Authorization - IB Workshops 2020

The revised Programme Standards and Practices that come into effect in September 2020 have generated the following significant changes to professional development:

• Workshops for current Heads and Coordinators, across all programmes, have been developed 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, have been developed 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 the Learning workshops is on pedagogical design and measuring of learning in the ecosystem.
• How do the workshops relate to the Standards and Practices? IB Standards and Practices describe the IB ecosystem. Category 1 workshops introduce the aspirational Standards | Practices of what it means being an IB World School as well as practically fulfilling the authorization and programme deliverables as articulated in the requirements and specifications.  The Category 2 workshop provides the opportunity for a deep dive and provide participants with the opportunity to develop skills and capabilities to grow their leadership as middle leaders. All these workshops move the PD experience from a compliance to a developmental mindset in light of the publication of the new PSP.

Head of School (Category 1)

In this workshop, heads of school are challenged to think about the process of leadership differently, to base their decision-making and actioning on a foundation of deeper understanding of the complex nature of their own particular context as well as being immersed into the IB eco-system.

Building on this understanding, leaders -- together with the IB -- will consider the ways in which their school community (all stakeholders) will place learning at the centre of their IB programme, through the thoughtful development of purpose, culture and environment, in alignment with the IB’s mission and philosophy.

Working with each other and the workshop leaders, participants will:

• embrace their role as a leader of a learning organization in an IB global context
• become familiar with the IB’s philosophy and requirements, including the specifications relevant to the programme(s) for which the school is seeking authorization
• prepare to inform and engage their school community
• plan their school’s IB journey through authorization and beyond, including the identification of a potential leading learners’ team.

During the workshop, leaders will begin to develop their school’s IB action plan to meet the IB’s requirements for authorization and a vision for ongoing implementation. 

As part of their upskilling to deliver the new workshops, senior IB workshop leaders were asked to deliver an Elevator Pitch which introduced participants to the workshops. This is a summary of the main ideas.

The following graphic captures the key ideas within the new workshops for Heads of School and Leaders of Learning.