The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme Explained

Ensuring a challenging and innovative academic journey at Compass International School Doha.

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year course that prepares students for a career or access to a top level university in nearly 90 countries including USA and UK at over 2,000 universities across the world.  The course takes a student-centred approach to learning, encouraging learners to develop their independence, foster their creativity and help them learn more effectively. Designed for international students, the IBDP sets high but achievable standards, holding students accountable for their work, resulting in well-educated young people, ready to take on the world.  Students study six subjects in detail and also learn about wat we understand as knowledge.  They learn compassion for others and understanding of their own skills and attributes.

A typical English class in an International Baccalaureate programme might include a comparison of two great novels, one ancient and another more contemporary. Through the comparison, students learn more deeply and gain a better understanding of the language and its history. This system of learning is offered in thousands of schools around the world, and it has gained a great deal of popularity with both students and their parents.

The mission of the IBDP is to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and mutual respect. The International Baccalaureate Organization works with schools, governments and international groups to develop challenging programmes of international education, backed up by a rigorous and independent assessment scheme. The IBDP encourages students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

The programme is made of 6 subject groups and the Diploma Programme core groups of Theory of Knowledge (ToK), Extended Essay (EE), Creativity, Action and Service (CAS).  Students benefit from completing independent research and undertaking projects in their local community.

Robert Rothman, an American educator, describes the IBDP as a, “good example of an effective, instructionally sound exam-based system.”   Other benefits of the programme are that it seeks to go further than other programmes in that it aims to develop people into those that are motivated to succeed and, following our school motto, are ambitious. A professor of Educational Psychology, Howard Gardner, at Harvard University said IBDP, “helps students think critically, synthesize knowledge, reflect on their own thought process and get their feet wet in interdisciplinary thinking”.

Only a handful of schools are accredited to offer the prestigious IB programme in Doha, and Compass International School Doha is a leader in this field.  Justin Hughes is our IB coordinator having joined us from his previous school in the Netherlands where he was also the IB Coordinator. He brings over 12 years experience in successfully delivering the programme throughout his varied tenure.  Justin teaches history, geography and Theory of Knowledge, and his last post was in the Netherlands where he taught for 9 years.  You can meet Justin along with other senior staff at the Compass International School Doha, IB Open Evening when the course will be explained in detail on Wednesday, 3 May 2017 from 6 pm - 7 pm at our Gharaffa Campus.  Or you can contact him to arrange a one-to-one session to find out more about this high level and excellent pre-university course.

Justin Hughes can be contacted via email at justin.hughes@nais.qa

Further details about our IB Open Evening can be found on our school website www.cisdoha.com