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The International Baccalaureate
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Community service, academic breadth and an understanding of the global world in which we live: this is what the IB can promise. Jane Vernon Smith finds out more about this popular high school diploma programme and its associated products.
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The renown of the high school graduation programme, the International Baccalaureate, has been spreading rapidly over recent years, a fact that is reflected in uptake worldwide. In Canada, for example, “”The growth has been quite spectacular,” says Dr James McConnell, Head of Stratford Hall School in Vancouver. “In British Columbia,” he notes, “there were about 17 programmes in 2002; now there are over 35.”
The trend is echoed in the UK, where Sue Algeo, IB Coordinator at St Dunstan’s College, London, observes, “When we started in 2003, there were 40-plus IB schools in the country; now there are 181.” In New Zealand, too, the IB is becoming more popular as an alternative programme of study, according to John Andrews of Auckland-based St Kentigern College. His own school introduced the Diploma Programme in January this year, with 29 students initially taking up the option. Meanwhile, in Australia, Canberra College also began offering the programme this year as an alternative to the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Year 12 Certificate.
According to the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO)’s own figures, uptake of the Diploma Programme for 16-to-19 year olds has grown by almost 65 per cent in the course of the past five years, representing a compound annual growth rate of just under 10.5 per cent – impressive figures for a qualification that was first introduced back in 1968.
As Trinette Robichaux-Russel, Head of Secondary and IB Coordinator at Dallas International School in Dallas, USA, explains, the Diploma Programme was born of efforts to establish a common curriculum and valid university entry credentials for students moving from one country to another. She expounds, “International educators were motivated by practical considerations, but also by an idealistic vision: students should share an academic experience that would emphasise critical thinking, intercultural understanding and exposure to a variety of points of view.”
Richard Gorst at St Clare’s, Oxford in the UK – which has offered the IB since 1977 – provides more insight into the CAS programme that students take while studying for the diploma, which adds to its attraction. “CAS stands for Creativity, Action and Service,” he explains. “This means that students must complete 50 hours in a creative activity, an action activity (usually sport) and community service in order to be awarded the Diploma.”
He underlines that the school is “firmly committed” to the IB diploma. “It provides broad breadth and academic rigour, attributes which are appreciated by universities,” he says.
While the IB continues to have a strong appeal for the internationally mobile, it has also developed a strong following in schools without significant international student numbers. At Godolphin and Latymer, an independent, all-girls school in London, UK, 25 per cent of students choose the IB diploma over the UK standard qualification, the A Level, according to Carolyn Trimming. “Among our own students, we find families where one or both parents have international roots opt for the programme. It is also popular with students who wish to study in the USA, since their broad undergraduate programmes are well suited to the IB student,” she relates, adding that the IB diploma is often chosen by non-international students as well, “since they are attracted by the format and content of the courses”.
Since the early days, the IB vision has been extended to provide for a complete programme of education from the age of three through to 19. The Middle Years Programme (MYP) was added in 1994, and the Primary Years Programme (PYP) in 1997. Today, more than 706,000 students are enrolled in one of the three IB programmes at schools in 134 countries worldwide. While the Diploma Programme still enjoys far greater uptake than the PYP and MYP, growth rates for these latter options are outpacing the diploma.
Not all participating schools offer the IB exclusively, nor do they necessarily offer all programmes. However, one that can claim to have experience in the provision of all three programmes is Elmwood School in Ottawa, Canada. Here, explains Gretta Bradley, the PYP and MYP are now compulsory, while students aged 16-plus are free to choose between the IB Diploma Programme and the local Ontario Secondary School Graduation diploma. “Our local programmes are generally based on the same philosophy,” she comments, “but the standards for critical, creative, evaluative thinking are not as high.”
There are no formal exams for the PYP or MYP, although schools may choose to have their MYP moderated by the IBO. Bradley explains that the MYP respects local curriculum, but asks teachers to integrate knowledge from all subject areas through five Areas of Interaction: Approaches to Learning, Environments, Human Ingenuity, Health and Social Education, and Community and Service.
Having begun offering the PYP when it first opened in 2000, Stratford Hall School in Vancouver, Canada is another of the few to offer all three IB programmes. It received IBO authorisation for the PYP in 2003 and for the Diploma Programme in 2005, while MYP authorisation is expected to come through this year. “Our whole school is built around the IB culture,” emphasises McConnell. “What I tell parents is that it is, first and foremost, a progressive approach that emphasises enquiry. Students learn through the questions that are generated. Often those questions are big, overriding questions: guiding questions.” He elaborates that both the PYP and MYP are enquiry-based, “and the Diploma Programme certainly could (and should) use this approach as well”.
He notes that the IB is a programme that ties subjects and disciplines together whenever possible, and says that the final assessments for the diploma programme are “very well crafted, fair and marked very professionally. Students are fully aware of what is being looked for.” Furthermore, “there is a global connection and a mandate to think beyond the school walls”.
In British Columbia, the education system is ranked amongst the best in the world, says McConnell, and all IB students at the school also take the British Columbia diploma. “There is no question that the IB gives the students a great advantage as they look towards university,” he claims.
Yet despite its high academic standing, “The IB is not just an elitist qualification,” according to Trimming of the Godolphin and Latymer School. “In my many years of experience delivering the programme,” she says, “I can vouch for its success with all manner of students, provided they are motivated to succeed.”
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