Introducing the IB World

The IB World

The IB World has three regions: the Americas, Africa, Europe & the Middle East, and Asia Pacific.

In terms of schools, just over half of IB schools – 51 per cent – were in the Americas, while 33 per cent were in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and 16 per cent in the Asia Pacific region.

The number of IB schools is increasing annually with more than 1.8 million students attending over 5,000 IB World Schools in 153 countries. The Americas have gained the largest number of schools since 2015, adding 297 institutions offering the IB Diploma. The other two macro regions gained 187 and 132 IB schools respectively.

IB World School

A good place to start when introducing people to the IB world is to watch the video What is an IB education?  which is an excellent introduction. Click here to access it. It is certainly useful to use with stakeholder groups - staff (especially new staff), pupils and parents.

This is how the IB describe their world in their magazine IB World (October 2019).Which words | phrases resonate?

Welcome to the world of the IB

The programmes of the International Baccalaureate have a long-standing reputation for their academic and personal rigour, challenging students to excel in their studies and in their personal growth, and develop a lifelong thirst for learning. The IB aspires to help schools develop well-rounded students who respond to challenges with optimism and open minds, are confident in their own identities, make ethical decisions and join with others in celebrating our common humanity, and who can apply what they learn in real-world, complex situations.

We now work with more than 5,000 schools (both state and privately funded) that share our commitment to international education. More than one million students in over 150 countries study our four programmes, which are designed to: 

  • help students develop the skills and attitudes they need for both academic and personal success
  • be student-centred, promoting personal challenge
  • offer a broad curriculum with significant content
  • explore globally significant ideas and issues

“There is no one model of being an IB World School. There isn’t an IB toolkit that schools buy, distribute to their teams, and just copy-paste its content! Instead, school leaders unwrap their school context and make sense of the IB standards and practices in relation to “who they are”!” (Lina Mouchantaf, IB workshop leader)

IB World  is published annually. However, you can read more features and community stories online at blogs.ibo.org.

Case Study: International School of Brussels

The following film was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the IB. What do you learn about the nature of being an IB school from watching this video?

This section of the website explores what it means to be an IB World School ( An IB Education ) how to develop an IB culture in your school ( IB Culture - Key Policies ) and How do you promote | market the IB?

IB Leadership

The role of leadership is essential, as the IB makes clear: "Effective leadership and management of the change process, starting with a willingness and readiness for change to occur, are essential prerequisites. The scale and scope of the change, and the time needed to embed these changes, must not be underestimated. Schools must recognize that the change process does not stop once a programme has been fully implemented. Evaluation and development must continue as schools' experience with the programme allows for improvement in an ongoing cycle of evaluation, review and development." (Diploma Programme: From principles into practice, IB, 2015:18)

Welcome to the IB: A checklist for incoming heads of school is an excellent overview.

The IB have developed a leadership development programme consisting of a suite of workshops that explore various aspects of leadership. Visit IB Leadership Pathway to learn more.

You may also like to refer to the section of this website on  Change Management which examines how major changes can be made within a school, and especially How do leaders best manage change? which includes tips for bringing about change and an article written by Julian H Jefferys when he was IB Coordinator and Assistant Head responsible for preparing the school to introduce the Diploma Programme in Canberra, Australia.

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