Diploma Programme curriculum
Additional subjects
With approval from the IB, schools may also offer the following types of courses.
School-based syllabuses
A school-based syllabus is designed by the school according to its own needs and teaching resources. This option may be studied at standard level only and may replace a subject from groups 2 to 6.
Further information on school-based syllabuses can be obtained from the Handbook of procedures for the Diploma Programme or by contacting the IB Curriculum and assessment centre.
Interdisciplinary subjects
From September 2008 schools began teaching (for first examinations in 2010) environmental systems and societies as a standard level interdisciplinary course. This will enable students to satisfy the requirements of two groups (group 3 and group 4) while studying one course. Students then select another course to complete the requirement of six.
Text and performance is a interdisciplinary pilot subject allowing students to combine literary analysis with the investigation of the role of performance in our understanding of dramatic literature.
Students have the opportunity to undertake their own performance work which is assessed. Central to the course is the idea of transformation where a literary text is transformed to a performance piece. The close examination and analysis of the details of the text this requires contributes to the academic rigour of the course.
Currently a pilot subject it will become mainstream in 2011 with first examinations in 2013 and will be renamed literature and performance.
