International Baccalaureate® language policy
The International Baccalaureate® (IB) is committed through its access agenda to reach students from a variety of cultural, linguistic and social backgrounds.
The purpose of the language policy is to provide a framework that will ensure the IB's values and aims in relation to access and multilingualism are reflected in the organization's activities.
The IB offers support to schools and teachers for the implementation of its programmes in the languages defined as working or access languages, and there are five levels of support.
The organization aims to provide materials and services of comparable high quality in all the languages supported.
Support given in particular languages is reviewed on a regular basis, and, if certain conditions are met, the level of support could be increased or decreased.
English
English is the organization's internal working language, in which most operational and development activities take place. It is also the language of its governance, management and academic committees.
Working languages
The languages in which the organization communicates with its stakeholders and in which it is committed to providing a range of services for the implementation of the programmes. They are currently English, French and Spanish.
Access languages
Languages in which the organization will provide selected services and documentation. Currently they are:
| LEVEL 3 | Diploma Programme(Documentation and assessment services offered for selected subjects) German: This is currently a pilot. Chinese: This is currently a closed pilot. |
Middle Years Programme(Full suite of curriculum materials) Chinese |
|
Primary Years Programme(Full suite of curriculum materials) Arabic |
|
| LEVEL 4 | Middle Years Programme(Core curriculum materials) Japanese |
Primary Years Programme(Core curriculum materials) Turkish Chinese |
|
| LEVEL 5 | Middle Years Programme(Bilingual glossaries of programme terminology) Indonesian |
Primary Years Programme(Bilingual glossaries of programme terminology) Indonesian |
For more information on the services offered for each level, please see the policy documents below.
Useful documentation
IB language policy in English (115 kb, PDF)
IB language policy in Chinese (168 kb, PDF)
Language summary table in English (88 kb, PDF)
Language summary table in Chinese (184 kb, PDF)