CAS

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme 

Description and aims

CAS is at the heart of the DP. With its holistic approach, CAS is designed to strengthen and extend students’ personal and interpersonal learning.  

CAS aims to develop students who:

• enjoy and find significance in a range of CAS experiences

• purposefully reflect upon their experiences

• identify goals, develop strategies and determine further actions for personal growth

• explore new possibilities, embrace new challenges and adapt to new roles

• actively participate in planned, sustained and collaborative CAS projects

• understand they are members of local and global communities with responsibilities towards each other and the environment.

A CAS experience is a specific event in which the student engages with one or more of the three CAS strands. It can be a single event or an extended series of events. A CAS project:

1.  Allows students to have both voice and choice in the creation and exploration of a learning Journey that is purposeful and meaningful to them.

2. Allows students to explore their understanding of their relationship to their local and global communities and how they make ethical and responsible choices that contribute to them.

3. A CAS project should demonstrate the development of their personal and cultural identity in the light of the IB learner profile.

4. Demonstrate how application and transfer of knowledge and skills from other areas of learning. 

5. The project should help students understand how systems work, understand their place within systems and challenge perceptions. 

6. Demonstrate community engagement that is focused on partnership and reciprocity.

 Typically, a student’s CAS programme combines planned/unplanned singular and ongoing experiences. All are valuable and may lead to personal development. However, a meaningful CAS programme must be more than just a series of unplanned/singular experiences. Students must be involved in at least one CAS project during the programme.

Programme overview

The CAS programme formally begins at the start of the DP and continues regularly for at least 18 months.

A CAS experience must:

• fit within one or more of the CAS strands

• be based on a personal interest, skill, talent or opportunity for growth

• provide opportunities to develop the attributes of the IB learner profile

• not be used or included in the student’s DP course requirements. CAS students have guidance at the school level through a variety of resources including the school’s CAS handbook, information sessions and meetings. In addition, students have three formal interviews with the school’s CAS coordinator/adviser. Typically, students’ service experiences involve the following stages.

• Investigation, preparation and action that meets an identified need.

• Reflection on significant experiences throughout to inform problem-solving and choices.

• Demonstration allowing for sharing of what has taken place.

References: IBO Publications--Course Guides and Subject Briefs