Another workshop finished, this time in Berlin. Experienced teachers, who worked well together, throwing out lots of ideas and comments. One of the fascinating aspects of being a workshop leader is that you get a glimpse of an overview of what IB teachers are thinking. This is of course only a fragment of the reality, but one can spot possible trends ...

1. Examples of people making the fullest use of technology - active and dynamic use of sophisticated software to make films, or sophisticated back-up for students in the form of subject websites based in the school's internet. In the Berlin group, there were a number of people using technology in a wide range of creative ways, and a few for whom information technology is now an indispensable part of their teaching environment. Such people noted that the students can often be relied on to handle the software more easily than the teacher - "so just get them to handle all the technical side !" We are probably in an intermediate, germinating period of development, where really useful good practice is being developed, but has not yet been expressed clearly or circulated efficiently.

2. On the other hand, there was also a noticeable degree of scepticism about the value of technology in the classroom. There was a substantial number who questioned the idea that clever tricks with computers are necessarily a good thing - who would be happy enough to be convinced, but whose experience was that technology can hinder, rather than encourage, the stimulation of active student intelligence. Somebody rejected the idea of easily downloadable notes for students because "it's essential that they process what they learn by making their own notes..."

3. General acceptance of the new Language B Subject Guide, overall - mixed with some concern about the practicalities of implementing some aspects. The biggest area of concern appeared to be the Written Assignment. Those who were migrating from A2 to Language B were least concerned - "it looks much the same as A2, and I haven't had a problem with it" - although the more we looked at the details, the more such people began to look a little puzzled. IB will need to give some clearer guidance about how exactly the exercise is to be organised and conducted.

4. A tendency towards fairly rigorous marking standards. As usual, I found myself slightly regretting having included the 'Debateable' script in the workbook (see The debateable script ). It is wonderful from the point of view of starting vigorous debate ... but it does have a tendency to polarise people's views! Do you allow the student the benefit of the doubt, or do you insist on a tight interpretation of the task and penalise harshly any failure to comply? In this group, there was quite a strong representation of the 'strict' party - which suggests that many English B teachers insist on disciplined student performance. But ... but ... why is it that important that students do exactly what we expect them to do? The balance between controlling students, and encouraging spontaneity, is always tricky to get right.

Lots of things to think about ...