November 2025 Updates and Notices
Welcome to the November 2025 Updates and Notices!
I hope this message finds you well. For those in November centres, I hope that your students performed well in the recent examinations.
Over the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of visiting several schools in the Asia Pacific region. It has been inspiring to collaborate with dedicated professionals and to meet their exceptional IB students. The enthusiasm and talent I have encountered truly reaffirm our commitment to fostering educational excellence for a better world.
My journey began at the British School Jakarta, where I was impressed by the outstanding facilities and campus, especially as a Football School affiliated with Manchester City Football Club (despite being an Arsenal fan, of course!) I observed dedicated, respectful, and engaged learners, and it was evident that the fantastic team of IB educators there work so well together. During our workshop, we focused on assessments for DP Economics and DP Business Management, along with the new Extended Essays.
Many thanks to Eliud Juma, Robin Wood, Gaya Jagan, and Liz Pooler - and thank you also for activating Student Access to give your 105 students free access to InThinking!
My next stop was SJI International in Singapore, where candidates achieved an impressive average of 40.1 points in the IB Diploma in November 2024. The focus of our discussions was on upskilling teachers regarding the new Extended Essay, which sparked thoughtful conversations, especially as academic research, conceptual based learning, and academic integrity.
Many thanks to Raj Bista for inviting me back to your school and for looking after me so well. Extended thanks also to your team of excellent educators: Angela Chan, Kelly Russell, Brother John Ooi, Jamuna Velusamy, Alice Wong, Sanjeeda Munmun, and Elmi Chew. It was wonderful to return to SJI International, where I always feel warmly welcomed.
Our latest Paper 3 exam paper has been inspired by Jamuna Madhav and Pam Ng during my third visit, working with IB educators in Singapore 🇸🇬 . Jamuna and Pam both teach at ACS International, which hosted the workshop.
This latest Paper 3 case study is about Bettr Coffee, a social enterprise that supports single mothers and marginalised youth (aged 13-25), many of whom are former prison inmates, by providing employment and training programmes. You can access the resources (case study, exam questions, and mark scheme) here.
("Bettr" is spelt without the second “e” to remind us that none of us are perfect, but that a cup of coffee can really change lives for the better).
Workshop participants at Bettr Academy, Singapore, 1st November 2025
Finally, I concluded my school visits with a three-day event at Nexus International School (Singapore), collaborating with their exceptional team of teachers. A heartfelt thank you to Shoaib Raza for organizing this event; I truly appreciate the effort that went into ensuring a seamless experience and for your warm hospitality.
It was also a pleasant surprise to reconnect with Alec Armstrong (Learning Area Leader) whom I worked with at Sha Tin College in Hong Kong. We were joined by Jim Bevan, Kevin Ohn, Rose Vu, Susan Abuto (a fellow IB Workshop Leader), and Sid Ali (from Nexus International School, Malaysia). After spending three days with the team, it was evident that they are all outstanding IB educators dedicated to excellence.
It has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to work with all these teachers in Jakarta and Singapore. Each of you has inspired me in numerous ways and provided a wealth of new ideas to explore on InThinking. Thank you all so much for your contributions and support!
Other updates to the website include:
- New revision Flashcard and Quizlet activities have been added to Unit 4.3 (Sales forecasting) here.
- A revision handout, containing 20 top tips for Paper 2 (SL and HL) have been added here.
- An interactive True or False Quiz for Unit 2.2 (Changes in organizational structures) has been added here.
- Additional advice about the new Business Management Extended Essay here.
- With circular business models being assessed several times in recent exams, additional top tips have been added here.
- Similarly, with critical path analysis appearing in both 2024 and 2025 exams, additional advice and tips have been added here.
- In the second of many resources that we will develop with the Financial Times, our latest resource offers strategies and materials for integrating the FT article “How high-end restaurants went global” into your IB Business Management classroom, with specific focus on Barrafina here.
Student Access
Subscribers are reminded that their students can gain free access to the InThinking Business Management website by activating Student Access from the homepage. At the time of writing, more than 31 600 Business Management students are registered on the website, all of whom enjoy free access. In addition, you can register all other Business Management teachers at your school to gain access to the site for no additional charge.
Please feel free to join the 340+ teacher members on LinkedIn here. We will be using LinkedIn a lot more for communication purposes.
All the best to November 2025 candidates for their remaining exams!
Paul Hoang
