What are the Programme Standards and Practices?

Programme standards and practices is the foundational set of principles for schools and the IB to ensure quality and fidelity in the implementation of the programmes. This website is part of a suite of documents that is essential for all prospective and authorized IB World Schools. The suite provides critical information for the planning, implementation, development and evaluation of all International Baccalaureate® (IB) programmes.

• The foundation of what it means to be an IB World School is articulated in the Programme standards and practices website.

• The process of how schools attain and maintain authorization is articulated in the authorization and evaluation documents.

• The legal stipulations are articulated in the rules and general regulations related to implementing the IB programmes.

All these documents can be found on the IB public website or the programme resource centre.

The programme standards and practices provide a set of criteria that can be used to evaluate the success of IB World Schools in the implementation of the four programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme (DP) and the Career-related Programme (CP).

The standards are general principles that lie at the heart of being an IB World School, while practices are further definitions of the standards that include references to implementation. Requirements are more specific and refined measures of implementation, and include programme-specific elements known as specifications. The standards and practices, requirements and programme specifications are necessary for the successful implementation of the relevant IB programme.

The Standards and Practice Framework

About the framework

The programme standards and practices are organized into four overarching categories: purpose, environment, culture and learning. The four categories fit into a framework, which places “learning” at the centre and is encircled by IB philosophy and the school’s unique context.

The framework describes the school community’s processes of design, development, and evolution. The framework assumes that the IB philosophy manifests in each school’s unique context, and that each of the framework’s elements are interdependent: no part of the framework can be developed without considering how other elements relate to it. The framework helps to explain both the successes and the challenges schools face when developing IB programmes.

The framework is comprehensive and places learning at the heart of an IB World School community that:

• successfully integrates the IB philosophy within their school’s unique context

• shares a purpose with the IB’s mission that builds into a solid approach to education

• develops a learning environment sustained by effective structures, organizational practice and resources

• fosters a dynamic school culture centred on holistic, inclusive learning communities

• positively influences local, national and international contexts

• creates student learning experiences of the highest quality possible.

The school community, with the IB, co-creates high-quality education that makes a better world.

More details about each of the sections and the standards therein can be found in the image below. Please consult the glossary of terms for definitions of each element within the framework.