I have a special relationship with the International Baccalaureate. As an IB student, an IB teacher and an IB educator!
I earned the International Baccalaureate Diploma in 2008. So, on the receiving end, I understand what it means to be an IB student, and the demanding nature of the course. And I taught IBDP Geography HL and IB MYP Individuals and Societies for 3 years at an international school in Bogota, Colombia. So, on the giving end, I understand what it means to teach the IB.
According to the ibo.org, the IB is summarized as the following: "The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a global leader in international education—developing inquiring, knowledgeable, confident, and caring young people. Our programmes empower school-aged students to take ownership in their own learning and help them develop future-ready skills to make a difference and thrive in a world that changes fast."
The IB is a valuable course, and in my opinion, is one of the best curriculums in the world. It creates well balanced students, who can choose subjects from a variety of fields. The IB is not content led, but rather concept led, focusing on conceptual learning.
An example I give parents and students to illustrate this is the following. In history, instead of looking at specific wars such as World War 2, we focus on the concept of change or causality. And we use varied examples from history, such as World War 2, to exemplify these concepts. This allows students to develop higher order thinking that they can use to think critically about issues and topics in a conceptual manner.
The IB has been gaining popularity around the world, and today has over 5000 schools that offer its programs. I look at the IB and what it is doing as the future of education. An education that develops skills that young people will need for an increasingly complex and ever changing world.
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