Journey or Jargon?
Straight away we should clear the air. I am a PYP practitioner, OCC faculty member, IB course developer, Workshop Leader, both online and face to face. Former PYP Coordinator. I am an IB believer (well Inquiry Learning advocate). So WHY am I ‘dissin’ the IBPYP Learner Profile (LP)? I feel like I should be playing the Pretenders tune’ Don’t Get me Wrong’ in the background as you read this because I have a problem. The LP does this to me. Thats what makes it so mysterious and interesting.
I love the Learner Profile. Who can argue with the LP? Who doesn’t want their kids to be Caring, Principled..etc right? So this focus on the LP promotes International Mindedness? Is it that simple? If so how can we measure international mindedness or the LP? Do we even need to?
I suppose in the evaluations of schools, we need to provide some evidence. Posters, sticky notes, still photos, isolated comments. Fair enough, still shots are what everyone sees in a school if they visit. What really breathes life into the LP is the kids. Actually not just the kids but the entire community. A community of learners that embodies and embraces the International Mindedness. International mindedness is more than the Learner Profile. It is a a mindset, a community. Can you see traces of it in your community? Its fleeting, sometimes its tangible. Some times it goes unnoticed.
Life is happening.
The Learning Journey 
Posters, sticky notes and photos can’t capture the learner profile. It’s who you are… kids, teachers, schools. In the early days I had trouble seeing the link to international mindedness. Now that I am a connected learner, it seems obvious. I once wrote a post about how connected educators live the LP. http://whatedsaid.wordpress.com/2010/07/03/profile-of-an-edu-tweeter/
I’m not familiar with the LP, as I have not taught in the PYP system and taught National Curriculum when I was teaching in international schools, but I am familiar with community and the community that occurs in the international setting and the International Mindness that it creates.
I feel that it is almost impossible to measure whilst in that setting and it only becomes truly visible once they are out of the international setting. It is International Mindness which is missing from mainstream education and what makes the international student unique.
Now my children are back home in NZ it is clear that they look at the world in a different way, see people for who they really are and have a real understanding of issues facing the world.
I could waffle on for much longer, but to conclude and give you my answer; no I do not think you can measure it and I do not think that you need to either, just trust that it is being fostered and developed through life, learning and the school/community environment that you co-create with your students.