We are delighted to welcome you to our IB community and have put together a checklist for new heads of IB World Schools to get you started.
✓ Understand the role of your IB Coordinator
This person provides pedagogical leadership for your IB programme/s. She/he serves as the intermediary between the IB and your school community. It is the coordinator’s responsibility to ensure that messages, correspondence, and documents from the IB are passed on in a timely manner to the appropriate persons in the school community, including you.
Curriculum-related information is accessed via the programme resource centre which you, your coordinator and teachers can access by logging into My IB, while school administration-related information will be sent directly to you as head of school.
✓ Learn about the IB and your programme/s
- There are many resources in the digital toolkit on ibo.org, here are some useful over-arching documents:
- What is an IB Education?
- IB programme standards and practices
- Information for parents offers an introduction to the IB, soon in ten languages. Consider linking it from your school website.
- Rules for IB World Schools for Primary Years, Middle Years, Career-Related and Diploma
- General regulations for Primary Years, Middle Years, Career-related and Diploma Programme
… and other resources that are only available from the programme resource centre.
- From principles into practice for each programme: Primary Years, Middle Years, Career-Related and Diploma
- Guide to programme evaluation
✓ Find out: when is your next evaluation?
Ask your coordinator. Your school’s next evaluation will take place within the next five years. Please consult the Guide to Programme Evaluation (on the programme resource centre) for information on the evaluation process. This guide will also inform you of expectations from the IB concerning the development of the programme and requirements with regard to professional development in the period until the next evaluation. Closer to the date, the IB provides information about timelines and procedures for submission of the self-study questionnaire and supporting documents, as well as the date of the evaluation visit, if applicable.
✓ Ask your coordinator for key documents for your school and review them
- Action plan: This is a living document you should review annually that outlines how you will implement your programme/s.
- IB budget: This outlines your school’s anticipated spending for annual fees, professional development costs, needed resources and staffing, and assessment fees.
- School authorization report or Most recent evaluation report: These reports include an assessment of programme implementation. Pay special attention to “recommendations” and “matters to be addressed,” which should also be found in your Action Plan.
✓ Ensure that your coordinator updates your school’s profile in My School
My School is the IB’s school information management system. Ask your coordinator to include you as head of school so that you receive communications from the IB. Once you have access to My School, you will find many resources there.
✓ Investigate Professional Development offerings
… for yourself and familiarize yourself with IB expectations for professional development and with offerings for your faculty and staff. You’ll find these in the Professional Development Catalogue. Consider attending one of three annual IB Global Conferences and the bi-annual IB Heads Conference. Watch out for the schedule of new webinars that are scheduled throughout 2017 for updates on curriculum developments, exam-related information and plenty more, getting the latest updates and giving you a dialogue directly with the IB.
We are here to help you – contact us any time via IB Answers.