The Aptitudes at the Core of the IB
A cup of coffee is one of the simpler things we encounter in a day: simpler than the phones we constantly check, the car we drive to work, or the computer we use to complete our tasks; yet the fact that nearly every household in the UK can start the day with a coffee is just as much a marvel of the modern age as the most complex technology.
A Colombian farmer grows the bean, which is driven to port in a German truck where it boards a Korean ship using Azerbaijani oil refined in America. The bean is refined and packaged in France for a Swiss company, and then shipped to an Dutch wholesaler before being sold in a British corner shop.
To get the Columbian bean to the Scottish cup is a vast international enterprise. It is no wonder the number of international students has risen from fewer than a million in the year 2000 to eight million in 2024. But it is not a small group of expats who are involved in making certain exotic products available; most of us interact with people from around the world and from many different backgrounds as a routine part of life. In fact we would all benefit from an international education, and worldwide 80% of students in international schools are from the local area. At ISA we are half expat, half UK citizens.
An international education best prepares young people for the needs of this fast changing modern world. A recent report asked university admissions officers what curriculums best developed global awareness and connectivity: 80% identified the International Baccalaureate (IB) compared to just 10% for Scottish Highers and 6% for A levels. That might not be a surprise but it comes with a host of other qualities that both universities and employers prize, like independent inquiry (87% for IB compared to 47% for Scottish Highers and 37% for A levels), an open mind (71% for IB, 26% for Scottish Highers and 15% for A levels) and self-management (76% for IB, 30% for Scottish Highers, 26% for A levels). It is no wonder that universities overwhelmingly agreed that IB students thrive at university and are the most likely to develop workplace skills. You can see it with the amount of offers our Grade 12s have received from universities in England, Scotland and around the world.
This morning, ISA hosted a Grade 12 exhibition on our students’ experience of the ‘Core’ - that part of the IB that really distinguishes it from other pre-university qualifications: the Extended Essay (EE), Theory of Knowledge (ToK) and Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS). Joseph described ToK as “a crash course in thinking about thinking”, David felt that “it significantly alters a person’s way of thinking” and Eeshan said “it helped [him] grow as a person.” Many students described how they didn’t ‘click’ with the Core to begin with, but were changed and improved by it nevertheless. Rhain described how he is “approaching a lot more topics with a ToK saturated perspective. Anaelle talked about how, through CAS, she “challenged [herself] to try new things and surprisingly it expanded my career horizons.” Rhain said that CAS helped him “experience planning events” and “become more proactive”. Through the EE students researched and considered topics as diverse as hydrogen buses, high speed trains, and the physics of car spins to menopause, the links between music and behaviour, and climate change.
This morning was a great opportunity to meet the flesh and blood reality of the admission officers’ statistics. The lives we lead are not just a technical marvel, they are evidence of an incredible amount of cross-cultural collaboration. The skills for which are learnt here first!
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