International Baccalaureate at the American School of Bilbao
What is IB?
“ The IB is now able to offer three programmes of international education and a career-related certificate, with them, the prospect of a continuous international educational experience from early childhood to pre-university age. While the IB now offers a sequence of three programmes— the PYP, the Middle Years Programme( MYP, introduced in 1994) and the Diploma Programme( DP, introduced in 1969)— each programme must continue to be self-contained, since the IB has no requirement for schools to offer more than one programme. However, they must also form an articulated sequence for those schools that teach all three programmes or any sequence of two.”( IB Website)
From our point of view, the IB Diploma offers us the chance to be educated in a different way. The IB is orientated towards a more reallife based learning. IB is not just learning, IB is a stairway to further knowledge. We are always students in some way, learning how to be better persons. That is what, in our opinion, the IB Diploma means and symbolizes.
In April 2013, an IB Evaluation Committee visited our school. Some students of the 10th grade class were in charge of showing them around the school. They then called a meeting with the entire class where we discussed about what we thought the IB would be like or if we would be all right. After the visit of the IB Evaluation Committee we reached the conclusion that our school is prepared, very well prepared, to face these new challenges and work towards these goals over the next school year. We were all stunned by the fact that our school was singled out for its preparation towards the IB as an example of how a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate should prepare.
Bosco González, Beatriz Guzmán and Bruno Redondo( 10th Grade)
We are obviously pleased by this fact, us students, have some fears towards this new Diploma even though we have had more than enough presentations, preparation courses, and received loads of information about it. First of all, we are insecure about being the very first class to follow the International Baccalaureate system in the American School of Bilbao. We are proud of having our school’ s faith put on us. Nevertheless, sometimes we fear that maybe our organizational skills may not be sufficient for the IB, or that we will not be able to cope with the pressures of the Extended Essay, CAS, TOK, or the Higher Level classes. All of these fears, which may seem to our teachers as irrational( they always say that if we work hard we will have no problem), in our perspective, are completely rational. Maybe the clue to eradicate these fears is to wait, and to work to the best of our abilities over the next two years.
Works Cited:
• " International Education- The International Baccalaureate Offers High Quality Programmes of Education to a Worldwide Community of Schools." International Education- The International Baccalaureate Offers High Quality Programmes of Education to a Worldwide Community of Schools. N. p., n. d. Web. 11 June 2013.
• " International Baccalaureate." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 06 July 2013. Web. 11 June 2013.