The IB Career-related Programme (CP): preparing students to follow their chosen pathway in life

What is the Career-related Programme?

The Career-related Programme (CP) is a new exciting opportunity that will prepare students at Old Mill High School for both post-secondary education and the work force. A key element of the IB Career-related Programme (CP), the CP core enhances student’s personal and interpersonal development with an emphasis on experiential learning. The CP core bridges the IB academic courses and the career-related study and provides students with a combination of academic and practical skills.  Within the core, students are assessed using key requirements such as Personal and Professional Skills class, Reflective Project, Language Development and tracking of learning outcomes, and Service Learning. Please refer to the following page for more information about the CP core and the career-related study.

The CP Core

The following interrelated components form the CP core:

• Personal and professional skills are designed for students to develop attitudes, skills and strategies to be applied to personal and professional situations and contexts now and in the future. During this class students will complete their Reflective Project and discuss Service Learning components and related topics.  

• Service learning is the development and application of knowledge and skills towards meeting an identified and authentic community need.In this research-based approach, students often undertake service initiatives related to topics studied previously in their academic disciplines, utilizing skills, understandings and values developed in these studies.

• The reflective project is an in-depth body of work produced over an extended period of time and submitted toward the end of the CP. Through a reflective project students identify, analyse, critically discuss and evaluate an ethical issue arising from their career-related studies. The reflective project is intended to promote high-level research, writing and extended communication skills, intellectual discovery and creativity.

• Language development ensures that all students have access to a language programme that will assist and further their understanding of the wider world. The ability to communicate in more than one language is essential to the IB’s concept of an international education. Language development encourages students to improve their proficiency in a language other than their best language. This requirement is separate from taking an IB DP Language class, like an independent study with Rosetta Stone or a non-IB DP course like American Sign Language for example.

The Career-related Study

The career-related study is designed to prepare students for higher education, an internship or apprenticeship, or a position in a designated field of interest. It provides the opportunity for students to learn about theories and concepts through application and practice while developing broad-based skills in authentic and meaningful contexts. Students who complete the programme receive the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme Certificate, the certification awarded by the career-related study provider in their chosen field of study and, if applicable, their secondary school degree.