Interview
Q:
You have published several articles on the
IB, and have much experience working
with the IB curriculum, including contributing to
the writing of subject guides and assessments and
professional development workshops, delivering
workshops, and carrying out school authorization
and evaluation visits as a consultant, and school
visits team leader for the organization. As an
expert in IB programmes, can you explain the
history behind the IB? How did the IB curriculum,
in such a short period of time, become so widely
accepted by international schools around the
world?
A:
The first was the Diploma Programme (DP), which
emerged in the 1960s. It came out of a group of
international schools which began to talk about problems
they were facing. These schools had international students
who were looking to go back to university in their home
countries. The university requirements for entry were all
very different depending on the country. So international
schools had an issue with what they should teach students
in the last two years, in particular, because what they could
not do of course was to offer every single national program
that a student might need in order to enter university in
their home country. These schools talked about offering
one programme, which could be used internationally and
Gilian Ashworth speaking at the
Leadership Team Debut, AmCham
recognized by universities around the world. From this
need, the IB was born.
I think it has become so widely accepted not only because
you can do one programme for universities in many different
countries, but the IB stresses the need for students to
develop international mindedness and critical thinking
skills. In the 1960s, many national programs tended to
look at knowledge and student’s acquisition of knowledge.
Today, the importance of these concepts of international
mindedness and critical thinking skills is becoming more
recognized and accepted. There is also the reputation
that the IB Programme is very rigorous and challenging.
And because it is not regulated by a government from
any individual country, it has been seen as unbiased and
a reliable measure of a student’s knowledge, skills and
understanding.
Q:
We know that the international departments
of many Chines