Transcending Borders: The International Baccalaureate's Systemic Approach to Educating the Whole Person

• In Event: Transforming Education Systems for Holistic Student Development: Learning From Case Studies Around the World

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine efforts of the International Baccalaureate (IB) system to support challenging academic instruction alongside more holistic aims, such as intercultural understanding and respect, in schools around the world.
Perspective
The IB system cultivates internationally-minded students by encouraging teachers to continually and authentically bring the outside world into the classroom. Through an inquiry-based, transdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning, IB students learn to draw connections across different subjects, and to act on local and global issues of significance to them. Through IB’s emphasis on language learning and exposing students to diverse perspectives, it aims to prepare children for a globalized world, and to instill in them an appreciation for experiences and perspectives different from their own.

As it has worked toward the above aims across time and space, the IB system has managed at least three ongoing tensions: 1) between academic rigor and equitable access; 2) between more traditional academic achievement and more holistic teaching and learning; and 3) the tension between providing supports to schools and teachers to promote fidelity of implementation, while also permitting practitioners enough discretion for local adaptation.

Methods
This paper draws on research literature on the IB system, as well as data sources from the case study author’s previous comparative studies of educational systems, which included IB schools and the IB system. These data sources include: IB school and system documents (e.g., evaluation rubrics, curriculum binders, system standards for IB classrooms and schools); ethnographic observations in IB schools; semi-structured interviews with IB teachers and school leaders, and; video-cued focus groups with IB students, teachers, and school and system leaders.

Results
The IB system manages its ongoing tensions (i.e., balancing fidelity and adaptability; demanding rigor while supporting equitable access; and leaving space for traditional academic achievement while promoting more holistic outcomes) by developing robust educational infrastructure that is more skeletal in nature. This permits practitioners’ adaptation of IB to their local context, culture, and criteria. The system guides IB practitioners using instructional frameworks, planners, and desired outcomes, which teachers can then flesh out using local standards and resources. The IB system supports teachers’ use of these materials through ongoing professional development, verification visits, online platforms, and by demanding and facilitating the cross-pollination of ideas across IB schools. In this way, the IB system ensures quality and expects continual improvement, even as it builds in room for local discretion and adaptation at every stage of the implementation journey.

Significance
This analysis suggests the merit of attending to a system’s ongoing tensions (e.g., managing fidelity and adaptability) alongside its corresponding supports (e.g., a robust educational infrastructure, which is skeletal in nature) when considering its efforts to promote more holistic outcomes for students.

Author

• Whitney M. Hegseth, Boston College
  Presenting Author