Curriculum Developer - Early Years and The Arts:
For parts of the past eight years, I have been contracted by the International Baccalaureate as a curriculum developer to work on the development of learning progressions. Creating resources to share with educators around the world in order to support their understanding of inquiry and the powerful learning it holds is something I am very proud to be a part of. Although our work still continues, TSM The Early Years in the PYP was published a few years ago and the PYP Learning Progressions were rolled out last year. I am currently working with the Early Years strategy team doing online consultation on the opportunities, challenges, and future possibilities for Early Years education within the IB.
Open Inquiry:
Open Inquiry is a system for learning through play that I co-developed with my colleagues in Moscow. Since all good ideas should be shared, I introduced the systems to colleagues in Bangkok, as well as our Early Years team in Busan. We cleared our slate, did some research, leaned into each other and found our common beliefs and values. My role as Team Lead was to help navigate the way while we built a strong playful learning program in the Early Years at AAS, NIST and ISB. Each school has their own flavour of Open Inquiry, as it is the people who shape the program - they are the holders of the shared pedagogy. No doubt the systems will shift and change with new ideas, new educators, and changing contexts.
I have since been asked and presented on these systems at the Early Years Exchange, to colleagues from near and far at the Playful Practices conference held in Bangkok at King's College in 2024. Our EY Team also presented this system to the rest of the Elementary School colleagues at NIST International School and have sparked inspiration and hopefully a few changes in routines! I am often contacted as a resource for others schools on how they can develop similar systems - ways of sharing spaces and the collaborative planning, documenting, and monitoring systems needed to create a successful playful learning environment.
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