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Start here: Coordinators & Teachers

  • Start here: Coordinators & Teachers

A warm welcome to you all

This site contains everything you need to establish and build the IB Career-related Programme in your context. Your one stop shop for all things CP. Teaching Personal and Professional Skills? Looking for a reflective project process supported every step of the way? Need a cohesive student section that connects all the CP? We have it covered. Furthermore, with ATL embedded throughout, you can be assured of the pedagogical quality and relevance of all these resources.

Making teaching easier

Navigating the features of the site

On the right hand side of each page you will notice icons to help you interact with the site and make it an essential part of your planning

Presentation mode - allows you to present automatically and use the resources directly in the classroom


Print page - paper free is increasingly the aim of the game and possible but this is always a useful option


Personal notes - excellent for planning and bookmarking key resources ready for the week/month/term ahead


Share this page - great for busy CP coordinators and core teachers wanting to share with their team and students


Teaching materials - takes you directly to the materials that will make the lesson so easily accessible

Start exploring here
This site starts with the background to the CP and how it works before taking you through the key core areas

Career-related Programme 

Language Development

Service Learning

Personal Professional Skills

Reflective Project

Please note, from September 2025, there will be a change of names for Language Development and and Service Learning which will be known as Language and Cultural Studies and Community Engagement respectively.

The CP in brief

  Let's start at the beginning

 You may well be familiar with the first diagram here which shows the three key elements of the CP and the basic    
 requirements, but are you aware of just how flexible this framework is? First a quick recap:

... and just like all IB programmes, all the elements are connected by Approaches to Teaching and Learning, International-mindedness and the Learner Profile.

This is a fixed and flexible framework and, depending on what the school can timetable and offer, programmes can vary from student to student. What is fixed is a career-related element, completion of the core hours and portfolios as well as reflective project, and at least 2 DP subjects at Standard Level. What is flexible is the size of the career-related studies and the DP subjects which can be offered in greater numbers and also at Higher Level.

                                        A CP course that meets the basic requirements, might look like:

                                                A small-to-medium-sized CP course might look like: 
                                                        

                                                Larger CP courses might look like the following: 
                             

Why is this important?

When you start seeing the sheer diversity in CP courses that schools worldwide have been offering, you realise that this course can be moulded to the student and their interests and skills. This is one of the reasons why there has been such an impressive variety of destinations for CP students globally, as well as no 'textbook' CP student. Some focus more on career-related elements, whereas others really focus on the academic DP subject areas in depth, with a smaller CRS.

Pedagogical development

Teaching IB

You may well be here because you are new or, at least, newish, to the IB and the CP. There are lots of resources to help you improve your teaching practice too and give you the background knowledge you feel you need.

It can be difficult to navigate what the IB philosophy of education and understand the pedagogical principles. In a series of pages, we give an introduction to the philosophy of the IB that can lay a great foundation as you build an understanding of the CP and how all the elements fit into a wider vision of education.

 

Teaching the IB way

What is different about teaching with the IB pedagogy in mind?An obstacle facing pedagogical leaders in schools can be reassuring experienced staff that teaching with the IB pedagogy in mind, is actually...

 

Constructivism

Approaching the IB pedagogical principlesBecoming authorised to deliver the Career-related Programme is the first step for a school new to the IB. But a greater pressure can be embracing the constructivist...

Applied Ethics: A closer look at ethical frameworks - The Agent, the Act and The Consequence
In this series of resources, we take a closer look at key normative ethical frameworks and how they apply to real life. With agent-centred ethics, we ask whether the learner profile is a great example of virtue ethics in action.

 

Applied Ethics: The Agent

Ethical decisions that develop moral characterThis page expands on the general Applied Ethics page which explores how you can utilise the three key branches of normative ethics to give students user-friendly...

 

Applied Ethics: The Act

Actions speak far louder than consequencesDeontology is an approach to ethics in which the rightness or wrongness of an act is judged by its conformity to duties, rules and obligations. Therefore an individual...

 

Applied Ethics: The Consequence

The greatest good for the greatest numberThis page expands on the general Applied Ethics page which explores how you can utilise the key branches of normative ethics to give students user-friendly ethical...

Academic Integrity and AI: You will have heard about ChatGPT over the past few months and wondering about its ethical implications. Look no further than here for a closer look at the multiple perspectives surrounding this use of AI and suggestions for Applied Ethics activities. 

 

Academic Integrity and AI

The challenges of Academic IntegrityAs an IB World School, Academic Integrity is the backbone of everything we do; student being honest and transparent in their learning is key to their education journey....

PPS in the classroom

Student Section

Whilst the resources on our site are in the majority, teacher-facing, we have a cohesive and extensive student section that is especially designed to promote independence in your students, make links across their CP core and subject areas and also assist you in the last teaching of the current CP core specifications.

Have an explore of how the student PPS pages work and the example of Module 1 with its varied activities and learning experiences that explore identity and becoming a reflective learner. A great start for embedding skills students will use throughout their course, particularly for the reflective project.

 

Module 1: Who am I?

Who am I?Welcome to Module 1 where we will explore what makes us tick and how that knowledge can help us grow as learners in lots of different settings. Over the following activities, module 1 will explore...

Developing the course

Are you developing and teaching the CP core?

The Personal Professional Skills course lies at the heart of the CP and is the fulcrum for the whole course. Here you will find suggestions for mapping out the start of the course, each key theme explored in detail with supporting lessons.

Here we take a thematic approach but do not be concerned that you will be separating out the themes - all of the resources are written to connect the themes across the course. You may choose to focus in on one specific theme but be rest assured that students will have ample opportunities at the same time to explore other themes and make connections.

 

Beginning the PPS course

After the intense focus on authorisation, it can sometimes come as a little surprising that we finally get to teach this course. Let's start with 'the mothership' - PPS. You've got the outline but what...

Thinking skills in PPS for CP  

 

4.1 Critical thinking: Understanding 'Truth'

The nature of 'truth' in the 21st CenturyHere, we start to chip away at the idea of truth and how finding it in today's world demands highly developed critical thinking tools. Whilst the intention is...

 

4.2 Creative Thinking across disciplines

Facilitating creative thoughtImagine. Predict. Innovate. All command words that demand independent thought and risk-taking can be somewhat intimidating. However, creative thinking is happening right under...

 

5.1 Reflective Project: Ethical decision-making

What's the deal with decision-making ethics?A quick search for ethical decision-making will draw up any number of recommended steps for a successful process. It's hard to filter through this and find...

Preparing students for the Reflective Project

Are you coordinating the Reflective Project?

The reflective project pages are designed to support the process of the reflective project systemmatically from start to finish. Just some examples here from the start, middle and end of the project process.

 

The Process

It can be very easy to read the criteria of the Reflective Project and see their main function primarly to mark the end product. However, they indicate the actual process students will be going on as...

 

Ethical dimensions, issues and dilemmas.

Beore students, can find a suitable ethical issue and dilemma to analyse critically at the centre of the reflective project process, teachers need to feel comfortable tackling this area. On this page,...

 

Giving feedback

This is the most asked question when it comes to the drafting stage of the reflective project. Perhaps it should come as a relief to supervisors that they are not there to correct spelling, punctuation...

Are you wanting to develop skills more broadly for the Reflective Project?

The reflective project requires skills that start developing with their DP and CRS subjects but comes to fruition in this part of the core. Lessons that explicitly address skill development follow the reflective project process section and directly cross reference the IB's approaches to teaching and learning.

 

Ethical Thinking

At the heart of ethical thinking is the ability to consider the dynamics of people, actions and consequences in a balanced way. Developing ethical thinking is a complex process that takes time not just...

 

Reflective Thinking

Reflection is generally seen as an exercise in looking back on what has been done. The part that is missed out is to use this knowledge to shape what can be done in the future. This is how reflection...

 

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking can sound scary and unattainable for students but it is a lot more accessible than they imagine. Returning to the learner profile to consider the inquirer and communicator can prompt...

 

Writing skills

Irrespective of which option the student chooses to take, they will have to utilise writing skills for the reflective project. This can be daunting to anticipate; however educators can take advantage...

 

Research skills (ATL)

An open-minded and adaptable approach to researchStudents developing research skills early on can help them quickly ascertain whether their intended research question and area will work; there are many...

 

Planning and process management (ATL)

The student's planning skills, throughout the reflective project experience, must not to be overlooked. This ensures that the process does not just become about the final piece but is seen as an opportunity...

 

Self assessment

The stage between between receiving feedback from their supervisor on their only draft and producing the final piece can often lose momentum, especially when there is a long summer holiday in between....

Selected Pages

All materials on this website are for the exclusive use of teachers and students at subscribing schools for the period of their subscription. Any unauthorised copying or posting of materials on other websites is an infringement of our copyright and could result in your account being blocked and legal action being taken against you.

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