What is the International Baccalaureate?

The IB is an international qualification which is taught at 1,485 schools in 119 countries around the world under the auspices of The International Baccalaureate Organisation

There are three programmes covering the following year ranges:

1. Primary Years Programme (PYP) ages 3-12

2. Middle Years Programme (MYP) ages 11-16

3. Diploma Programme (DP) ages 16-18

The DP lasts 2 years and is a broad and balanced curriculum, in which all DP students study languages, a social science, an experimental science, mathematics and an arts subject. There is an element of choice as described in the following paragraphs, but essentially the IB is a broad based qualification which demonstrates the all round academic ability of its graduates. Those students aiming for a very specific degree and career (e.g. in medicine ) may be better advised to concentrate on specific A levels designed to qualify them for that degree course’s entry into a specific university. However, the great advantage of the IB is that it is an international qualification recognised in many countries and indeed specific IB schools often liaise with other international schools (see later case study on the IB)

The six IB subject groups are as follows:

1. Language A1 (usually the home language – in this case English)

2. Second Language

3. Individuals and Societies (includes business, economics, geography, history, IT etc.)

4. Experimental sciences (includes biology, chemistry, physics)

5. Mathematics and computer science

6. The Arts (students may opt to include an additional subject from Groups 1 to 5 in lieu of Arts)

More information can be found here:

ibo.org

Further Information