How do you promote | market the IB?
How can we promote and market the IB?
This page provides you with materials to help you explain why students, parents, educators, and government administrators should choose International Baccalaureate.
You will find the
- IB mission
- IB value proposition
- Individual programme messaging
- An example from one IB Head
Professional Inquiry:
- What are our key messages in promoting and marketing the IB?
- How does the IB differ from national programmes?
The IB mission statement describes their purpose as an organisation.
"The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end, the International Baccalaureate works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate, lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right."
IB programmes nurture:
- Students with a purpose: nurturing students with the character attributes to contribute to making the world a better place (these are expressed in the IB learner profile). IB programmes encourage students to develop a global perspective and take action to make the world a better place.
- Students with skills: developing in students transferable and future-ready skills to thrive in a world that is changing quickly. An IB education provides a full social, emotional, physical and intellectual education. In addition to the academic skills all IB programmes nurture life-skills (social skills, communication skills, self-management skills).
- Students with dispositions ready to step up as leaders, solve society’s most pressing challenges and build a better, more sustainable world for all.
IB programmes have:
- a curriculum that encourages students to connect learning experiences to their real-world experiences, and taking action to make a difference in their community.
- a well-recognised qualification that will enable students to gain admission to the university or career of their choice. University admissions value the advanced research and critical thinking skills that are developed through the IB programmes.
- teachers who become part of a global professional learning community, which rich and diverse opportunities to professionally grow and network.
To celebrate their 50th anniversary the IB produced a very useful video introducing us to some of the IB alumni who graduated from the IB Diploma Programme and went on to do incredible things every day to make their community—and the world—a better, more peaceful place. These are just a few who represent what it means to be an IB graduate, and what it means to put the skills learned in the IB into practice. This would be a great video to show when explaining the impact of the IB to students and parents. Read more HERE.
The importance of an IB education: Q&A with IB Alumni, Daniel Treviño Colunga
Many schools were proud of their IB results in 2021 and communicated their success in a visual way (see the first infographic below). Cindy Adair, International School Assistant Principal produced an Alternative IB Infographic.
- Identify the key messages of both.
- Reflect on the strengths of both.
- Consider what you would put in your infographic.
IB promotion
Activity: Researching a promotional presentation
As pedagogical leader you will need to present the rationale for offering an IB programme to various stakeholder groups.
This is an activity that you can use with all staff. I would split them into small groups with each group carrying out a piece of inquiry on their own and then compiling in plenary.
- Go to the IB Portal and go to the Diploma Programme. Under Diploma Resources go to the research area and click on 'Studies on student and school outcomes' where you will find many articles to choose from, especially those demonstrating the impact of the Diploma Programme.
- Review one article and consider how the study could be used to support interested students and parents as well as retain current students?
- Share your findings in plenary using collaborative tools such as Graffiti boards.
- What agenda would you create for a pre-diploma parent evening or a mid-diploma evening in support of retention?
Resource Bank
Use the Scavenger hunt protocol to carry out research. Use the resource bank of material provided below.
IB Videos
This video was produced to celebrate their 50th birthday in 2018. It is a good introduction to their impact.
The following video was commissioned to celebrate their 50th birthday:
The IB produced this short statistical video to celebrate their 52nd birthday in 2020.
IB Website
The IBO website has a number of useful PPT presentations that you may wish to use.
- A helpful overview of the IBO is What you need to know about the IB.
- There is also a General presentation on the Diploma Programme to be used with parents
- The Facts and figures section provides you with up-to-date statistical information about IB programmes and a link to a country by country search.
The IBO website has a whole section on the benefits of the IB:
- Benefits for schools
- Benefits for students
- Benefits for teachers
- Benefits for group of schools
- Benefits for universities
- IB as a district or national curriculum
- Comparing the IB with other qualifications
- Research about the effectiveness of an IB education
IB Documents
The IB: A Ticket to What, Messenger, J, 2008. In this opinion piece Messenger argues that the IB Diploma Programme is much more than a ticket to university. It is "a ticket to a fulfilling life, one that is characterised by an enduring thirst for knowledge, service to humanity, and strength of purpose." He argues that the DP can "open your mind."
North America
12 benefits of International Baccalaureate Diploma Program is a useful newspaper article.
10 reasons why the IB Diploma Programme is ideal preparation for university. Click HERE to access it.
Two other articles written from a North American perspective are Pros and Cons of International Baccalaureate Program and Measuring IB program benefits for US schools.
The IB have produced a number of 'Action Kits' for use in North America. These are no longer accessible on the IB website but are used in workshop workbooks and can be found on the internet. They are helpful in answering some of the questions specifically applicable to North America.
A number of US states have also produced their own IBO:Myths vs Facts sheets to counter views that the IB is an elite program or undermines other programs. For example, click here to see one from the State of Tennessee and here for one produced by the IB in America.
- Action Kit for Educational Leaders: frequently Asked Questions - addresses such questions as "Is the IB curriculum consistent with state content standards and the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act?"; "Can IB and AP be implemented successfully into a single school or school district?"
- A useful summary of benefits have been provided by drpfconsults.com and can be found here and here.
South America
Diploma Programme implementation in public schools in Latin America: The cases of Costa Rica, Argentina (Buenos Aires) and Peru: Summary developed by IB Research, based on a report prepared by: Jason Beech, Jennifer Guevara and Pablo del Monte Universidad de San Andrés-CONICET December 2018. The full report can be found HERE.
This report contains insights from the DP in Latin American public schools. It shows that the DP had reinvigorated their passion for teaching. While many teachers perceived the DP as more demanding than the national education programme, they noted feeling energized by the drive to continually hone their teaching practices (e.g. promotion of thinking skills, openness to learning etc.). As one teacher in the report reported: “The IB is a space where one, as a teacher, has freedom; in spite of the rules there is a space of freedom, of flexibility, there is recognition, an academic challenge, there is a process of becoming a professional again. A professional that studies, that updates, that does research, that positions himself, that can transcend his country and support an international organization.”
This is a good article by the University of Melbourne: Lessons to learn from the International Baccalaureate.
A good blog that provides anecdotal evidence of how the IB has prepared someone for their future career can be found HERE. "The IB and United World Colleges movement trained me to challenge the status quo, search for innovative solutions to social problems and equipped me with the tools to successfully start a sustainable project. The service component of the IB, which is especially reinforced in the UWC, was key to making me realize change-making could become a way of life."
IB Alumni speak. Showcase your alumni: heartfelt, honest stories from alumni who are at University or in the workforce will encourage other students that are challenged by what the IB requires of them. Each year the IB asks alumni students to share their experiences, interests and advice in their graduate voices’ series. Here are a few of their views – all very useful for ‘getting inside’ the value of an IB education. DP graduate Leilani Stacy from Richard Montgomery High School, USA reflects on how her IB education impacted her life. Vitan Patel from Fountainhead School in Surat, India, highlights key benefits of an IB education in university and the job market. Eman Elraie speaks about how your attitudes and skills help you achieve your goals and her experience of the Diploma Programe.
IB World Magazine contains useful articles, such as How do we prepare students for the Fourth Industrial Revolution? IB World Magazine, April 2019. “As new technology rapidly transforms society in unprecedented ways, we must make sure students are equipped with the right skills.”
IB for every learner, July 27, 2020, IB Community Blog: Abhinav Awasthi, a Diploma Programme (DP) coordinator at Ebenezer International School Bangalore, offers an infectiously enthusiastic personal view of the strengths of an IB education.
Newsweek article The importance of an IB education in 2019 provides a good rationale.
IB diploma for university, jobs: is perfect exam score worth the stress? Four students with top marks discuss. This article from the South China Morning Post discusses the value of an IB Diploma.
Summary notes
- IB DP held in high regard by universities throughout the world
- Most US colleges grant credit or advanced standing for high performance in DP courses
- Students gain entrance into a more selective US college
- Students are twice as likely to enter into a top 20 UK university
- Students have easier time adjusting to university studies
DP Characteristics
- A continuum of education K-12
- Proven high quality over 50 years
- International perspective
- Depth and breadth (HL+SL)
- Variety in assessments (multiple, internal + external)
- CORE – promotes lifelong learning + reflection + action
High alignment of material to expectations of university faculty. Click here for report.
Core skills
IB develops core skills required by universities
- an understanding of and appreciation for research (e.g. Extended Essay)
- presentation and communication skills
- critical thinking skills (e.g. TOK)
- report writing skills
- a sense of international mindedness and cultural understanding (IM)
- time management skills
- sense of self-awareness and responsibility (e.g. CAS)
- inquiry approach (ATL)
- self-direction skills
- global awareness
Academic achievement
- Diploma = rigorous pre-university programme
- Diploma has depth (HL) and breadth (+SL+Core)
- Diploma graduates tend to gain admission to their preferred university
- Diploma performance = best predictor of college performance
- Higher graduation rates than national averages
- IB students earned higher GPAs and graduated at higher rates
Activity 2: Developing your key messages
How do you market the IB in relation to other programmes? Consider writing an article for your parents clearly describing the benefits of each. There are many such articles to be found on the internet. Here are links to a few as illustration:
A-levels or IB? Which is best for you? Click here to access it. A-levels, IB and Pre-U Explained. Click here to access it.
Use the following template to plan your presentation
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