Myth busters

As a matter of  fact...

You would be amazed at what some people believe about the IB, so here’s some accurate information to turn 10 of the biggest misconceptions on their heads...

1. The IB is only for private and international schools
   
   A common misconception but, in fact, of the 2,062 IB World Schools in operation, there are 1,168 state-funded IB World Schools compared to 906 privately-funded ones. Furthermore, of the 759 IB World Schools in the United States, at least 30 per cent receive government assistance because of socioeconomic status.
   
2. The IB diploma is not a well-recognized qualification
   
   Universities are becoming increasingly aware that the IB Diploma Programme equips students with valuable life skills, such as time management, as well as skills of enquiry as taught through theory of knowledge (TOK) and the extended essay, that help make the transition to university education smoother. There are currently 2,076 universities in 73 countries that list their IB admission policies on the IB website (www.ibo.org), and these include many of the best universities in the world.
   
   
   "There are 2,495 IB programmes currently on offer around the world"
   
   
3. The IB is only for Diploma Programme students
   
   As there are more IB World Schools that offer the Diploma Programme than the Primary Years Programme (PYP) or Middle Years Programme (MYP), many people do not realize that the IB offers a continuum of learning that begins at the age of three years with the PYP, extends through the MYP at 11 years to the Diploma Programme at the age of 16 years. Nor do they realize that there are currently more students enrolled on the MYP than on any other IB programme or that the number of students who have benefited from the PYP course over the past five years shows the greatest increase: indeed, the projection is that in five years’ time, the PYP will be the largest IB programme.
   
   
   "The PYP has grown by 50 per cent since it was first introduced in 1997"
   
   
4. The IB is an elite club
   
   The IB is committed to making high-quality education available to as many students as possible and aims to attract an intake of one million students by the year 2014. Much of this growth will happen in state-funded education where the IB is actively working with governments to make IB programmes accessible to more students.
   
   
   "The number of IB World Schools has grown by 13.36 per cent in the past year"
   
   
5. The IB is a western system
   
   While the IB draws on many educational traditions from the Western world, the curriculum reflects material from every continent. This is particularly the case for language, literature and the arts, but all IB subjects use opportunities to reflect on different cultural traditions. Furthermore, a high degree of teacher choice is always encouraged to ensure that materials are relevant to students. IB World Schools can be found in 125 countries with some of the most active in Latin America and Asia.
   
6. The IB is a Swiss export
   
   Although the IB headquarters is in Geneva, the IB curriculum reflects best practice from around the world and is not subject to political intervention or educational trends of any single country. Nor is it European – of the top 10 countries with IB World Schools, only three are European (UK, Spain and Sweden).
   
7. The IB is very expensive
   
   The annual school fee for teaching a PYP student in an average school of 420 students costs out at fewer than US$13 per student per year. The annual school fee and student assessment fee for teaching the five-year MYP in an average school of 400 students comes in at around US$43 per student per year. The annual school fee and student assessment fees for teaching the two-year Diploma Programme in an average school of 110 students is US$380 per student per year. The difficulty comes in the cost of actually offering the course, with the need to recruit more and better teachers, teacher training, extra staff, etc. A bursary fund does exist to help in special circumstances.
   
8. The IB is only for the brightest students
   
   The IB designed and promotes the Primary and Middle Years programmes as ‘all-school’ programmes that should be offered to every student.  The Diploma Programme is academically challenging but there is ample research to demonstrate that students with a wide range of ability can benefit given appropriate support.
   
   
   "Over 80,000 students took IB exams in May 2007"
   
   
9. The IB examination assessment is not thorough enough
   
   Assessment at the IB involves a team of 4,800 examiners works in more than 100 countries to mark each of the 500,000 exam scripts that are written each year. Senior examiners moderate the work of each examiner and a team of 260 clerical checkers scrutinizes each exam script for administrative errors. In addition, more than 220 senior examiners attend nearly 50 grade award meetings a year to set grade boundaries and
   review student work for each subject.
   
10. The IB hasn’t moved on since it was launched in 1968
    
    In today’s society, with the increasingly apparent effects of globalization, the IB is more relevant than ever. That’s largely because it employs a team of educational experts and a worldwide community of IB practioners who participate in reviewing and updating the curriculum, looking at best practices taken from around the world. One of the IB’s greatest strengths is that it is not tied to any political imperatives or the educational fads of any single country: many current educational systems are increasingly data driven and league-table focused, where the goal and outcome are linked to a school’s ability to gain performance points and not to a student’s development.