Do and be International Baccalaureate (IB)

Posted on | May 14, 2010 | No Comments

Don’t get me wrong I think that the idea behind an IB education is grand.

Hey my own children have gone through an IB program at the PYP level!

In fact last night at Uptown School the grade 5s did a fantastic Exhibition with acting, dancing and the whole 9 yards to really demonstrate what they have learned and how they have learned about the environment!

And this was just one of the units of enquiry, imagine!

Here is a sample of the goods!

But I have a few question when all is said and done.

Is it possible to teach in an IB manner without doing in an IB manner?

Odd question you might say but one we need to ask.

Here is what the PYP is all about.

Six transdisciplinary themes

Six transdisciplinary themes of global significance provide the framework for exploration and study:

• who we are
• where we are in place and time
• how we express ourselves
• how the world works
• how we organize ourselves
• sharing the planet.

Teachers are guided by these six transdisciplinary themes as they design units of inquiry that both transcend and articulate conventional subject boundaries.

The programme can be illustrated by a hexagon with the six transdisciplinary themes surrounding six subject areas:

• language
• social studies
• mathematics
• arts
• science
• personal, social and physical education.

The transdisciplinary themes and subject areas outlined above form the knowledge element of the programme.

Five essential elements

The five essential elements—concepts, knowledge, skills, attitudes, action—are incorporated into this framework, so that students are given the opportunity to:

• gain knowledge that is relevant and of global significance
• develop an understanding of concepts, which allows them to make connections throughout their learning
• acquire transdisciplinary and disciplinary skills
• develop attitudes that will lead to international-mindedness
• take action as a consequence of their learning.

Curriculum model

The curriculum is expressed in three interrelated ways:

• the written curriculum—what do we want to learn?
• the taught curriculum—how best will we learn?
• the assessed curriculum—how will we know what we have learned?

Under certain conditions, schools may deliver the programme in any language, although the IB provides services in:

• English
• French and Spanish

So, my question is can we teach IB without doing IB?

Can an administration administer an IB curriculum without itself living by the very tenants it is asking its students to embrace?

And here in lies the problem with all but a very few schools today, our schools are teaching one thing but acting very different.

Sure there are a million reasons to justify a school operating as if it was the turn of the century, the 1st being that that is they way it has always been done.

I believe it is time, yesterday, for teachers and administrators to take a good hard look in the mirror and ask whether they are doing what the student needs or what they are comfortable with!

If teachers were unbridled from administrators I am sure the classroom would be a very different place!

What we need in our schools today.

1. teachers who understand children, parents do make better teachers

2. administrators who work for the school not the board of company

3. to be engaged with the community not walled off and segregated from the reality

4. parents MUST engage

5. a work/education harmony

6. realistic expectations of teachers

7. honesty

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