Why Schools Need to Implement Curriculums to the Letter — Part 1: International Baccalaureate (IB) Implementation
International Baccalaureate is a renowned curriculum framework for primary, middle years, and advanced learners. Curriculum design is an intensive process of discovery and requires comprehensive reviews. A curriculum framework must be implemented meticulously by schools, taking into consideration all aspects of the framework, as they work best when utilized in the manner that was intended by the original research objectives and vision.
There are significant reasons to implement the IB curriculum “to the letter”.
The following discussion (Part 1) summarizes salient features of the IB curriculum, providing convincing evidence for schools to imbibe the framework across its breadth and depth and nothing short of it. It serves as a quick run-down for school administrators to understand and reflect whether the flexibility in implementation encouraged by curriculum designers preserved the integrity of key principles that define learner success.
The Breadth, Depth, and Wisdom in IB Curriculum Design and Delivery
IB recognizes the significant role of the learner in the learning process. Learners are presented with appropriate challenges and educated to overcome them with globally-relevant approaches that rise above the boundaries of disciplines. To facilitate this process, educators are empowered with a relevant set of tools and resources to assist in the success of every learner journey.
IB Focus on Inclusion, Learner-Educator Partnership
“Inclusive and equitable education” is a key goal of IB education. Educators are envisioned as facilitators of learner participation making high-quality programs and assessment accessible without barriers. Inclusiveness is about fairness in catering to a diverse group of learners. IB emphasizes that “every educator is an educator of all students”. Towards inclusive learning, IB implements important strategies such as multilingualism, responsive and affirmative environment, respecting learner preferences, building on previous knowledge, and strength-based perspective.
Student Centered and Student Negotiated Learning
Learning is an open-ended process and a negotiation between teacher and learner. IB education is student centered, engaging every learner in “significant, challenging, and relevant learning”. IB educator efforts open up a new world by understanding the uniqueness in every learner, as opposed to categorizing them. Learners are encouraged to make significant contributions during the learning process, enabling novel ideas and unlocking creative potential. IB utilizes student identities to identify learning opportunities and work towards personal goals. Students thrive in an atmosphere of “mutual respect, collaboration, problem solving, and support”. Success is recognized as a key component of learning.
Inquiry as a Cornerstone of IB Framework
IB explains inquiry as a process of sustained investigation with previous experience acting as a foundation of new knowledge. Inquiry is followed by action, a form of “learning by doing” that intertwines honesty, integrity, and the dignity of individuals and peers. Action is followed by reflection, which emphasizes on reflective thinking, “critical awareness of evidence, methods, and conclusions”, and a good understanding of the possibility of inaccuracy and bias in one’s own and peer’s work. The learning process enables students to “construct meaning together”, and socialization promotes “constructing knowledge together”. The elements of how humans learn is applied in classrooms.
Emphasis on Global Communities
IB education is about developing the skills integral for establishing strong global connections. The IB continuum focuses on “international mindedness”. Learners acquire different languages and cultures by participating in learning communities. Eventually, they emerge as successful communicators with the skills needed for global engagement and intercultural dialogue.
Learning Process Culminating into Transdisciplinary Learning
IB education research explains the importance of multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary learning approaches. Interdisciplinary learning is about integrating subjects that are interdependent to enhance understanding of a specific topic. This is distinct from multidisciplinary approaches where subjects are distinct but learners decipher a theme from different perspectives. In transdisciplinary approaches, focus on a theme transcends disciplinary boundarie, opening the possibility of new perspectives.
IB research recommends several approaches to learning that combine the aspects of meaningful, skill-based, and evidence-based approaches. Skill indicators are incomparable tools for educators, who are also equipped with a comprehensive portfolio of resources to facilitate face-to-face learning, distance learning, and blended learning.
The Forces Behind an IB Mediated Learning Process
IB teaching and learning experiences are shaped for 3 to 19 years learners, by powerful principles that steer inquisitive learners through their primary and middle years, and into the diploma program and beyond for real-world readiness.
- IB continuum consists of the program, standards i.e. general requisites, and practices, defining further definition of standards.
- The PYP program (3–12 years) is set up around the learner and individual outcomes, distinct features of the learning and teaching process, and the importance of social outcomes of learning, i.e. the learning community.
- MYP (11–16 years) enforces interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning to find complex explanations and innovative solutions. Learners arrive at solutions by initiating the process with an articulated purpose, integrate perspectives and evaluate using a summative assessment. They are encouraged to use cross-tooling (for example, identifying the right mathematical equation to understand a scientific problem), literary synthesis (i.e. translating understanding of disciplines into symbolic work to understand complex ideas), and contextualization (i.e. understanding the historical, cultural, and political context to form a new understanding) to find a practical solution (i.e. identifying concrete goals and the skills needed to achieve that goal). Students demonstrate understanding in a personal project and embark on a journey of lifelong learning. MYP incorporates service as action to motivate learners to make a positive impact on individuals and the environment. Service as action is achieved by Informing, advocacy, and collaborative action (direct, indirect, “advocacy-focused”, or “research-oriented”). Action is followed by reflection.
- The Diploma program is designed for 16 to 19 years learners, and develops students in the “physical, intellectual, emotional, and ethical” spheres. DP consists of six subject groups along with the DP core encompassing creativity, activity, service (CAS), theory of knowledge (TOK), and extended essay. DP core enables students to reflect on the nature of knowledge and complete a project that is related to community service.
- The Career-Related Program (16–19 years) is designed for students in their final years at school. It develops future-ready skills for their future career pathways. The career program combines the academic subjects with professional pathways chosen by students.
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