We must make the shift in our teaching style

What is needed for 21st century learners is the “agency” in learning. Japanese Ministry of Education puts forward “active learning” in their latest revision of National Curriculum, but what we see is not much of a change. Teaching cannot still let go “text books”, teaching style is still “teacher led”. That is, regretfully, the reality in today’s Japanese school education.

On the other hand, the trend in world education, especially in the countries known as “advanced countries in education” such as New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Sweden, is showing significant differences. “teacher-led” education is becoming “old fashioned.”

We see the gap between international education trends and Japanese conventional education is becoming even wider.。

New PYP concept structure

The new PYP enhanced model emphasizes the importance of “student agency” as well. We value “Voice, Choice, Ownership” of student’s learning.

Why do we need more Student Agency?

The time is rapidly changing. The world is becoming more and more complex, there are many uncertainties in the future where our children grow to be adults. We must raise our students to be “Thinkers”. Even when they face difficulties in life, we expect them to find their own creative solution and overcome hardships.

Alongside with Student Agency, we would like to equip students with skills for learning, which is called in PYP “ATL Skills”(Approach to learning)
Thinking skills.
Communication skills.
Research skills.
Social skills.
Self-management skills.

Teachers carefully create curriculum where students can develop ATL skills as the tool to create solutions in their lives.

Inquiry Cycle

There is no “end” in any learning. Learning is an on-going process, which we call “Inquiry Cycle”. We have created our own model as Sunnyside.

Classroom at Sunnyside

This is how our classroom looks in our Primary. You can see it is quite different from “teacher-led” classrooms, children are more spread out and engaging with their own learning.