16 November 2014 (The Telegraph)
Six subjects and a stable syllabus – no wonder many schools are finding the International Baccalaureate appealing, says Nick Morrison.
Exam reforms seem to come along with alarming frequency, but throughout decades of upheaval one qualification has remained the same. While A-level students will be grappling with a dual system of old and new courses over the next few years, their peers taking the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma can remain confident that theirs will stay constant.
[...] While students take three or four subjects at A-level, on the IB they take six, three at standard level and three at higher. These must include maths, English, a foreign language, a science and a humanities subject.
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22 November 2013 (The Telegraph)
As far as school qualifications are concerned, the International Baccalaureate has always stood out for the passion of its supporters. No average award this, they say, the IB is the complete package.
“Almost everybody who teaches it thinks it is a better education,” says John Claughton, Chief Master of King Edward’s School, Birmingham, which switched from A-levels to the post-16 IB diploma in 2010.
This year their faith has been rewarded, as two leading universities have lowered their entry requirements for IB students. King’s College London and Leeds universities have both announced that for admission next autumn, they will consider three As at A-level to be the equivalent of an IB score of 35 points – out of a total of 45 possible points – rather than 39 as previously. This is a recognition that grade inflation has not affected the IB in the same way that it has the A-level.
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