The impact of an IB education

The IB’s commitment to schools is clear: We will continue to work together, with a shared vision and passion, to deliver our mission of creating a better world through education; to grow our diverse community of schools; to increase access to excellent education for students of all backgrounds, everywhere; and to have a positive impact on the lives of millions worldwide.

To pursue this mission, we will deliver continuous improvement and excellence in our three core areas:

• Teaching and learning – development of philosophy-based curricula and programmes;
• Services to schools – authorisation, implementation, evaluation and professional development of teachers;
• Assessment of students – design, development and delivery of assessment.

We will do so by delivering to our three key strategic objectives: Innovation, Service and Community. We would like to share a selection of highlights in each of these areas.

Innovation – continuous educational innovation and improvement

• The enhanced PYP was successfully launched in October 2018, providing flexibility for schools to teach a national curriculum (subject specific) alongside the PYP programme of enquiry. Alongside other researched improvements for this age group, a range of enhancements have been designed – reflection as a core skill, taking action (including advocacy, social justice and social entrepreneurship) and a greater focus on multilingualism.
• Standards and practices: The comprehensive review of the standards, practices and requirements that schools follow to obtain their initial authorization and subsequent evaluations, is now complete and ready for launch to the community in 2020. One of the key changes is a focus on continued development and innovation in schools – a set of ‘stretch’ practices has been created to help schools continually refine and improve.

Service – excellent IB teaching and learning embedded in schools

• More for less: Since 2015, there has been no increase to fees other than inflation. In 2018, the IB announced a significant incentive to continuum and multi-programme schools, to reward the breadth of uptake of IB programmes in their schools. In 2019, we announced the elimination of the candidate registration fee, as well as a reduction in the price of online Professional Development.
• The IB World Schools Survey showed improvements in schools’ ratings of the IB’s performance in authorization, evaluation, quality of workshops and with programme Communities.

Community – a stronger IB for a stronger IB community

• The Masters of Education (M.Ed.) programme with the University of the People (UoPeople) launched, offering a tuition-free online university degree to benefit teachers worldwide.
• We continued to engage with with governmental and other educational bodies to help grow and strengthen the IB community globally. Recent highlights include partnerships and projects with the governments of United Arab Emirates, Japan and South Korea.