The IB Learner Profile: What the 10 Attributes Actually Mean for Your Child
Inquirers, thinkers, risk-takers, balanced: what the IB's 10 learner profile attributes mean in plain words, how they run from PYP to the Diploma Programme, and simple ways to support them at home. Built from the IB's official documents.
Your child comes home from an IB school and the report comment says she is becoming "a caring risk-taker". The classroom wall shows ten words: Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Principled, Open-minded, Caring, Risk-takers, Balanced, Reflective. What are these words, are they graded, and is there anything you should do with them? This guide explains the IB learner profile from the IB's own documents: what it is, what each attribute means, and how to use it at home. Find the official sources at the end.
One profile across every IB programme
The IB learner profile is a set of 10 attributes valued by IB World Schools. It is not a subject and it is not an exam. The IB describes it as a broad range of human capacities and responsibilities that go beyond academic success, and says each of its programmes is committed to developing students according to the profile. The same ten words run from the Primary Years Programme through the Middle Years Programme and into the Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme, so a child who stays in IB hears one consistent language about the kind of person their learning is building.
The profile connects to the IB's mission: the aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. The ten attributes are what that mission looks like in a classroom.
The 10 attributes in plain words
Each attribute has an official description written in the first person, because the IB intends students to grow into the words themselves. Here is what the IB says, condensed, and what each one can look like at home.
| Attribute | What the IB says | What it can look like at home |
|---|---|---|
| Inquirers | We nurture our curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research; we learn independently and with others, and sustain our love of learning throughout life. | Let your child chase a question without handing over the answer. Ask: how could we find out? |
| Knowledgeable | We develop and use conceptual understanding, exploring knowledge across a range of disciplines, and engage with issues and ideas of local and global significance. | Talk about the news at dinner. Ask how this week's science connects to something they read or saw. |
| Thinkers | We use critical and creative thinking skills to analyse and take responsible action on complex problems, and we make reasoned, ethical decisions. | Ask "what is your reasoning?" before "what is the answer?" Let them argue a position and then argue the other side. |
| Communicators | We express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways; we collaborate effectively and listen carefully to others. | Keep the home language alive alongside English. Let them present, draw, record or perform an idea, not just write it. |
| Principled | We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and we take responsibility for our actions and their consequences. | Own your own mistakes in front of them, and let them own theirs without rescuing them from the consequences. |
| Open-minded | We critically appreciate our own cultures and personal histories, as well as the values and traditions of others; we seek and evaluate a range of points of view. | Books, festivals and friends from other backgrounds. Ask: how might someone else see this? |
| Caring | We show empathy, compassion and respect; we have a commitment to service and act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and the world around us. | Small, regular acts beat grand gestures: helping a neighbour, looking after a sibling or pet, giving time, not only things. |
| Risk-takers | We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas, and we are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change. | Let them try the harder puzzle, the audition, the new sport. Praise the attempt and the strategy, not only the win. |
| Balanced | We understand the importance of balancing different aspects of our lives - intellectual, physical and emotional - to achieve well-being for ourselves and others. | Guard sleep, outdoor play and unstructured downtime as seriously as homework. Balance is an attribute, not a reward. |
| Reflective | We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experience; we work to understand our strengths and weaknesses in order to support our learning and personal development. | A two-minute end-of-week chat: what went well, what was hard, what will you try differently next week? |
Is the learner profile graded?
The profile is not a mark sheet. Grades in IB programmes come from subject objectives and criteria (for MYP assessment, see our guide to MYP grades). The learner profile is the school's shared language for the person behind the grades: the curiosity, judgement, honesty and resilience that subject knowledge sits on top of. When a teacher's comment uses one of the ten words, the useful follow-up is to ask for a specific example of when your child showed it.
How to use it as a parent
- Learn the ten words once. When school reports or goal-setting meetings use them, you will know exactly what is being described.
- Ask for evidence, not labels: "When did she show she was a thinker this term?" gets a better answer than "Is he principled?"
- At the parent-teacher meeting, ask which attributes the class is focusing on this term, then echo the same words at home.
- Do not turn the profile into a ranking. A quiet child is not failing "communicators"; the attribute is about expressing ideas in many ways, including writing and art.
- Start with Balanced and Reflective. They are the two attributes families can support most directly, through sleep, play, and short regular conversations about how learning is going.
Practical tip
Print the ten attributes and put them on the fridge. When your child solves a problem, helps someone or bounces back from a bad day, name the attribute: "that was reflective". Children learn the words fastest when they hear them attached to things they actually did.
Sources and what they establish
IB: Learner profile
Establishes that the IB learner profile is a set of 10 attributes valued by IB World Schools, that it describes capacities and responsibilities beyond academic success, and that each of the IB's programmes is committed to developing students according to the profile. Read it at ibo.org: Learner profile.
IB: Learner profile (PDF)
Establishes the official wording of each of the 10 attribute descriptions used in this guide, and the IB mission statement that connects the profile to developing internationally minded people. Read it at ibo.org: IB learner profile (PDF).
Official sources read on 24 October 2026. Attribute descriptions above are condensed from the IB's published wording; the PDF is the authoritative text. This guide does not replace conversations with your child's teachers, who can show how the profile is used in your school.