What the template is for
The IB describes the programme of inquiry as a whole-school structure that each school develops collaboratively, organised around six transdisciplinary themes. A template is the school's working version of that structure, and it succeeds when a team can read it, argue with it and update it.
It is a grid, not a list. Year groups run in one direction and themes in the other, so reading across shows how a theme develops as children grow, and reading down shows one child's year.
The layout
Put the six themes down the side and the year groups across the top, in this order: who we are; where we are in place and time; how we express ourselves; how the world works; how we organize ourselves; and sharing the planet. Each cell holds one unit of inquiry.
Keep the grid to one page if you can. The detail of each unit belongs in its planner; the grid exists so that a whole school can see the shape at once.
The fields to include
Two levels: what shows in the grid, and what is recorded behind each unit.
| Field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Year group and theme | Which cell of the grid the unit occupies |
| Unit title | A short, recognisable name |
| Central idea | One sentence expressing an enduring understanding |
| Lines of inquiry | Usually three, each opening a distinct direction |
| Key concepts | The concepts that shape the questions asked |
| Related concepts | The subject-specific ideas the unit needs |
| Approaches to learning | The skills being developed alongside the content |
| Learner profile | The attributes the unit gives particular attention |
| Timing | When the unit runs, and roughly for how long |
| Summative assessment | How understanding will be shown |
| Review status | Owner, last review date, and whether it is current |
One filled-in cell, as an illustration
This is an invented example to show the level of detail, not a unit to adopt: the IB expects each school's programme of inquiry to reflect its own community.
- Year group and theme: Grade 4, how we organize ourselves
- Unit title: Who keeps our town running?
- Central idea: Systems help communities meet the needs of their people
- Lines of inquiry: the services a community depends on; how those services are organised and paid for; how people take part in decisions
- Key concepts: function, responsibility, connection
- Approaches to learning and learner profile: research and social skills; inquirers and principled
- Timing: about six weeks in the second term
- Summative assessment: students design and defend a plan for improving one local service
- Review status: read by the Grade 4 team in September, next review the following September
A review checklist
A template is worth having if it makes this review quick.
- Balance: is each theme genuinely inquired into at every year level?
- Concepts: are the key concepts spread, or has one become the default?
- Progression: does a theme develop as children get older, or restart each year?
- Timing: are units spread across the year, or bunched?
- Assessment: does every unit have a summative task that engages its central idea?
- Currency: does the grid match what is actually taught this year?
Where skodle fits
This section names our own product, so read it as that. A spreadsheet or a shared document is a sound template, and most schools begin with one.
The reason to move beyond it is drift. In skodle the programme of inquiry is a year-by-theme grid read live from the PYP units teachers edit, so the grid and the units cannot quietly disagree: it shows which cells are planned and how key concepts are spread, and units move through draft, review and coordinator approval. Concepts that repeat or are never used are counted from the links rather than found by eye. See the PYP programme page.
The limits. skodle does not pre-fill a programme of inquiry for your school, because the IB is clear that each school develops its own to reflect its community. It counts only what people link, it has no family-facing view of the programme of inquiry, and it does not carry the official IB registration and coursework submission route.
Why a static template struggles
A spreadsheet is accurate on the day it is finished. After a year of unit-by-unit revisions it no longer describes what is taught, and it cannot show you repetition or gaps across the whole school because it does not know what is inside the units.
Making the template work
Give every unit an owner and a review date, review the whole grid once a year at a fixed point, and record changes as decisions. If you are building the programme from scratch, the sequence for doing it is in how to plan a PYP programme of inquiry.
What to look for in a tool
Look for the grid as the front page, fields for each of the components above, and a version history. Then ask what happens to the grid when a single unit changes. If the answer is that someone updates two places, the tool has recreated the spreadsheet.
