IB Asia Pacific Regional newsletter

Message from the Regional director

Greetings to you all with our first quarter enewsletter edition for 2009. This will be my last enewsletter to you as Regional Director. After nearly six years in this role, I want to thank everyone in the IB Asia Pacific community for the enormous amount of support given to me personally. More particularly I thank you for all the work that you do in supporting IB programmes in the region. I have been extremely privileged to experience the collaborative spirit, the enormous diversity and the complexities of this region. I have been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with the many fine educators in it.

With the restructuring of the IB Organisation, the opportunity has arisen for me to lead the newly formed “Access and Advancement” Division of the Organisation. The leadership for the Access and Advancement Division will operate out of the new Singapore Global Centre. Therefore I will have the opportunity to maintain relationships within the region whilst at the same time developing a more global focus for the projects and activities that the Division will initiate.

The IB’s 2020 infrastructure plan, approved by the Board in April 2008, provides a framework and structure for the future development and execution of the IB’s Access agenda. This new Division will greatly enhance the extent to which the IB can truly “enable more students to experience and benefit from an IB education, regardless of personal circumstances”. (Council of Foundation retreat in July 2006) 

Judith Guy

Email: ibap@ibo.org

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New Regional director for IB Asia Pacific - Siva Kumari

The Regional Office offers a warm welcome to Siva Kumari who will join us officially at the end of April. Siva is currently associate provost for K-12 initiatives at Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA, and has an outstanding résumé as an educator and an academic. In her current post she has been coordinating and overseeing more than 85 university-sponsored or hosted educational outreach initiatives. Her more recent work has focused on maximizing maths and science achievement among underrepresented students and creating unique programmes for school teachers and leaders. In the US, she has received regional and national awards for her work.

Siva was born in India, where she attended school and completed undergraduate studies at St Joseph’s College. She moved to the USA where she graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Masters in rehabilitation counselling. She also holds a doctorate from the University of Houston in curriculum and instruction and instructional technology where she was awarded outstanding doctoral student of the year.

At the news of her appointment, Siva said, “This is a teaching and learning community that I adore and deeply respect for their ability to uphold the IB’s unique mission with such thoughtfulness and intellectual integrity. I am immensely honoured to be offered this role in strengthening this impressive organization as it accomplishes its vision for the future. The Asia Pacific region, as it prepares and responds to requests from an increasing number of schools, is particularly exciting for me. I am looking forward to learning about the wide spectrum of educational systems and to meeting IB educators in the region.”
 

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Updates in Asia Pacific

Bush Fires in Victoria

Sadly every enewsletter over the past year somewhere in the region the IB community has been struck by a tragedy like the Mumbai terror attacks or by a natural disaster such as the Szechuan Earthquake in China. On behalf of all the Asia Pacific staff, our thoughts are with the IB school communities in Victoria as they pull together to support those who tragically lost their families and/or their homes in the recent bush fires. We cannot begin to imagine from a distance what an ordeal it was and what an ordeal it will be as those affected work to rebuild their lives. I hope that it brings some small comfort for those affected to know that the thoughts of many in the wider community are with them over the coming months.

Joint Evaluations and Accreditions

Following an evaluation of the CIS/WASC/IB pilot joint accreditation/evaluation visits, we are collectively working on refining the protocols and confirming the process for future visits to IB schools that offer IB programmes throughout the school. In the case of the Diploma Programme, the full student cohort should be studying the programme. Further meetings were held in December and again in early February with representatives from both CIS and WASC.

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Welcome

Tan Ming Kee, Business Analyst

This is my first position in the education sector which is very different from previous employers. My past employers are from computer manufacturer and information technology sectors since I graduated with a degree in System Development (Software) and Master of Science in Software Engineering.

Like many Singaporeans my interests are eating, reading and travelling. With a new member in my family, my interest now includes shopping for toys and nice pretty tiny clothings for my baby girl, Joelle.

I am excited with the prospects that IB offers and the challenges ahead. I am looking forward with the opportunities to learn new things and meeting people from different background and culture in IB.

Raquel Rivero, Test Analyst

I have worked as a Software Analyst/Developer in the Philippines for more than seven years providing software solutions to local and international clients in various nature of business. It has only been a year since I switched career into becoming a Test Analyst when my family needed to move in Singapore -- an opportunity that we could not have planned nor dreamed about but one of the “what if’s” of life’s decisions that you might regret not taking. Looking back now at those very difficult and sad times of losing cherished possessions, the comfort zone and all familiar faces, I would say that we are doing quite well. I can say this with the feeling of content and pride of what we have overcome.

Starting a new life in a new place, I have come to a point where I would like to work on something that has a genuine purpose and gives a sense of fulfilment and not just a means of living.

I am very serious when at work. I tend to be reserved but I do like to have fun and make new friends and see life in all different perspective. Thus, I am very fortunate to become part of an organization that shares my goals and values.

Regina Valdez, Treasury Analyst

I am Regina Valdez, a graduate of B.S. Commerce Major in Business Administration of the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines. I have been working in the field of Banking and Finance/Treasury for ten years now. I am very excited to be a part of this organization and I look forward to working with my colleagues in an international organization and experience different cultures.

I love to travel and go to the beach. I enjoy watching foreign films, musicals and old movies. I also like to read books and visit museums.

Phua Chiew Pheng, Global Financial Controller

I recently joined the global finance team as the Global Financial Controller. I have worked as Chief Financial Officer and had similar roles with various private and public sector organizations. I also have experience with procurement, operations and marketing projects. I will oversee IB’s financial reporting, payments, receivables and finance system. My team members are based mainly in Cardiff at this juncture.

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Farewell

We bid farewell to Jonathon Woon who will be moving on to a new job in Malaysia.

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Retirements

Dr David Wilkinson – Head of College, Mahindra United World College, India

As he prepares for his retirement from his current post. our sincere thanks go to David Wilkinson for his many contributions to the IB and to the IB in India during a distinguished career in the Asia Pacific Region. Dr David Wilkinson is the founding head of the Mahindra United World College of India. His involvement with IB goes back to 1976 when he joined the faculty of the United World College of South East Asia. He carried out the British Schools Council study of the IB in 1979, has been a Government Representative at Council meetings, and member of the Heads Committee, a member of the TOK working party and an assistant examiner in physics for many years. In 1982 he was Deputy Head at the founding of the UWC of the Adriatic and in 1991 he was founding director of the Li Po Chun United World College in Hong Kong.

My personal thanks to David for the role he has played in the establishment of the IB Indian Development Council and for the support he has lent schools and the IB in India in particular. We all wish David every success in his new venture in Africa.

Barry Drake - Head of Secondary, Chinese International School, Hong Kong

After 40 years in international education Barry Drake will be retiring this year. Barry is currently the Head of Secondary at the Chinese International School in Hong Kong where he has been for the last 11 years. His career in international education, begun in 1969, included placements in Zambia, Brunei, Bahrain, Dubai, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Wales! Drawing upon his experiences in the United World Colleges of the Atlantic and Hong Kong, Barry has been a passionate advocate of service learning and experiential education and has helped weave these approaches into the fabric of his current school.

Barry has been involved with the IB since 1982 as an economics and history teacher, workshop leader and examiner. His doctorate from Bath was in the field of pastoral care in international education and Barry has been a regular contributor to a number of international education journals and presenter at international education conferences.

Barry leaves full time employment to take up work in international teacher recruitment and consultancy in the growing field of Asian international schools.

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Primary Years Programme (PYP)

WELCOME TO 2009
We trust that you have had an enjoyable break during the past weeks and have returned to school with renewed energy and focus.

Regional Workshops 1, 2, 3…
We are off to a flying start!! January and February have already seen three PYP regional workshops occur, with over 516 participants taking part. A huge thank you must go to the tireless efforts of the wonderfully committed workshop leaders who put so much time and effort in planning for these workshops in their own time and for their willingness to modify and respond to the ever changing needs of the participants. Great work!! And there is no time to draw breath as we head for the next round of workshops in Hong Kong in March!! January also saw the second visitor team leader training occur and a third event is planned for after the workshops in Hong Kong.

Review of the Standards and Practices
A review of the standards and practices commenced in May 2008 and is planned to be completed in May 2009 with schools receiving the new document sometime early in 2010. Reviewing the PS&P document has included many stakeholders.

This review is working towards:

•  Refining and developing a more user friendly version
•  Reducing duplication and redundancy in the document
•  Providing sources of evidence expected for each practice
•  Differentiating practices for authorisation and evaluation
•  Merging D1 + D2 into other standards
•  Considering specific practices for continuum schools

We look forward to sharing further information about this important development with you in the future.

New Publications
On 3 February IBCA published the new Mathematics and Language Scope and Sequence documents on the OCC. All schools are urged to download these important documents, distribute them to the staff and discuss the implications for the school’s mathematics and language policies and practices.

Other recent publications include a revised “Basis for Practice” and PYP coordinators notes.

Email:  ibappyp@ibo.org

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Middle Years Programme (MYP)

MYP Network Updates

The IBSCM North MYP Network
The IBSCM (IB Schools in China and Mongolia) North MYP Network is busy getting ready for its annual AOI (Areas of Interaction) Festival to be held at Tianjin Experimental High School in Tianjin, China, on 27-28 February. The festival will bring together approximately 125 students and 30 teachers from eight MYP schools in Northern China for two days of plenary activities and small group activities dealing with the IB Community Theme and the Areas of Interaction. Fiona Moss, MYP Health and Physical Education teacher at the Western Academy of Beijing, will be the keynote organizer for the plenary activities and MYP teachers from the participating schools are in charge of running the group activities. More details can found under "Focus on Schools"  section.

For more information on this network’s activities please contact Barbara Wrightson, IBMYP Coordinator, International School of Tianjin. 

The Southern China MYP Coordinators Network
The Southern China MYP Coordinators Network has had a very busy and productive year. We have welcomed several new schools into our network and on to our forum as the MYP appears to be continuing to grow steadily in this region. Given this development in new schools and with new MYP Coordinators at the helm, the network has been a big support to all of us. The Googlegroup network forum has also been active and proven to be a useful tool to get quick answers to matters that pop up in our schools as well as helpful discussion and advice on a range of issues. Several meetings were held this year and as a result, 3 ‘Job-Alike’ sessions and several ‘community workshops’ have been organized. At our meeting in February, Curtis Beaverford joined us to answer some of our tricky MYP questions and a support/help session for Computer Technology and Music teachers was planned.

For more information on this network’s activities please contact Margareth Harris, MYP Coordinator, Victoria Shanghai Academy, Hong Kong.

Translation Projects
The IB is sponsoring two official translation projects in our region. Teams are currently at work translating an official MYP Glossary of Terms in Japanese and Indonesian. The translation of a glossary is the first step in translating full documents at some point in the future.

The Japanese work group met in Tokyo in January and the Indonesian work group will meet in Bali in April. The work groups are composed of MYP Practitioners, IB Programme Staff and supervised by representatives from IB Language Services.

We are currently looking for donations to fund further translation work in both Indonesian and Japanese.

Capacity Building
Eight experienced MYP practitioners from the IB Asia Pacific’s team of School Visiting Team Members will participate in the MYP School Visiting Team Leader training to be held in Singapore from 13 to 15 March 2009.

17 experienced workshop leaders and MYP coordinators will participate in the MYP Inschool Workshop Leader/School Team Visit Member training to be held in Singapore from 21 to 24 March 2009.

These trainings form part of the IBAP MYP’s plan to increase capacity for predicted growth in the region and to create a cadre of individuals who can lead in-school training workshops and participate in school authorization and evaluation visits as team members and team leaders for the regional office.

Compulsory Monitoring of Assessment prior to Evaluation Visit
If a school is due to receive its programme evaluation visit and has not registered candidates for moderation, it is a requirement that the school sends in a sample of work from each subject group and the personal project before the visit.

Schools delivering a five-year programme must send samples from year 5. Schools with an authorized two or three-year programme must send samples from the final year of their programme. For registration details kindly refer to the MYP Coordinators Handbook (2008-2009).

New MYP Unit Planner
Recently the Regional Office has been fielding many questions about the new MYP Unit Planner and the degree to which the published planner can be adapted. While the proforma is not mandated, the process and the data fields are. Schools can alter the format and add fields to each of the stages but may not move one of the fields from one stage to another.

The point of clearly delineating the stages of the planner is to ensure that teachers plan in a manner that reflects the planning principles outlined in the IB Publication “MYP: From Principles into Practice”.

If you have not already visited the new forum on the OCC titled "MYP unit planner" it has been created with the intention of facilitating discussions across subjects regarding the implementation and use of the unit planner template. Teachers are encouraged to use this forum to post comments, questions and suggestions specifically regarding the unit planner, as well as example planners. This forum will be managed by all MYP faculty members. In addition, the subject-specific forums continue to be a valuable resource concerning the unit planner.

Email: ibapmyp@ibo.org

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Diploma Programme (DP)

Five year reviews and the new Standards and Practices
There have been some enquiries related to the proposed new Standards and Practices document and its impact on Diploma Programme five year reviews. Please note that the new standards document will not be available for some months. Consequently, all five year reviews until further notice, and certainly until at least 2010, will be conducted using the existing standards and practices. The new standards will be a streamlined version of the current document, with many repetitions removed. Our aim will be to ensure that no school is inconvenienced in the transition to the new standards document. For schools which have started working on their reviews which are due in 2010 and beyond, the option will be given to stay with the existing standards or move to the new standards when the new standards are finalised. Note also that there is not yet an electronic version of the standards. It is hoped that an electronic package will be developed to accompany the new standards.

Next workshop leader training
This year there will be training for new workshop leaders from 28 September to 2 October in Chiang Mai. Currently, we need leaders for mathematics, business and management, CAS, computer science, economics, DP coordination, design technology, language A2, environmental systems and societies, and geography. Applications will be invited in March.

Group 1 and 2 curriculum reviews and workshop implications
As you know the new Group 1 and 2 courses will be taught from August 2011. This means that the new Guides will be available in December 2010. In the coming months, a global strategy will be developed to prepare workshop leaders and teachers for the introduction of the new courses. Stay tuned for information on workshops which will be held from the beginning of 2011.

Group 5 curriculum review
The Group 5 review has been extended by one year to 2012. It has proved difficult to arrive at a practical solution to IA that will work well for SL and HL Mathematics. In addition, the delay reduces the pressure on the community caused by the introduction of the new Group 1 and 2 courses. Please see the OCC for details. There are some interesting future directions for further mathematics and computer science to stay in touch with.

Online workshops: what is their function?
Please refer to the IB website to note that the number and range of online workshop options is increasing rapidly, thus providing us with some very powerful additional professional development options. However, be aware that not all online workshops satisfy the training needs for teachers in schools which are seeking authorization. Please note the workshop recognition and certification status of each workshop before registering for it.

Unannounced Oral Examination visits
Representatives from the regional office visit schools for a range of reasons, including

• Pre-authorization
• Authorization
• Follow-up to authorization
• Follow-up to five year review
• Unannounced examination visits
• Courtesy visits

Every time we visit a school, regardless of the reason for the visit, there is some benefit to the school, the programme and to the organization.

In the near future, Deirdre from the regional office will contact you to provide us with the dates of your Language Orals and TOK Orals. We will then make a random selection of schools across the region and a representative from the office will make an unannounced visit to each selected school.

Pilots, transdisciplinary SL courses, school-based syllabuses and retakes
We draw your attention to the handbook of procedures for the diploma programme 2009 section G9 S14, which reveals that 6 month retakes are not permitted for pilots, transdisciplinary SL courses and school-based syllabuses. It is anticipated that in the 2010 handbook, this information will be more clearly stated.

In-school professional development
It is essential that schools take advantage of a range of professional development opportunities. These include regional workshops, online workshops, sessions organised by networks of schools, and sessions and seminars within individual schools. The regional office would appreciate it if schools would notify it of any in-school professional development initiatives. Sometimes we can provide some support for the event. In addition, if trained regional workshop leaders are participating, then we need that data for our records.

Email: ibapdp@ibo.org

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University Recognition

Upcoming IB University Recognition Forum
The Asia Pacific regional office is pleased to announce the creation of a global university recognition forum to be held in Hong Kong, 18 and 19 May 2009. The forum is designed for college counselors in the Asia Pacific region who wish to learn about the recognition of the IB diploma around the world. We are pleased that we will have the global recognition team in attendance, including Sandra Wade Pauly (IB Americas), Greg Valentine (Australasia), and the newly appointed Nick Lee (UK universities). The first day of the forum will include presentations by all of the IB representatives, while the optional half day on the 19th will focus specifically on recognition of the IB in Hong Kong. Registration is available on the IB public website.

Australasia
Negotiations with Universities and the Universities Admission Centre (UAC) in Sydney have resulted in the IB Diploma being accepted into a Bonus Scheme that operates in more than ten Universities on the East Coast of Australia. This scheme allows students who do certain IB subjects, and gain certain grades, to gain a Bonus on their University Index score when being considered for entry to some Degree Programmes.

Students and Schools wanting more information about the IB Diploma and entry to Universities in NSW should go to this link.  This will enable students to look at how HSC and IB Diploma subjects are compared. Students can then, for example, go to the University of New South Wales site and calculate what their Bonus would be up to a maximum of 5 points. Some Universities are offering up to 10 Bonus Points.

Universities that now have a Bonus Scheme for IB students include Griffith University, University of Queensland, QLD University of Technology, UNSW, Macquarie University, ANU, University of Technology Sydney, University of Western Sydney, Wollongong University, Newcastle University and La Trobe University. Some other Universities in Australia offer a Bonus for second language learners.

The Australasian Office has just recently completed an analysis of University Recognition Policies listed on the IB public website and would like to acknowledge the assistance provided by Diploma Graduate, Callum Deakin from Glenunga High School in this analysis. We will now be contacting each University in an attempt to ensure all listed policies are as current and comprehensive as they can be. Schools are encouraged to read these policies and if necessary contact the Sydney Office and/or the University if any of the following aspects specific to IB students are not addressed or current in the policy:

1. That the IB Diploma is fully recognized
2. Information on how to apply for both Domestic and International IB Students
3. English Language Proficiency
4. Mid-year entry
5. Equitable Prerequisites (if they exist) and Bonus Schemes
6. Credit, Exemption and Advanced Placement
7. Scholarships
8. Residential opportunities

The Queensland University of Technology is continuing with its research into the Diploma Programme and the Universities of Melbourne and Sydney, with IBAP support, will soon commence their study into the PYP. These Projects will take place across 2009, 2010 and into 2011 and we would encourage all schools and practitioners to become fully involved if/when approached, so that the findings are comprehensive, thorough and reliable.

Japan
In December, Tamagawa University hosted the second IB Education Forum. The event, organized by Kyoko Bernard, IB regional representative for Japan and Korea, was highly successful, attracting many K-12 and University educators from around the country.

In February, representatives from Okayama University visited a number of IB schools in Singapore to learn about the diploma programme. While in Singapore, the representatives took time to visit the IB regional office to learn more about recognition of the IB in Asia Pacific and around the world.

Korea
Seoul National University has now published their recognition policy on the IB public website. While no minimum scores are indicated, clearly there is much interest on the part of the university to encourage Koreans to consider SNU as an option for tertiary studies. In March, the IB office will visit Ewha University, Korea University to encourage these institutes to also consider updating their recognition of the diploma.

 Email: ibap@ibo.org

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IB World Schools

We welcome the following IB World Schools which are authorized since December 2008.

Primary Years Programme

1. Chatsworth IS, East Campus, Singapore, 23 December 2008
2. Chilton Saint James School, Wellington New Zealand, 23 December 2008
3. Suzhou Singapore IS, Shanghai, 23 December 2008
4. Navrachana International School, India, 13 February 2009
5. Sekolah Bogo Raya, Indonesia, 13 February 2009
6. International School of Busan, South Korea, 13 February 2009
7. German European School Singapore, Singapore, 5 March 2009

Middle Years Programme

1. Creative Secondary School, Hongkong, 3 February 2009
2. Loreto College, Australia, 3 February 2009
3. Kambrya College, Australia, 13 February 2009
4. Tamagawa Academy K-12 & University, Japan, 16 March 2009

Diploma Programme

1. Townsville Grammar School, Australia, 19 January 2009
2. Chengdu Meishi International School, China, 3 February 2009
3. Shanghai Rego International School, China, 3 February 2009
4. Garodia International Centre for Learning, Mumbai India, 13 February 2009
5. Dr. Pillai Global Academy, Mumbai India, 23 February 2009
6. DRS International School, Hyderabad India, 5 March 2009
7. NES International School Mumbai, India, 5 March 2009
8. The Cathedral Vidya School, Lonavala, India, 5 March 2009
9. M.Ct.M. Chidambaram Chettyar International School, India, 16 March 2009
10. Sarala Birla Academy, India, 16 March 2009
11. Scottish High International School, India, 16 March 2009

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Publications

Recent IB publications
Second edition IB Questionbanks
Developed in consultation with experienced IB teachers and examiners, these second edition IB Questionbanks contain authentic IB examination questions together with advanced software that allows the user to create customized tests and examinations in minutes.
Aligned to the new syllabus (for first examinations 2009), each second edition contains twice as many examination questions and markschemes as well as syllabus guidance and examiner reports. Second editions are available for biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics (SL, HL and mathematical studies).
GBP99–130/USD169–221

IB World Schools Yearbook 2009
Released in January 2009, the IB World Schools Yearbook is the official guide to schools offering the IB Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme and Diploma Programme. It includes information about every IB World School and background information about the IB and its programmes.
To purchase a copy of the Yearbook, visit this link.
GBP45

Examination paper and markscheme pack: November 2008 examination session
This network-ready CD-Rom features the November 2008 session examination papers and markschemes for all six Diploma Programme subject groups. These papers provide excellent preparation for examinations and the accompanying markschemes make the pack suitable for both independent study and classroom use.
Released February 2009.
GBP104/USD176.80

IB posters
A series of eye-catching posters were released on the IB store in February. Ideal for use in displays, at events and in the classroom, a collection of five vibrant posters illustrating the MYP areas of interaction, and a colourful poster depicting the IB mission statement, will appeal to heads, principals, coordinators, teachers and students.

Coming Soon!
Educating for Global Citizenship
This eloquent and engaging book presents the development and current status of global education in an easy-to-read style appropriate for practising teachers. It includes diverse examples from schools and organizations around the world and shows how the IB can help promote international awareness.
Available from March 2009.
GBP17.50/USD29.75

50 Excellent Personal Projects
This easy-to-use multimedia CD-Rom features a collection of personal projects and accompanying written reports from the current curriculum for the IB Middle Years Programme. The projects, all of which achieved the highest grade, have been selected to show a variety of approaches students might use in their personal project.
Available from March 2009.
GBP55/USD93.50

IB Prepared series
Approach your exams the IB way is the first of an exciting new series of books designed to help Diploma Programme students prepare throughout the year for their externally assessed examinations by improving their understanding of how marks are allocated and offering advice on how to approach exam questions. The first titles in this series will be for economics (SL and HL) and mathematical studies SL.
Available from March 2009.
GBP12.50/USD21.25

New gift items
An exciting new range of IB gift items will be available from the IB store in March. Environmentally friendly additions to the range include:

• a black, hooded sweatshirt and a white T-shirt, both made from 100% organic cotton
• a versatile shopper bag made from 100% natural jute
• an executive pen and pencil set made using certified sustainable wood and packaged in a wallet made from recycled card
• a staple-free stapler, an eco-friendly lanyard, and pens made using corn derivative.

Other new products in the gift range include a world desk clock, a spinning keyring, a business card holder, a stylish laptop bag and a useful sticky tab notebook.

In cooperation with other publishers
IB Diploma Programme Course Companions
Published in collaboration with Oxford University Press, the highly popular IB Diploma Programme Course Companion series will include four new subject editions in 2009. Aiming to provide extra support for students and integrating international-mindedness, the IB learner profile and theory of knowledge, the new titles will be for psychology (February 2009), business and management (February 2009), environmental systems and societies (March 2009) and history (May 2009).
From January 2009, the Course Companion series will not be available to purchase directly from the IB store. All titles will be available from this link.
GBP19.75

Please note: all prices are approximate and subject to change. Please see the IB store for current prices.

Email: sales@ibo.org

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Professional Development

Towards a more environmentally-friendly professional development model

We hope you will support us as we transition to a greener professional development model with less printed materials in the ways mentioned below from 2009 onwards. These changes will be posted on the IB Asia Pacific workshop and conferences webpage.

IB Diploma Programme

• For the IB coordinator workshops, participants are expected to bring their own copy of the Handbook of procedures. Workshop leaders are encouraged to contact their participants prior to the workshop to remind them to either download a copy to their laptops or to bring a hard copy. Leaders may include relevant sections in their workbooks.
• Workshop participants need to bring their own copy of their subject guide. Please look on the Online Curriculum Centre (OCC). Workshop leaders are encouraged to contact their participants prior to the workshop to remind them to bring their own subject guides.
• Level 2 workshop participants are also encouraged to bring the teacher support materials (TSMs) for their corresponding subject. Please look on the Online Curriculum Centre (OCC). We encourage workshop leaders to select appropriate TSMs to include in the creation of their workbooks as well, but this is not guaranteed so please bring a TSM printout.
• If you are an Interested School you do not have an Online Curriculum Center (OCC) password. You will need to purchase the necessary documents found in the IB Starter Pack from the IB store.

IB Middle Years Programme

• All participants need to bring a copy of MYP: From principles into practice.
• Heads of school/IB coordinator workshop participants should bring a copy of the Coordinator’s handbook. Workshop leaders are encouraged to contact their participants prior to the workshop to remind them to either download a copy to their laptops or to bring a hard copy for use in the workshop.
• Workshop leaders are encouraged to put the MYP unit planner in their workbook, but it is a good idea to have a copy of the MYP unit planner as well.
• If you are an Interested School you do not have an Online Curriculum Center (OCC) password. You will need to purchase the necessary documents found in the IB Starter Pack from the IB store.

IB Primary Years Programme

• Participants will be required to bring their own copies of Making the PYP happens to all workshops except 1A (Intro for Administrators) and 1B (Intro to the PYP Curriculum Model). Workshop leaders are encouraged to contact their participants prior to the workshop to remind them to either download a copy to their laptops or to bring a hard copy.
• If you are an Interested School you do not have an Online Curriculum Center (OCC) password. You will need to purchase the necessary documents found in the IB Starter Pack from the IB store.

IB Diploma Programme 2009 New Subject Guides

Every year new subject guides arrive from the IB. This year the following subjects have new guides and those changes will be reflected in the content of the workshop sessions. New guides are available in the following subjects:

• Geography
• Music
• Psychology

If you are attending a workshop in one of these subjects, please make sure you have the newest subject guide. You can find these on the Online Curriculum Centre (OCC).

Please check the Online Curriculum Centre (OCC) to see if your subject is up for review. The latest news is always posted on the right side of the webpage.

Collaboration with the prestigious American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)
Begun in 2007, the IB is continuing to offer its teachers the museum’s award-winning Seminars on Science program, which currently features ten online courses ranging from evolution to ocean dynamics to quantum physics. Each course is six weeks long and is designed specifically for educators. The courses, taught by a museum scientist and a veteran classroom instructor, tap into AMNH’s immense resources and the expertise of leading scientists. Teachers earn up to four graduate credits and/or IB professional development credit. The final assessment activity required of each course will focus on an IB classroom application.

For more details, please visit the workshops and conferences webpage or contact Emily Ross at the IB Americas office.

IB continuum workshops
Our first IB continuum workshop. The Librarians’ Continuum pilot sold out in just a few weeks. This is an exciting new opportunity for our IB librarians and the next workshop will be in October in Australia. We are excited to explore other continuum workshops that will fill the needs of our IB Asia Pacific community. Keep looking at our website to see what the latest offering will be.

Email: ibapevents@ibo.org

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Projects

Teacher Training Projects
How time flies! We have reached the end of our series of teacher training workshops in both Banda Aceh and Sri Lanka. The last workshop in Banda Aceh was conducted from 18 to 20 December 2008. It was delivered by Elza Oktora and Massy Raditya from Sekolah Tunas Muda, Virna Angela from Sekolah Global Indo-Asia Batam and Juni Narita from Sinarmas World School. The graduation ceremony was held on 21 December 2008 in Banda Aceh.

The last workshop in Hambantota, Sri Lanka was conducted from 9 to 13 December 2008 and was delivered by Anne Evans and Peggy Bumanis. The graduation ceremony was held on 15 December 2008 in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who had been involved in the project. It had been a meaningful experience for both volunteers and participants in both countries.

Email: projects@ibo.org

Cambodia
The first quarter of 2009 has been a very busy and productive one for the Project. In early January, fifty volunteers from Ivanhoe Grammar School came to the Project schools to paint classrooms and teach English. Chris Carolane, Ivanhoe Chaplain, lead a group of 23 senior students, alumni and teachers and Debbie Sukarna, Primary Principal, lead a group of 27 Buckley House (primary) parents, teachers and year 5/6 students. In addition, Rod Fraser, Head of School, and his wife Nancy were present and working as well. At the end of two days the group had painted eight classrooms and left enough money to purchase new desks, chairs, whiteboards, display boards and bookshelves for each room. In addition, the year 5/6 students taught English to their counterparts and painted two murals on school walls depicting Australian and Cambodian wildlife.

Later in January, Demonstration Lessons began in all Mentor Teacher classrooms where 2nd year student teachers were practice teaching – 39 classrooms in total. Each class had 3-4 student teachers who observed and participated in each lesson followed by a thorough de-briefing by the visiting IB demonstration lesson teacher. This year we were privileged to have volunteers from Victoria Shanghai Academy in Hong Kong for one week – Stephanie Morris and Oliver Hurtter – who taught lessons in grade 1 & 2 classrooms. Two weeks later, Connie Kenny from the German-Swiss International School in Hong Kong, joined us for a week and taught lessons to grades 3 & 4. Annie Auckland, Project Lead Teacher, taught the grade 5 & 6 lessons and assisted in planning with the visiting volunteer teachers. Social Studies was the focus of the demonstration lessons this year with special grade appropriate emphasis on directions, mapping skills, the compass rose and photo orienteering.

From 16 to 20 February, the International School of Phnom Penh Upper School had their week Without Walls. Twenty–four students had chosen to spend their week providing service to the Project Schools. The students were divided into 8 groups of 3 to plan presentations. Four groups planned literacy activities and four groups planned cooperative games. They worked with grade 1 & 2 classrooms only at each school and rotated the children through all 8 activities alternating between a literacy activity and a cooperative game. Thursday and Friday were declared School Beautification Days and the students painted walls and flower boxes alongside their Cambodian counterparts. A very successful and rewarding week for all participants!

The Annual General meeting was held on 10 February and was attended by all Project Staff, the Director of Education for Kandal Province, the Deputy Director of the Teacher Training Department and numerous Ministry Officials. After the Annual Report was presented, (see our website ), the entire group travelled to the five project schools by bus and were toured through each school by local staff. Sam Oeun, the Director of Education, was so impressed by the child-friendly changes that he observed, that he has ordered all School Directors in the eleven Districts of Kandal Province to visit the Project Schools for a day and attend a seminar run by Soeun and Channan after each session. These visits have all been scheduled to occur before the end of April. Needless to say, staff will be very busy but are also very proud on this significant recognition. Congratulations to all!

Ron Auckland
 

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Australasia

Congratulations to the schools in Australasia which have recently been authorized – please check out the IB World Schools page of this newsletter.

The figures for:
IB World Schools offering IB Programmes/Schools in Australasia Feb 2009
PYP: 51
MYP: 29 (plus 23 Partner Primary Schools)
Diploma Programme: 68
Total: 148 (plus 23 partner MYP Schools)

Candidate IB Programmes/Schools in Australasia Feb 2009
PYP: 56
MYP: 19 (plus 4 Partner Primary Schools)
Diploma Programme: 11
Total: 86 (plus 4 Partner Schools)

November 2008 Diploma Results
Congratulations to all IB Diploma students who sat for their Diploma examinations last November. Congratulations also to their schools and especially their IB teachers and IBDP Coordinators.
Australasian Schools again enjoyed a high level of success. Some of the data below will allow schools to make their own assessment of their performance. Please note however that academic success is only one measure of what constitutes an enriching Diploma Programme. Others include support for the IB Mission and the Learner Profile, a focus on international-mindedness and life long learning, widening access to the Diploma Programme and high pass rates, the positive impact of the IB Mission across the whole school, quality service programmes etc.

World
Registrations: 7,396
Average: 30.54
Pass-rate: 79.10%
45-point Diplomas: 37

Australasia
Registrations: 1,921
Average: 33.62
Pass-rate: 92.99%
45 point Diplomas: 27

Diploma Coordinators please be reminded that it is essential that you or a nominated representative is available to your school’s DP candidates on results release day. Candidates cannot contact this office as we do not have access to results information on that day, nor are we permitted to release results information to candidates or parents.

IB Recognition Australasia Update
A number of significant meetings have taken place recently or have been planned to further raise awareness and understanding about IB Programmes, develop partnerships with other education agencies, strengthen University IB Diploma Programme Recognition Policies and help facilitate IB related research.

This involved Diploma Graduation Ceremonies in Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, meetings with University personnel in Auckland and Wellington, meetings with the Association of Independent Schools Victoria and the Independent Schools Council of Australia, meetings with IB Heads of Schools and IB Coordinators in Brisbane, Auckland, Sydney, meetings with Tertiary Admissions Centres and Qualifications Authorities in Brisbane, Sydney and New Zealand and attendance at a number of forums about National Curriculum in Australia.
Details about the developments resulting from these are provided in the Recognition section of this IBAP Newsletter.

All Diploma Schools in Asia Pacific are reminded of the need to use the B2 function to ensure that students’ results are sent electronically to Tertiary Institutions. Every year more and more students are contacting the Sydney Office because their Tertiary Institution of choice does not have access to their IB results.

AAIBS Conference
The Association of Australasian International Baccalaureate Schools will be holding its annual conference in Adelaide from 17 to 19 April 2009, preceding a series of IB Asia Pacific workshops. The conference theme is "Human Ingenuity-Pedagogy for the 21st Century Learner", and the programme is suitable for practitioners from across all three IB Programmes.
Register now at the conference website. 

Our thoughts are with the schools and communities who have been affected by the recent floods in Fiji and North Queensland, and bush fires in Victoria.

Email: ibapaus@ibo.org

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China/Mongolia

Update

The Beijing Municipal UNESCO Clubs Association
Wang Hong participated the annual meeting of the Beijing Municipal UNESCO Clubs Association on January 13, 2009. The theme of this year is “The Universe, Yours to Discover, the International Year of Astronomy 2009”. The association would like to cooperate with the IB in the activities that it advocates.
 

Email: china@ibo.org

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Japan/Korea

IB Forum, 6 December 2008

On 6 December 2008, more than 130 educators ranging from preschool teachers to university professors, international school teachers to Japanese school teachers gathered at the “IB Forum: Education for a Better World” jointly organized by the IB Asia Pacific office and Tamagawa University Research Institute. Among many participants there were representatives from the national government such as an official from the Ministry of Education and Technology as well as an admissions officer from the University of Tokyo. This was a full-day event which consisted of four plenary sessions in the morning and four break-out sessions in the afternoon. While all of the plenary presentations were provided with simultaneous interpretation, the afternoon sessions were conducted bilingually. Morning presentations began with an opening address by the President of Tamagawa University, Professor Yoshiaki Obara.

Professor Yoshiaki Obara

Professor Tetsunari Ishibashi of Tamagawa University Research Institute gave a presentation on the correlation between the IB Education and the “Zenjin” holistic education at Tamagawa, which was followed by Kyoko Bernard’s presentation on the “Core and Practices of IB Education.” Sasha Marshall, the Principal of K. International School Tokyo talked about the practices at an international school that offers all three- IB programmes while the MYP coordinators from Tokyo Gakugei University International Secondary School and Tamagawa Academy talked about the implementation of the MYP in Japanese schools.

Curtis Beaverford, MYP Regional Manager and John Switzer, IBAP Programme Recognition Manager came from Singapore to lead the break-out sessions on the MYP and the DP respectively. Two other break-out sessions pertained to the PYP and university admissions for Diploma holders which was led by Ms Kyoko Yamaguchi, the Director of Academic Affairs, International Christian University. The IB Forum was so successful that the participants are already looking forward to another IB Forum to be held in 2009.

Japanese Translation Project
On 24 January 2009, Curtis Beaverford and Kyoko Bernard met with Jeff Jones, Quincy Kameda, Ayumi Hoshino and Maki Komatsu and worked on finalizing the translation of the up-dated glossary of MYP terms from English to Japanese at Tamagawa University Research Institute.

East Asia PYP Network Meeting
Sandra Mulligan, PYP Coordinator at Seisen International School hosted a PYP network meeting on 6 February 2009. The next PYP meeting is scheduled to be held on 6 November 2009 at Hiroshima International School.

East Asia MYP Network Meeting
The next MYP Network meeting will be held on 15 May 2009 at Yokohama Yamate Girls’ Junior and Senior High School when Curtis Beaverford will be able to attend the network meeting.

DP Coordinators’ Meeting
The DP Coordinators are scheduled to meet on 25 May 2009 at Canadian Academy.

AIBSJK
Ms Jeanette Thomas, Head of St Maur International School, has been working hard to bring the IB World Schools together and will organize meetings for the Heads of PYP, MYP and DP IB World Schools in Japan and Korea in the near future. I appreciate Jeanette's leadership as I find it important for the heads of IB World Schools to maintain the Association of IB Schools and hold regular meetings so that they could not only share opinions and insights, but also provide the IB with valuable sub-regional perspectives.
 

Email: japan@ibo.org

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South Asia

SAIBSA

SAIBSA organised a teacher interactive day in February 2009 at two venues – Canadian International School (Bangalore) for DP teachers and Ahmedabad International School (Ahmedabad) for PYP and for MYP in collaboration with Mahatma Gandhi International School (Ahmedabad). The feedback received by SAIBSA was very positive with requests for more such collaboration time.

The IB Coordinators gathered at the SAIBSA Coordinators Meeting organized at Jamnabai Narsee School (Mumbai) on 21 March 2009.

SAIBSA as an association has begun its process of registration and shall become a registered body in India. SAIBSA can then formally move to an in-cooperation agreement with the IB.

Indian Development Council
A meeting of the International Baccalaureate Indian Development Council was held on 6 March 2009 at the Sharad Pawar International School in Pune. The meeting chaired by Dr Indu Shahani was attended by Ms Judith Guy, Regional Director, IB Asia Pacific, Mrs Farzana Dohadwala, Regional representative, Mr Prabhat Jain, Mr Ajeenkya Patil and Mr. Kaizer Dopashi, President SAIBSA. (See photo.)

Issues discussed at the meeting included:

• Diploma Pass Rates and University Transcript Requests Information
• Indian IB Schools authorisation regulations
• Project and Funding possibilities in India for educational access projects with the disadvantaged. Legal Issues in India for acceptance of funding
• SAIBSA Registration and new team appointed
• IB Regional Conference Planning March 2010

The meeting was followed by an interaction with all the Principals and co-ordinators of IB schools in Pune. Presentations on CAS were made by the students and/or Heads of all the IB schools in Pune.

Email: sasia@ibo.org
  

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Networks & Associations

LIS (Library Information Specialists)

Australia
In March 2009, Jane Viner will be presenting at the Somerset International Conference, Gold Coast, Queensland. Jane will be delivering a presentation “How have MLC teacher librarians supported their IB Diploma Extended essay students?” and a workshop “Using questioning techniques to unpack a research topic”.

Chairperson Notes
As this is my last newsletter as Chairperson I would like to thank the committee members over the last three years and the IB Palms Committee members before IBAP LIS was formed. A thank you to Greg Valentine in Australia, Judith Guy and Ed Lawless in Singapore and the staff in the regional offices for their assistance and support.

I look forward to continue being involved in supporting IB Diploma students at my school Methodist Ladies’ College and sharing my experiences with teacher librarians and library staff from other schools. I have thoroughly enjoyed the IB journey from Penang to Beijing, from Hong Kong to Singapore and more recently to India. The friendships, discussions and discoveries have made this journey a rewarding one.

It is wonderful that Yvonne Barrett, a former committee member, is now a workshop leader and will be presenting at the inaugural Librarians Continuum Workshop in Singapore in March 2009.

I wish my colleagues every success and hope the IBAP LIS committee of Katie Day, Helena Trevor, Madhu Bhargava and Alison Hicks continues to flourish under the guidance and leadership of Anthony Tilke.

It is with sadness that we wish to acknowledge the sudden passing of one of our library colleagues in late December 2008.
Ms Joan Lewis was the Head of Library Resource Co-ordinator at Presbyterian Ladies’ College, Burwood, Victoria, Australia.

Jane Viner, Chairperson IBAP LIS 2008

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Focus on Schools

Tianjin Experimental High School, China 

AOI (Areas of Interaction) Festival was held at Tianjin Experimental High School and we warmly welcomed about 120 teachers and students of IB schools from Beijing, Changchun and Tianjin from 26 to 28 February 2009.

As the core of MYP, AOI plays a very important role in IB teaching and learning. Based on the IB community theme — “Sharing Our Humanity”, including “the fight against poverty”, “peace keeping, conflict prevention, and combating terrorism”, “education for all”, “global infectious disease”, “digital divide” and “natural disaster prevention and mitigation”, teachers prepared six group activities on Lost Civilizations, Village Life, Stretch out your hands—Change our world, From Knowledge to Action, Food from around the World and The Voice of the Festival.

According to the result of the students’ poll, the activities which participants were most interested in are village life and food from around the world.

In the “village life” group, the teachers led the participants to “live” in a village for two days. While experiencing village life, the participants worked with their “family members” and other villagers to come up with solutions to problems that arose when they share their humanity. Villagers had to deal with things such as poverty, natural disaster, environmental problems, and issues of inequality in society.

In “Food from around the world”, participants from different countries were involved in cooking to share with others. After tasting all of the delicious food they made, the participants were involved in some chemical experiments to test the nutritional contents in order to be clear about healthy food and diet. This was a great opportunity to share our humanity through all the six group activities.

Besides these activities taking place for AOI Festival, a wonderful evening party was held and everybody appreciated and joined the performance. The volunteers invited the students to their own homes for two nights and they had traditional Chinese food during their stay.

IB is a big family: we learn together, experience together and reflect together.

Ruby Zhang
Tianjin Experimental High School, China

If you wish to submit an article, please send it to the Asia Pacific office. Please include your name and email contact. Please note that the publishing of these articles is subject to the final selection of the editor.

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