WAB has always emphasized the importance of developing the whole child. But it was in 2009, when our mission statement was created, that this connection was made more explicitly. In fact, when you read the mission statement and core values, you can find connections to IB ATL's and Learner Profile. In a lot of ways, WAB was very progressive in this thinking 10 years ago.
Within Whole Child Development, the goal of FLoW21 for Phase 2 is that Approaches to Learning and other life skills, such as mindfulness and empathy, will be taught, measured, and included in reports. This relates to the following FLoW21 targets: 1, 2, 6, 11, 16
The work of the ATL Committee has been focused on reviewing and aligning the IB ATLs across PYP, MYP and DP, and cross-referencing with 21st Century Skills for gaps. Our research included reviewing similar ATL or soft skills structures from a variety of educational institutions and organizations (ie. New Zealand, Australia, USA), reading online resources and 21st Century Skills: by Fadel and Trilling.
Is it possible for the ATL's and the WAB mission statement to complement each other to help us truly live our mission and core values? Could WAB’s core values and mission come alive in conversations with students and parents? Is it possible to recognize and acknowledge attributes of the mission statement through student actions? By connecting to the IB ATL's, IB Learner Profile and 21st Century Skills, this model is a possible answer to these questions.
NEASC Visit, 2018
Through conversations with the leadership teams, it is clear that WAB Whole School Learner (Skills) Model will articulate the character traits for successful citizens and clarify any overlap or confusion regarding the interplay between the values, learner profile, ATLs, and other guiding statements. As the community maps key statements, it will be clear which traits describe the WAB learner and guide next steps about how they might be measured, bothy qualitatively and quantitatively.
FLoW21 Steering Committee, 2017-2018
The Steering Committee has seen and supported the conceptual framework of the mission statement model presented and saw the strong connections between the model and the mapping of competencies across ATLs, life skills, and mindfulness. - John D'Arcy