New Standards and Practices: an introduction to the new S&Ps and a comparison between those currently running (2014). This page draws attention to the four elements of the new S&Ps: Purpose, Environment, Culture and Learning.

Crib sheets for the new IB Standards and Practices: Two reflective crib sheets that help you as a team to prepare for the introduction of the new S&Ps.

A number of key concepts have informed the design of the new programme Standards and Practices. A brief summary of these key ideas is provided below. You will see that these concepts overlap with each other: namely, viewing the IB and each school as an ecosystem invites us to view their school as a whole system and to develop systems thinking, and within this to make sense of the whole as well as the parts.

The IB and Schools as Eco-Systems

Seeing both the IB and each IB World School as an ecosystem draws attention to (a) the dynamic and symbiotic relationship between the IB and IB World Schools; (b) seeing the whole (the system) as well as the constituent parts of the school and the IB; and (c) the importance of understanding both as living systems in which people have agency to change and transform who they are. It underlines that the IB works with schools as their own systems to help them grow organically within their context as well as how a school can understand the IB system as an ecosystem.

Key words:  system thinking | agency as actors not reactors | adaption and change | self-directed growth

Schools as Learning Organizations

The concept of schools as learning organizations may sound like an expansion of a definition of what a school is. However, the use of this organisational term in relation to schools draws attention to schools as organisations that are continually learning. They do this by keeping the big picture in mind (systems thinking), collaboratively developing and living a common purpose (shared vision), investing in developing professional capital (personal mastery), being willing to reflect deeply and challenge assumptions (mental models) and growing a rich collaborative culture in which people think together (team learning).

Key words: system thinking | professional growth towards mastery | reflective practitioners | building a shared vision

Sense-Making

Sense-making is all about how we make sense of life and the experiences we have. Sense making is a social process that respects the range of different stakeholders (IB + IB World Schools). It reminds us to take into account individual histories | identities | contexts (of schools) whilst also acting to bring about organisational change. It is also organic and complex – no one-size fits all: there is no one model of being an IB World School – instead it is about a symbiotic relationship between the IB and its schools focused on organisational growth.

Key words: identity and context | reflection | collaborative meaning making

Schools as Adaptive Organizations

Seeing schools as adaptive organisations helps to frame the relationship between the IB and its schools. It will inform how the PSP are viewed and implemented. The focus for site visitors and WSL will be working collaboratively and aspirationally with schools in the fulfilment of their mission and development, whilst at the same time ensuring alignment with the minimum requirements and specifications.

Key words: constructivist approach | critical analysis and reflection | continuous improvement

The revised framework will generate significant changes to professional development:

• Workshops for current Heads and Coordinators, across all programmes, are to be redeveloped for launching in 2020, with new titles.
• Redeveloped Category 1 workshops for Heads of school will meet PD requirements prior to their schools’ application for candidacy. 
• There will be no Category 2 workshops for Heads of school. Instead, Heads will be encouraged to attend global conferences, the biannual heads conference and to take advantage of other PD opportunities (i.e. online workshops, webinars) to catalyze growth in specific areas (for example, IB leadership, governance, global contexts, interdisciplinary learning, the learner profile).
• Programme-specific Coordinators’ workshops, Categories 1 and 2, are to be redeveloped and re- titled:  Leading the learning in the PYP/MYP/DP/CP. Category 2 workshops are to support learning leaders in IB World Schools; the audience expands to include department heads, subject area leaders, counsellors, student deans, project leaders and others critical to learning leadership.
• The focus of the Heads of school workshops is on the entire ecosystem of the school (to introduce them to the IB ecosystem, and designing and measuring their school ecosystem to foster learning). The focus of the Leading Learners workshops is on pedagogical design and measuring of learning in the ecosystem. The following graphic illustrates the relationship between both.