The International Schools Review Forum

My BA is in Psychology, I have three masters, one in psychology, one in communications, an M.Ed (non terminal) in International education, and an Ed.D in Education. I dont call people idiots or resort to ad hominem attacks when I disagree with people.

Thats what all EC educators believe, and every educator thinks that their grade, age range, subject, etc is important and special. Each requires a special talent, an "eye" for development within that age group.

Look if I have chest pain and go to a cardiologist they say its your heart, go to an oncologist and its cancer, go to an endocrinologist and its a thyroid problem, psychiatrist, and its a chemical imbalance. Everyone thinks their specialty is well "special", and that theres is the most important, etc. When it comes down to it for every IBHL math teacher i know, i know 20+ primary teachers. Everyone either has a primary qualification, or has a spouse with a primary qualification. At the end of the day if i compare DIP2 to PYP1, DIP2 is more important.

This year I became an admin (academic/IB coordinator/VP). I just have more work on my end from secondary (upper secondary mainly) then primary. No one cares about primary grades or a primary transcript, after the student is out of primary (not even parents). That "Graduation Certificate" we give out at the end of PYP5 doesnt really mean anything (although the "tell MYP were on our way" song is kinda catchy), its not even graduation its advancing from one grade to another.

I'm sorry Im not trying to piss you off, or upset you, or diminish the work you do, or the skill required to do it. From my "landscape" (the forest, not the trees) perspective the only thing that really matters about primary is that the student is on or close to grade level when they get to MYP. Everything else is just sprinkles and frosting.

How about this one? After you enter college, no one cares what high school/program you went through. When is the last time someone asked you for your high school transcripts? After many years of working, your college does not really matter. To a lesser extent, does anyone still get interviewed by their college/college GPA after you have years of experience?

I think of teaching as building a foundation. Each grade builds (or does not build) a foundation for later learning. No one looks at the foundation, they look at the outside and the outside designers get all of the credit. When is the last time you looked at a building and said, "Wow! Look at that foundation?" or "Wow! Look at the the frames in the wall. Oh my god that is awesome!"

Each grade is important and each earlier grade gets subsequently forgotten when handing out 'progress praise'. I think we all need to step back sometimes and see how much the lower grades really dictate how well a student will do in the future.

One of the problems we as educators face is our inability to work together as a team, share credit/blame, and see how we can better collaborate. Just saying...

I agree with you completely, once a student is in university, the military, trade or vocational school your secondary transcript/diploma doesnt count (Some people do cease formal education at the end of secondary. Although when i was applying for my teacher certification program I had to submit my high school transcript to demonstrate "basic skills).

I really, really agree with you. Im not just giving lip service here, and I think you expressed it very well. As i wrote primary is important, by itself, but being the first and earliest entry into formal education, its also the first one forgotten, and quickly dismissed. Your also very right, that as a field we seem to collect a lot of those who didnt learn about sharing and playing well with others very well back in Kinder/Nursery. All that being said though, its not about how things "should" be but how things are, and nothing youve argued (and argued well) changes anything. I still spend 95% of my work load on secondary school action items, and schools still advertise their DIP's IB/A level scores, not their PYP advancement rate, and thats the measure of a schools worth and success. Its not fair but thats the way it is.

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I agree with an earlier poster.

I think of primary as building the foundations to the house, whereas secondary (esp. IBDP) builds on those foundations. As a former IBDP teacher, I can tell you that it was very difficult helping those students who lacked the foundations in literacy and numeracy. All you really had time to do was to try and paper over the cracks and help the student get through.

Having taught in all 3 divisions of schools, all are important, all are indispensable and the role played by all teachers in those schools should be valued and respected.

Personally, I found IBDP the most stressful in terms of the grading load, as well as the fact that the examination dates always loomed on the horizon. However, I am finding the actual teaching process with elementary more challenging - because of the development level of the students and the fact that you do not specialise in one area (you have to be expert in litearcy, numeracy etc etc).

Yeah we seem to have reviewed different literature...