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Quarter Two, 2008
Diploma Programme
Examination Visits
More than 20% of Diploma schools have been visited by
representatives from the regional office during the recent May
examinations session. These unannounced inspections are
intended to ensure that schools comply with all regulations and
procedures relating to the conduct of Diploma Programme
exams. The visits also give the coordinators an opportunity to
feed back to the regional office on any issues and concerns
which they might have.
We were extremely impressed with the standard of examination
conduct right across the region, and we congratulate
coordinators on the responsible way in which they have
maintained the security and integrity of the examinations.
We do bring to your attention the requirements related to the
use of calculators in examinations. Coordinators are reminded
that they must ensure that the electronic calculator conditions
are satisfied for all examinations on a continuous basis through
spot checks.
Supporting May examination students when Diploma results are issued
The regional office receives a large number of calls each year
from anxious students and concerned parents after the May
examination results have been issued. Their questions include:
the meaning of the ‘P’ code on their results, what to do
regarding University offers, how to register for retake
examinations and when is the deadline for retakes. While the
regional office can answer some of these questions, it should
not be necessary. We certainly cannot register any students for
retakes or apply for enquiries upon results – these are all the
responsibilities of schools.
It is vital, therefore, that all students in all schools have a
reliable school contact for the period after the issue of results.
It is also vital that all students are made aware of the
regulations
and deadlines that apply to the retake of examinations.
Extended Essays
It is important for schools (teachers, examiners, workshop
leaders, coordinators) not to promote one subject group over
another when introducing the Extended Essay to students. It is
easy, but misleading, to look at results from one year to the
next and assume that students might be better to choose one
subject group over another. However, this distracts from the
intention of the Extended Essay to provide students with the
opportunity to develop research skills in their preferred subject.
Schools should therefore do all they can to support students in
their choice and to assign appropriate supervision.
CAS
It is hoped that the new CAS guide will allow schools the
opportunity to shift the emphasis for some students from
counting hours to a focus on valuable learning outcomes. For
any CAS programme to flourish, it is vital that teaching staff
beyond the CAS coordinator are involved, as is made very clear
in the new guide. It is therefore important for school
administrations to consider the role of the whole school (staff
and students) in regard to CAS, and not to see CAS as simply a
student issue.
Long term viability of language courses
As you know, some language courses can run the risk of being
taken off the exam schedule if the number of student
registrations drops below 30 for a session and shows no sign of
recovery. It is difficult for the IB to gauge trends in registration
without input from schools in the region. As the number of
schools increases in a particular country, it is possible that there
will be a larger number of potential registrations in a subject
than had been anticipated. At the moment, both Tamil B and
Malay B are subjects with fairly low registrations. Schools
offering these subjects, or likely to offer them in future, are
therefore asked to notify the regional office of potential
numbers coming up through the school.
Nigel Forbes-Harper, DP Regional Manager
Stephen Keegan, DP Associate Regional Manager
Deirdre Chang-Hufton, Personal Assistant
Email: ibapdp@ibo.org
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