Approaches to Learning and Learner Development
What this domain tests
Approaches to learning (ATL) are the MYP's skills framework. The exam tests the five skill categories, how ATL are planned and taught, and how they support learner development and the learner profile.
Core rules and concepts
- Five ATL categories: communication, research, thinking, self-management and social skills.
- Each category contains sub-skills and indicators; schools select a focused set rather than trying to teach everything at once.
- ATL must be explicitly planned in units, taught through modelling and practice, and reflected on by students.
- ATL are not formally graded in subject criteria, but schools report on them and use them to support learning.
- Self-management includes organisation, affective skills and resilience; social skills include collaboration and conflict resolution.
- ATL connect to the learner profile: for example, research skills support 'inquirers' and 'knowledgeable'.
Worked example
A Year 2 humanities unit requires a short research report. The team identifies the ATL focus as research (information literacy) and thinking (critical thinking). They teach a mini-lesson on evaluating sources, provide a source-evaluation protocol, and ask students to reflect on how they checked reliability. The summative report assesses humanities criteria, not ATL; the ATL focus is reported through the school's ATL report and used in feedback.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating ATL as a checklist to be ticked rather than skills to be taught.
- Reducing ATL to 'study skills' and ignoring social, affective and thinking skills.
- Writing ATL objectives that are too broad to observe.
- Grading ATL within the subject achievement level.
- Forgetting that ATL need vertical progression across MYP years.