ISJ November 2017: The International Baccalaureate Standards and Practices as Reflected in Literature

Susan Ledger

Abstract:

In an era of unprecedented educational change and scrutiny within nation states around the globe, it seems relevant to scrutinize international education with similar critical eyes. The international school sector has grown to be equivalent in size and number of students and schools to those in the Australian school sector. In a similar rate of growth, research related to international schooling has risen exponentially over the last decade capturing a range of systems level and school level phenomenon within the field. This literature review critiques research on the International Baccalaureate (IB) published between 2009-2015. The IB ‘Programme Standards and Practice’ document provides the framework for the analysis. The critique of research spans the suite of IB programmes from primary to secondary and across geographical regions in which IB programmes are offered. The findings highlight research trends within the ever changing, rapidly expanding world of international schooling and reveals research gaps related to geographic location, programs, and specific elements of the IB Standards and Practices. The standards based approach to the critique of literature proffers a systematic approach to reviewing school systems that may be relevant to other international education organisations. The study is timely as the IB prepares to review the 2014 Programme Standards and Practices and may benefit from the findings.