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“Students who are best prepared for the future are change agents. They can have a positive impact on their surroundings, influence the future, understand others' intentions, actions and feelings, and anticipate the short and long-term consequences of what they do.”
A new learning experience
A new learning experience
Systems Transformation: Leadership for Change is an innovative new double standard level course, designed by UWCSEA in partnership with the IB, for students looking for further challenge and authentic, project-based experiences in their learning .
Students selecting Systems Transformation in their IB Diploma package will enjoy more authentic assessment methods, and unlock greater flexibility in their subject options.
What is Leadership for Change?
What is Leadership for Change?
Put simply, on this course you'll learn how to plan, design, and project-manage positive, lasting change. To do that, you'll explore how to connect and lead others; how to understand and navigate complex systems; and how to be resilient and adaptable in the face of challenge - and even failure.
On this course you will:
Build approaches to problem-solving that are iterative, empathetic, and flexible; using failure, feedback, and your expertise to generate innovative solutions, by understanding root causes and context.
Learn how to use systems thinking tools to map and model interconnected systems, enabling integrated planning for positive change while recognising inherent complexity.
Become a leader who can empower others to effect positive change, adapt your leadership style, and build effective teams.
Develop skills to effectively plan, organise and implement positive change initiatives.
Build the mindset, skills, and resilience needed to plan for positive change, challenging existing mindsets, leveraging networks, and fostering personal growth for a lasting impact on communities.
Authentic assessment
Authentic assessment
Leadership for Change is assessed entirely by coursework, balanced over the two years of the programme.
In designing these assessments, we've considered authentic ways of assessing the 5 curriculum strands to a high level, allowing students opportunities to demonstrate complex thinking and mastery of key skills.
What will it be like to take this course?
What will it be like to take this course?
With 4 blocks a week (including one double block), this is an intensive course; one which will immerse you in a 'hands-on', project-based approach from the start. As our very first cohort - of a course the IB plans to roll-out globally from 2030 - you'll be a unique and probably tight-knit group! We've planned your timetable so that you'll have opportunities to work together with your peers at Dover, for special sessions, visiting presentations, and off-campus research. You'll also have the extended time in your double block to connect with partners and collaborate on more in-depth work.
Your teacher will utilise case studies, real-world issues, and expert perspectives, to guide you through the project-design process; supported by shared reading, such as Becoming a Changemaker by Alex Budak (a faculty member at UC Berkley, who we've consulted in designing this course).
In Grade 11, you'll complete your first coursework components, helping to balance your workload. As you move through the course and become more expert, you'll continue reflecting on your approaches, noticing your biases, assumptions, and reactions to setbacks (with real-world issues, there'll be plenty of these!)
In Grade 12 you'll have a chance to develop your own Independent Engagement Project in an area of personal interest, with the option to connect this the topic of your Extended Essay, taking it from the written page into the real world.
As Grade 12 teaching concludes, and exam revision begins, you'll be wrapping up your coursework, and able to focus on your remaining subjects, including your three Higher Level courses.
Project-based learning
Project-based learning
Project-based learning (or PBL) is more than just 'doing projects', or indeed being left to just work everything out on your own.
It has been defined as "a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge." (PBL works)
On this course, you'll dip into projects connected to these three lenses, in order to build your capacity in the 5 curriculum strands above.
2026 Systems Transformation Cohort
...with Jolene Lum!
Click here to read the IB subject brief
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