Connecting ATL and the Learner Profile in the PYP

A poster set to help you connect the dots between two powerful PYP elements, Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills and the Learner Profile (LPA).

Cindy Blackburn

5 min read

In the unpredictable world of AI and the future of work, educators are on a thrilling mission to prepare students for an unforeseen future. We’re not just teaching but moulding thinkers, dreamers, and doers. Our task? To question what and how we teach so that our students don’t just succeed—they thrive. The holistic approach of the IB framework focuses on nurturing students into well-rounded individuals who can navigate life with grace and grit.

Throughout the IB continuum, our students develop essential transferable skills, known as Approaches to Learning (ATL), and a set of dispositions, the Learner Profile Attributes (LPA). In this article, we’ll explore how connecting the ATL and LPA can transform students into more engaged, self-regulated learners.

What are ATL skills?

Approaches to Learning are the skills you need to learn anything and everything. The IB highlights five key ATL skills: Thinking, self-management, social, research, and communication. These skills empower learners to take meaningful action on issues that matter to them.

Thinking skills:
According to the World Economic Forum, critical thinking and creativity are the MVPs in the future of jobs. Thinking skills involve applying critical reasoning and creativity to tackle complex problems and make ethical decisions. Students are encouraged to reflect on past solutions and use strategies like the design cycle to innovate solutions for real-world challenges.

Communication skills:
Communication skills focus on expressing yourself clearly, understanding others, and using various tools to convey messages effectively. This includes speaking, listening, writing, and creating visual aids with clarity.

Social skills:
Social skills are all about how we interact with others. They include understanding different perspectives, as well as recognizing and managing emotions.

Self-management skills:
Self-management skills involve staying organized and emotionally grounded. This includes managing time, tasks, goals, and also one’s mindset, motivation, and resilience. Developing these skills helps students steer their learning journey with confidence.

Research skills:
Research skills are about exploring topics effectively and ethically. Essential for inquiry-based learning, students learn to ask insightful questions, evaluate sources, analyze data, and present their findings with academic integrity.

These skills are more than just academic—they’re life skills. Imagine that you’re preparing a meal for a dinner party. Self-management skills kick in as you balance budgets, plan meals, and manage your time in the kitchen. When planning a dinner party, thinking and social skills come into play as you decide how to make the meal gluten-free and vegan, or what other dishes might complement the main course. And let’s not forget communication skills, which you use when following a recipe, creating one of your own, or delegating tasks to your dinner guests.

By recognizing the relevance of these skills in everyday life, we can better plan our instruction and help students see learning as something they do for themselves.

Poster set to meaningfully connect ATL skills to learner profile attributes

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Teaching the ATL skills

ATL skills should be explicitly taught and assessed in the classroom. Whether you create an ATL continuum to show progression across grades or align ATL instruction with units of inquiry, it’s crucial to be intentional about which skills to focus on.

Consider these questions before starting a unit:

Which skills will students need to succeed?
Where do learners need more support?
What does success with these skills look like?
How can I explicitly set goals and provide support?

What are Learner Profile Attributes?

The goal of the IB is to develop internationally-minded students. An internationally-minded person embodies a set of ten dispositions known as the learner profile attributes:

Caring: Makes a positive difference in the lives of others.
Principled: Acts with integrity and a sense of responsibility.
Open-Minded: Seeks out and appreciates different perspectives.
Risk-Taker: Embraces change, resiliently trying new things.
Thinker: Tackles big problems with enthusiasm and innovation.
Knowledgeable: Connects deeply with subjects, making meaningful links.
Reflective: Pursues personal growth and self-awareness.
Inquirer: Confidently seeks out and solves problems.
Balanced: Advocates for personal needs and maintains well-being.
Communicator: Listens effectively and shares ideas clearly.

These attributes are not just qualities; they’re the blueprint for who our students can become as a result of their time in an IB school. They’re the essence of being internationally-minded, equipping students to navigate a complex, interconnected world with empathy, integrity, and a lifelong love of learning.

Teaching the LPA

Our job is to create opportunities for students to practice these attributes in a safe, guided environment. We do this by exposing them to new situations, encouraging reflection on what’s challenging or easy, and explicitly discussing how these dispositions show up in real life.

Poster set to meaningfully connect ATL skills to learner profile attributes

Download now!

How can we connect ATL and LPA to strengthen learning?

Guy Claxton, a leading voice in learning research, believes that learning how to learn is a skill in itself. He emphasizes that developing both the skills (ability) and dispositions (readiness and willingness) to apply those skills is essential for real-world success.

“Put crudely, when you have learned a skill, you are able to do something you couldn’t do before. But you may not spontaneously make use of that ability when it is relevant in the future if you do not realize its relevance; or if you still need a degree of support or encouragement that is not available. In common parlance…it is not much use being able if you are not also ready and willing.” — Guy Claxton, 2013

Imagine this: You’ve got the skills to get six-pack abs—diet, exercise, the whole nine yards. But without the willingness and readiness, those abs are staying hidden under a cosy layer of comfort.

When we pair learning skills with dispositions, we empower students to drive their education, increasing their independence and ability to self-regulate. We build both their capacity and their willingness to apply what they’ve learned in new, real-world contexts.

A resource to support you

Understanding the connection between LPA and ATL can be a game-changer for teachers! To help you get started, we’ve created a set of posters that highlight the connections between each ATL and LPA.

How to use these posters:

Unit planning: When planning a unit, start by selecting an ATL skill to focus on (usually just one). From there, you might choose 2-3 LPA that align with your learners’ needs. Think about which dispositions might be challenging for them as they develop the skill.
Student goal setting: Want to involve students in the planning process? Share these posters and invite students to set personalized goals for the unit or a specific task.
Curriculum mapping: We often pair certain ATL skills with specific LPAs (e.g., researcher = thinker, inquirer). To avoid narrow associations, challenge yourself to create unique connections or ensure a balanced teaching of LPAs with various ATLs.
Develop a continuum: If your school is creating an ATL continuum or other support tools, use these posters to visualize the holistic development of each skill.

Poster set to meaningfully connect ATL skills to learner profile attributes

Download now!

Connecting the dots between ATL skills and LPA dispositions is like giving our students a superpower. It’s the magic that turns academic success into real-world impact, equipping them to face life’s challenges with confidence, creativity, and compassion. By making these connections, we’re not just teaching—we’re launching our students into a future where they can truly shine, both in the classroom and beyond.

Cindy Blackburn

Cindy has a Masters of Education in Teacher Leadership and has worked as an PYP educator and coordinator internationally for the past ten years. She currently works as the Director of learning and engagement at Toddle and specializes in developing resources to support teachers and leaders in honing their practice and understandings, to make the PYP simple, actionable, and above all else, joyous.

Disclaimer : The ideas and resources presented in this blog have been developed independently from and are not endorsed by the International Baccalaureate (IB)

Connecting ATL and the Learner Profile in the PYP

What are ATL skills?

Poster set to meaningfully connect ATL skills to learner profile attributes

What are Learner Profile Attributes?

Poster set to meaningfully connect ATL skills to learner profile attributes

How can we connect ATL and LPA to strengthen learning?

A resource to support you

Poster set to meaningfully connect ATL skills to learner profile attributes

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