About IB

Is the IB Diploma Programme a realistic alternative to A levels?


Firstly,let me introduce what is the IB Diploma Programme.
IB Diploma Programme is an educational program that teaches challenging two-year curriculum, primarily aimed at students aged 16 to 19 ,the qualification of which is widely recognized by the world’s leading universities.
Therefore,what are the comparative advantages of the Diploma Programme? And why it is so popular in the world?
In the first place, the curriculum of IB required is more than A-level's. It consists of 6 subjects from 6 subjects groups,namely:language A1,second language,individuals and society,math and computer science,experimental science and arts. Language A1 is the study of literature in a student’s first language, including the study of selections of world literature. This can help students to get a correct and whole point of their countries,practice their writting and literary criticism. In group "Individuals and societies", subjects like economics and business are included,majority of which we can choose as our future subjects and career. As for the experimental science, it makes us concentrate on our practical ability and realise more about our world. From this,we can see that the coverage of Diploma Programme is fairly wide and we will a lot of opportunities to choose subjects that we are interested in. It not only asks the students to learn the academic knowledge and specialized skills,which are cited as the role of education by Durkheim, but also requires them to understand the culture either domestic or other countries and strengthen their personalities by art. In addition, an extended essay, a theory of knowledge course and creativity, action, service are needed in the curriculum as well.
This might be the biggest difference with other programmes. This programme takes developing our creativity into account and gives us more freedom to improve ourselves. However, although the arrangements of subjects are good and widely-referred,the direction of the subjects makes some subjects missed,such as accounts and law.
Compared with Diploma Programme in curriculum, A-level also has a lot of subjects and relatively more than those Diploma Programme has. But it doesn't care about independent ability so much as Diploma Programme does and so-balanced.
Secondly,it is about the recognition.
A-level is a traditional programme originated from UK which offers the standard qualification for admission to UK universities. It now has been accepted more widely by universities of the European Union, on a par with the French Baccalaureat, the German Abitur, etc. as an entry qualification.
As regards IB,it is a comparatively new programme but has been developed rapidly throughout the world. It is more likely to be admitted by Australia,Canada and American but its academic standards are almost respected world wide.
Lastly,the current condition of these two programmes are essential for us to consider. It is reported that,in the UK, the average grades achieved by A-level candidates have been steadily rising for 25 years in a row which means the improved teaching methods. However,a lot of educationalists doubted and argued about the rise of results. For example,some people thought it was due to grade inflation and the examinations getting easier whereas some were against cancelling one subject at the second year that the difficulty will be reduced that can not test the real ability of people. What' more,some schools don't favor the form of subjects. For instance, Cambridge University has warned that it is extremely unlikely that it will be accepting applicants who are taking two or more supposedly 'softer' A Level subjects out of 3 which includes Accounting, Design and Technology, Film Studies, Information and Communication Technology, Media Studies, Photography, and Sports studies. As a result, Diploma Programme attracts an increasing number of schools because of the balanced subjects and the considerable difficulty.
Overall,there are a lot of similarities between A-level and Diploma Programme. The IB Diploma is seen as a comprehensive and rigorous education programme designed to provide students with a broad and balanced education in order to develop creative and compassionate life-time learners, and to promote international understanding. Consequently,in my opinion,it is a good choice to improve your independent skills and develop yourself. When deciding which curriculum to take,we should consider our ages,which country to go in the future and what subjects you are going to have. To summarize,IB Diploma Programme is a realistic alternative to A-level.