Initiated by students, PYP action is authentic, meaningful, mindful, responsible and responsive. Action could be:

• a change in attitude
• a consideration or plan for action in the future
• a demonstration of responsibility, or of respect for self, others and the environment
• a commitment to leading or participating in a youth advocacy group
• an engagement in school decision-making or an expression of support in community, local and global decision-making.

Students exercise agency by making responsible choices; these choices can sometimes include conscious decisions not to act. It may be that students take time to research and reflect upon possible courses of action and decide against taking action because of the connected consequences and potential impact on others (Boix Mansilla, Jackson 2011).

PYP learning communities engage students individually and collectively with local and global challenges and opportunities through action (UNESCO 2015). All members of the learning community contribute to an open and dynamic environment for engaging with the world. Students feel encouraged to take action as a response to past and present inquiries. They are autonomous in taking action and are confident that their actions will be appreciated and supported (Hart 1992; Nimmo 2008).

Middle Years Programme

Schools offering the MYP offer students the opportunity to engage in both the community project and the personal project. The community project and the personal project are known together as MYP projects.

The community project focuses on community and service, encouraging students to explore their right and responsibility to implement service as action in the community. The community project gives students an opportunity to develop awareness of needs in various communities and address those needs through service learning. As a consolidation of learning, the community project engages in a sustained, in- depth inquiry leading to service as action in the community. The community project may be completed individually or by groups of a maximum of three students.

The personal project encourages students to practise and strengthen their approaches to learning (ATL) skills, to consolidate prior and subject-specific learning, and to develop an area of personal interest. The personal project provides an excellent opportunity for students to produce a truly personal and often creative product/outcome and to demonstrate a consolidation of their learning in the MYP. The project offers many opportunities for differentiation of learning and expression according to students’ individual needs. The personal nature of the project is important; the project should revolve around a challenge that motivates and interests the individual student. Each student develops a personal project independently.

MYP projects are student-centred and age-appropriate, and they enable students to engage in practical explorations through a cycle of inquiry, action and reflection. MYP projects help students to develop the attributes of the IB learner profile; provide students with an essential opportunity to demonstrate ATL skills developed through the MYP; and foster the development of independent, lifelong learners.