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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? We have it covered. Furthermore, with an emphasis on explicit development of all the approaches to teaching and learning, you can be assured of the pedagogical quality and relevancy of all these resources.
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
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Start exploring here
This site starts with the background to the CP and how it works before taking you through the key core areas
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 around the world have been offering, you realise that this is a course that really can be moulded to the student and their interests and skills. This is one of the reasons why there have 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.
Introducing our new resources on ...
3.2 Literacies: Understanding literacy
The wider significance of 'literacies'Quite rightly, we associate the word literacy with the ability to read, write and count. At its very core, The National Literacy Trust defines it as 'the ability...
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...
4.3 Problem-solving: Thinking under pressure
Thinking skills in action in the real worldPPS' Thinking Processes weaves its way through every part of the IB experience. The more a student understands when and how to apply a wide variety of thinking...
Teaching IB: If you are new to the IB and not just the CP, 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....
Are you developing and teaching the course?
Start with the Personal and Professional Skills section ....
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...
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.
Introduction to Personal Development
The CP IS Personal DevelopmentHaving this mindset from the start will ensure that the student's actual personal development remains at the heart of the entire course. Many schools start the PPS course...
1.1 Empathy and Intercultural understanding
The IB mission: empathy and intercultural understanding?The IB Mission statement states how empathy and intercultural understanding is crucial in creating a better, more peaceful world. One of the benefits...
Introduction to Intercultural Understanding
Intercultural Understanding as a mindsetIn this introduction to Intercultural Understanding, we consider how this theme can be a way of of thinking. This links very much to treating it as a lens with...
2.2 Language & Interpersonal Skills
Why does language learning matter so much?This page takes a step back for students to consider language development, language acquisition and linguistic skills in a broader more conceptual way that links...
Effective Communication
Effective CommunicationBeing an effective communicator is a key capability for the workplaces of the future. This page introduces this theme and demonstrates different directions it can be taken in. New...
3.2 Literacies: Understanding literacy
The wider significance of 'literacies'Quite rightly, we associate the word literacy with the ability to read, write and count. At its very core, The National Literacy Trust defines it as 'the ability...
Introduction to Thinking Processes
Using thinking routines to support PPSThinking skills and processes are implicit in our exploration of every theme in PPS as well as made explicit in its own discrete theme. Sound familiar? Well yes -...
4.1 Critical Thinking: How can we teach this?
Expanding your understanding and use of critical thinkingWe all know that critical thinking is an essential part of the reflective project process and mark allocation. Students are brilliant critical...
5.1 Introduction to Applied Ethics
Applied Ethics takeaways accessible to all teachersOn this page you will find easily accessible activities for Applied Ethics that get students talking, presenting, debating and creating. These activities...
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...
Topic Pages that take a project based learning approach to the PPS themes
Responding to change
The ongoing global pandemic has brought to the forefront of young people's minds that change on a mass scale can happen seemingly overnight. What can we learn from ways 'leaders' have responded locally,...
Interviews and the ethical employee
The notion of an interview can be a scary prospect because it symbolises a step into the unknown and very much about risk-taking. At the heart of any interview scenario is being able to answer and ask...
Understanding 'Truth'
Here, 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 to provide sources to prompt inquiry from...
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
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Start here Teachers
Coordinating the CP Free
An introduction to the CP Coordinator roleIf you are reading this, chances are you are either considering taking on the...
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The IB and the IBCP Free
Welcome to the ThinkIB CP WebsiteAccess free teaching ideas, resources and advice on the reflective project. Whether you...
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Achieving the IBCP certificate Free
Drawing together the CRS, DP courses and core subjectsIt is important to establish that, like the Diploma Programme and...
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Designing a collaborative core Free
Using PPS to join the dotsThe CP core is what makes this programme stand out, made up of unique elements. The Personal and...
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Teaching the IB way Free
What is different about teaching with the IB pedagogy in mind?An obstacle facing pedagogical leaders in schools can be reassuring...
Start here Teachers
Constructivism Free
Approaching the IB pedagogical principlesBecoming authorised to deliver the Career-related Programme is the first step for...