Diploma ideal for families who move between countries
When it came time for the Haines family to choose a curriculum for their daughters, the International Baccalaureate seemed the best option given their multinational origins.
Lois Haines is from Switzerland and her husband is Australian, and when they moved to the emirate 14 years ago, “we didn’t know where we might be five, 10 or 15 years from that moment”, Mrs Haines said.
They wanted a curriculum that would be recognised internationally and she thought the IB would be the best academic fit for her daughters.
“It is an international diploma which is recognised, it is independent,” Mrs Haines said. “It’s not necessarily a national curriculum that is just recognised within that country. We didn’t know where work might take us.
“We thought they could transfer to another IB school in a different
country later on, which at least would follow through from a curriculum point of view and a system point of view, as opposed to change from the A-level system to the Australian system, which don’t really match one another.”
Dr Sonia Ben Jaafar, author of A Parent’s Guide to School
Choice in Dubai, said the transience of UAE families was one reason why the IB curriculum is growing in popularity here.
In 2005 there were only six authorised IB schools in the UAE. In the last academic year there were 41 – the most for any Arab country, says the IB organisation in Switzerland. Four new IB schools will open in Dubai in the next two years.
“People find it reassuring that there is an international programme that when your kids graduate essentially every university globally recognises it,” Dr Ben Jaafar said.
“If I want to apply to a German university or American university or Australian university, any university in the world, there are equivalencies that need to be established. With the IB program those are already a given for many, many universities globally.
“And if you do extremely well on your IB exams and you get a certain score in a certain subject, many universities will give you first-year credit for that.”
As well as the academic learning, pupils have to complete a project related to creativity, activity and service.
“There is a lot more to it than just learning content, which for me is one of the real strengths of the curriculum,” said Ian Thurston, deputy head of Key Stage 5, which is education for 16 to 18-year-olds.
“That ensures that students are becoming well-rounded individuals. They have to do service, they have to do some sort of physical activity and they reflect on that learning, so it is very much as skills-based curricular as opposed to just a content based curriculum.”
Mrs Haines said IB was “a very tough diploma to do”. Her daughter, Alexandra, graduated with one of the highest scores in the country.
“It requires them to do languages, to do sciences, to do arts. It requires them to do external activities and community activities, so I just think it does try to make the students more all-rounded as a rule,” said Mrs Haines.
“But at the same time, this applies to my other daughter as well, if neither of them went on to any further education after finishing an IB I feel both have got a solid foundation in education to take further into their professional careers.”