WHAT IS AN IB EDUCATION?
What is an IB education?
The International Baccalaureate is an international organization which promotes an educational philosophy that aims to empower young people with the values, knowledge and skills to create a better and more peaceful world.
All schools that belong to the IBO (IB Organization) belong to an educational community that collaborates to develop programmes that L promote critical thinking, international mindedness and multicultural understanding through the development of 21st century skills such as: thinking, research, communication , social and self management skills.
These programmes encourage students and teachers to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. Moreover, there is a strong emphasis on transdisciplinary learning and making connections and exploring the relationships among different academic subjects. Students learn about the world in ways that go beyond each discipline. In other words, everything is intertwined.
Is IB the last two years of High School?
A common mistake is to use the term IB to refer to the IB Diploma Programme. However, the IB offers 4 different programmes with specific standards and practices that need to be followed to be awarded accreditation. Moreover, the programmes are assessed every 5 years by a group of specialized external IB educators. This guarantees that we are held to the highest standards. The 4 IB programmes are:
- PYP (Primary Years Programme)
- 4-10 years old
- Accredited since 2017
- Coordinator: Zeynep Dyncer
- MYP (Middle Years Programme)
- 10-16 years old
- Verification visit: April 2021
- Coordinator: Nina Franco
- DP (Diploma Programme)
- 16-18 years old
- Accredited since 2013
- Coordinator: Mariana Curti
- CP (Career Programme)
- 16-18 years old
- Not offered at ASB
The American School of Bilbao offers PYP and DP and is preparing for the MYP verification visit which will take place in April 2021 after which will become an IB continuum School.
What is the difference between an IB Programme at ASB and a traditional educational programme?
The American School of Bilbao offers a rigorous academic programme that is regularly evaluated and validated by an external education agent with a hard earned reputation for high standards and challenging programmes: The International Baccalaureate Organization.
The educational programme we offer helps students develop skills for the 21st Century through the use of English as an academic language. This means that upon graduation, students are awarded a Bilingual IB Diploma which grants them access to the best universities worldwide to continue their higher education in English. Of all the candidates that sit for an IB Diploma exam session, only between 23-25% obtain a Bilingual Diploma. This puts ASB graduates at a clear advantage against other Diploma Candidates.
Do Diploma Programme Students need to sit for Selectividad?
The degree that students are awarded with the IB Diploma Programme is homologated by the Spanish Ministry of Education this means that our students do not need to sit for Spanish exams such as PAU (Prueba de Acceso a la Universidad) or “Selectividad”. Also, IB Diploma students can use the grades awarded in the different IB Diploma subjects as grades for the “Fase General” and “Fase Específica” for Selectividad. The IB Diploma is officially recognised by Higher Education institutions worldwide, including the most prestigious universities.
This is because IB programmes offer a range of IB-validated assessments. These assessments balance validity and reliability, offering assessment tasks that, for example, require students to demonstrate higher-order thinking rather than simple, factual recall. These rigorous assessments help to maintain the IB’s hard-earned reputation for high standards and challenging programmes.
Students at the American School of Bilbao sit for all their exams in English as if they were native speakers of the language and upon graduation they receive a Bilingual Diploma that accredits a level of English proficiency apt for academic and professional life.
Next week we will talk about Approaches to Teaching and Learning in IB programmes.
