The IB PYP Student Portfolio

Hello there! In this article, I will cover the different formats of a commonly used document of learning across the IB PYP: the student portfolio. I'll share my experience with the value and function of such a document and how to incorporate reflections across the content and the elements of the PYP framework.

Function: The Purpose

With the fact that every school has a responsibility to maintain evidence of students’ learning, the PYP Portfolio acts a source for collecting, recording and storing the evidence. The IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) emphasises student agency, inquiry-based learning, and holistic development and the student portfolio plays a crucial role in the PYP. While it is not mandatory, it is highly encouraged and considered an essential part of the programme.

The PYP portfolio serves as a source for collecting, recording, and storing evidence of students’ learning.

Its purpose is multifaceted:

• Documenting Learning: The portfolio documents students’ learning, progress, accomplishments, and challenges over time.
• Ownership and Reflection: It gives students a sense of ownership, allowing them to actively participate in building and curating their portfolio. Students reflect on their learning experiences.
• Showcasing Growth: The portfolio showcases the progressive development of students’ Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills and their embodiment of the Learner Profile attributes.
• Sharing with the Learning Community: It provides a space to share evidence of learning with teachers, specialists, family, and peers.

It is particularly important that the children, right from the very beginning, understand the purpose and value of their portfolio. We want them to understand that this is an on-going, working document that is specifically used to document their learning, progress, accomplishments and challenges. It is more than simply a task to be completed at the end of every unit. Equally important, is the children’s understanding that they are very much a part the building of this document. Their choice and voice is tantamount to the fidelity of the content.

Our aim for the portfolio is to:

• celebrate the child and their journey through the PYP
• enable the child’s voice and choice
• give the children a sense of ownership of their learning
• give the children space to reflect on their learning
• provide a place for the children to monitor and record their progress
• show the progressive development of their ATL skills and Learner Profile
• showcase evidence of their learning and conceptual understanding over time
• share the children’s work with their learning community- teachers, specialists, family and peers.

Form: Many Faces of the Student Portfolio

The student portfolio can take various forms:

• Traditional Binder: Some schools use a traditional plastic binder where students organize physical artifacts, written reflections, and other evidence.
• Digital File: Digital portfolios are increasingly popular. They allow for easy storage, sharing, and multimedia content. Students can upload photos, videos, and audio recordings.
• Hybrid Approach: Some schools combine both physical and digital elements.

1. Content in the Portfolio:

   • The portfolio includes a variety of items:
     • Work Samples: Examples of student work (art, writing, projects, etc.) that demonstrate their understanding and growth.
     • Reflections: Students’ written or verbal reflections on their learning experiences.
     • ATL Skills and Learner Profile: Evidence of how students apply ATL skills (communication, research, self-management, etc.) and embody the Learner Profile attributes (inquirers, thinkers, communicators, etc.).
     • Conceptual Understanding: Evidence related to the central ideas and key concepts explored during units of inquiry.
     • Progress Over Time: The portfolio shows how students’ understanding and skills evolve over the course of their PYP journey.

2. Responsibility and Shared Commitment:

   • The portfolio is not just a teacher’s responsibility; it’s a shared commitment. Students actively contribute to its content.
   • Teachers guide students in selecting relevant pieces, reflecting, and organizing their portfolio.

Remember that the PYP portfolio is not a static document—it grows and evolves alongside the student’s learning journey. It celebrates their achievements, captures their reflections, and provides a valuable record of their growth. 🌟

The student portfolio is a wonderful collection of memories! I don’t know a single child who has not taken great pride and joy in the creation of their portfolio. Every time it comes out for use and updating, I make sure to give the children time to flip through, share with their friends, share with me and enjoy the moments that they created in the past. Many use it as quiet reflection, most reflect quite socially!

It is fundamentally a child’s record of  achievement and progress over time. Each child has their own portfolio. It can be a traditional plastic binder, a digital file, or a mixture of both.

Early Years: I find that digital portfolios are great for use with early  years students, in that we can upload recorded verbal reflections, either as a group chat or in an informal interview scenario with an adult prompting the discussion. Filming the children selecting their product for their portfolio also presents some wonderful opportunities for recording their dialogue as they work through a simple reflective thinking process. QR codes are another useful tool to add to traditional portfolios, enabling the video to be viewed simply by scanning the code. I’ve included steps for this below. 

I have used both traditional and digital portfolios in different schools.   A few of my favourite picks for digital portfolios are:

1. Google-Google sites is free. All you need is a Google account and it all connects with your drive. Many schools around the world are already using Google and this may be an easy option if your school is already a Google school.
2. Evisense– was used in Europe a lot. It is similar to Seesaw with its capabilities and storage Easy to share with parents, especially for parental feedback as a part of community feedback within the portfolio.
3. Evernote -Evernote is also free for teachers. It has similar capabilities as the other two but it has less storage space at the free level. This would be a great resource for a smaller class size.
4. Seesaw-Seesaw is a fabulous tool that is free for teachers. It allows a lot of features at the free level. However, if your school wishes to use this as a whole school, it may be worth looking into upgrading for a fee.
5. QR Codes – It is difficult for younger students to reflect in words, so using QR codes is the perfect way to record their learning in action. Also, ideal to show P.E., action , drama etc. Spend some time in lessons filming your children and upload to Google. Older children can actually do all of this by themselves or assist the younger children with the process. I have used a QR generator site that is really simple to use. Believe me when I say this techy stuff has to be simple to use or I lose focus really quickly! Here’s the process I use:

1. .Upload your video/photos to your Google Drive.
2.  Once uploaded, right- click on the file > select ‘share’ > select ‘share’
3. Copy the link to share that opens from your sharing settings.
4. Make sure you change the access to allow ‘Anyone with the link’ to be able to view the recording/photos
5. Open your QR Codes generator
6. Paste your link into the URL website box.
7. Now, you will choose one of 3 options-
8. Either download the QR code under the preview box, which will download in JPEG format on Windows
9. Or, email the code to your inbox so you can download and insert into your document digitally
10. Or, choose to print the QR code if you will be cutting and gluing the QR code into portfolios

The portfolio can be divided by grade level and then divided further by each transdisciplinary theme/Unit of Inquiry ( 4 themes for early years and 6 for the rest of the school)  with evidence stored  or uploaded as pictures, examples of work and assessments, documents or audio and video.  The portfolio will follow the child through their journey within the Primary Years Programme and is shared with family, peers and other faculty members.

Responsibility: A Shared Commitment

The Student Portfolio is an open document. It is not only shared with other homeroom teachers and specialists as the child moves up through the school, but is also shared with peers and family. We want everyone to celebrate the child’s achievement and growth and create an entry within each section, offering their feedback. This adds to the reflection process as the children set goals for future learning and monitor their progress over the course of the year. I strongly recommend that you create Essential Agreements with the children at the beginning of the year. This helps everyone to know what to expect, avoids repetition every six weeks and gives the students a feeling of ownership of the entire process. These can be reflected upon and revised as the year progresses. 

Suggestions for feedback from the learner’s community:

• A letter to the child ( families encouraged to write in their first language)
• A structured feedback sheet on specific Learner Profile/Skills
• A comparison sheet to log growth/challenges
• A checklist for feedback covering Essential Elements
• Feedback on specific lines of inquiry
• Feedback on a particular discipline/subject

Scaffolding the Reflection

Within the portfolio, we want to ensure that we are documenting both the process of their learning as well as the product of their learning. With scaffolded, teacher-created reflection documents,  guiding checklists and graphic organisers we can guide the children towards the key elements to reflect upon.

You can find an entire collection of  inclusive assessment tools for all ages right here in my store.

Keep in mind that we don’t have to include EVERYTHING in every reflection or unit. You can also have the children select the elements they will focus on for that particular unit.

Examples:

• The central idea
•  Concepts focused on within the unit
• Learner Profile attributes
• Skills practiced
• Participation
• Action taken
• Proud moments/products of learning
• Challenging moments/products of learning
• Records of assessment/progress

Do keep in mind that the nature of the IB PYP Units of Inquiry is that of a transdisciplinary approach. To this end, it is easy to find examples of the children’s learning from every subject. Having said that, not every subject will have been covered in every unit. For example, some units may have a much stronger science basis where as others may be more literacy and art. We are aiming for balance , thus as the school year progresses, the content of the portfolio will also be balanced. Don’t try to cram everything in within one unit. It takes away from the objective of the portfolio as a place of selective documentation, not to mention it becomes a logistical and organisational mess!

Guidelines for Using the Portfolio

•  Identify purpose
• Select objectives
• Think about the kinds of entries that will best match instructional outcomes
• Decide how much to include, how to organize the portfolio, where to keep it

As a final note, here are some examples of ways to record the children’s work. Depending on whether you opt for the traditional three ring binder, the digital version or a mixture of both, you will want the children to reflect and comment on the sources that they choose.

• Structured reflection sheets
• Guiding checklists
• Examples of student’s work from the display
• Examples of students’ work photocopied or torn out from notebooks
• QR codes
• Photos of the children in action- collaborative learning, investigations, discussions, presentations etc.
• Film of the children in action, uploaded
• Examples/records from art, foreign languages, music, P.E.
• Formative or summative assessments

If youre interested in more strategies for inclusive assessment, visit this article here. 

Enjoy!

P.S. If you are new or newish to inquiry based teaching and would be interested in learning more through your own self-paced, online library, I offer a professional development course to support you. Take a look at Essentials for Inquiry right here.