IB versus British Curriculum experiences please

Yes so many schools have dropped A levels here in favour of IB over the last few years and many of them without consultation with the parents , I know so many people struggling for A level places . Also some schools have bought in the IBCC instead of the diploma , I can't see that being successful here as more and more children that have grown up here are wanting to stay after education and work , as it stands at the moment you need a degree to work , IBCC is not a pathway to university is it ?

I would think twice full stop! lol You need to decide whether your child is an IB child first of all. Then you need to look very carefully at the school choice. Grades may not be just down to a school, many students here have tutors and this can influence grade results. If your child wants to go into certain spheres then the IB may not be the right choice for your child, ie medicine. Many of the top UK schools have 6th forms big enough to run both IB and A'levels and choice is based on the individual rather than all fit one syllabus. The IB is new and expensive to run, check what sort of turnover the school has and how much they invest into their program. Personally i think there is a shortage of A'level schools here and and the number of applications going into A'level curriculum schools here far exceeds places.........schools should realize their is still a market for A'levels, for good reason.

IB is not really like the US curriculum. US is not exam led apart from the AP and even that has a lot of multiple choice etc in it. I suppose it is more similar than A-Levels but not really the same...

Is IB curriculum then almost similar to US curriculum? I heard US curriculum is very good for secondary and British is best for primary....

I would think twice before starting an IB programme here if there is a possibility that your child will not finish their education here and would go back to a state school in the UK . All the IB schools I looked at as an alternative in UK were private schools or selective grammar schools

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-394399/A-level-blow-Baccalaureate-given-rating-5-A-grades.html This is quite interesting although it is the DM It is interesting, however for me it is a nobrainer. Why would you put a child (a stroppy teenage one at that) through a rigorous course that has less chance of securing a place at Uni than A levels? 5% fail to reach A level offers 20-25% fail to reach IB offers (These figures are for Oxford) There is no doubt that IB prepares an "all rounder" child well for life at Uni but what if your child is good at everything except Maths? That one subject can pull their score down and therefore they are at risk of not gaining the 38+ points needed to secure a place at top Unis. I actually prefer the IB over A levels because I think its ridiculous that children can stop their education in subjects like Maths and English at 16 years of age BUT I still chose A levels over IB for my child as the odds are better for Unis in the UK, she has more free time to be a teenager and she can study her 4 favourite subjects knowing she is good at, and enjoys all of them.

I was just going to post that! Although the Daily Mail is not the best source of info!

Very interesting thread! Thank you all for the info.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-394399/A-level-blow-Baccalaureate-given-rating-5-A-grades.html This is quite interesting although it is the DM

Dinks, great synopsis. Thanks very much. The statistics are very interesting though it is also a reality that IB being a new curriculum has less absolute numbers to compare. I wonder how the stats compare for US curriculum and univs. Any insights?

The IB spread of subjects suits all-round pupils who don’t wish to drop from around 10 GCSEs to three or four AS subjects; the emphasis on personal research undoubtedly prepares pupils effectively for the academic and organisational rigours of university life. However, all six subject groups must be completed, meaning that one weaker subject can drag down an entire IB score. Many regard this as the fundamental weakness of the IB. A poor showing in an area of the curriculum that a student is not actually very interested in could cost him or her their university place. It is crucially important that students realise this. And if they want evidence to support it, they need only look at the success rate of IB and A-level students in securing places at their first or second-choice universities. For A-level applicants, there is an 81 per cent success rate, but for IB it is only 69 per cent. Another factor to bear in mind is that the IB is much more time consuming. Some students relish this pressure but others complain that it eats into time they would rather devote to drama, music or sport. Perversely, an exam system designed to create a broader education can, for some students, have the opposite effect. A-levels, of course, are an established commodity. The vast majority of British sixth-formers sit them (compared to only 0.49 per cent who follow the IB) and universities and employers certainly understand them more readily. Students generally opt to study four subjects at AS level from around 80 available subjects, dropping down in most cases to three A2 level subjects in the Upper Sixth. There is more breadth than there used to be – the fourth subject at AS was introduced for this very reason – and there is also now more stretch and challenge, reflected in the introduction of the A* at A-level – which is actually harder to achieve than the top mark of seven in the IB. It definitely suits those who know what they want to do and is particularly advantageous for scientists: under the A-level, students can study physics, chemistry and biology, whereas the IB restricts students to two sciences. Those students who opt for A-levels and wish to broaden their horizons further can also do an extended project, the EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) on a topic of their choice. In other words, today’s A-level programme is very different from that of 20 years ago. It has responded to the critics and to the challenges posed by the rival IB qualification, and it now offers students stretch, challenge and breadth. So which one is for you? If Ucas statistics are anything to go by, the vast majority of schools and students are sticking with the A-level. It is better than it used to be and no less an institution than Cambridge University recently rode to the defence of AS exams. But there is no doubt also that the IB can be brilliant for a certain type of student: the genuine all-rounder who also has the appetite for work that the broad IB curriculum demands.

Taken from Oxford Uni website.... A-levels and the International Baccalaureate are both eligible qualifications for entry to our undergraduate degrees. [b'>We do not weight either of these qualifications as ‘better’ than the other, [/b'>since both are eligible for entry, and all applications are considered very carefully on their individual merits. In general, however, the IB could be considered a good grounding for multi-disciplinary Arts subjects who involve elements of many different subjects at school. On the other hand, students who wish to specialise in a particular Science at Oxford may find that the concentration of three subjects at A-level provides them more with the focus necessary for an intense subject-specific degree.

As a teacher who has taught both IB and A Levels I can say with experience that universities love the IB in the UK. This year I have sat through many an admissions talk, including Oxford who say they love it. They don't give preference to it over A Levels and why should they? However they like the TOK and essay and service that comes with IB and this can sometimes sway them. It accounts for so few as there are still very few IB schools in the UK. But this number is growing.

Both my boys did (and one is in his last year of IB). It is a very very intense and rigours course but prepares the kids v well for college. IB is also preffered by universities in the US & UK. I would recommend IB Diploma over any other curriculam, but thats just my view. All the best. IB is preferred by Universities? Really? Yet IB takes up just over 1% of the pending qualifications for British Universities...

There is great article on whichschooladvisor. http://whichschooladvisor.com/guides/international-baccalaureate-vs-level-whats-best/ I found this to be very useful.

Both my boys did (and one is in his last year of IB). It is a very very intense and rigours course but prepares the kids v well for college. IB is also preffered by universities in the US & UK. I would recommend IB Diploma over any other curriculam, but thats just my view. All the best.

I feel like we are paying a ridiculous amount of money for a worse education than they had in the UK. Sorry but this is kind of normal for this part of the world. Schools look glossy on the outside but inside not that impressive performance wise. There are a few good schools though.