All teachers transform theory into practice, but IB teachers go beyond. Grounded in a global mindset, IB educators are catalysts for infusing higher-order thinking skills into a new generation of learners and leaders. Educators draw on the IB’s highly acclaimed, research-based curriculum to prepare students for global leadership roles. IB World Schools often recruit teachers who have prior IB teaching experience, leaving those without IB teaching experience fewer employment opportunities in IB schools. To empower educators to become part of the growing network of IB educators, the IB partners with universities and institutions to offer the IB certificate in teaching and learning and the advanced certificate in teaching and learning research. The IB educator certificates are professional certificates that complement your academic qualifications and signal to school heads that you are capable of teaching in an IB World School.

Pre-service teachers , new teachers , experienced IB Educators;

– in the fields of (a) language, (b) mathematics, (c) science, (d) social studies, (e)arts, (f) social, personal and physical education (g) drama & dance (h) librarians (i) religious studies

– who work or want to work in an IB-PYPschool

– who have B1 (CEF) level English knowledge.

If you cannot document your English proficiency, you need to take 60/100 in our proficiency test.

If you do not know English or have limited knowledge, we will offer an intensive language course.

Hasan Kalyoncu University Continuous Education Center, Istanbul, Turkey

Course descriptions

• Philosophy of IB and Teaching Methodology

The teachers who complete this course will develop a multi-faceted perspective on IB and internalize its philosophy. PYP students should be individuals who are researching, knowing, thinking creatively, communicating effectively, making relevant decisions, pioneering, open-minded, risk taking, reflective and balanced individuals. It should also be noted that the PYP students perceive the world and view the big picture with an interdisciplinary perspective. In this lesson, teachers will learn about the method, technique, strategy, etc. that the IB first year program expects from teaching. They will be able to select, edit, and access routes to create the instructional designIn this context, the methods and techniques that forefront the student and actively engage them in the learning process, enable their thinking skills (transformational thinking, empathy, critical thinking, creative thinking, self regulation), constructivist learning theory, contextual and inquisitive learning approach, interdisciplinary thematic teaching will be instructed.  They will both learn theoretical knowledge about teaching, based on individual differences, and qualified teaching services, and they will be able to transform their knowledge into application. They will also be willing to cooperate and develop their thinking, social, communication, self-regulation and research skills with disciplinary thematic teaching.The IB Philosophy and Teaching Methods course will be offered blended by the relevant instructor. Teacher’s transforming their knowledge will be supported during micro-teaching practices. And the achievement of the trainees will be checked through teacher reflective essays.

• Curriculum development

PYP students should be individuals who are researching, knowing, thinking creatively, communicating effectively, making relevant decisions, pioneering, open-minded, risk taking, reflective and balanced individuals. Systems in which empathy  is not installed by the student are not suitable for PYP understanding. The training of individuals with these equipment is possible through the preparation of effective programs. This course aims to familiarize the general purpose teachers with the purpose, historical development, importance, programs according to age groups, the achievements and opportunities provided to teachers and students by the IB program, which is shaped according to the basis of international education. Through this training, teachers will reach a level where they can prepare a student-centered curriculum in a transdisciplinary way within key concepts and central themes (who we are, where and when we are, how we express ourselves, how the world works, how we organize ourselves, how we share the planet). In addition, they will internalize the question; how can I ensure that the students have the goal of “conceptual understanding, acquiring knowledge, acquiring skills, attitudes and actions” in the multi-faceted development of the concepts, knowledge, skills, attitudes and actions that constitute the basic elements of IB-PYP? In this context, teachers will firstly meet with the educational program and its sub-concepts, will be able to grasp the types of education programs and the subjects and reach the level to organize each element. In particular, they will learn the concept-based instructional design that the IB-PYP system considers to be, so that they will be ready to implement the program. Program development course will be given blended by the relevant instructor. Process evaluation will be provided with performance duties and reflective letters.

• Social Responsibility

The social and emotional well-being of students and staff is stated a barometer of a healthy school, and thus is fundamental to ensuring a conducive environment for effective teaching and learning. Therefore, teachers in IB PYP program are highly suggested to internalize this concept and to give continuous support to their students in this sense so that students in IB PYP schools have good relationships with others, report positive attitudes towards themselves and their friends and family, have positive attitudes towards school, their home environment, and their neighbourhood and most importantly to global hardships. With this ideal in mind, this course aims at raising the awareness of trainees regarding the importance of being involved in social responsibility projects by assigning them to some voluntary work at some organizations such as “Orphanage, elderly care, children with leukemia”. Thus, as a result of hands-on experience, they will be able to observe the changes in their social and emotional well-being which in turn will help them apply this feature in their classrooms and add to the knowledge and personal skill of learners. In addition to the possible outcomes listed above, trainees will be able to improve their students’ feelings and skills of empathy, critical thinking, inquirers, reflective, sensitive to social problems, caring not only in their environment but all around the world.

The course will be 3 hrs/ 14 weeks. It will be in the form of blended instruction. 2 hours every week will be online and 1 hour will be face-to-face.

For the assessment of the course, each trainee will keep reflective diaries in which they think critically and reflect on the completed task. These reflections will then be brought to the classroom in the form of in-class feedback and discussion. Therefore, trainees’ diaries will be accepted as the portfolio, their oral and written feedback to each other in/out of the class will also add to the weighting of the final score.

• Practice Teaching and Professional Development

Throughout the HKU-ITTC program the participating trainees will undertake 5 theoretical course as listed in this curriculum. The application of these theoretical courses will be required in cooperating IB PYP school (NUN Schools, Istanbul, Turkey). With this course, it is aimed to provide a variety of high-quality professional development opportunities to help new, experienced and expert school leaders and educators understand, support, and successfully deliver IB programmes reflecting IB standards and practices. Therefore, each trainee will be assigned to the cooperating school to a mentor IB PYP educator depending on their branches. Every week trainees have to complete observation tasks which are identified in cooperation with the cooperating IBPYP school leader(s), design and implement materials and tests, take role in school activities, and teach at least three hours per week. Trainees will also be responsible to write reflective papers on their materials and assessment design and application process and also their practice teaching. The experience they gain will be discussed in the class in the form of oral reflection and feedback sessions every week after their practice teaching. Trainees will also have individual feedback and conferencing sessions with the mentor IB PYP educators.

The assessment of this course will be done by both the mentor in cooperating school and the supervisor in the HKU-ITTC program. The assessment will include all the materials and tests developed and the teaching practice. Observation forms and assessment criteria will be used to evaluate the success of the trainee throughout the semester.

• Educational technologies, Materials design and adaptation

Effective material design course aims to develop trainees’ abilities regarding, student centered and active thinking skills in learning process. Meanwhile, trainees are educated to be able to develop teaching and learning tools for their practice in PYP education. During the instruction trainees are guided to implement transformative thinking, empathy, critical thinking, creative thinking skills in the process that will support them in their teaching based on constructivist learning theory, contextual and interrogative learning approach, interdisciplinary thematic teaching, concept based teaching. Additionally, trainees will acquire the significance of materials in their design of effective teaching environment which is appropriate for their strategies, teaching methods and techniques. Another aspect of the course will be about the reasons of designing and developing materials. In doing so, factors such as design issues (e.g. lines, shapes, patterns, colours, dimensions) and materials design principlessuch as; Integrity, balance, emphasis, alignment, closeness will be instructed. In this context, disciplinary thematic teaching, which provides the opportunity to work collaboratively, will improve students’ thinking, social, communication, self-regulation and research skills.

Therefore, the purpose of material design is to train teachers as capable PYP teachers to develop tools that will contribute to learner-centered teaching in which cultural differences and to students’ individual differences are taken into consideration. They will also be able to see the big picture and improve their attitudes to use and evaluate related tools. In this sense, these teachers’ students will be educated as inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, reflective.

Educational technologies section of this course will include the recent technologies to develop, design, search for and share materials with other PYP teachers all around the world. Additionally, they will be informed about the technological support system of IB where they can find, and download numerous materials etc.

Educational technologies and Materials design course will be blended. Teachers will cooperate with the transdisciplines to support their application with various materials that they have developed thematically in accordance with the education program and the assessment will be done through the evaluation of the materials they have developed and the reflective essays they write both during the designing process and the application process.

• Assessment

It is a well-known fact that effective and meaningful assessment is one of the important components of PYP for conceptual understanding, level of knowledge and self-awareness of students. It allows students share their learning and understanding with other, demonstrate a range of knowledge, conceptual understanding and skills, participate in reflection, self and peer assessment. They can also analyze their learning and understand what they need to improve. Therefore, it is for sure that it also informs teachers about every stage of the learning and teaching process. In other words, it allows teachers check for prior knowledge and understanding, gather evidence for further inquiries, collaboratively review and reflect on student performance and progress.

In this sense, Assessment course has been designed to instruct trainees regarding the effective assessment forms (e.g. diagnostic/pre-assessment, summative assessment, formative assessment, portfolio assessment and other alternative assessment tools). In doing so, essential elements of PYP such as; knowledge, skills, concepts, attitudes and action will be aimed to work on.

Performance-assessment, process-focused assessment, self-assessment and open-ended tasks which require students to research and collaborate will also be the focus of the instruction. In order to support trainees to gain practice in applying theory into practice, they will be required to prepare sample tests for ach assessment tool and apply in real environment.

Since one of the major components of the PYP is the exhibition with which students are expected to develop and present their own collaborative unit of inquiry that showcases the five essential elements of the PYP (knowledge, skills, concepts, attitudes and action), trainees will also be instructed regarding the importance of this end-program task. They will also be informed about the methods and strategies to support students for an effective exhibition which is also in a way informing parents about the learning profile of their children.

• Weekly schedule: TBA
• Duration: Two semesters, 28 weeks, 3hours/week