IB Culture - Key Policies
Why are policies so important?
The answer is that they establish the culture of an IB World School. There are five mandated IB policies you need to have to be an IB World School.
Key inquiry
How can I make sure that our policies structure the learning and teaching in the school?
‘Culture’ is one of the four overarching categories in the revised IB Programme Standards and Practices (2020). These four categories fit into a framework, which places “learning” at the centre and is encircled by IB philosophy and the school’s unique context.
Within this context an IB school should foster a dynamic school culture centred on holistic, inclusive learning communities. “School culture refers to the written and unwritten rules that define how a school functions. It also encompasses personal and collective well-being, the effective utilization of physical and human resources, and the extent to which a school acknowledges and celebrates diversity.” (Programme Standards and Practices 2020). The IB Standard is “Schools develop, implement, communicate and review effective policies that help to create a school culture in which IB philosophy can thrive.”
IB Standards and Practices refer to five IB mandated policies. They are: Admissions Policy, Language Policy, Inclusion Policy, Assessment Policy and Academic Integrity Policy. These policies are important to both the authorization and five year evaluation processes since they are central to the implementation of the IB programmes.
These five policies go to the heart of an IB school:
Admission Policy is all about who we accept into the programme.
Inclusion Policy is all about how we include them - appreciate and meet their needs.
Language Policy has at its heart how we cherish their identity.
Assessment Policy is all about how students grow and develop.
Academic Integrity Policy is about the character of the student.
It is important that these policies are owned by all key stakeholders. Good practice suggests that all stakeholders should have a role in designing and reviewing the policies. This section of the website will provide you with the collaborative tools to engage stakeholders, and the pages that look at the individual policies will provide you with questions and tools to write and review them.
Aubrey Curran, an IB Head of School, explains how coordinators need to create a culture through implementing the policies:
"MYP coordinators traditionally are promoted into the job as successful teachers or heads of department, assuming this role is the first time they truly become middle leaders and have to start thinking about managing change. Policy into practice is about creating a culture. Typically, when introducing MYP in a school, the coordinator plays chess on two boards: with their bosses in leadership and with the teachers. What makes a chess player successful at simultaneous chess? Being able to think several steps ahead and making sure you don’t get confused. Same here! Key is making sure that when the coordinator discusses the policy implementation with leadership, they understand their role in the shift that needs to happen and when discussing the same policy implementation with teachers they see that the constraints have been taken away by the school. Planning ahead is vital!" (Aubrey Curran, Head of School at Yoyogi International School in Tokyo)
“Many schools, when there is dearth of policy, have used the standards of accrediting organisations as the basis for writing them. This is not necessarily a bad thing; however, it can lead to 'ticking of box' mentality. The issue has sometimes been not the policy or who was involved in writing it, but rather the practice, procedures and evidence of that policy. Policy helps create the culture- i.e. 'this is what we do around here' as well as set the climate, i.e. 'how we feel about things' and to a degree how much we buy into it.
Possibly the best aspect of the revised Programme Standards and Practices 2020 is the focus on culture - maybe it will do away with 'let's tick the boxes' and even, dare I say, 'lip service' to the programme and it will hopefully ensure more depth and deeper engagement. “ (Christine Marzouk, Programme Standards and Practices 2020 Discussion Forum February 2020)
“Some schools look at policies and procedures as a TO DO LIST item that need to be ticked off. And then these policies are stored somewhere, new staff don´t get orientation about them, old teachers are not reminded about them in daily practice, and they just live a sheltered life until the next revision, when people ask "Do we have a ........ policy?" or "Where is it?" because it is not integrated, not seen as useful, not alive in the practice and CULTURE.” (Sundey Christensen, IBEN workshop leader).
"Policies should reflect who the school intends to be as much as they are a repository of procedures. In that respect, policies are essential agreements surrounding culture. My dad was an architect. In that business, there is a "project architect" that is in charge of the overall vision and accountability. Working with them are other architects designing certain parts of the integrated vision, there are draftsmen doing the detail work, and then contractors and subcontractors who do the actual building. ALL must consider the "existing fundamental beliefs, values, patterns of behavior, and tangible evidence” needed to build a sustainable programme (or building) in the contextual ecosystem that exists in the local school. Heads of School working with Learning Leaders, working with other school staff, working with students, community members, business partners, and parents, develop and sustain the vision." (Steve Houwen, IB CP Coordinator, Alameda International)
The image was designed by Alison Ya-Wen Yang, MYP Coordinator, KIS, Bangkok.The intelligences refer to the IB leadership intelligences that leaders use to steer the ship.
Activities:
- Read: With a partner carry out a focused reading of the IB guidance on a specific policy. Read the document line by line and after each statement consider how you can apply the guidance by completing the following sentence ..."If the IB says this then I need to ...." This approach will help you analyze what the IB means using a micro lens by going through the document sentence by sentence. Pulling the guidance apart allows colleagues to come to grips with what the IB requires.
- Reflect: How do our policies become living and breathing things that reflect the culture and context of our particular school and not just copies of other schools' policies which are locked away in a handbook never to be referred to? Look up how the organization 'Character Lab' do this. They are not a school but have developed a 'Culture Book' in which they identify their key values and then give practical examples of 'what this looks like' and 'what this sounds like'. For example:
Value: Excessive Generosity
This means: We give without asking | We assume the best in others
What this looks like: Cleaning up messes - big, small and metaphorical | Receiving generously too.
What this sounds like: "Of course, I'd be happy to help you with this project!" | "Hey - I know you have back-to-back meetings today, so let me grab you some lunch.
- Consider: How do I lead the implementation of these policies? What evidence do I look for that they are being implemented with fidelity? How do we make it clear what the policy looks like and feels like in practice in our school? What practical examples can we give of our expectations?
“I totally agree with your idea of trying to make the policies more present in the school life. It is clear to me that policies tend to be a document that we review every five years (IB visits) and are left in a "drawer" or uploaded on the school website without any clear intention. It is obvious that the possibility to connect the policies to what is "going on" in the school would give a better context to the outcomes of the learning.” (WSL and IB site visitor, David Bauza-Capart)
Embedding policies
I am grateful to Renee Rehfeldt (Japan) for these great suggestions:
I have worked with some exceptional teams regarding policies. We have done the following, varied year-on-year and depending on need:
- Case studies -using the school's policy as a basis, devise realistic case studies that may/have come about in your school. This is a great tool for the admissions, child protection, language, and academic honesty policies in particular.
- Circle of Viewpoints - a Visible Thinking Routine that requires faculty/staff to review a policy from a range of perspectives (parent, student, new teacher, old teacher, board member, etc). Helps give a fresh look at a policy. Works well with any policy, but I've had great discussions come out from the inclusion policy, language policy, and academic honesty policy.
- Annual/Biannual Review committees - by having the policy on a regular review cycle, with a method of engaging a range of reviewers, the policy never goes stale and everyone sees they have a stake in making it a living document. In one of my schools, every policy was on an annual or biannual review cycle and every teacher was involved in one of them. With a regular cycle, review is actually much easier and takes less time.
- "Tell me a Story" - I have done this one at the department level. Ask teachers to review a section of the policy and devise their own case study. Works well with the assessment, academic honesty, inclusion, and language policies - "tell me a story " about when you or a friend/classmate 'cheated and explain what would have happened according to our policy; "tell me a story" about a success you have had related to the inclusion policy/guidelines.
A reflective template
Steve Houwen, IB Coordinator at Alameda International, has designed the following reflective template to use with staff.
- Establish a policy steering committee which includes a cross-representation of stakeholders (students, teachers, administrators, librarian, parents, IB programme coordinators etc.). This will ensure that the process of writing a policy is collaborative and has ‘buy in’ from all key groups of people whom the policy will impact. The steering committee will oversee the process of producing the policy and will act as key lines of communication to their constituent groups.
- Collate views of the community through informal discussions, questionnaires, interviews, facilitated workshops. Audit current practice. Assess the effectiveness and impact on learning of the policy using feedback from teachers, students, and parents to inform improvements.
- Draft the policy and then share with all stakeholders for review and comment. A facilitated workshop using tools and protocols suggested below will provide opportunities to receive feedback.
- Use comments to draft final version of policy to go to the Governing Body for ratification. Identify key issues in the discussion which led to the policy being drawn up. This will allow Governors to understand the culture of learning.
- Communicate the policy to all stakeholders. Use workshops where appropriate.
- Establish a review process: the timing and responsibilities that are associated with a review process should be articulated in the policy. Ensure that you link a policy to other related practices and policies.
A helpful document
Setting an IB policy that works for your institution and your stud*ents in the United States - a simple guide to help you summarize or improve IB policies at your institution, IB 2010.00
Tools for creating and reviewing policies
The following tools could be used for creating and reviewing policies:
- A paragraph, sentence, phrase, word : encourages staff to carry out a focused read of current policies (and IB documents that inform policies).
- Compass points : encourages staff to review polices by asking them to note what they find exciting or worrisome about the policy and to identify what else they need to know and do.
- Diamond 9 : to prioritize key elements of a policy.
- Elevator Pitch : to go to the heart of a policy and sum it up in a pithy marketing manner.
- Heart of the Matter : a prioritization tool when constructing the key elements of a policy.
- Headlines : to check understanding by asking staff to think of the big ideas and important themes within the policy and then to write a headline summarizing them.
- Six word memoir : similar to Headlines.
- Visual Metaphor : to check deep understanding of key concepts within a policy.