Last week we shared what is an IB education and what sets us apart from traditional educational models. Today, we will talk about another aspect that is central to any IB education. As you can see in the programme logos above, there is a component that is common to all: Approaches to Teaching and Approaches to Learning.  

Approaches to Teaching

In all IB programmes, teaching is:

• Based on inquiry. A strong emphasis is placed on students finding their own information and constructing their own understandings.
• Focused on conceptual understanding. Concepts are explored in order to both deepen disciplinary understanding and to help students make connections and transfer learning to new contexts.
• Developed in local and global contexts. Teaching uses real-life contexts and examples, and

students are encouraged to process new information by connecting it to their own experiences and to the world around them.

• Focused on effective teamwork and collaboration. This includes promoting teamwork and

collaboration between students, but also refers to the collaborative relationship between teachers and students.

• Designed to remove barriers to learning. Teaching is inclusive and values diversity. It affirms students’ identities, and aims to create learning opportunities that enable every student to develop and pursue appropriate personal goals.
• Informed by assessment. Assessment plays a crucial role in supporting, as well as measuring, learning. This approach also recognizes the crucial role of providing students with effective feedback.

Approaches to Learning

The same five categories of skills span all IB programmes, with the skills then emphasized in developmentally appropriate ways within each programme. The five categories are:

• thinking skills, including areas such as critical thinking, creative thinking, and ethical thinking
• research skills, including skills such as comparing, contrasting, validating, and prioritizing information
• communication skills, including skills such as written and oral communication, effective listening, and formulating arguments
• social skills, including areas such as forming and maintaining positive relationships, listening skills, and conflict resolution
• self-management skills, including both organisational skills, such as managing time and tasks, and affective skills, such as managing state of mind and motivation.

The development of these skills plays a crucial role in supporting the IB’s mission to develop active,

compassionate, and lifelong learners. Although these skills areas are presented as distinct categories, there are close links and areas of overlap between them, and these categories should be seen as interrelated.

The American School of Bilbao is a Candidate School for the Middle Years Programme. This school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy – a commitment to high quality, challenging, International Education that ASB believes is important for our students.

* Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme (DP), or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit http://www.ibo.org