Children should be empowered to look beyond what they are learning: Christine Stayte
The whole aspect of creativity through different platforms and all the different programs is a part of the IB school curriculum. The children really took off quite nicely. As far as creativity goes, the approaches to learning were those areas that were healing, something that was just becoming the focused point in teaching and learning, particularly in PYP. That’s where the creativity was really coming through unexpectedly.
ASMA conducted an energetic virtual webinar on the School Education Leadership Forum that was attended by educators from the education sector. The main topic of discussion was how IB schools are making 21st-century learners future-ready. Amongst all the eminent speakers, Christine Stayte, the coordinating PYP Principal of Sekolah Ciputra talked about the PYP curriculum focuses on bringing in and fostering and empowering creativity within the students with real-life experience.
Christine, in the School Education Leadership Forum, says that when they look at the students’ reflection, they gave them a variety of tools, a variety of pathways to reflect and show how creative they were. The teachers were pleased to see how collaboratively they were producing and learning with their peers.
She continues to say that she saw their creativity come through their learning. Their creativity was mind-blowing sometimes, when you look at the PYP exhibition and how they reflected on that process. The creativity in reflection is really something special.
When asked about what kind of initiative has been taken to identify promising classroom practises that stimulate the student’s desire to learn, Christine answered by saying that their only motto was to make the students learn through real life by empowering creativity.
When we are looking at the student’s desire to learn, especially, in these recent times, some of the best initiatives that Christine and her colleagues have seen operating in the PYP level and the MYP is the connection to real life. She thinks that is the time when your real-life is not like your real-life, for example, covid has made our life surrounded within the four walls of our home. That is the reason why children were empowered to look beyond what they were learning. This was actually something that the PYP curriculum focussed upon.
At the beginning of the pandemic, there was less mention of sustainable development. Now there has been much traction between the student’s learning through their real-life goals. In the end, Christine gives a small message to the teachers. She says that if you are looking for a clever way to ignite their desire, make the students learn by connecting to real-life and goals because they are connected to everything. Connecting to real life is indeed one of the great initiatives IB school’s curriculum has ever taken.
