ISJ Internation Schools Journal Envisioning the K-Graduate Education Paradigm
ACS Athens

ISJ April 2018: The role of Theory of Knowledge, Creativity, Activity and Service and Extended Essay within the IB Diploma Programme – The idea of an Interactive Core and the relevance of the core subjects in the 21st Century

10,00

William Roberts

Since the inception of the IB Diploma Programme in 1968, the subjects TOK, CAS and Extended Essay have been central to the programme. In the first instance they were right at the centre of the diagrammatic representation of the Diploma Programme and hence became known as the core, with the six academic subjects around them – see Figure 1 (Lecanto High International Baccalaureate School). At that time people spoke of this core as being the ‘glue’ that held the Diploma Programme together – it was in effect what made the Diploma Programme a programme of study as opposed to a curriculum. In 2006 the programme was changed to include the Learner Profile and hence the diagram was changed to have the Learner Profile at the centre and the core moved to a layer between that and the subjects – see Figure 2 (EVSC Schools). In 2016 the idea of the approaches to teaching and learning was formally introduced into the Diploma Programme at the centre and hence once again the core moved out. This is shown in Figure 3 (Newton College).

X