5 Tips when Choosing an IB School (International Baccalaureate)

When choosing an IB World School, the first point to consider is which programme your child will study, and this will depend on their age. Dina Khalaf, Development and Recognition Manager, International Baccalaureate, UAE suggests the following things to consider when choosing an IB World School:

• The programmes on offer
• The school’s culture and values
• The subjects and projects on offer
• Beyond IB – what are the school characteristics?
• The child-centric approach of the school

The following transcript is auto-generated from Youtube

my name is Dina Khalaf and I work for
the International Baccalaureate as the
development and recognition manager in
the IB Africa European Middle East
region the IB offers four different
programs that cover the range of Ages
from 3 to 19 year old so there’s really
something for each age group but not all
schools offer all four programs so
that’s one of the things you need to
look at and consider where you will be
do you see your child progressing
through that school until they graduate
so do they offer all the IB programs
that you want are you moving to another
country and we remain an expat so it’ll
be easy transition to move to an IB
world school I was recently told by a
parent an IB parent was actually an IB
graduate that despite their children
being 3rd cultural kids and herself
being one and despite all the ambiguity
and change uncertainty that comes with
moving from one country to another IB is
always home and that offers some
stability for students when you’re an
expat family and you may want to
consider does the school offer the
diploma program or the career related
program which offer students the
opportunity to enter top universities
around the world the second point I
would ask parents to look at is to
really look at the school’s culture
every IB world school goes through an
authorization process and the first
thing they are asked to do is to align
their mission with that of the IB
they’re asked to study and unpack the IB
mission and to make sure that their own
schools mission aligns or that they take
the action steps to align their school’s
mission with that of the IB so we’re
asking schools to be very
student-centered
to commit to educating the whole child
not only in the classroom to support us
in developing students that are
inquiring independent learners lifelong
learners who are equipped and committed
to making the world a better place but
each school will have its own unique
culture that parents need to investigate
and check and see if it aligns with
their own family values and that would
be what I would ask parents to do and to
look at very carefully Third Point I
would ask parents to look at us to see
what subject the IB world school
actually offers the IB offers frameworks
and guidelines for the different
programs that we offer but schools
aren’t mandated to all follow and offer
the same subject offerings so it’s
worthwhile talking to the school about
what they do offer and what support
systems they have to meet the needs of
the students especially your own child
how will they support your students your
child’s needs in terms of subject
offerings the fourth point really
relates to the third one and that is to
look outside the classroom and how does
the school support the students
development outside of the classroom the
IB really mandates that schools educate
the whole child and after looking at
what subjects they offer you want to see
what kind of extracurricular activities
they offer and do those meet the needs
of your child what sports activities
what
aren’t activities what kind of trips
what kind of support do they offer the
students outside of the classroom to
ensure the whole child is developed the
last point that I would ask parents to
look at is to look at how student
centric the school is as a parent you
know your child best and you know what
works for your child and what your child
needs and so ask those important
questions of the school that you’re
interviewing what is the student-teacher
ratio what are the class sizes what kind
of support system do they have for
students for emotional development for
development within the classroom for
supporting students with special
educational needs those are all
important things at the school you need
to find out at the school offers and
meets the needs of your child for more
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