IB Examiner Newsletter (Jan 2014 ENG)

Examiner newsletter January 2014

Note from the editor Dear Examiner Colleague, I hope that you will enjoy reading this latest edition of the IB Examiner Newsletter. In the IB’s Assessment Centre, we were pleased to release the November 2013 Diploma Programme session results on time. Thanks to all examiners who marked work in the session, which progressed very smoothly.

The other highlights of the last six months have been the Chief Examiners’ Conference, which is held every October and the MYP eAssessment trials held in October and December 2013. A full report of the Chief Examiners’ discussion is provided in this newsletter as I hope that all examiners will be interested in reading about the topics which engaged the Chief Examiners in the course of their twoday conference. More information about the MYP trial eAssessments will be provided in the next edition of the Examiner Newsletter, including, I hope, some examiner feedback on marking eAssessments, We have also two interesting interviews with senior examiners for you to read as I know from your feedback that you particularly enjoy hearing from examiner colleagues. Please let us know what you thought of this edition of the newsletter as it is always really helpful to have your views and advice.

Wishing you all the best for 2014, Carolyn Adams Chief Assessment Officer

Chief Examiners’ Conference: 19–20 October 2013 The 2013 Chief Examiners’ Conference was held in the IB’s Global Centre in The Hague.

Thirty Chief Examiners and Examiners Responsible attended the conference, for which the main theme on Day 1 was a review of the standardization process.

The Chief Examiners spent their second day working together in their subject groups, reporting back to the conference as a whole about their discussions.

Throughout the conference the debate was lively and challenging. A number of presentations were provided during the conference. These came from Assessment and Curriculum Development staff (Richard Penrose, Toby Wild, Gareth Hegarty, Craig Escott, Carolyn Adams and Malcolm Nicolson), the Director General, Jeff Beard and also from Chief Examiner Simon Oakes (geography). David Homer, the new Chair of the Examining Board, talked about his plans for his new role. © International Baccalaureate Organization 2013 International Baccalaureate® | Baccalauréat International® | Bachillerato Internacional®

The annual conference provides an excellent and vital opportunity for Chief Examiners to meet together with IB colleagues from assessment and curriculum development to critically evaluate the current assessment model, to recommend improvements and to look forward to oncoming new ideas and technologies which will affect our work. The IB is fortunate to have such experienced, knowledgeable and committed Chief Examiners.

Summary of issues raised and debated on day 1 The main theme on day 1 was a review of the standardization process. Most of the first day of the conference involved the Chief Examiners working together in small groups, alternatively within their subject group and across all subject groups, to discuss and disseminate good practice in standardization. The representatives from each subject group reported back on their findings to the conference as a whole. Some of the recommendations and comments follow.

• •

• • • • • • •

• •

In Groups 1 and 2, marking notes should be fine tuned and shared across language subjects.

There should be a real endeavour to finish the standardization process at the meeting, not afterwards (during the qualification period) when Principal Examiners and Team Leaders are busy with qualification issues.

It is important to ask other Team Leaders, not involved in standardization, to comment on the markscheme and to involve them in the process as much as possible.

It is important that the markscheme is annotated accurately and consideration should be given to necessary detail rather than too much detail.

It is important that some practice scripts are made challenging/awkward. They should contain clear annotations that demonstrate the reasoning behind awarding the mark given.

It is important to look after new examiners. It would be useful if Chief Examiners and Principal Examiners were made aware of who the new examiners are.

Qualification scripts should contain no “tricks”.

The standardization process starts at the paper editing stage. It would be good to see markschemes enhanced to make the marking process clearer.

For many examiners, the standardization process involves doing too much. Examiners are more prone to errors early in the process, meaning the odd rogue seed crops up. Anything that can alleviate this (such as not having to set so many seeds early on) would be welcome.

Team Leaders must be encouraged to communicate with the examiners in their team.

Ideally, practice scripts should be released a few days before qualification.

Mentoring guidance should be provided for Team Leaders above what is already available.

Suggestions include the use of Skype, Viber and phone. It is thought that these would provide a better means of gauging the effect of feedback on examiners.

Summary of issues raised and debated on day 2 Group 1: Studies in language and literature Activity • • •

Discussion on how “Every Diploma Programme (DP) teacher is a language teacher” (approaches to learning).

There is a need to consider the approaches to Literature A. How can pedagogical principles informing the newly reviewed IB philosophy of teaching be used to “keep the freshness of literary texts that candidates study, given that we often teach and assess canonical works that may be less attractive to students than more innovative subjects and new courses, aligned with the 21st century”

Conclusions and suggestions •

Respect for multicultural backgrounds within the classroom is an example of “decolonizing the mind” across subjects.

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•

Background and context need to be more focused upon by Literature teachers if a fuller cultural understanding of texts is to be achieved; this means taking every action possible to help students “grasp the past” as an essential part of their interpretation.

Practical Issues • •

How can Chief Examiners and Examiners Responsible become more aware of literary approaches and types of questions set across Group 1 subjects without breaching confidentiality?

Importance of encouraging comparison across languages and cultures in very different (e.g. non-European, non-Western) traditions.

Group 2: Language acquisition As May 2013 was the first examination session after the curriculum review, there was a discussion on the different components.

Written Assignment: there were problems related to sourcing, poor referencing skills, plagiarism and incorrect topics chosen. It seems that teachers’ misunderstanding of the new requirements is a part of the problem as they tend to revert back to old practices. It was also felt that the criteria are not clear enough in the guides and that information is scattered as opposed to being grouped together.

Furthermore, some information given in workshops is not in the guides, which is unfair to students whose teachers did not attend them. Recommendations included • • • •

Putting samples in more languages on the OCC Include good examples of the rationale for language B Make the guide clearer regarding what is expected from the candidates Give examiners a clear explanation of what is meant by plagiarism in tasks where candidates have to use sources for their work.

• Scoris: Though certain aspects of scoris have improved this year, the messaging system has not.

Cutting and pasting is difficult and people find it quicker to respond to examiners using their personal email addresses.

Internal Assessment: the criterion has now changed and is easier to apply. Recommendations include: • •

Emphasise in Language B that the visual stimulus must be a photograph.

It would be useful if statistical evidence could be provided by the IB on how students performed on each paper across all languages.

Criteria: Recommendations include: • •

The unpacking of criteria to be formally approved by the IB The IB to allow the senior examiners to share the unpacked criteria with all the examiners in their team and (if applicable or helpful) with examiners in other languages.

Group 3: Individuals and societies The group discussed the trends seen in enquiry upon results statistics in recent sessions. There seems to be a increase in grade changes as a result of enquiry upon result requests in some subjects.

The structure of curriculum and assessment models was discussed in relation to the difficulties of writing examination papers for the new economics course. The course uses objective levels and specific command terms for each learning outcome which then have to be followed when questions are written for examination papers.

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The expected learning is therefore well defined and the type of questions that can be expected in examinations is transparent. However, the impacts on question setters are that they are limited in the range of questions they can ask and they find it difficult to keep the papers feeling novel.

Steps have already been taken to loosen the restrictions on the economics paper-setting team. The approach taken in the economics guide was not representative of all group 3 guides. Some new approaches are being used, such as structuring guides through concepts. An example is the recently written business management and global politics guides.

Group 4: Sciences There was a curriculum update. The specimen papers have been written for physics, chemistry and biology.

The new environmental systems and societies programme guide is being finalized. Internal assessment trials will be commencing shortly.

A business case has been made for higher level in sports, exercise and health science.

The Enquiry upon results guides were discussed. It would be useful if the IB provided information on time zones, so to assess whether there is any discernible difference between the two.

Option numbering: it must be ensured that technology doesn’t drive assessment.

Group 5: Mathematics The mathematics curriculum review is currently in year 2, which is focusing on university research, alumni research, the review of international syllabuses and the use of technology. Looking forward to 2014, a school questionnaire will be sent out in July/August and the internal and external reviews will commence October and December respectively respectfully. The actual review will take place in 2015.

The different levels in mathematics (SL, HL and studies) are used in different ways by schools for their students. Research is ongoing into the mathematics courses to ensure they are appropriate for the needs of students in the future.

It is important that examiners and staff in Assessment and Curriculum remain alert to the implications of improving calculator technology.

There was a discussion on the EUR grades of the last 2 years. There had been an increase in requests of EURs across all levels. It is felt that schools are becoming increasingly aware of how one © International Baccalaureate Organization 2014 International Baccalaureate® | Baccalauréat International® | Bachillerato Internacional®

mark can make a significant difference. However it was found that there is little difference in grade changes between 2012 and 2013.

Group 6: Arts Group 6 readdressed the aims of the arts subjects. Creativity and imagination were not present in the earlier aims.

They also discussed how aspects of collaboration and team work could be addressed within group 6 subjects. It is apparent how inclusive and collaborative the discussions are between Chief Examiners and staff in Assessment and Curriculum.

There was a discussion about how the arts in group 6 are becoming more interconnected.

Change is always difficult, however it is necessary and if embraced effectively can be energizing. It is felt that some institutions/schools and teachers within the arts are resistant to change, and can prevent the IB’s objectives being rolled out to students. Meeting participants were urged to try and identify these schools as it is felt they can be encouraged to improve what they offer to IB students.

Interview with Kala Parasuram: Assessment Access and Inclusion Manager at the IB Assessment Centre in Cardiff Kala joined the IB in March 2012 and is from Mumbai, India. She attended graduate school in the USA and now lives in the UK. What does your role entail?

The primary focus of my work is making the IB examinations accessible to our candidates with learning support requirements. This is both in terms of providing inclusive arrangements (such as extra time or screen reader) to support candidates and also introducing accessibility during the design and development of the examination. In a broader vein, my work centres on inclusion; to ensure that IB World Schools are inclusive, providing access and equal participation to all candidates.

Please describe one project that you are currently working on and explain to us what makes it interesting, fun or challenging One of my new projects centres around going from a a paper-based mode of receiving requests for inclusive assessment arrangements from Diploma Programme coordinators worldwide, to an online mode. But, of course there is a lot more to it than that. We are simultaneously introducing a new policy that lays down criteria for eligibility for every single inclusive arrangement. We are getting away from a model of giving inclusive arrangements based on identified labels of challenges to a provision that is driven by evidence of need. For example, a candidate would be supported with a screen reader not because she or he has a label of dyslexia but because there is a low score on reading fluency and/ or reading comprehension and the evidence from the school supports the need for this access.

Presence or absence of a label is immaterial. With our new online system, coordinators can enter the request and if the candidates meet the criteria (based on their responses to questions), they would be magically auto-approved for the inclusive arrangements requested.

What will the implications of the project be?

Firstly, the auto approval will be game changing for us and the schools cutting down on time and workload. More importantly, this will also bring in consistency and standards in our inclusive assessment arrangements. Culturally, there are differences in what access schools provide for candidates with learning support requirements. For example, we often see very different requests for © International Baccalaureate Organization 2014 International Baccalaureate® | Baccalauréat International® | Bachillerato Internacional®

candidates with similar profiles from different countries. The difference could be as large as one school usually giving 100% extra time to a candidate while another school in a more conservative culture giving 25% extra time for its candidate with similar challenges. Our new criteria will bring in the much needed consistency. The other very important implication is that with criteria laid out, we are now in a position to eliminate unjustified requests. There are unfortunately many instances where parents pressure schools to send in requests, especially for extra time, even where the school does not think that this is justified. Yes, inclusive arrangements are important but they should be strictly available only to those who truly need them and only to the extent that they are needed.

Please describe the sense of accomplishment that you will feel once the project is launched and why?

Accessibility and inclusion are very important to me. I grew up with my grandmother who had a congenital hearing (and hence speech) impairment. The hearing impairment was a non-issue to her. It was in fact only when I was in high school, when I was assisting in teaching dance to a group of children with hearing impairment, that it really hit me that my own grandmother had this challenge too!

What she had when she grew up in a small village in rural south India was a paradigm of inclusion.

She was naturally included in life of the community; all her friends and neighbors conversed with her.

She used natural sign language. In India, where there are multiple languages, I have seen my grandmother converse with everyone with ease no matter what language they spoke in contrast to others who would struggle to speak to someone who spoke a different language! Her confidence and zest for life made her unique and all this was only possible because of the natural inclusion in her native village. This is the inclusive environment that I want to bring to each child with a learning support requirement and here in the IB, I have a platform to make this contribution.

The Middle Years Programme (MYP): a new approach to examinations The IB is introducing a revised Middle Years Programme (MYP) for first teaching in September 2014.

The revised MYP represents an evolution of the current programme, with innovation in terms of curriculum development and assessment. The new onscreen assessments will be piloted in 2015 followed by a full launch in 2016. Additionally, coursework will be electronic from 2016 with the introduction of ePortfolios for language acquisition, art, physical & health education and design. In © International Baccalaureate Organization 2014 International Baccalaureate® | Baccalauréat International® | Bachillerato Internacional®

fact, 2016 will be the first session from which MYP certification can be achieved based on the new curriculum and assessment model.

Each onscreen examination will be two hours long and feature rich media as stimuli, such as short films and audio recordings. Similarly, students will respond to questions using the kind of tools and functionality that only computers can provide. Naturally, the technology that lies behind such an innovation is complex and to achieve the successful deployment of these onscreen examinations (or eAssessments) the IB is working in partnership with a software company that has the necessary expertise. To ensure that we are on course for the roll out of a small selection of subjects in 2015 as part of a pilot, two trials were conducted in 2013, one in October with English as the response language and one in December in French. A Spanish version will be made available in 2014.

The October trial involved about 50 schools in 23 countries, with over 1,500 students contributing responses to 40 trial tasks in English A, mathematics, biology, history and an interdisciplinary assessment. Naturally, the aim of a trial is to identify issues that may arise in a live session, and in this respect both trials were very successful. In general, the trial was very well received by schools, eliciting comments from MYP coordinators such as: “I'm happy we did it once, though it is quite a commitment, for both teachers and students. The onscreen aspect is great, when the kinks get worked out. It's clearly the way to go.”

School in Hong Kong “These are exciting exams, but in some ways they are quite different to what students are used to. It is vital that there are practice exams in the run-up to the real thing.”

School in the UK “I very much like the idea of onscreen examinations and the tasks themselves were fine.”

School in China “Overall, in feedback from teachers, the content and context of the exams was not surprising, so this is positive.”

Naturally, there were coordinators with concerns as well, particularly about the logistics of conducting onscreen examinations for a large number of students. For example, a coordinator at a school in Tanzania wrote: “One of the main issues is having enough computers available without blocking access for the rest of the school. This was just one 40-minute task—but this would be a much greater issue for a series of onscreen examinations running over several days (or even weeks).” In the live sessions, students may use their own devices, so they should not need to monopolise school computers. Students, coordinators and teachers involved in the trials were invited to complete a brief questionnaire to provide the IB with valuable feedback on their experience. That feedback, together with comments received from a number of IB staff who visited a school to observe a trial in action, will help guide further developments and ensure the onscreen examinations are fit for purpose for the pilot in 2015.

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Interview with David Homer: Chair of the IB Examining Board Could you introduce yourself to the IB examining community?

I am a physicist and I recently retired as a Deputy Headmaster after a career spent in independent day schools in the UK. I never taught in an IB school, but all the schools I worked in shared the underlying ethos of the IB and all the teachers would have recognised the learner profile as an aspiration for their pupils.

I have been examining—principally at UK A level and IB diploma level—for almost 30 years for various awarding organizations. I joined the IB as a Deputy Chief Examiner about 10 years ago and became the Chief Examiner: Physics in 2009. I am also one of the consultants for the English examination regulator which sets the rules which the IB has to consider in its work.

Along the way, I have written a number of text books (most recently co-authoring a new course companion for the IB diploma physics course starting in 2014) and I have been involved in various curriculum projects. In 2009 I was awarded a Teacher of Physics Award by the Institute of Physics (the body that advances physics in the UK).

In my spare time, I am a musician (piano and harpsichord) and my wife and I enjoy walking far and high in the UK and on European long-distance footpaths. I am an assessor for the expedition section of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme which provides a challenge for young adults in the UK and other parts of the world. I am a UK magistrate.

How do you feel about your new role as chair of the examining board?

I look forward to the role. My predecessors will be hard acts to follow. Nevertheless, I am clear that my own experience from examining and consultancy outside the IB will be of use both to fellow examiners and to my IB staff colleagues As the examiner who sits ex officio on the IB Board of Governors I will be able to contribute to the debate. And, of course, I have a unique take on some aspects of the Board’s work as I bring to the table a voice representing the 15,000 or so examiners on the IB books.

Ultimately, my job is to represent the examiners and to help strengthen the effectiveness of the Diploma Programme and its assessment in whatever ways I can.

What are your aims in this new role?

One of my priorities is to develop further the working relationship with Richard Harvey, the Vice Chair.

Richard has responsibilities for the Final Award committee (including the important area of judging academic infringements) and he is moving forward work on the Examiners’ Forum. I think that there should be a broader role for the Vice Chair and he and I need to discuss this during the coming months.

The Heads of Curriculum Development and Assessment and I have already begun to work together. It is important to recognise that the IB officers are employed for their expertise in education and that they take ultimate responsibility for the decisions. Nevertheless, everyone needs a critical friend. That is what I hope that the Diploma Review Committee (DRC) and I will continue to supply to the programme. I have already started some work on a research project to look at the impact of the Diploma Programme on students in terms of stress and workload. This work will develop over at least the next twelve months and is intended to result in recommendations to developers of curriculum and assessment.

As I take up the chair of DRC, I hope to continue in streamlining its working methods. It should maintain a strategic oversight of the whole programme without becoming bogged down in minutiae (that is the job of the permanent staff!). There may be other ways in which the various Diploma

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committees can dovetail more effectively. However, I need to observe the cycle of meetings before making any pronouncements about that.

What does your relationship with the IB mean to you?

I discovered the IB relatively late in my career. It reinforced my view of the importance of educating the complete student. However, to see it put into action in such a dedicated and consistent way right across the world has been a revelation.

I have made many friends from overseas as a result of my examining and writing work for the IB—this has been a great joy. I would not have met these talented enthusiasts otherwise. I include in this the staff I meet in Cardiff and The Hague. (I have visited other offices only briefly so far). These dedicated professionals work hard and invariably see it as important to make their examining colleagues very welcome. Above all, everyone I meet in the organisation believes totally in the IB mission—it remains a privilege to work with you all and this is one of the things I look forward to most in my new role.

November 2013: some statistics As mentioned in previous examiner newsletters, a November session is a mirror image of a May session, but on a much smaller scale. For May 2013, there were about 127,000 candidates compared with just fewer than 11,000 for November 2013. The only other major difference is the fact that we have relatively more candidates using Spanish as their response language, and French is not offered as a response language in a November session. Another characteristic of a November session is the anomaly that there are actually more May session schools entering candidates than schools with November as their main session; this is because nearly 600 May schools are each entering a small number of retake candidates.

Number of:

November 2012

November 2013

Increase

May session schools entering candidates

546

590

8%

November session schools entering candidates

204

209

2%

9,744

10,469

7%

Raw marks required

161,730

181,740

12%

Grades to be issued

52,409

56,937

9%

Examiners allocated to marking/moderation

1,055

1,109

5%

Candidates’ examination scripts e-marked

74,436

91,650

19%

Theory of knowledge essays e-marked

5,894

6,435

9%

Candidates

Compared to November 2012, when about 86% of examination scripts were eMarked, in November 2013 virtually all scripts were eMarked, which was also true for May 2013. EMarking is now the normal way of marking scripts and the preferred method of most examiners.

Continual growth, albeit modest for a November session compared with May, means that the IB must continually recruit more examiners. Therefore, if you have any colleagues who may be interested in becoming an examiner for the IB, please encourage them to visit our public website for more information. The link is www.ibo.org/examiners .Thank you for your support, the work of IB examiners is crucial to the success of each examination session. © International Baccalaureate Organization 2014 International Baccalaureate® | Baccalauréat International® | Bachillerato Internacional®

Visual arts onscreen marking—some changes in May 2014 The feedback we received from examiners and schools to the onscreen marking of visual arts in the May 2013 examination session was very helpful in continuing developments to make the upload process easier for schools and access to large files more efficient for examiners.

Examiners and schools requested that the candidate interview element of the upload be revisited and the 500 plus schools who had volunteered to work with us to advise on refining systems were asked for their opinion on the best way this could be done. As a result of this consultation and advice, from the May 2014 examination session students will be able to submit either a 15-minute audio or video interview or a 1,000 word text file in place of the longer recording previously submitted.

The interview file or text file will continue to have no marks allocated specifically to it, but the information contained within should support the examiner in understanding aspects of the markband descriptors that are not obvious from the studio work files or the investigation workbook pages.

Typical examples might be that a candidate explains the way work had been reviewed and modified to its final outcome, or the personal relevance of their artwork.

Developments are currently underway for submitted video files to be converted to be compatible with more computer systems and for large interview files to be accessed by examiners more easily in a reduced file size where possible.

We would like to thank examiners for their ongoing support over the introduction to mainstream onscreen marking.

Interview with Garrett Nagle: Deputy Chief Examiner for Geography How many years have you been an examiner with the IB? I have examined for the IB for 6–7 years. Currently I am the Deputy Chief examiner for Geography, having held this position for 3 years. In this role I currently attend many meetings surrounding the assessment of the subject.

These include standardization meetings which involve refining the markscheme and setting up the eMarking quality model. I also attend grade award meetings, during which the grade boundaries for the subject are set.

Whilst the majority of these meetings have been face-to-face we have recently had virtual meetings which have gone better than expected.

What attracted you to teaching Geography?

I grew up in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland surrounded by woods, lakes and the countryside. This combined with an early interest with the subject led me to where I am today.

Whilst researching for my doctorate thesis at Oxford, I started teaching as a way to raise funds.

However, during this period, I found that I really enjoyed teaching. I continued as a part-time teacher whilst studying for my doctorate and enjoyed it so much that I have remained at the same school in Oxford for 27 years! During this time I have taught both IB and A level Geography and more recently I have been teaching the new Environmental Systems and Societies course offered by the IB. What are your top three examining tips?

1. Study the markscheme—but be open to answers that take a different approach. Take time to research unknown information provided by candidates. I have learned a lot of new information from this process which I have taken back to my own teaching.

2. Try and stay up-to-date—read publications which highlight real world geography issues such as the Economist or the Financial Times.

3. Plan times to complete your examining—try to make it part of your regular activities in marking.

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Where is your favourite place?

My favourite place is Killarney where I grew up. I love the scenery and can remember fun times fishing, swimming in lakes and playing Gaelic football. I can remember going to school in a class of 50, which is very different from my current school.

What do you like most about being an examiner for the IB? Whilst I will never be rich from being an examiner, I enjoy working with examining colleagues and the professional development I get from acting as an examiner.

It is a really enjoyable experience discussing issues with colleagues, learning from them and sharing resources.

I also feel that examining is useful for any teacher. It helps teachers understand process—highlighting what examiners are looking for and gives an extra edge to your teaching

Examiner feedback to May 2013 eMarking questionnaire

We are pleased to see that the continual improvements we make to scoris are appreciated by examiners who complete the eMarking questionnaires.

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News in Brief Benefits of QIGing In May 2014 examiners will be able to mark a number of scripts by Question Item Group (QIG) in TM scoris for the first time. A QIG is the lowest meaningful grouping of questions or question parts that is sensible for an examiner to mark. A QIG may consist of one or more than one question, depending on the subject and decisions made by the relevant subject manager and senior examiner. Marking by QIG is a normal feature on most onscreen marking tools and many organisations have been marking

by QIG, or clip for a number of years. It brings many benefits for examiners: • • •

It allows examiners to focus on areas of particular strength in structured and unstructured papers and where there are specialist options.

It reduces the cognitive load on examiners through consistent focus on one question response at a time rather than across the whole paper response.

It provides greater opportunities to continue marking even if examiners are out of tolerance for a particular QIG as they can mark other QIGs..

We should see fewer examiners stopped completely from marking but at the same time the examiner will find it easier to apply the markscheme consistently. In addition, the IB will be able to capture and store data for candidates at the QIG level, which will lead to enhanced reporting to schools about candidate performance by topic and objective.

Academic Honesty Film Competition The International Baccalaureate launched the Academic Honesty Film Competition in early November 2012 to help promote the importance of academic honesty by inviting Diploma Programme students to produce a film that would spread this message among all IB students.

Students from around the world participated in the competition; the IB received a total of 36 entries, which were shortlisted to 8. Bettina Campomanes from The Beacon Academy in the Philippines was selected as the winner of the competition. The judges decided that Bettina’s film, called Reluctance (http://www.ibo.org/announcements/2013/academichonestywinner.cfm ), was the most reflective and creative film on the topic. It was appropriate to the target audience and showed great technical quality.

Dr Siva Kumari is the new IB Director General Siva Kumari assumed the post as IB Director General on 1st January 2014 and succeeds Jeffery Beard, who has held the post since 2006. Dr. Kumari is the seventh Director General in the IB’s 45year history and the first woman to hold the post. She joined the IB in 2009 as Regional Director for Asia Pacific and was appointed as Chief Operating Officer in 2010.

Dr Kumari stated: “Trends influencing the world in which we live and work are also transforming the way students learn. The IB is uniquely positioned to support this transformation, promoting the best innovations in teaching and learning. Access to information, social technologies, and connectivity are dramatically different today than when the IB was created 45 years ago. It is our responsibility to lead the way in international education and harness these capabilities as we create programmes and services to engage students in deep learning. I am honoured to be entrusted with this position and I look forward to working with all members of the IB community, who continue to inspire me to do the best for the IB and the best for our schools.”

May 2014: core for course candidates May 2014 is the first examination session in which course candidates (previously referred to as Certificate candidates) are permitted to register for an extended essay, theory of knowledge and/or creativity, action, service (CAS). These are compulsory requirements for diploma candidates, but are now available to candidates not seeking to achieve the diploma. Registration figures so far look very positive with 377 course candidates registering for an extended essay, 896 for theory of knowledge and 1,122 for CAS. © International Baccalaureate Organization 2014 International Baccalaureate® | Baccalauréat International® | Bachillerato Internacional®