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IB in Public schools in Colombia and in LATAM.

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IB in Public schools in Colombia and in LATAM.

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How IB can support collaborative work among stakeholders? (Associations and Governments)

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How IB can support collaborative work among stakeholders? (Associations and Governments)

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I appreciate the fact that this new process takes into consideration the context of schools. It also gives schools more ownership towards deciding how to continue their improvement process.
The Program Development Plan is still new for everyone. Schools need more support to understand its purpose and how they can use it to impact student learning. It might be useful to consider providing schools with an additional tool such as guiding questions or a rubric to self-assess their PDP.
I also think schools need more support to understand the expectations of this new process. Conversations around the standards are still somehow superficial, which means both schools and visiting teams need support to understand how to conduct a professional conversation that becomes meaningful and a true guide to deciding next steps.

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Students - Students continue to appreciate the reputation of the IB Diploma as excellent preparation for university / college (with around 75-80%of our cohort opting for full DP when we have alternatives to graduation)However we are seeing more students drop the DP or choose not to take the DP for a number of reasons - Students find the workload difficult.  We are seeing more students with poor study skills, lack of focus and increased mental health concerns. This may partially be due to Covid (the 'knowledge gaps' seen by teachers in subjects that require a lot more practice and building up of foundational knowledge in maths and sciences) but it is a bit of a trend we are seeing. The 'reputation' of how stressful the DP can be coupled with initial experience in the program, has meant we have seen more students drop early on in the DP. However we are also seeing more students dropping further into the DP as they can't manage the stress / workload. Some students also choose not to take the full DP as it does not offer the flexibility or specialisation in a particular area of study, that they are looking for. Teachers - Many of our teachers continue to examine for the IB and are involved in other IBEN work, including the new video networks being developed. We are happy that face to face workshops are coming back in our region and we have a number of teachers register for upcoming sessions (especially for the new syllabi in the sciences). These workshops are always seen as great PD. Teachers have continued to express concerns about the level of content required in the DP (especially in HL) which is worrying when we look at some of the student concerns we have noticed (workload / stress etc.) 

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Students - Students continue to appreciate the reputation of the IB Diploma as excellent preparation for university / college (with around 75-80%of our cohort opting for full DP when we have alternatives to graduation)However we are seeing more students drop the DP or choose not to take the DP for a number of reasons - Students find the workload difficult.  We are seeing more students with poor study skills, lack of focus and increased mental health concerns. This may partially be due to Covid (the 'knowledge gaps' seen by teachers in subjects that require a lot more practice and building up of foundational knowledge in maths and sciences) but it is a bit of a trend we are seeing. The 'reputation' of how stressful the DP can be coupled with initial experience in the program, has meant we have seen more students drop early on in the DP. However we are also seeing more students dropping further into the DP as they can't manage the stress / workload. Some students also choose not to take the full DP as it does not offer the flexibility or specialisation in a particular area of study, that they are looking for. Teachers - Many of our teachers continue to examine for the IB and are involved in other IBEN work, including the new video networks being developed. We are happy that face to face workshops are coming back in our region and we have a number of teachers register for upcoming sessions (especially for the new syllabi in the sciences). These workshops are always seen as great PD. Teachers have continued to express concerns about the level of content required in the DP (especially in HL) which is worrying when we look at some of the student concerns we have noticed (workload / stress etc.) 

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Continued focus on student wellbeing Moving away from 'traditional' assessments - We know the DP is piloting new types of assessment modes (digital exams, open book, more portfolio based assessments etc. ) We have volunteered to be a part of this and look forward to seeing this evolve More balanced curriculum  - we keep hearing it will be paired down. Removing some of the assessments / content during covid helped. Students being prepared for May 2023 are particularly overwhelmed. Math Pathways - a “gatekeeper to IB” . Having conversations with students and parents who will likely struggle through two years of maths with ”2”s  and will end up with a “2”, is tough. 

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Continued focus on student wellbeing Moving away from 'traditional' assessments - We know the DP is piloting new types of assessment modes (digital exams, open book, more portfolio based assessments etc. ) We have volunteered to be a part of this and look forward to seeing this evolve More balanced curriculum  - we keep hearing it will be paired down. Removing some of the assessments / content during covid helped. Students being prepared for May 2023 are particularly overwhelmed. Math Pathways - a “gatekeeper to IB” . Having conversations with students and parents who will likely struggle through two years of maths with ”2”s  and will end up with a “2”, is tough. 

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Eradicating unnecessary content and assessments
Completion of the DP Review
Greater flexibility within the DP

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I think the primarily role of the HC is to serve as a sounding board and at appropriate times as a think tank to help the IB while understanding that we are just one source of feedback.

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I think the primarily role of the HC is to serve as a sounding board and at appropriate times as a think tank to help the IB while understanding that we are just one source of feedback.

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Well-being / trauma-informed, Agency, Translanguaging, UDL.

A personalised approach

PLP - Personalised Learning Plans in secondary advisory supporting a more visible approach to the ATLs

Before the full scale invasion we were looking at how scheduling Arts and Design components might support a more personalised path through the curriculum and we were also starting to look at Studio Thinking Habits to support this work.

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In Australia we are facing ongoing challenges with the Tertiary Entrance Centres. For 2022, our IB students will have their IB scores translated into fine-grained ATARS which means that a student who achieves an IB score of 45 may achieve one of three different ATARs. In addition, each State has been requesting a change in the Passing Conditions for students.

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Recognition of IB scores without translation into ATARs.

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We are concerned that students are not choosing to undertake the IB Diploma because of the new fine-grained ATAR conversion and the passing conditions.

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There would be benefit in supporting the marketing of the IB courses and acting as a sounding board in terms of campaign development and messages to be communicated.

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The IB Project ‘Enhancing the MYP’ has provided lots of interesting opportunities for thought, discussion and reading on a wide range of MYP related topics, and an efficient way with which to engage in global discussion, via the various ‘Writeboards’ on the MYP’s Basecamp platform.  Discussions range from the flexibility of the framework to its core aspects; one interesting discussion has been around assessment. The forum has highlighted the enormous variety of approaches to assessment across the programme. One question not offered, was how might assessment serve a more active and valued approach to seeing development in understanding and practice around IB’s core values of learning to learn and shaping a better world? The forum provided an opportunity to put this question to the community.
Also,
Recent communications around the Festival Of Hope have been particularly visually effective and eye-catching, the project has a lovely aesthetic. Ideas presented for engagement have been thought-provoking, creative and left nice and open. The content generated so far has fed into our advisory programme, and will help focus our curricular and extracurricular work on peace, making it future focused and hopeful; something deeply important for our community at the moment.

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Partnering with NEASC for the CLP has proved to be a very effective and efficient approach, so far. There have been a couple of times where there has been some confusion over due dates for documentation upload as there were discrepancies between what we heard from our World School Manager and what we found in the CLP Manual.

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Partnering with NEASC for the CLP has proved to be a very effective and efficient approach, so far. There have been a couple of times where there has been some confusion over due dates for documentation upload as there were discrepancies between what we heard from our World School Manager and what we found in the CLP Manual.

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The different more Appreciative Inquiry driven approach to Evaluation is a very positive move.

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Festival of Hope - great communication

Newsletters - are useful, especially Friends of the IB

Subject Reports - our DP coordinator would appreciate a sign up menu to notifications for the reports so they can be reviewed/passed on to others

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We have not made nearly enough use of these. I'd very much like to hear about others' related experiences to date.

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Resources to support school have increased (and improved) exponentially over the past few years. The Programme resource centre, IB community video library are 2 examples of this. Personally, I love the nano resources. The rich variety of training possibilities is also significant and the connection to an expert IB World school manager is also helpful. 

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Resources to support school have increased (and improved) exponentially over the past few years. The Programme resource centre, IB community video library are 2 examples of this. Personally, I love the nano resources. The rich variety of training possibilities is also significant and the connection to an expert IB World school manager is also helpful. 

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From a UK perspective there has been a lot of concern about the early start times for assessments this summer ... I know this is a bit parochial but UK students are very concerned about assessments!

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From a UK perspective there has been a lot of concern about the early start times for assessments this summer ... I know this is a bit parochial but UK students are very concerned about assessments!

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also arrangements for extra time etc are much harder for IB students than domestic UK exams - could this be looked at?

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The Uruguayan government is implementing a deep educational transformation in which the curriculum will be designed around competencies. There are several contact points with IB philosophy. This change will probably have a positive impact on student engagement and also in the student profile.

We have also observed a fast and steady growth in the number of schools and number of IB programmes offered.

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In October, Dr Maripe Menéndez visited Uruguay and Chile. During her visit and through the association we established contact with the education authorities and as a result of this we are in the process of signing a collaboration agreement and have mapped a series of goals by which IB will be providing valuable support and know how towards the educational transformation in course.

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They have proven very relevant in order to refine the job descriptions and performance assessment of the pedagogical leadership team. WE have carried out a collaborative process by which we have unpacked the IBLI and incorporated them in job descriptions and performance assessment rubrics. They are useful to mark the direction in which to move forward as a professional learning community.

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Orientation as to how to address wellbeing in a systemic manner and how to develop a wellbeing policy and practices.
Inclusion= this concept has a wide variety of perspectives to be addressed in schools / from academic to social emotional. It is intimately linked to wellbeing. Workshops and professional development offered tend to focus on the academic leaving aside the other aspects.

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I believe that in order to be better equipped to provide support and advocacy we might need to become a stronger body or team and to among to be able to establish cohesive and coherent messages that the IB would like to strengthen from our part. Maybe define a set of agreed actions to be carried out to reach out schools or heads within our region.

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The role of the school manager is regarded as extremely valuable and useful

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there is a long-standing view that IB is hard work/'not for everyone' which we find it hard to combat! The early specialisation is very deeply-engrained in the UK!

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As learning develops to include more global citizenship and PBL ... and languages ... wee see opportunities here

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Training has always had a great reputation, but my teachers are worried that more self-taught modules and 'nano PD' might mean too much bureaucracy. Everyone loves IB Answers!!!

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OK I'll have a go at this one! Getting shared buy-in from everyone surely means embedding IB values across the school ... do we know what each of them really means?!?!

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Maintaining a focus on students and staff continually working on and expanding/developing further their skills and dispositions. Challenging our approaches and exploring new ideas / innovative models. Challenge our assumptions through inquiry, dialogue and reflection. By engaging in deep thinking about our own school contexts to grow our understanding of what it means for us to be an IB school.

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Standards and practices as a frame for systems thinking

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Standards and practices as a frame for systems thinking

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I cannot tell how they do it but I certainly believe that the framework provided by the new Standards is a sound pillar that if used systematically, thoroughly and across school offers guidance and direction for a shared vision and continuous growth

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In our Latin America region there is still a huge need to offer professional development in Spanish periodically. Workshops are often cancelled due to low enrollment. Something similar happens with academic resources and support for workshops

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Truly enjoying the new developmental approach to evaluation . The process of finalising the PDPs , the work around them ( creating  surveys / questionnaires etc) have enhanced the quality of professional dialogue , action research emanating from these ideas , consistently working across trans disciplinary teams have made it an authentic learning experience .

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I agree . We need to work on what these consistent messages should be and then use the most appropriate contextual mechanisms to promote these key messages .

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I agree . We need to work on what these consistent messages should be and then use the most appropriate contextual mechanisms to promote these key messages .

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School wide focus on ATL skills even though we are not a continuum school is helping develop a shared vocabulary and understanding prior to entering the DP years . However words such as ‘ ‘stress’, ‘ workload ‘ tough’ and ‘ all consuming ‘ do dominate conversations . Time management is the key here - as a school we spend a lot of time with students on developing this skill and on parent awareness sessions .

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School wide focus on ATL skills even though we are not a continuum school is helping develop a shared vocabulary and understanding prior to entering the DP years . However words such as ‘ ‘stress’, ‘ workload ‘ tough’ and ‘ all consuming ‘ do dominate conversations . Time management is the key here - as a school we spend a lot of time with students on developing this skill and on parent awareness sessions .

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Teacher readiness to deliver the IB programme . IB trainings to emphasise the pedagogical aspect more in these workshops .

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Teacher readiness to deliver the IB programme . IB trainings to emphasise the pedagogical aspect more in these workshops .

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Would be great to see more flexibility and ease in organising school based certified workshops .

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Would be great to see more flexibility and ease in organising school based certified workshops .

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The most important trend is that there is a growing interest in the DP programme, but not a growing interest in the other programmes. 

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The most important trend is that there is a growing interest in the DP programme, but not a growing interest in the other programmes. 

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Apart from the growing interest we do, like many others, have a lot of work to do with young people who feel overburdened by the slightest academic task. They seem fragile and are not as ready for challenges as previous generations. We are focusing a lot on the development og the ATL skills.

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I think that the interesting development of the programmes in the years ahead will play a crucial role to addressing both the social/self-management problems, as well as being a frontrunner for educational development. I would like to see new forms of more holistic assessment, focus on collaboration in the teaching and learning an so on...
In my part of the world the strongest programme is the DP in terms of the number of schools. The Scandinavian countries as highly government regulated countries and so the growth and recognition of the other programmes is difficult, but it might be possible to lobby for the recognition and growth of these in the years ahead.

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Concern about the starting times of exams

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Concern about the starting times of exams

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In Denmark/Scandinavia we have also had a lot of debate about the starting times for exams this summer. We wrote to the IB and we were very happy about the response which left us with a degree of flexibility - just enough to make it possible for students to arrive on buses that are slightly delayed according to the time set.

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I agree....

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I don't think we have heard enough about these yet in communications.

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Leadership teams would use these principles/ideas in their daily work, but also when creating strategic plans, action plans and programme development plans.

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The programme development plans model how the schools function as learning organisations with the ability to plan, implement and reflect collaboratively.

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Schools in the country and in the region are not happy about not having been given the choice of a face to face visit. The virtual visits are not considered a value proposition

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Dear HC friends: Numerous members have kindly asked about our school's current situation. Working in collaboration with a number of world-class communications and fundraising organisations across the world, PSI has captured the story of our school over the past months in the form of a powerful 20-minute documentary.

Please watch this film and share it as widely as possible by forwarding this message by email or sharing our posts on social media. Our hope is that it will also move people to lend their financial support to our efforts in whatever way they can.

In addition, David Willows, Co-founder and Strategic Director of [Yellow Car], and Miles Latham, Managing Director at Affixxius Films, joined the inspirEd podcast, hosted by Rob Norman, and spoke in detail about the campaign and the movie’s creation process. Please give it a listen. No one involved in this project is receiving financial gain for their work.

With thanks,

Rachel