IB continuum: Education as the essence of being
By Ramiro Ramiro Garcés, head of school; Patricia Villegas, academic coordinator; Rocío Aranzales, PYP coordinator, Colegio Internacional de Educación Integral (CIEDI), Bogotá, Colombia
Thirty-three years ago, Colegio Internacional de Educación Integral (CIEDI) was founded on the principle that effective teaching must take into account the cognitive, physical, and emotional needs of a child. This is, and has been, the belief behind the ideas and actions of the school and of its founder. In 2003, the International Baccalaureate crossed our path and we found our lifelong partner, one that shares our idealist mission and that helps us broaden our horizons even further, bringing us closer to the world through an international perspective.
Our journey with the IB began with the authorization of the Primary Years Programme and the Middle Years Programme in 2006, and continued in 2008 when our Diploma Programme was authorized, thus fulfilling our dream to be able to offer a continuum of International Baccalaureate programmes through a coherent and cumulative curriculum.
The unavoidable question at this point then is: What made the IB so attractive to CIEDI? Simply put, the IB programmes offer central themes and conceptual and methodological elements which add dynamism and largely respond to the pedagogical structure that CIEDI was looking for. Moreover, at CIEDI we are convinced that it is necessary to educate global, national, and local citizens, who express themselves in an emancipating, receptive and caring manner, and are committed to the institutional values that are taught at home and in the classroom. The International Baccalaureate programmes do just that; they indicate not just a path to follow but also provide the means to validate that path.
IB principles such as developing children’s cognitive potential from early on until they reach 19 years of age and the creation of intercultural awareness are the backbone of the three programmes (PYP, MYP, and DP).
The curricular approach that the IB proposes for all of the areas of knowledge and the programmes at the core—CAS, TOK and the extended essay—invite us to dream that other, better ways of coexisting and of connecting with our environment are viable, making us aware that the future is in the hands of our students.
In the PYP, the analysis of connections between disciplines is the focus of the units of inquiry, and in the MYP, the areas of interaction pave the way for critical thinking, the ability to identify main ideas, and lasting knowledge.
The MYP encourages lasting learning that is based on concepts, connections, and real-life experiences. The MYP also encourages the use of prior learning experiences to organise the areas of interaction in order to understand the world, to solve problems, and to communicate effectively through the use of open questions. This effectively leads to reflective processes, practices aimed at cultural understanding, and respect for students’ individual learning styles and processes, taking into account any obstacles or limitations in their learning processes.
In the Diploma Programme, the pedagogical methods and practices help to overcome traditional teaching methods by encouraging research work that shapes the scientific method and promotes the development of pre-scientific thought. The building of knowledge is linked to ethics, equal rights, democracy, human dignity, solidarity, etc. Epistemological coherence and openness is visible in the articulation of notions that come from several disciplines to examine a single subject, allowing bridges to be built between academic disciplines and types of knowledge.
In the continuum, the units of inquiry, the areas of interaction, theory of knowledge and the extended essay all aim to develop the ability to understand the mutual intersections and synchronism of diverse disciplines. From the early years of students’ education until the time they receive their diploma, students are exposed to a multidisciplinary vocation in search of new ways of expressing themselves that allow them to go beyond traditional paths of knowledge acquisition.
In addition, the PYP exhibition in the primary years, the personal project in the MYP and the extended essay all create investigative opportunities and give students the chance to explore real-life issues. By supporting these projects, an interest in understanding, explaining and documenting phenomena from multiple perspectives is built, giving students their first glimpse of how their inquiries now go beyond the mere transmission of knowledge.
In this phase of the implementation process of the three IB programmes, we the teachers and administrators of CIEDI understand that the International Baccalaureate’s proposal is not meant to be seen as a completed achievement, but rather as an ongoing process which, over time, establishes a cognitive rhythm that we are all invited to participate in.
To articulate all three programmes is a stimulating conversation of the mind. Inquiry into the many different areas of the social pedagogical practice is made, and learning strategies are designed that encourage students to take an interest in developing complex thinking, whether from the perspective of the hard or soft sciences or from the fields of literature or religion. The scientific understanding of the human experience needs to regain that feeling of awe when faced with the miracle that is knowledge, present in all sciences.
This attempt, characteristic of what CIEDI is, demonstrates that this undertaking must therefore be understood not only in terms of its content, but also as a process that leads to educational experiences and knowledge. It must be understood that this union is a mixture of the personal and social, as well as of the rational and reflective, and is one that leads us inevitably to go back and inquire all over again in a never-ending process that we are never fully able to grasp.
The well-rounded education that our students receive will be the lasting legacy of this process.
