PSPE in the IB Primary Years Programme: Is It Just PE? What Parents Should Know
PSPE (Personal, Social and Physical Education) is the IB PYP's wellbeing subject. It is more than games period. Here is what the IB says it covers, who teaches it, and what to ask a school.
You are reading an IB primary school's timetable and see "PSPE". Is that just PE with a longer name? Who teaches the personal and social part? And will your child actually learn anything from it? Here is what the IB itself says, and what it does not.
What PSPE stands for
PSPE is Personal, Social and Physical Education. It is one of the subject areas of the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP, ages 3 to 12). The IB's PSPE scope and sequence says it is concerned with the individual's well-being, covering physical, emotional, cognitive, spiritual and social health and development. It is not only sport.
The three strands
The IB document organises PSPE into three strands that work together:
| Strand | In plain words (our summary of the IB text) |
|---|---|
| Identity | Understanding your own feelings, values and strengths, coping with change and difficulty, and how self-worth affects learning |
| Active living | Healthy lifestyle, regular physical activity, motor skills, nutrition, safety, and making informed choices about health |
| Interactions | How you get on with other people and the wider world: rights and responsibilities, similarities and differences, caring for the environment |
This is why PSPE is the closest thing the PYP has to what many parents call social-emotional learning.
Is it just PE?
No, according to the IB. The scope and sequence says physical education in a PYP school should be more than participation in sports and games. It should build transferable skills for physical, intellectual, emotional and social development, encourage choices that support long-term healthy living, and include learning about movement and through movement. It also says every teacher is responsible for supporting each student's personal, social and physical development, inside and outside the units of inquiry. So the personal and social part is not meant to belong to the PE teacher alone.
What the IB's own research found
A 2020 report written for the IB by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) looked at PYP and student wellbeing. It reported that, of all the PYP elements examined, PSPE was the least understood by teachers. It suggested that, because almost every school has a specialist PE teacher, classroom teachers may assume the personal and social part is also done by that teacher. It also said teachers who saw PSPE as highly useful tended to give it high priority in class, and that there was an opportunity to clarify PSPE. The report says it was not an evaluation of the PYP.
What this means for you
On paper, PSPE is a wellbeing subject for everyone. In practice, how well it is done depends on the school. Do not assume a school that has a good sports ground also teaches the personal and social side well. Ask.
Questions to ask a PYP school
- 1Who teaches the personal and social part: the classroom teacher, a counsellor, the PE teacher, or all of them?
- 2Can you show me a PSPE or wellbeing example from a unit of inquiry in my child's grade?
- 3How much timetabled time does physical education get each week, and is it taught by a specialist?
- 4How do you teach children to handle feelings, conflict and change? What happens when a child is struggling?
- 5How is this reported to parents? Is it in the written report, or only in conversation?
- 6Is the school authorised for the PYP? Check the IB's own school search before you rely on the label.
Practical tip
Ask to watch a PE or wellbeing class on a school visit. You will learn more in 20 minutes than from the brochure.
Keep reading
More on how IB schools handle wellbeing, and how to check a school:
Sources
- IB, Primary Years Programme: Personal, social and physical education scope and sequence (International Baccalaureate Organization, first published 2009, read from a school-hosted copy, and the IB has since issued a 2018 edition, so check ibo.org for current wording)
- Dix and Sniedze-Gregory (ACER), The impact of the IB Primary Years Programme on student wellbeing and other related social-emotional learning outcomes, report to the IB, 31 January 2020 (ibo.org/globalassets/new-structure/research/pdfs/pyp-wellbeing-full-report-en.pdf)
- IB, PYP curriculum framework (ibo.org/programmes/primary-years-programme/curriculum/)
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