What PYP portfolio evidence can include
The PYP asks schools to document learning as well as assess it, and portfolios are a common way to do that. The IB's PYP documentation is the authority on assessment and on what it expects; within it, a school is free to choose what its portfolios hold.
Schools commonly capture photographs, video, audio, pieces of student work, reflections, teacher observations and evidence from projects and the exhibition. The useful test is not the format but whether the entry communicates something about learning that a reader could not get any other way.
Evidence that shows learning, and evidence that shows activity
A photograph of a display shows that a display existed. The same photograph with the child's words about what they were trying to show, and what surprised them, shows learning. The difference is almost always the reflection attached.
| Weak evidence | Stronger evidence |
|---|---|
| A photo of a finished display | The same photo with the child's account of what they investigated and what changed their mind |
| A worksheet with a mark | A worksheet beside a later attempt, with the child's note on what they now do differently |
| A video of a presentation | A short clip with the child's reflection and one teacher comment on the central idea |
| A list of activities done | Three chosen pieces that together show progress across a unit |
Connect evidence to learning
Evidence becomes useful when it can be found from what it evidences. Tag entries to the goal, skill, concept or unit they relate to, and keep the tags few enough that teachers will use them. A portfolio tagged to twenty things is tagged to nothing.
Tagging is also what allows a teacher to answer a family's question, a coordinator's review and the child's own reflection from the same record, instead of assembling each by hand.
Keep student voice central
The strongest PYP portfolios are the ones in which children say what they learned, why an entry matters and what they want to improve. Younger children can do this aloud, with a teacher scribing or recording, and it is worth doing early because the habit is what matters.
- Early years: "I made... I found out... I want to try..."
- Lower primary: "Today I learned... It was hard when... Next time I will..."
- Upper primary: "This shows that I can... because... A question I still have is..."
Where skodle fits
This section names our own product, so read it as that. Good PYP evidence is a matter of teaching habits, and it works in any tool.
skodle supports PYP portfolios in two ways. A quick general entry takes a written body and one optional photo, video, audio file or document of up to 12 MB, and staff can add free-text tags. IB portfolio evidence lets a student attach a reflection and tag approaches to learning and learner profile attributes, for a teacher to review. PYP units also name the learner profile attributes they develop, and for PYP and MYP units a gap report flags attributes that no unit uses, so the same attributes can be planned in units and evidenced in portfolios. See student portfolios and the PYP programme page.
The limits. General entries are not tagged to PYP goals, concepts or units: tags are free text. A family sees a general entry's text, tags and comments but not the attached photo or video, and every entry is visible immediately. There are no reflection-prompt templates, so the sentence starters above are yours to supply, and a teacher can cite an entry in a progress report only as a title and date label, not as the media itself. skodle does not carry the official IB route for registration and coursework submission.
How much is enough
A portfolio that demands an entry per child per day will not survive a term. A more sustainable pattern is a handful of well-chosen entries per unit per child, with the teacher noticing who has few and adding to them. Aim for balance across children and across the strands of learning, not for volume.
Using portfolios in reporting, conferences and the exhibition
The payoff comes when the portfolio is used. In reporting, a teacher can draw on chosen entries to describe growth in words. In student-led conferences, the child can walk a family through their own evidence. In the exhibition, a portfolio across the years shows the skills the child brings to their own inquiry. See PYP assessment and reporting for how reporting fits together and planning the PYP exhibition.
A quick quality check
Once a term, take one child's portfolio and ask whether a stranger could tell what they learned this term, what they found difficult and what they will do next. If they cannot, the fix is nearly always more reflection and fewer entries, not more of either photographs or tags.
Photographs, consent and privacy
PYP portfolios are full of children's images. Decide who may add photographs, whether a child may appear in another child's evidence, and how consent is recorded and withdrawn, and make sure the software lets you act on that without delay.
