Forward-thinking: Why I Fell in Love with the International Baccalaureate Programme

By Hyun Jung Owen, Middle Years Programme (MYP) Coordinator at Marymount International School London

I first joined an IB school about 20 years ago, after a few years of teaching in two different national curricula. What I initially loved about the programme was the teacher autonomy, which is not always guaranteed in other curricula. As I came into education with a mission to make learning relevant to my learners, I always felt that following a pre-determined, somewhat restricted curriculum was a hindrance to my teaching. What I wanted to teach was always what was happening right now, but often in national curricula, what we were meant to teach was often distant from what my students were thinking and experiencing at the time. The IB, however, gave teachers the freedom to shape what we teach within the framework. The more I learned about the framework, the more I felt that this is what I had been looking for all those years of teaching.

The IB framework encourages teachers to not only teach knowledge and skills but also to teach students how to think deeply, approach their learning, and apply their knowledge to new situations. The IB assessment criteria incorporate Bloom’s taxonomy so that teachers assess students’ ability to remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate, and create. We encourage our students to develop higher-order thinking skills, moving from basic knowledge recall to generating new, original ideas. This starts with teaching for deep understanding and transfer.

Now, teaching for deep understanding and transfer takes some time for a lot of teachers to master. But once we know how to teach through intentionally designed guiding questions (inquiry-based learning) that nudge student thinking from factual to conceptual understanding, the results are transformative. We see our students’ thinking and meaning-making in the classroom in various learning experiences we design. This way of teaching is fundamentally based on our belief in constructivism – a learning theory stating that individuals actively construct their own knowledge and meaning from experiences. The beauty of this way of teaching is that my students surprise me every day. I feel fortunate to hear their original thinking, because they feel safe to make mistakes and come up with new ideas, and to collectively build a deeper understanding about complex global issues, because we are happy to share and build on each other’s ideas.

Contextual learning is also an important element of the IB framework. It allows us to link subject-specific learning to real-world situations. It becomes our job to come up with real-world scenarios where students can think like experts in the subject and to provide relevant case studies for our students to delve into, to deeply understand transferable ideas. Therefore, our students truly become the active members of the learning process, not passengers, but drivers. It is ultimately what we teachers want to do when we teach; we would like our students to go above and beyond our expectations.

In my conclusion, I would like to quote Professor Guy Claxton, author of The Future of Teaching and the Myths That Hold It Back, in his praise for the book ‘Learning as If Life Depended on It’ by Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General of the International Baccalaureate Organization: ‘Civilisation is under threat. Large numbers of people who are thoughtful, ethical, and brave are required to protect it. Education ought to be the incubator of such people. Educationists who can see clearly what’s needed and show schools the way back to their fundamental purpose are in short supply – but Olli-Pekka Heinonen has emerged as the leader of this small but crucial pack.’ I am forever grateful and proud to be part of this pack of innovative and forward-thinking educators who consistently seek ways to educate young minds to be great human thinkers who will navigate complex problems and build a positive future for all.