C2: Written Curriculum - explanatory notes

The notes are arranged to follow the sequence of the document Action flowchart 2. Numbers refer to the IB document Guide to school authorisation: Diploma Programme, page 14.

** What you need to have in place

You need to be able to show that you have an organised course, written down. This does NOT mean having a lesson plan for every single minute of teaching – but you should have a clear overall sequence, with some indication of what you are going to do, how, and why, in each section.

Starting point: check the instructions

9. informed by IB publication + regularly reviewed

This means that the course must clearly refer to the Subject Guide in general (for instance, if course content is specified, then obviously it must appear clearly in the outline), and in detail, where useful (for instance, noting a few page references will demonstrate this).

General overall aim/criterion

1. comprehensive & aligns with requirements

Does your course at least mention all significant headings of the Subject Guide ? And have you met specific instructions? For example, if the Guide says 'study two books', have you got two books ? In other words – do a very simple check that you haven't forgotten something.

1.a  fits aims and objectives

Each Subject Guide refers to Aims and Objectives, usually at the beginning. Find these, and make sure that your course connects with all of these in some way. For example, the first Aim in the Language B Subject Guide is “develop students' intercultural understanding” - can you point to a section or element of the course that deals with this ?

1.b  includes ' Concurrency of learning ' (??)

1.c  balanced (seems to refer to o/a subject choice)

The general instruction in the IB document seems to refer to the school's whole written curriculum, involving all subjects. However, the idea of 'balanced' can usefully be applied to the curriculum produced for each subject – has a proper amount of attention been paid, appropriately, to all aspects of the Subject Guide?

1.d  (write your) own courses of study

Key Task … You have to have this 'in place', including all of the elements referred to above and below.

Core intellectual skills

4. >> knowledge, concepts, skills and attitudes

These four Big Words cover the essential ingredients you have to include – although the proportion of each will vary according to subject. In the case of Language B -

knowledge = vocabulary and grammar, largely (and cultural knowledge ?)
concepts = what language is, and how it works
skills = plenty of practice in the 4 Skills
attitudes = the new Subject Guide places an emphasis on intercultural understanding

There's no need to write endless lists of every minor teaching point – the most important bits will do.

11. fosters … learner profile

Don't feel you have to cover every word in the Learner Profile - choose a few bits that you think can be sensibly developed within the teaching of the subject.

General values / background

7. students' awareness of issues (individual, local, national & world)

The new 'Topics' approach to Language B covers these almost automatically – e.g. 'Global Issues. The key point is to show how, in teaching language, you can make students more aware of important issues around them.

8. reflection on diversity etc

Again, if you pay attention to the 'intercultural dimension' of Language B, this will be covered automatically.

NB 'course of study' should include how assessment is to be done (see C.4)

** What you need to be developing

Encouragement

10. policies to support the programmes

What ideas can you suggest to make the teaching of the course more successful: these will mainly be (i) resources (e.g. money for student access to internet ?), and/or (ii) systems (e.g. time allocated for one-to-one student counselling sessions ?)

Transparency

2. available to school community

How can you make clear to everyone what you're doing in the course? This is likely to mean (i) publishing the plan of the course (where? how?); and/or (ii) publicising particular activities or projects ? … or … ?

Attention to student experience

i.e. How well is the course adapted to the students' real needs ?

3. builds on students' previous learning

Diagnostic testing at the beginning of the course would be a good way of ensuring this … and more diagnosis throughout the course will make sure that your information is up to date.

6. relevant experiences for students

This clearly means being informed about your students' real interests and concerns – and this should lead to thinking about both (i) topics and issues discussed, and (ii) perhaps, events outside class – educational visits, weekends away, etc ?

5. meaningful student action

A tricky area this, but potentially very rewarding – what can/should you encourage students to do as a result of work in class ? For instance, if students have become very concerned about global warming, should you encourage them to carry out a campaign to promote knowledge about the issue among other students ?