IB Diploma Introduction at King’s

John Sowden IBDP Coordinator – Senior School

The King’s session at the IB Global Conference on introducing the IB Diploma Programme was highly successful, with all participants engaging with their colleagues in a positive and productive manner. There were many relevant contributions concerning the introduction of the IB Diploma. The negative aspects also raised will give food for thought as we proceed with our quest for authorisation as an IB World School to teach the Diploma. The target date for authorisation is early 2024 with Year 11 2025 (our current Year 8), being the first cohort to be offered the alternative courses to the NSW NESA HSC.

The session was based on De Bono’s Six Hats. The White Hat, representing the information about where on the IB journey King’s is currently positioned, was presented by John Sowden. The Red Hat discussions centred around excitement! Although fears were expressed about lack of IB experience and hence anxiety about necessary teacher training, the introduction of the IB Diploma was embraced with an overwhelming positive feeling by those at the workshop.

During the Black Hat section of the discussion, concerns were expressed about staffing and managing both the HSC and IB Diploma in parallel and what impact this will have on the reputation of King’s, given the likely loss of a top fifty place in the Sydney Morning Herald tables. The Yellow Hat discussions centred around the similarity in alignment of the IB values to those of the school, the opportunity to realise a truly holistic approach to learning, and the impact the IB will have in encouraging our students to build critical thinking skills and gain an open-minded approach to the World.

Finally, the Green Hat opened participants’ views to embrace thoughts of building a specific IB campus, which could incorporate training for Diploma teachers and be led by a separate Head of IB School. Further ideas revolved around the opportunities that could be presented for collaboration with other IB schools, both locally and overseas.

The session proved to be lively, stimulating and extremely useful in focusing a variety of ideas on the pathway that the King’s IB Diploma journey may follow.