I was delighted last week to read this report, a study by Oxford University, which finds IB students to be ahead of their peers in terms of ‘critical thinking’. As we approach the darker months without the usual festive spirit conjured up by Christmas markets and our traditional school concert, this is a timely vindication of the work we are doing and the advantage that an LIS and an IB education is giving to our students.
Here at LIS we are, after all, an IB World School. Like many IB World Schools, we do not engage in the programmes of the International Baccalaureate from Grade 1 to 12. We only do the Diploma Programme in Grades 11 and 12. However, despite taking the Cambridge IGCSE programme in Grades 9 and 10, delivering our own programme in Middle School (Grades 6-8) based on the Cambridge Lower Secondary programme, and having our younger learners engaging in the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) in the Primary School, it is fair to say that the values of the IB run richly through the veins of the school.
We recently revisited the IB learner profile with our Secondary School teachers and discussed to what extent we see these values to be known, implemented and embedded in the teaching and learning of the students. The need and desire to ensure our students are getting a broad and holistic programme of academic and enriching learning across the subject disciplines is a key tenet of our school and of the IB. But there was and is a strong feeling that this approach to growth-oriented learning and applying of relevant, conceptual ideas is very much alive in our school long before the Diploma years of LIS.
The IB has always seen itself as more than just an examination board but instead as an educational philosophy. The Diploma Programme structure has the students as the learners at the centre, and the Approaches to Teaching and Learning clearly articulated as the tools and methods through which maximal learning can take place. This methodology is front and centre in all the work we’ve been doing on excellent classroom practice and on curricular design and development.
The Approaches to Learning identify five main skill-sets that students should develop throughout their time in school that will equip them effectively to be lifelong learners and successful young people in an uncertain future. We’ve just added these to our IGCSE Curriculum documents, too. These include:
- Thinking skills
- Communications skills
- Social skills
- Self-management skills
- Research skills
Our job as IB educators is not to ensure that students get the best grades no matter what – though we expect there to be a strong correlation between those who develop these skills effectively and those who ultimately do as well as they can in the IB Diploma. Instead, our job is to develop the above skills which, at times, might mean allowing students the room to make mistakes, or by necessity avoiding doing the research for them as teachers. We must provide opportunities for the students to reflect upon learning, to do further exploration, to discuss challenges with teachers and open channels of communication for more support and guidance accordingly. This mature, self-governing approach is not only a critical skill to develop in preparation for higher education, but also the IB’s approaches to learning generally are a key factor in why the IB Diploma is so highly regarded outside by said institutions around the world.
And this leaves me with just an image of some of these IB students in a COVID-hybrid English Language & Literature classroom this past week. With two-thirds of the Grade 12 engaged in distance learning from home (some of whom are visible on the screen), those remaining students in school and their teachers rigged up virtual learning to simultaneously teach the lesson to those here and those there. While not ideal, it is evidence again that learning can continue as the pandemic continues to derail life and business as usual.