The VALUE OF IB HOLISTIC LEARNING

What is IB Education?

Imagine a worldwide community of schools, educators and students with a shared mission to empower young people with the values, knowledge and skills to create a better and more peaceful world. This is the International Baccalaureate (IB).

The International Baccalaureate (IB) offers high quality programs of international education to a worldwide community of schools. The four programs for students aged 3 to 19 help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. Four international education programmes offer much more than academic preparation—they are uniquely designed to develop international-mindedness as well as students’ critical thinking and lifelong learning skills They provide an education that crosses disciplinary, cultural, national and geographical boundaries, and that champions critical engagement, stimulating ideas and meaningful relationships. An IB education is a transformative learning experience for students, educators, parents and schools.

https://www.ibo.org/benefits/why-the-ib-is-different/

Education plays a pivotal role in shaping a child’s future. In these modern times, children and teenagers must be prepared with the skills they will need to succeedin an ever-changing VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world. This necessitates an educational framework that not only imparts the required knowledge to pupils, but also equips them with 21st-century skills and global competency. There has been a sharp rise in the number of parents who prefer International Baccalaureate curriculum framework to assist their children develop into future-ready global citizens.

https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/what-is-an-ib-education-en.pdf

What are the four IB programmes?

The first IB programme, the Diploma Programme (DP), was established in 1968. It sought to provide a challenging yet balanced education that would facilitate geographical mobility by providing an internationally recognized university-entrance qualification, but that would also serve the deeper purpose of promoting intercultural understanding and respect.

DP https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/what-is-the-dp/key-facts-about-the-dp/

With the introduction of the Middle Years Programme (MYP) in 1994 and the Primary Years Programme (PYP) in 1997, the IB identified a continuum of international education for students aged 3 to 19. The introduction of the Career-related Programme (CP) in 2012 enriched this continuum by providing a choice of international education pathways for 16- to 19-year-old students.

PYP   https://www.ibo.org/programmes/primary-years-programme/

MYP  https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/what-is-the-myp/key-facts-about-the-myp/

CP https://www.ibo.org/programmes/career-related-programme/

How does the 4 programme make a sound holistic continuum of learning?

These four IB programmes can be implemented independently or in combination. They are all underpinned by shared values and a shared emphasis on developing students who are lifelong learners and who are able to not only make sense of, but to make a positive impact on, our complex and interconnected world. These aspirations are summed up in the IB’s ambitious mission:

“The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.”

The IB mission statement when in action in schools is translated as Student Learner Profile attributes: inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced and reflective. These ten learner profiles attributes are fleshed out through implicit and explicit development of approaches to learning (thinking, social, self-management, and research and communication skills) through inquiry and concept based learning using the local and global context make learning be more authentic and meaningful.The mission and philosophy shape and drive the 4 IB programmes with the following thus being four foundational and interrelated elements that are central to all IB programmes:

1. International-mindedness
2. The IB learner profile
3. A broad, balanced, conceptual and connected curriculum
4. Approaches to teaching and learning

How is active, authentic and experiential learning developed driven by teaching approach?

The teaching approaches are deliberately broad, designed to give teachers the flexibility to choose specific strategies to employ that best reflect their own particular contexts and the needs of their students.

In all IB programmes, teaching is:

• based on inquiry: A strong emphasis is placed on students finding their own information and constructing their own understandings.
• focused on conceptual understanding: Concepts are explored in order to both deepen disciplinary understandings and to help students make connections and transfer learning to new contexts.
• developed in local and global contexts: Teaching uses real-life contexts and examples, and students are encouraged to process new information by connecting it to their own experiences and to the world around them.
• focused on effective teamwork and collaboration: This includes promoting teamwork and collaboration between students, but it also refers to the collaborative relationship between teachers and students.
• designed to remove barriers to learning: Teaching is inclusive and values diversity. It affirms students’ identities and aims to create learning opportunities that enable every student to develop and pursue appropriate personal goals.
• informed by assessment: Assessment plays a crucial role in supporting, as well as measuring, learning. This approach also recognizes the crucial role of providing students with effective feedback.

Given the need to acquire the 21^st century skills and mindset you will recognize that an educational framework that is holistic, global in scope and timeless is all that is required. The IB curriculum is always aligned to these new-age developments in the field of education. We at Podar ORT, always believe in offering students quality education by imbibing these transformational values that IB curriculum brings to the table to its unique way of personalizing learning; ensuring that “no child is left behind and that the uniqueness of the child is explored in education pattern which is strength based. A balanced successful learner with a healthy attitude is left to explore his world of dreams with skills which is there with him for his life.