Is the International Baccalaureate a good alternative to VCE for your child?
THE International Baccalaureate has grown in popularity as analternative to the VCE. So what is it and can it give your child more opportunities?
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UNIVERSITY of Melbourne arts student Sara Guest, 19, believes the International Baccalaureate Diploma has given her a global perspective and more opportunities than a qualification such as the VCE.
“Knowing that my diploma would be recognised by any university around the world was important to me,” she said.
“I was also lucky enough to go to an international school and now I have contacts all over the world. It has expanded my opportunities immensely.”
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Guest said it seemed easier to do well in the IB than the VCE because study scores weren’t scaled up and down and students weren’t ranked against their peers.
She graduated last year with a top score of 45/45 (equivalent to a 99.95 ATAR) and now offers a tutoring service through Gumtree.
“If you are good at multi-tasking and time management, happy to work really hard and if you choose your subjects well, then you can ace it,” she said.
But Guest knows such opportunities aren’t available to everyone.
The senior IB qualification is offered at 14 private schools and two state schools, Albert Park College and Werribee Secondary College, in Victoria, limiting it to about three per cent of Victorian students.
It wasn’t offered at Guest’s state school, Comet Bay College in Perth, either but she was fortunate enough to win a hockey scholarship to Taunton College in the UK for her final two years of school.
Dr Merryn Dawborn-Gundlach, of the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education, would love to see the IB Diploma offered at more schools.
As a VCE and IB teacher and former IB deputy chief examiner, she said the IB Diploma developed a broad skillset, as well as critical thinking and cultural awareness.
“The IB Diploma Program is good for all-rounders and beneficial in terms of keeping student options open as long as possible,” Dr Dawborn-Gundlach said.
The IB Diploma, which is governed by the IB Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland, is made up of six subject groups (language and literature, second language, humanities, science, mathematics and arts).
“The IB doesn’t allow students to specialise too much, so if you have a daughter or son who is really good at music or really interested in art, then the IB wouldn’t allow them to specialise in these areas” Dr Dawborn-Gundlach said.
IB students choose three subjects at a Higher Level (HL) for depth and breadth, and the remaining subjects at Standard Level (SL).
“They (the IB Organisation) do recognise that some people won’t necessarily be strong at language, or mathematics. They do provide options such as ab initio languages — learning a language from the start — and a mathematics subject which provides access to a wider range of mathematical abilities.”
She said IB students usually had more hours in class and more examinations; however, highly motivated VCE students could have a similar workload if they studied one or two Unit 3&4 subjects (Year 12) in Year 11.
What distinguishes the IB Diploma from the VCE is its additional three core areas of study.
Students must complete the Extended Essay (EE), a self-directed piece of research over the two years that culminates in a 4000-word paper, and Theory of Knowledge (TOK), which requires an oral presentation and a 1600-word essay.
The biggest challenge for many students is the 150-hour Creativity Action and Service (CAS) component. This requires participation in the arts, sport or outdoor activities and community service several hours a week.
Guest, who taught prep children how to swim, found the CAS beneficial because it shifted her focus from studying all the time to thinking about other people.
“At the time you think it’s such a pain to have to do this extra thing, but it made me realised that things we take for granted, like learning how to swim, can be a struggle for other people. It made me think about how other people learn,” she said.
Guest said she would like to work for an NGO or the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade when she finished university.
Werribee Secondary College principal Steve Butyn said he wanted students in state schools to have the same opportunities as those in private schools.
After eight years of lobbying the school introduced its IB Diploma program in 2013. Thirty students are in the program this year, with that number to increase to more than 60 next year.
Butyn said IB students had global opportunities, with recent graduates going to universities in Spain and South Korea.
“They are independent learners, they can set up their own businesses or whatever it might be, and the icing on the cake might be having the confidence to dip their toes into the international arena,” he said.
He said all students take a “Career Voyage” in year 10 to determine the best pathway for them, which may be the IB Diploma, the VCE with or without VET subjects or VCAL, depending on their academic progress and interests.
“Students who aren’t sure, and there are lots of them, we just ensure they have a course that is viable and they can mix and match so they are not going down a pathway that is dead end and they have to repeat a year.”
Parents of IB students pay the same class material fee ($295) as parents of VCE and VCAL students, but face an additional examination fee (about $950), which is charged by the IB Organisation because papers are set and assessed overseas.
Butyn said the biggest barrier to other state schools introducing the program was the cost of accreditation, staff training and staff overseeing the CAS and EE components.
”There are also extra staff costs to run small classes initially until the IB becomes more mainstream,” he said.
The benefits of offering the IB were apparent when graduates of the program revisited the school.
“They come back and say how confident they feel about their university studies,” he said.
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