The International Baccalaureate Diploma – an international experience

July 25th, 2006

Preparations are well in hand for Tollbar Business & Enterprise College’s switch to the International Baccalaureate Diploma.

This will mean that all students in the region can consider taking the IBD rather than A Levels and in the latest move to ensure that the College is geared up for the change, five staff from the North East Lincolnshire Sixth Form College Partnership went to Athens for training.

Mrs Hodge and Mrs Williamson represented the Grimsby Institute and Mrs Shelton, Mr Bentley and Mr Christmas attended from Tollbar Business and Enterprise College.

The group left Manchester Airport on July 2 to travel to Athens via Paris. Some luggage did not make it to Athens at the same time as the staff but we all rose early the following day to breakfast and catch the 0730 coach to the Geitonas School, where training took place for the rest of the week.

Geitonas is a large private school of about 2300 students aged from 6 months to 19 years. It has a Kindergarten on site and caters for the full range of students. Lunches were well presented and eaten in the school’s dining area; food was fresh and again provided an international meeting point as representatives from around the world ate together.

Our start was in the impressive sports stadium where we were officially welcomed and divided up into our training areas. The ensuing week was well organised and intensive, a lot of emphasis is placed on the ethos and nature of the IBD as well as delivering thorough information packages relevant to each group.

In some groups, active participation took the form of members leading sessions, presentations to other groups and even some Greek dancing! The normal day’s work started at 0830 and went on until 1700 hours and a lot of ground was covered in all groups.

Temperatures were high for those of us from the UK but locals assured us that this was somewhat below the normal for Greece in July. Copious water supplies were provided and needed by all participants during the week.

An official dinner took place on the Tuesday night when we were bussed to an eating/social venue and treated to excellent food, more Greek dancing and a cabaret of broad talents and material.

At the social evening, and in the groups, the truly international nature of the IBD was very apparent. People had come from a multitude of destinations and the cosmopolitan atmosphere was tremendous. In one group alone, staff had come from Poland, Hungary, Montenegro, Russia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia Herzegovina, France, Germany, Norway and Croatia.

The emphasis is on the quality of the learning experience for the student and how to develop the person as well as the intellect. The philosophy challenges the idea that ‘who you are is what you know’. The IBO proposes instead that ‘who you are’ is related directly to your community, peers and ultimately the world. Students need to understand the nature of knowledge in each subject and the underlying connections of knowledge between subject disciplines.

At the end of a gruelling week we all exchanged e-mails and contacts with the many international colleagues we had met. Our united reflection was that the IBO is an organisation totally committed to the development of students, with values and a vision that we could commend in full.

As we flew home on the Friday afternoon we all enthused about the quality of courses and learning opportunities offered by the IBD - it can only be a very positive addition for education in the North East Lincolnshire area.

Our touchdown at Manchester echoed our Athens experience, except this time all five of us were without our luggage ! However, the cases did arrive next day and the hold up did not diminish our enthusiasm for getting the IBD up and running.

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