum in preparation for the exhibition, and the need to allow appropriate
time for a full reflection on the processes and outcomes of the experience. Schools with
experience of doing the exhibition had staff who were able to pass on successful
practices. They were also able to evaluate how much organisation of students’ activities
was too much, and when to allow students to make decisions, and work independently.
Where schools had the confidence and structures to allow students to take the lead, and
schools allocated enough curriculum time, the PYP exhibition was a student-led inquiry,
fostering critical thinking and international mindedness.

Most exhibitions in this study were examples of “social science” type inquiry, focused on
literature from school libraries, internet resources, interviews, visits and surveys. The
support and preparation for the exhibition supported these types of inquiry through the

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 83

revisiting of some of the inquiry skills already learnt in the PYP, additional study skills
support and, in many cases, the support of mentors in the schools. Critical thinking was
a key focus of this approach and was usually aligned with critical literacy skills, which
may well be the origin of a “social science’ approach. The choice of topic was also very
important for the scope of critical thinking within the inquiries. Teachers and PYP co-
ordinators managed the choice of topics and group allocations with care and sensitivity
so that students understood and supported the decisions and decision-making process.
This was a key part of the strong sense of ownership that students felt when they had
participated in this process. There is a strong trend of research which demonstrates the
relationship between student engagement and achievement (e.g. Lee, 2014) and, on this
criterion alone, we would judge from our study that the case study schools were
successful institutions.

The IB learner profile is at the heart of the exhibition because the exhibition is an
expression of the IB values (cf Bullock, 2011). All the students, teachers and parents
recognised this to a high degree. Parents felt the exhibition had raised their awareness
of the IB learner profile and there was a degree to which they expressed this as a
validation of their choice of the IB curriculum for their child’s education. Parents saw the
exhibition as their children undertaking a sophisticated independent inquiry, using 21 st
century skills and technologies that would prepare their child for the wider world.
Students also valued “future” skills, but the students also recognised their cooperative
working skills as important achievements and a source of pride. Many were clearly
engaged in what Palmer (2016) has termed ‘co-creating’, that is, working alongside
other on a shared project not just as a means of sharing the load, but also as a way of
producing an outcome bigger than any of them could have managed alone. The PYP is
not, of course, unique in its foregrounding of inquiry-based pedagogy. There have been
several reports of successful inquiry-based approaches, some focusing on children as
young as those undertaking the PYP (e.g. Hamm et al, 2013). It is probably the case,
however, that the PYP is unique in the world in terms of the scale and
comprehensiveness of the inquiry-led approach (Kushner et al, 2015).

The action element of the exhibition was challenging for schools and teachers;
coordinators clearly found it demanding to help students to identify meaningful actions.
However, parents and students in case study schools identified action as a key element
of the exhibition, which leads the international mindedness of the exhibition. Parents
spoke about the “real” nature of the activity and students aimed, in most schools, to
make a difference. This led to a number of circular discussions, where parents explained
their choice of IB education to prepare their child for a globalised future and ensure their

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 84

child understood the wider world. The action element of the exhibition appears to be a
contribution to international mindedness, a concept that proved somewhat difficult to
discuss. Barratt Hacking et al (2016) have referred to the many, ‘fuzzy’ definitions of
international mindedness, which remains an important part of the exhibition. Such
attention is also exemplified in the study by Palmer (2016) where links were deliberately
made with the tenets of the Global Citizenship Education as outlined by UNESCO (2015).

Experienced schools planned in great detail to give students clear progress points,
regular reflection slots, mentor support time, study skills training, workshop preparation
time and many other facilities. Where this planning was accessible to parents, they found
it informative and reassuring, as well as sometimes finding the expectations for their
children quite high. The findings about cooperative group work suggest that the core
skills of group work are recognised by students, parents and teachers alike. However,
other aspects of cooperative learning, such as breaking down a process into tasks were
not recognised by students and it may be that there is a slight tension between
meticulous pre-planning and the students’ abilities to make independent decisions.

The choice of topic was a very important part of the exhibition process because it was, in
itself, an inquiry. Experienced school staff were more likely to enable students to choose
broad, insoluble issues to explore in their exhibition. These are precisely the sort of
“messy” forms of inquiry identified in the review of literature as “authentic” and which
are most likely to lead students to engage with the problem solving that can be applied
in new situations. In our case study schools, these types of exhibition topic were closely
related to action and exploring the topic, and exploring the topics and setting limits for
the inquiry was a valuable part of the whole exhibition process. At their best, they were
exemplars of the student-centred integrative model of curriculum devised by Beane
(1993) and applied to Australian middle level schooling by Dowden (2007).

Schools with experience of the PYP exhibition dedicated time and effort to preparation
and training of staff and mentors for the exhibition. These schools were able to maintain
a high-quality experience for students despite changes of staff. This continuity was a
credit to the planning, reflection and training undertaken within the schools. It is likely
that schools in this position could share their expertise with less experienced schools.

Students, parents and teachers all saw the PYP exhibition as preparing students for a
longer-term future, in which critical, inquiring learners would have an advantage.
However, the PYP exhibition was also seen as good preparation for the MYP curriculum
(and also other unrelated curricula) by students undertaking the exhibition, by students

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 85

who had undertaken the exhibition, by parents and by PYP teachers. MYP teachers
attended most of the exhibitions we observed, but we did not see a systematic transfer
of information to schools, even though parents expected it. This was a wasted
opportunity.

The assessment of the PYP exhibition was complex and ongoing. The criteria were
unclear to parents and sometimes unclear to students. However, there was a shared
understanding that assessment was a continuous process throughout the time of the
exhibition and this had the support of most of the parents. A very few parents, in certain
countries, would have liked to understand how their children were performing relative to
other children, but this was an exception. This approach to assessment is very much in
keeping with IBO tenets, as outlined and evaluated by Harlen and Johnson (2014).

All the schools we visited included a “judging” or criteria-related assessment of the

exhibition day although the judgements were somewhat variable. In some cases, they
were made by teachers, mentors, visiting MYP teachers or even visiting dignitaries. As
such, these assessments were not well standardised but they were well understood by
students. The most valuable use of these criteria was as a basis for student reflection,
which took the form of self-assessment, video or a final written reflection. These
reflections, like many of our interviews, showed self-aware students who were able to
consider their own activities and cognition. They were balanced in their assessments and
positive in identifying actions to take them forward.

7 Conclusion

This research explored a keystone event in an inquiry led curriculum. The study found
overwhelming support from parents, students and teachers for the exhibition as an
activity and a deep conviction that this was not only a good use of curriculum time, but
the pinnacle of PYP achievement. For many parents, the exhibition renewed a
relationship with the IB learner profile and affirmed their choice of an IB education.
Students doing their exhibition were the independent, critical, internationally minded
learners that parents and teachers aspired to.

The PYP exhibition promotes inquiry and critical thinking in ways that are obvious to the
participants and which build on the student and teacher experience of the PYP. Through
reflection on the IB learner profile attributes, the steps of inquiry and aspects of
criticality, students and teachers could track these areas of learning, although there were
differences in the nature and level of critical thinking expected in different local

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 86

circumstances. The arrangements for the exhibition include clear, structured support
and teaching for inquiry, critical thinking and cooperative learning, in the context of an
authentic and public opportunity to use these skills. At the same time, the exhibition
teaches, promotes and celebrates these aspects of learning, the IB learner profile and
the cooperation between students through group work. These are also important
components of international mindedness. Although this was less easily expressed by
participants, the parents praised the exhibition precisely for the world view, criticality,
knowledge and learner profile attributes it engendered in their children. They identified
these as “future friendly, “real world” and “global” attitudes and skills.

The action aspect of the exhibition is demanding for teachers but very important in
driving international mindedness. This aspect of the exhibition is very important in
establishing “authenticity” for the students. The action element of the exhibition engages
students with the wider community and drives other aspects of international
mindedness. At the same time, the “authenticity” of the exhibition, vested in the
students’ role in decision making, the choice of topic and the action, drive meaningful
inquiry learning.

Experienced PYP schools have substantial expertise in managing what is a complex

process. One size will not fit all and it is the skill of school staff in managing, reflecting
on and adapting their planning that offers the very best experience. This should be
shared across schools.

This research took a broad look at the participant’s views of the IB exhibition through
seven case studies and surveys of the participants. It did not aim to compare the
outcomes in a structured way, though this would be a valuable activity. There is more
work to be done to understand how cultural settings affect understandings of critical
thinking and critical literacies and, indeed, the use of technologies.

8 Recommendations

The PYP exhibition is a valuable learning activity for students completing the PYP. It
offers a culminating inquiry learning experience that develops critical thinking and
international mindedness and should remain a key part of the PYP.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 87

Schools should aim to support students to select wide-ranging topics for inquiry to
promote international mindedness. It is important to review these topics as the
exhibition proceeds.

Teachers should consider the “action” element of the exhibition from the start of
planning, recognizing that this is a difficult, but valuable, aspect of the exhibition that is
profoundly connected to international mindedness. Allocation of time to the action
element of the exhibition is an important criterion for its success and should be planned
and monitored by coordinators.

Teachers should plan well in advance for the PYP exhibition, starting with the
engagement of parents and students with the exhibitions of pupils in previous years of
schooling.

Schools should aim to plan “just enough” support to enable students to understand,
engage with and achieve their goals- but should review this support to retain a student-
led experience. Sharing the support offered with parents promotes confidence in
parents.

In developing critical thinking, schools with younger children may wish to use clear
examples and more structured teaching to explore the perspectives of others, as this is
particularly challenging.

A range of sample “cases” should be made available to exhibition schools.

Schools with significant experience have a great reserve of expertise. It would be useful
to other schools to share this. Currently, schools benefit enormously from visits to the
exhibitions of other schools, but shared training and “critical friendship” between
exhibition schools would be an advantage, especially for schools new to the exhibition.

Schools should build upon students’ PYP exhibition achievements and feed information to
their next schools. However, the use and format of this information will require further
investigation to ensure it is useful for recipients.

Schools should share information about their management of the PYP exhibition with the
next school.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 88

Training sessions to develop the assessment of the exhibition would be useful but the
focus on reflection should remain.

The exhibition provides an opportunity for students to see reflection as a “real world”
skill, employed by their own teachers. At present this opportunity to share reflections of
teachers is not always used and this could be developed.

The MYP should consider whether the inquiry skills developed in the exhibition are built
upon early enough in the MYP.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 89

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10 Appendices

10.1 Appendix 1: Samples of ethical documentation

(all documents available on request)

Information for potential participants

All consent forms were presented on University of Nottingham headed paper in the
relevant language

The impact of the PYP exhibition on the development of international

mindedness, critical thinking and attributes of the IB learner profile

Dr Jane Medwell
Dr Lucy Cooker
Dr Lucy Bailey

You have been invited to take part in a research study. Before you agree to take part it
is important to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve.

Please take time to carefully read the following information. Please ask if there is
anything that is not clear, or if you would like more information. Please think about it
carefully and then decide whether you would like to take part or not.

What is the project about?

This project is about the PYP exhibition in IB World Schools. The research team want to
find out about your views about how the PYP exhibition contributes to critical thinking,
international mindedness and the attributes of the IB profile.

What are the aims of the research?

This project has five broad aims:
1. To understand the practices involved in implementing the PYP exhibition in IB
schools.
2. To understand what PYP teachers, students and parent/guardians believe to be
the impact of PYP exhibition study on international-mindedness, critical thinking
and IB learner profile attributes.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 94

 3. To understand how PYP exhibition can promote parent/guardian engagement
with, and understanding of, the IB Programmes.
4. To explore whether the PYP exhibition supports student transition to the MYP.
5. To understand how mentor participation (where used) promotes international-
mindedness, critical thinking and IB learner profile attributes

Who else is and can be involved?

We are inviting a number of IB World Schools around the world to take part.

What sorts of methods are being used?

Data will be collected in a number of ways. We want to understand the views of school
managers, parents, teachers and students. This will involve a survey to students,
teachers and parents and interviews with teachers, students, senior
administrators/managers and parents.

Why have you been chosen?

You have been invited to participate in this study because your child attends a school
which offers the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme.

What are you being asked to do?

You are being asked to participate in an interview. It will last for up to one hour. The
discussion will be recorded using a digital voice recorder.

Will my taking part in this study be kept confidential?

The data we collect will be treated confidentially, and only members of the research
team will have access to the raw data. All information collected while carrying out the
study will be stored on a database which is password protected and strictly confidential.
The digital and textual data resulting from the interviews will be kept in a secure and
confidential location. Your name will not appear on any database or any information
which is then published. Instead, a number will be used as an identifier on all data
associated with you. The master copy of the names associated with each number will be
kept in a secure and confidential location. The management of the research data will be
in accordance with the University of Nottingham’s Research Data Management Policy:
https://nottingham.ac.uk/research/research-data-management/creating-
data/policies.aspx

We will report the results anonymously. When results are reported all individuals and
institutions (individual schools) will be anonymised, so neither you nor your child’s

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 95

school will be identifiable. We are committed to carrying out our research according to
the University of Nottingham’s Code of Research Conduct and Research Ethics and
ethical guidelines provided by the British Educational Research Association:
https://www.bera.ac.uk/researchers-resources/publications/ethical-guidelines-for-
educational-research-2011
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/fabs/rgs/documents/code-of-research-conduct-and-
research-ethics-approved-january-2010.pdf

What will happen to the results of the research study?

The results of study will be used in our report to the International Baccalaureate
Organization. We also expect to present findings at professional conferences and in
academic and professional journals.

Do you have to take part?

Your participation is entirely voluntary. It is important you understand that you do not
have to participate in the project at all, and even if you decide to take part you are still
free to stop at any time and without giving a reason. We will not ask you to participate
without you formally providing your consent. If you do decide to take part you will be
given this information sheet to keep and asked to sign a form giving your permission to
take part.

What are the possible disadvantages of taking part?

The interview may take up to one hour of your time. We realise that some people may
find this tiring or difficult. We will ask you to reflect on your child’s learning and we
understand that for some this may cause feelings of discomfort or anxiety. Otherwise,
we do not believe there are any risks or disadvantages to you in taking part.

What are the possible benefits to me of taking part?

We hope that your views, and those of others, will be used to develop the IB Curriculum,
and to help schools and the IBO understand how the PYP exhibition can be effectively
developed in IB World Schools.

Who is paying for this research and who is carrying it out?

The research has been commissioned by the International Baccalaureate Organization in
order to help them evaluate the effectiveness of their programme. It is hoped the
research will help teachers further develop the curriculum in IB schools. The work is
being carried out by researchers from the School of Education at The University of
Nottingham in the UK. The team is led by Dr Jane Medwell – if you have any questions or

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 96

concerns about the research you can contact her or other members of the research team
by email or by phone

Dr Jane Medwell
e: [email protected] p: +44 (0)7742 470702

Dr Lucy Cooker
e: [email protected] p: +44 (0)115 951 4437

Dr Lucy Bailey
e: [email protected] p: +6 (03) 8725 3583

You can also raise issues with the Research Ethics Committee, University of Nottingham
School of Education

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 97

Agreement to participate through the survey. Consent wording- adults
(examples are parents and teachers). Presented in the relevant language

Dear Parent,

The impact of the PYP exhibition on the development of international

mindedness, critical thinking and attributes of the IB learner profile

We are a group of researchers from the University of Nottingham who have been
commissioned by the International Baccalaureate Organization to carry out some research.
The school which your child (or the child you care for) attends has agreed to participate in
that research project.

We would like to invite your child/the child you care for to take part in the research
study. In order for your child/the child you care for to take part, we need to ask for your
consent. Before you agree to your child/the child you care for taking part it is important
to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve.

Please take time to carefully read the following information. Please feel free to contact
any member of the research team if there is anything that is not clear, or if you would
like more information. All our contact details are at the end of this letter. Please think
about the involvement of your child/the child you care for carefully, and then decide
whether you would permit her/him to take part or not.

What is the project about?

This project is about the PYP exhibition in IB World Schools. The research team want to
find out about your views about how the PYP exhibition contributes to critical thinking,
international mindedness and the attributes of the IB profile.

What are the aims of the research?

This project has five broad aims:
1. To understand the practices involved in implementing the PYP exhibition in IB
schools.
2. To understand what PYP teachers, students and parent/guardians believe to be
the impact of PYP exhibition study on international-mindedness, critical thinking
and IB learner profile attributes.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 98

 3. To understand how PYP exhibition can promote parent/guardian engagement
with, and understanding of, the IB Programmes.
4. To explore whether the PYP exhibition supports student transition to the MYP.
5. To understand how mentor participation (where used) promotes international-
mindedness, critical thinking and IB learner profile attributes

Who else is and can be involved?

We are inviting a number of IB World Schools around the world to take part.

What sorts of methods are being used?

Data will be collected in a number of ways. We want to understand the views of school
managers, parents, teachers and students. This will involve a survey to students,
teachers and parents and interviews with teachers, students and senior
administrators/managers. Ideally we would like to talk to parents as well.

Why has your child/the child you care for been chosen?
Your child/the child you care for has been invited to participate in this study because they
attend a school which offers the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme.

What is your child/the child you care for being asked to do?
Your child/the child you care for is being asked to participate in an interview with the
research team. The interview will be age-appropriate and asks about your child’s
experience of the PYP and views on a number of related issues. The interview will take
30 minutes.

Will the involvement in this study of my child/the child I care for be kept
confidential?
The data we collect will be treated confidentially, and only members of the research
team will have access to the raw data. All information collected while carrying out the
study will be stored on a database which is password protected and strictly confidential.
The data resulting from the interviews will be kept in a secure and confidential location.
The name of your child/the child you care for will not appear on any database or any
information which is then published. Instead, a number will be used as an identifier on
all data associated with them. The master copy of the names associated with each
number will be kept in a secure and confidential location. The management of the
research data will be in accordance with the University of Nottingham’s Research Data
Management Policy:

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 99

https://nottingham.ac.uk/research/research-data-management/creating-
data/policies.aspx

We will report the results anonymously. When results are reported all individuals and
institutions (individual schools) will be anonymised, so neither your child/the child you
care for, nor their school will be identifiable. We are committed to carrying out our
research according to the University of Nottingham’s Code of Research Conduct and
Research Ethics and ethical guidelines provided by the British Educational Research
Association:
https://www.bera.ac.uk/researchers-resources/publications/ethical-guidelines-for-
educational-research-2011
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/fabs/rgs/documents/code-of-research-conduct-and-
research-ethics-approved-january-2010.pdf

What will happen to the results of the research study?

The results of study will be used in our report to the International Baccalaureate
Organization. We also expect to present findings at professional conferences and in
academic and professional journals.

Does your child/the child you care for have to take part?
The participation of your child/the child you care for is entirely voluntary. Whether they
take part in the study or not, there will be no impact on their grades or assessment.

It is important your child/the child you care for understands that they do not have to
participate in the project at all, and even if they decide to take part they are still free to
stop at any time and without giving a reason. We will not ask them to participate without
both you (their parent/guardian) and the child themselves formally providing their
consent.

If you and your child/the child you care for do decide to take part you do not have to do
anything further. If you do not want your child to take part, please complete the slip at
the bottom of this letter and return it to the school.

What are the possible disadvantages of taking part?

The interview will take up to 30 minutes. We realise that some children may find this
tiring or difficult.

What are the possible benefits to me of taking part?

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 100

We hope that the views of your child/the child you care for, and those of others, will be
used to develop the IB Curriculum, and to help schools and the IBO understand how the
PYP exhibition can be effectively developed in IB World Schools.

Who is paying for this research and who is carrying it out?

The research has been commissioned by the International Baccalaureate Organization in
order to help them evaluate the effectiveness of their programme. It is hoped the
research will help teachers further develop the curriculum in IB schools. The work is
being carried out by researchers from the School of Education at The University of
Nottingham in the UK. The team is led by Dr Jane Medwell– if you have any questions or
concerns about the research you can contact her or other members of the research team
by email or by phone

Dr Jane Medwell
E [email protected] p: +44 (0)7721470702

Dr Lucy Cooker
e: [email protected] p: +44 (0)115 951 4437

Dr Lucy Bailey
e: [email protected] p: +6 (03) 8725 3583

You can also raise issues with the Research Ethics Committee, University of Nottingham
School of Education [email protected]

Yours faithfully

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 101

 The PYP Exhibition in International Schools

Agreement to Participate

Please check your responses below.

1. I understand the nature and purpose of this research.

Yes No

2. I have received enough information to make an informed decision about taking part.
Yes No

3. I understand that I can raise questions, offer criticisms and make suggestions about
the project.
Yes No

4. I understand that I can decide not to participate in this project at any time after
agreeing to.
Yes No

5. Do you agree to contribute to this research?

Yes No

6. Do you agree the conversation or discussion can be audio-recorded?

Yes No

7. Your consent indicates that you have decided to take part in this project after
considering the information provided, and that you know you can raise questions and
decide not to participate at any time.

Signature/verbal consent _______________________________________________

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 102

Date __________________________________________________________________

Name _________________________________________________________________
Email/contact
(optional)_______________________________________________________

For more information, contact Dr Jane Medwell (Principal Investigator), University of

Nottingham School of Education, [email protected]

You can also raise issues with the Research Ethics Committee, University of Nottingham
School of Education [email protected]

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 103

10.2 Appendix 2: An example of how the transdisciplinary theme, central idea, lines of inquiry and student questions are
interlinked
Transdisciplinary Central idea Lines of inquiry Research questions
theme
Where we are in Throughout Ancient civilisations have In what way did the Egyptians’ beliefs influence their way of life and does this still impact us today?
place and time history, shaped our beliefs and How did the philosophy and science of ancient Greece have an impact of our knowledge of the world?
people have our understanding of the What legacy did the Roman Empire leave us?
explored, world we live in How did the Aztec’s culture adapt to the Spanish Conquest and still partly survive?
journeyed How did the Incas’ culture adapt to the Spanish Conquest and still partly survive?
and settled Our family histories have How does my family’s personal trials in Europe during WW2 connect to the historical issue of the Holocaust?
all over our influenced who we are How does my family’s personal involvement in the Tokyo bombing during WW2 connect to the USA’s attitude
world today towards Japan before and after the war?
How does the story of the [family name] family in the last 100 years show us what life was like in England during
this time?
How does my family’s perosnal involvement in the Armenian genocide and the Soviet deportations connect to
broader historical events?
Humans have made an How and why did the discovery of the North and South Poles affect the explorers as well as our understanding of
impact on the world the world?
through their explorations Who are the native peoples of the Himalayas and how were they affected by the European explorations both in
and discoveries the past and the present?
How and why did the Portuguese discovery of Brasil take place, and what consequences did it have?
How did Henry Hudson’s discovery of Manahatta affect the Native Americans and forever change our world?
Individuals and societies How and why are Syrian refugees migrating to Europe?
have migrated to other Why is there such a large Japanese migration to Hawaii and what are its effect on both the Japanese and the
countries from choice or Hawaiian Americans?
need. What negative or positive effects do refugees create for the countries that take them in?
How did forced migration to Australia transform the lives of convicts and affect the country?
Throughout history, How are the Amazon indios in South America able to keep their tribal culture alive in our technological world?
people have journeyed, To what extent do three African tribes (Masai, Chogga and San Bushmen) continue to keep their traditional culture
settled and adapted to alive in today’s modern world?
their surroundings, Why have homes and architecture in Goa changed from past to present, and how has this affected peoples’ lives?
creating a variety of How did the settlement of white people in Iroquois land affect both the Iroquois people and the settlers?
different cultures. How do the Aborigines in Australia understand the world through art, music and journeys?

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 104

10.3 Appendix 3: The IBO Learner Profile Attributes

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 105

10.4 Appendix 4: Examples from questionnaires to parents, teachers and
students in different languages

(Full versions of any of these questionnaires can be obtained on request to the research
team)

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 106

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 107
The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 108
The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 109
The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 110
The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 111
The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 112
10.5 Appendix 5: Further statistical analysis of the questionnaire outcomes

The quantitative data were initially downloaded as SPSS (Statistical Package for Social
Scientists) files from the Bristol Online Survey tool. These SPSS files allowed analysis of
the raw responses to give us a picture of the dataset. Some of these descriptive figures
have been included in the discussion above. Analysing only the raw data or comparing
percentages of agreement does not give an indication of patterns in the data, the
variation of responses across items by an individual or the differences between the items
overall, so further analysis was undertaken using Mokken Scale Analysis (Molenaar &
Sijtsma, 2000) and Rasch (Rasch, 1960) analysis. These types of analyses are
particularly useful for measuring Likert-style items and latent traits, that is, traits that
are not directly observable. This is done by looking at the way participants respond to a
pool of items, such as the items in our questionnaires about inquiry skills, cooperative
learning and learner attributes to find overall patterns.

Analysing the data in this way acknowledges that survey responses give information
about the characteristics of the participants as well as information about the items
themselves and how well the items function in measuring the participants. In essence,
looking the patterns of responses across people allows us to compare the items against
each other to find relationships between items.

Mokken Scale Analysis and Rasch analysis are probabilistic models, meaning that “a
person’s latent trait value can be compared with the amount of the trait that is required
by the item for its solution with a certain probability” (Molenaar & Sijtsma, 2000, p. 5).
Mokken Scale Analysis was chosen to analyse this survey data to create a scale from a
given pool of items and by finding which items ‘scale together’. The analysis finds which
items are theoretically measuring the same latent trait. For the Mokken Scale Analysis,
the program MSP5 was used (Molenaar & Sijtsma, 2000).

Rasch analysis was conducted as the second step when more than six items were found
to be statistically related. After finding which items measure together, through Mokken
Scale Analysis, the next step was to find out the relationship between the items. Rasch
analysis supposes that respondents demonstrate a range of ‘ability’ and that items
portray a range of ‘difficulty’ based on how easy or difficult it is for each person to agree
or disagree to the item. The analysis allows a range of views of respondents and requires
a range of difficulty of items. Rasch analysis provides a deeper understanding of the data
by finding which items were overall ‘easy’/’common’ or ‘difficult’/’less common’ for
respondents to endorse across varying responses. It identifies respondents whose

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 113

responses ‘misfit’ the model and allows a critique of the items themselves. Rasch
analyses were conducted using the programs Winsteps (Linacre, 2017).

A full technical appendix for the quantitative analysis is available on request by emailing
the research team.

Statistical findings about the IB learner profile

The statistical analysis shows that a significant finding of this survey was concerning the
PYP exhibition’s impact on the IB learner profile attributes. All nine attributes scaled
together to measure a single latent trait. While the IB learner profile attributes may
seem to include varying concepts, the items were found to be statistically related and
that they combine to form a single measurable trait. While these ideas could be
conceptually analysed as separate attributes, they do seem to be related, especially in
the context of inquiry-based learning.

The items in the survey asked for students’ and teachers’ perceptions of how well the
PYP exhibition helped the students develop the IB learner profile attributes. The strength
of the relationship and the number of items allows us to present the data in a hierarchy
(Figure 6). This means that the attributes at the bottom of the hierarchy are most
common and the items at the top are the least common, although all the items are
related.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 114

 Knowledgeable

Inquirer

Communicator

Reflective

Open-minded

Risk-taker

Caring

Prinicpled

Balanced

Figure 6: Item Hierarchy for IB learner profile Attributes Scale. Perception by parents,
teachers and students of how much IB learner profile attributes were strengthened by
student participating in the PYP exhibition

The statistical relationship of the responses means that participation in the PYP
exhibition is perceived to increase all of the IB learner profile attributes in a related way.
While the survey found that all of the IB learner profile attributes were perceived to be
strengthened by participation in the PYP exhibition, the items at the bottom of the
hierarchy were seen as more commonly strengthened than those at the top. The IB
learner profile attributes of being balanced, principled and caring were strengthened the
most.

Student Cooperation Scale and Student Action Scale

The students were asked a series of rating scale questions regarding their understanding
of the exhibition, their perception of the use of language and literacy skills for the
exhibition, their sources of information, teamwork skills, their inquiry skills, cooperative
learning, and how they felt the PYP exhibition would prepare them for the MYP. In the
student survey, two scales were created of items that were statistically linked.

A scale of three items that are statistically linked and increase together was created that
demonstrates the relationship between working closely with other students, discussion
information with others and feeling responsible toward the other students. This means
that the group learning aspect of the project facilitates discussion about information

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 115

between the students and feelings responsibility toward each other. The related items
are represented below in Figure 7.

During my
I felt responsible exhibition study
to the other I discussed my
children I was choices of
working with information with
others

I worked closely with

other children to
complete the
exhibition

Figure 7: Student Cooperation Scale. Students identified the ways that cooperation
occurred during the preparation for the PYP exhibition

These items are particularly important features of cooperative learning approaches and
Gilles (2014) notes that students who experience “promotive interactions’, that is
discussion with other group members who give feedback, are likely to be better
motivated in their tasks. This combination of feelings also suggests students feel both
personal responsibility and accountability- key features of successful co-operative
learning. The group and individual aspects of the PYP exhibition combine to promote
successful learning.

A second scale of was created of fifteen survey items that are statistically linked, i.e.
they increase together. These demonstrate a clear trait or characteristic that we have
called ‘Student Action’. These items are identified below in Figure 8. The strength of the
relationship means it is possible to present the data in a hierarchy. Where any
respondent answered positively to the item at the top of the hierarchy, they are likely to
have also answered positively to all the items below it. The items at the bottom of the
hierarchy are most common and the items at the top are the least common, although all
the items are related.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 116

 Doing the
exhibition
has enabled
me to
explore
information
about other
cultures
Doing the
exhibition has
enabled me to
understand the
actions of people
in other cultures

Doing the exhibition

has helped me to
reflect on the views
of people in other
cultures

Doing the exhibition

has enabled me to use
different forms of
language and literacy
Doing the exhibition study I
justified my point of view,
using evidence and
argument

I feel more confident about going

on to MYP/my next school year
after doing the exhibition

The exhibition has helped me to

develop attitudes I will use in MYP/my
next school year

My exhibition led to an action

Doing the exhibition has helped me to reflect on

my own point of view

My exhibition topic helped me look at different points of

view

My exhibition topic helped me look at different points of view

My exhibition topic helped me look at different points of view

I worked out the best ways to present my work

The exhibition has helped me to learn knowledge I will use in MYP/my next
school year

The exhibition has helped me to develop my skills I will use in MYP/my next school
year

Figure 8: Item Hierarchy for Student Action Scale

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 117

Parent/Carer Help Scale

Parents/carers, students and teachers were asked about the ways that parents/carers
helped students prepare their PYP exhibition projects and, because similar questions
were asked of all three groups, analysis was conducted including all three groups
together. A Mokken Scale Analysis found that, while a few items scaled together with all
three groups, the items did not uniformly scale across three groups. This may be due to
the lower number of responses from parents and teachers and the higher number of
responses from students. A Rasch analysis was conducted to further investigate whether
the scaling issue was due to the items or to the respondents. Rasch analysis was
conducted starting with all 12 items and all parents/carers, students, and teachers. The
strength of the relationship means it is possible to present the data in a hierarchy
(Figure 9) that demonstrates “Parent/Carer Help”. This means simply that where any
respondent answered positively to the item at the top of the hierarchy, they are likely to
have also answered positively to all the items below it. The items are all related and the
items at the bottom of the hierarchy are most common and the items at the top are the
least common.

Parent/Carer
helped the student
choose topic

Parent/Carer discussed
the exhibition with the
teacher

Parent/Carer helped the student to

organise their work

Parent/Carer worked on researching material

with the student

Parent/Carer helped keep the student interested in work

Parent/Carer discussed exhibition with the student

Parent/Carer attended (or will attend) the exhibition

Figure 9: Parent/Carer Help Scale. Student, teacher, and parent/carer perceptions of

parent/carer involvement in the PYP exhibition

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 118

The hierarchy of the items shows that parents/carers, teacher, and students perceived
parent/carer support most frequently in parent/carer attendance at the exhibition.
Parents/carer were also perceived to be discussion the exhibition with students and
helping to prepare some elements of the exhibition. Parents/carers were least likely to
be seen as choosing the students’ topics, discussing the exhibition with teachers, and
organising student work.

Figure 10: Measures on Parent/Carer Help Scale by role. Measures in logits based on
Parent Help Scale items

Figure 10 shows the spread and median of each of the three groups on the same Parent
Help Scale. While the spread of scale for each group was similar, the median
parent/carer response is significantly higher than the median student or teacher
response and all of the outlying cases are low on the Parent/Carer Help Scale and
reported by students and teachers. This means that generally, parents/carers felt that
they were more helpful than students or teachers thought the parents were.

Some parent/carer help items were not included in this analysis because they did not
scale with these items, so they were not statistically related to the other items.
Interestingly this included attendance at school briefings, “Took part in school activities
or trips towards the exhibition”, “discussed the exhibition with the teacher” and the
items about feedback from parent/carer to student. It is possible that this may be

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 119

because teachers and students were not aware of these activities that the parents were
involved in. It is also notable that the item “Helped my children prepare elements of the
exhibition” did not scale with the other items, this may be because, as discussed above,
this was an issue teachers felt very strongly about and in some cases the parents had
been specifically asked not to assist their child in preparing materials.

The Impact of the PYP exhibition - Final Report Page 120