Similarities
The most obvious similarity between the two curriculums is that they are child centred. Every decision is made to suit the children by taking into consideration their wellbeing and the world around them. The curriculums both have documentation which encourages teachers to create learning which is child centred CfE has the principles of curriculum design (challenge and enjoyment, breadth, progression, depth, personalisation and choice, coherence and relevance) (Education Scotland, 2019). Where IB aims to be interesting, relevant, challenging and significant (Cambridge High School, 2019).
Both curriculum frameworks aim to involve the world around us for example CfE has made an effort to be inclusive of outdoor education, where children link their classroom learning to their own community. This also encourages children to understand learning doesn’t only occur in the classroom. The PYP curriculum involves the world around them by ensuring pupils are also receiving valuable learning from their countries national curriculum so that they do not miss out on cultural learning. PYP also has children learning a second language from the age of 7 so they can be involved and participate in communication around the world.
PYP and CfE bot encourage learners to learn about the world and be accepting of different cultures and religions. They both encourage learning about place and time, where children are encouraged to learn about history and its influences on where we are in the world today.
A final similarity between the two curriculums is the pedagogy of effective classroom talk, where children are encouraged to be leaders in the discovery of their own learning. Instead of tick box exercises both curriculums guide teachers to help create a support system for pupils to discover learning for themselves by providing the correct resources and boundaries.
Differences
Looking closely at both curriculum’s I believe there is a difference between the world the curriculum’s are setting their students up to be able to live in. IB is based on bringing people all over the world together whereas CfE is based on creating learners who are resilient to the change in an ever developing society. Also, CfE is based mainly on Scotland with the rest of the world being global learning. Whereas IB does not have a specific location and is adaptable to being taught all over the world.
A final difference is between documentation, different aspects of each part of learning is given different emphasis in the curriculum guide lines. For example, the four capacities are left to discussion on what each means whereas PYP has 10 learner attributes which are made clear what each means and what is expected of a learner. However, CfE has the principles of curriculum design which makes it clear what learning should be inclusive of e.g. relevance, personalisation and choice but IB only states these ideas in their aim and doesn’t include specific documentation for it.
