IB Voices

What can we learn from research on how to support student and teacher wellbeing? Jennifer Merriman, IB Global Director of Research, Policy, and Design, sits down with Magdalena Balica, IB Senior Research Manager, to discuss the science behind wellbeing, what we mean by it, and how we might measure and define it. The discussion is informed by foundational new research on student and teacher wellbeing by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford.

Dr. Matt Glanville, Director of Assessment, and Yoon Byun, Head of Digital Transformation, join in a conversation on the future of digitization in the classroom including benefits, limitations and challenges. Together they discuss AI technology, digital assessment strategy and increased access and accommodations for students - as we prepare for the future of education. This podcast was created as a part of All4Ed's Global Digital Learning Day on February 15th, 2024.

Ariane Baer Harper partage avec nous l'importance de bien intégrer le contexte scolaire dans le réflexion de la mise en œuvre d'un programme de l'IB. Ayant elle-même supervisé des établissements dans leur cheminement pour être autorisés à offrir des programmes de l'IB, elle nous propose des astuces pour que cela se passe au mieux, en s'assurant que les enseignants sont inclus dans la réflexion. Chaque établissement est différent et cela ajoute à la richesse des programmes proposés.

Francis Tornay partage avec nous la façon dont son établissement, au Caire en Egypte, a décidé de déplacer l'éducation également hors de la salle de classe en y créant des espaces ouverts pour l'apprentissage communautaire. Il explique les effets de ce changement sur les compétences des élèves et la manière de les évaluer.

Nancy Sirois, Geneviève Dubuc et Isabelle Proulx partagent avec nous la façon dont leur établissement, au Québec, a décidé d'agir pour qu'enseignants et élèves vivent mieux le PEI, en mettant en avant la métacognition, les neurosciences et l'agentivité. Plus les élèves sont responsables de leur apprentissage et plus ils prennent plaisir à apprendre ; il en va de même pour les enseignants qui participent à ce projet.

Ali Ezzeddine partage avec nous son expérience du Programme Primaire dans divers pays, principalement de langue arabe. Il donne des conseils pour toute coordonnatrice ou tout coordonnateur qui rejoint un nouvel établissement afin que le démarrage dans ce nouveau rôle se passe au mieux. Il souligne principalement l'importance de bien comprendre la culture propre à l'établissement.

In the final episode of a series focused on the PYP support material ‘The early years in the PYP', IB voices spoke to Anne van Dam and Kathryn O'Connell, 2 early years educators who have worked in local and global contexts, to explore some of the opportunities and tensions for educators around the subject of documenting learning.

In this inspiring podcast, IB Voices talks to Tom Bronson, an experienced MYP educator based in Florida, on interdisciplinary learning and how it can be implemented. They also explore the changes to the Interdisciplinary unit guide and its effect.

What is metacognition, and how can it benefit student learning? In this podcast, researcher Paul Beach highlights promising practices to help IB educators and parents to support metacognitive development among their students.

Resilience describes the process of positive adaptation in the face of adversity in life. All students face challenges of some kind, and academic resilience plays an important role in overcoming these setbacks. In this interview, researcher Ross Anderson discusses the findings of a policy paper by researchers from Inflexion, highlighting key insights from research on academic resilience and buoyancy. He also presents some promising practices and recommendations for teachers and parents to support student resiliency.

In the second of a series focused on the PYP support material ‘The early years in the PYP', IB voices spoke to Anne van Dam and Kathryn O'Connell, 2 early years educators who have worked in local and global contexts, to explore what concept-based learning looks like in action and to discuss some of the tensions educators feel when working conceptually with young children.

In the first of a series focused on the PYP support material ‘The early years in the PYP', IB voices spoke to Anne van Dam and Kathryn O'Connell, 2 early years educators who have worked in local and global contexts, to explore what excites them about the new support materials and the opportunities it offers for early years educators to reflect on their own practice.

Mariette Kauthen partage avec nous la façon dont le Lycée Technique du Centre au Luxembourg utilise le Programme du diplôme pour l'intégration des nouveaux arrivants dans le Grand Duché. Les spécificités linguistiques du Luxembourg ont poussé l'établissement à définir le rôle des langues dans ce processus inclusif.

Marie-France Labelle partage avec nous son expérience en tant que directrice du Centre STEM à l'Ecole international de Genève en Suisse. Elle nous explique comment l'apprentissage transdisciplinaire permet une pratique significative, créative et innovante. STEM/STIM signifie « science, technologie, ingénierie et mathématiques ». Cet outil permet de travailler les compétences liées à la recherche scientifique dans le monde réel.

Antonina Andrianova et Sylvie Henderson partagent avec nous l'importance que leurs deux établissements donnent à l'apprentissage des compétences au PEI et au Programme du diplôme. Antonina travaille à La Moscow Economic School à Moscou en Russie et Sylvie au Lycée Multilingue OMBROSA à Lyon en France. La discussion porte sur la façon dont l'enseignement des compétences a été mis en place et sur l'importance de l'autoévaluation des élèves.

Alison Yang, MYP coordinator, and Rhys Tyers, language and literature teacher at KIS International School discuss the formative assessment and feedback project they launched at KIS and how it allowed for students to engage directly with the feedback process and develop their own capabilities.

Director of IB World Schools, Adrian Kearney, extends a warm welcome to the latest cohort of IB authorized schools, marking the 2000th PYP school since 1997.

This study investigated the impact of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) on student well-being and related social-emotional outcomes. The mixed-method study involved three phases: a literature review and review of PYP documentation with regard to well-being; a retrospective comparative analysis of PYP and similar non-PYP schools; and surveys of PYP teachers and students. The study found the PYP curriculum and programmatic elements to be imbued with activities and practices that promote well-being. PYP students also demonstrated consistently higher levels of well-being compared with similar non-PYP students. Additionally, PYP schools with strong implementation showed a more positive school climate and higher levels of teacher engagement, student participation and student well-being outcomes attributable to the PYP. These findings offer substantial evidence that the PYP encourages student well-being above and beyond other well-being activities promoted in schools. Learn more here.

Taid Rahimi partage avec nous la façon dont son établissement au Togo, en Afrique de l’Ouest, a construit son curriculum conceptuel pour le PEI et le PP, ainsi que l’implication que cet enseignement a sur l’identité et la vision des apprenants. La discussion partage les idées théoriques et les exemples plus concrets mis en place dans l’établissement.

Chantal Thomas partage avec nous le cheminement que son établissement en France a mis en place pour offrir à leurs élèves un double diplôme, à savoir le diplôme de l’IB et le diplôme du Baccalauréat français. Elle évoque les défis et les réussites que son établissement a rencontrés lors de la mise en œuvre de ce double programme.

Frédéric Bergeron partage avec nous la façon dont son établissement au Canada met en place les approches de l’apprentissage afin de soutenir les élèves et améliorer leur apprentissage. La discussion donne des exemples concrets que chacun pourra méditer pour son propre établissement.

This February marks the fifth annual International Day of Women and Girls in Science. We hear from astrophysicist and science advisor Erin Macdonald, who tells us about her role as a science advisor in the Star Trek franchise, the real (and fictional) role models that influenced her career and how she landed in Glasgow for her PhD. She is a Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP) graduate based in the United States.

The personal and professional skills course (PPS) is a core component of the Career-related Programme (CP) and each school designs and develops it around five themes: personal development, intercultural understanding, effective communication, thinking processes and applied ethics. IB Voices sat down with Chris Baker-Raivo, CP coordinator and Lori Brumbaugh, personal and professional skills teacher at Champlin Park High School to hear how the programme is bridging students to career pathways and ways to foster student agency through the PPS course.

IB leaders from across the globe gathered for a roundtable discussion on working more closely together to support each other in the new landscape they are all facing and the new PSP focus on school culture to improve learning environments.

IB leaders from across the globe gathered for a roundtable discussion on developing agency for all leaders, teachers, students, and parents so that resilience, flexibility, responsibility, self-assessment, and adjustment are part of everyday learning.

IB leaders from India and Singapore gathered for a roundtable discussion on the importance of feedback across different grade levels; as students have been more responsible for evaluating their own work, how can schools continue to build skills for students and teachers in using assessment 'for' and 'as' learning.

IB leaders from India and Singapore gathered for a roundtable discussion on innovating assessment to better serve the needs of students, focusing on how schools are responding to the changing rules and the knock-on effect for end of year exams at all levels.

IB leaders from India, Singapore and Belgium gathered for a roundtable discussion on the employability of graduates and preparedness for the 4th industrial revolution.

Language development, which is one of the four components of the Career-related Progamme (CP) core, can be nurtured using diverse approaches. How can educators embrace this flexibility and support students to expand their own horizons? In the third episode of a series focused entirely on the CP, IB Voices sat down with Chad Lower, CP coordinator at North Kansas City High School (and member of the IB Educator Network (IBEN) whose roles include site visit team leader, consultant and workshop leader), to understand how language development works in his school and how educators can create meaningful learning experiences, also in the current context of distance, online or blended learning and teaching.

Understanding the Career-related Programme (CP) reflective project criteria is beneficial for supervisors because they can provide concrete advice and lead students through this exciting journey. IB Voices recently sat down with Wilma Shen, CP coordinator at Renaissance College in Hong Kong, who shared her schools’ strategies for the reflective project, supervisor training, and marking standardization in the second episode of a series focused entirely on the CP.

IB leaders from across the globe gathered for a roundtable discussion on building positive community cultures and placing a higher priority on looking after the well-being of individuals across the community, including staff, students, parents, the school board and themselves.

IB leaders from across the globe gathered for a roundtable discussion on what can be done to address current issues – the impacts on schools and whether the differences are regional or global. They also look at how markets are changing due to the extended changes in student and teacher movement and the impact on the IB’s preparation for university placement.

The reflective project is one of the four core components of the IB Career-related Programme (CP). It is an in-depth exploration of an ethical dilemma related to students’ career interests. Produced over an extended period of time, it’s designed to draw together key elements of the students’ CP experience, including their career-related study, Diploma Programme courses, and the other components of the CP core. This episode of IB Voices features Rebecca Austin Pickard, a former CP Coordinator, IBEN workshop leader, and author of the textbook “CP Reflective Project” (Hodder, 2019). Join us as she shares her insight and advice for reflective project supervisors about how they can proactively support students as they complete the CP reflective project.

IB leaders from across the globe gathered for a roundtable discussion on how leaders can build professional capacity, motivate, maintain and develop new and current teachers. They will also discuss the changes in recruitment and what measures should be put in place to ensure the needs of the school community are met.

IB leaders from across the globe gathered for a roundtable discussion on how the experience of remote learning will impact how students learn in the future, with an emphasis on independent and collaborative learning and a variety of technologies.

IB leaders from Southeast Asia and India gathered for a roundtable discussion on the positives of remote learning for staff, students, parents and leaders.

IB leaders from Southeast Asia and India gathered for a roundtable discussion on the challenges of remote learning for the school community and reflect on how these can be managed, minimised or overcome.

In this episode of IB Voices, two incredible teachers from Stratford Hall School in Vancouver, Canada, Andrea Ryan and Meg Penafiel, talk about their school’s IDEA Lab (which stands for Innovation Design, Engineering and Arts) and how it seamlessly fits into their school’s IB framework - particularly in their implementation of the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP).

IB educators from Australasia and Southeast Asia discuss the benefits of being a member of the IB networks and associations and the importance of being connected with other schools across the globe.

IB educators from Australia and New Zealand discuss the many roles that the networks, IB Associations, principal and school groups play in maintaining connection, sharing strong practice and promoting collective and ongoing school improvement.

Today we’ll be exploring health and well-being with educator Anthony de Giorgio. Anthony has a wealth of experience in the field of physical and health education from the PYP all the way through to the diploma programme. He’s also a member of the IB educator network, a workshop leader and is currently studying for a Masters in Professional Kinesiology in Toronto. We recorded our conversation at the PYP subject symposium in 2019 where Anthony joined us to lend his experience and expertise to the review of the PYP scope and sequences with a focus on personal, social and physical education. We started our conversation by considering the current focus on health and well-being in the media and the wealth of research on leading happier, healthier lives and the opportunities this offers for learning in the primary years.

Today’s guest is Mark Shillitoe, a PYP teacher at the International School of Delft in the Netherlands. He’s held various roles in PYP schools across Europe including that of PYP coordinator, and digital learning coach, but now he’s back in the classroom alongside pursuing a Masters in Art Education. Mark is a thoughtful, reflective and provocative practitioner who isn’t afraid to break down barriers in the pursuit of learning. Our conversation explored art, activism and a touch of magic, but we started out by considering learner and teacher agency and how teachers can start to introduce the concept into their practice. A note: this interview was recorded in 2019.

In this episode of IB Voices, we’ll be exploring the world of language learning with educator Lorna Caputo. Lorna is based in Switzerland and the International School of Zug and Luzern where she holds the position of coordinator for first language and English as an additional language across the IB continuum. A self-confessed lover of languages she’s currently trilingual speaking English, German and Italian. Join us as we explore opportunities for celebrating and enhancing linguistic diversity throughout your school through practical ideas and examples from Lorna’s own experience. A note: this conversation was recorded in 2019.

IB educators from Australia and Vietnam as well as the IB’s PYP Authorisation Manager discuss the many roles that programme networks, IB Associations, principal groups and other organisations play in Australasia and across the Asia Pacific region. This panel of speakers will share insights on where educators can go for support and how can schools and educators can connect with networks and Associations.

At a PYP workshop with educators from Europe and the Middle East in 2019, lower school principal at the International School of Ulm in South Germany, Heidi Bachman was learning all about agency in the PYP. Although somewhat new to the school, Heidi is not new to the concept of agency, having started her career in early childhood progressive education in the United States. As a keen advocate for voice and choice, Heidi talked to us about the value of scaffolding, and the important of a safe and collaborative culture in finding the space for risk-taking. A note: this conversation was recorded in 2019.

In this re-release of an original PYP Voices podcast episode, Melanie Smith from the International School of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, joins us to talk about her passion for concept-based inquiry, sharing some magical moments of PYP learning along the way and some practical tips for supporting both students and educators with the ‘concept‘–of concepts!

The IB Authorization team from the Global Centre, Singapore, share how schools are supported from application for candidacy to authorization and reveal some key indicators for a successful authorization process.

While the IB Diploma and Career-related Programme go hand-in-hand since they are designed for students of the same age group, some schools – or rather, one school in particular – is connecting the dots between the Career-related Programme and the Middle Years Programme in some really cool ways. Building a transition plan between the two programmes is Jason Reagin, the CP coordinator at Chadwick International School in South Korea. Listen in as IB Voices talks with Jason about the similarities between the two programmes, the shared skill set they develop in students, and more.

Psychology experts from Australasia discuss strategies to support students’ well-being – at home and in school, and to ensure an effective transition back to school.

When normal, physical routines are disrupted through unexpected events, students often find it hard to stay motivated and develop new routines. Of course, some of us are more conscious of this now, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. To speak to this, IB Voices met with Dr Adam Carey, a doctor, nutritionist and leading commentator on all areas of sports nutrition and human performance. In our conversation, Dr Carey shares the importance of physical activity on our well-being and motivation, how to find motivation to get active, and what types of physical activity is beneficial and feasible while stuck at home.

IB educators from three IB World Schools in Australia discuss the importance of using collaboration and collaborative planning techniques to support the effective transition back to school.