Leigh Academy Rainham is a Candidate School* for the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme. This school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy—a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that Leigh Academy Rainham believes is important for our students.
*Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme, or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further
information about the IB and its programmes, visit www.ibo.org
What is an IB Education? The IB Mission Statement
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organisation works with schools, governments and international organisations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
The reflective project provides students the opportunity to explore an issue which particularly interests them, and to develop skills which will be of value to them in the future.
It is an in-depth body of work produced over an extended period and submitted towards the end of the CP. The reflective project is one of the CP’s four core components.
The reflective project is designed to draw together key elements of students’ wider scheme of study:
Their career-related study
The other components of the CP core (language development, service learning, personal and professional skills)
Their Diploma Programme courses.
Students are required to identify and explore an ethical dilemma associated with an issue that arises from their career-related studies and then develop a well-reasoned argument based on appropriate supporting evidence.
Goals of the Reflective Project:
Produce an extended piece of work.
Engage in personal inquiry, action and reflection (PLAN, DO, REFLECT) on a specific ethical issue.
Develop research and communication skills.
Develop the skills of critical and creative thinking.
Process of the Reflective Project:
Uses your career-related studies as a focus for the chosen issue.
Utilises the skills you develop in Personal and Professional Skills such as the ability to create a reasoned argument, to understand ethical dilemmas and to prepare the structure and format of the project itself.
Uses the skills and knowledge you develop in your Service Learning project.
Format of the reflective project
Students can choose to present their reflective project in two different ways:
Option 1 – A written essay (maximum 3,000 words) plus reflections (maximum 1000 words) on the Reflections on planning and progress form.
Option 2 – A written essay (1,500-2,000 words) accompanied by an additional format (film, oral presentation, interview, play, or display), plus reflections (maximum 1000 words) on the Reflections on planning and progress form.
Ethics
You must consider an ethical dilemma within your career related study (BTEC, or other vocational course). But first we need to consider what ethics are.
It is crucial that all work you submit is your own, and that any references you make are appropriately cited. You will spend some time learning how to do this at the start of your reflective project course.
Select and explore an ethical dilemma embedded in an issue linked to a career-related context,
Select and apply appropriate research methods and collect and select relevant information from a variety of sources, showing an understanding of bias and validity.
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the issue,
Contextualize the ethical dilemma and analyse different perspectives on it through the use of a local/global example of the issue in which the dilemma is embedded,
Demonstrate awareness and understanding of the impact of the ethical dilemma on a local/global community and the cultural influences on, and perceptions of, the ethical dilemma.
Personal and professional skills is designed for students to develop attitudes, skills and strategies to be applied to personal and professional situations and contexts now and in the future. In this course the emphasis is on skills development for the workplace, as these are transferable and can be applied in a range of situations.
Other qualities the course should encourage include:
Responsibility
Perseverance
Resilience
Self-esteem
Academic honesty.
PPS is one of the CP’s four core components and ties together all aspects of the core, vocational and IB subjects.
Aims
The overall aims of personal and professional skills are for the students to:
develop as reflective and lifelong learners who can adapt to diverse situations
recognise personal strengths and identify ways to overcome challenges
be aware of and respond effectively to ethical dilemmas
value diversity of cultures and perspectives
demonstrate the ten attributes of the IB learner profile.
Expectations and standards of professional behaviour
Debates about professional ethics
The Nature of Service Learning
Service learning is a component of the Career-related Programme core.
Service learning provides opportunities for students to understand their capacity to make a meaningful contribution to their community and society. Through service learning, students develop and apply academic knowledge, personal skills and social skills in real-life situations involving decision-making, problem-solving, initiative, responsibility and accountability for their actions. The purpose is for students to contribute to society by improving the lives of people or assisting the environment or animals.
Service learning benefits all involved—students as they continue developing skills and knowledge applied to real-life situations, and the community through reciprocal collaboration. Service learning fosters development of abilities, attitudes and values in accordance with the IB mission statement and the IB learner profile. The process of service learning is best when understood and organised as an ongoing experience occurring with regularity throughout the duration of the students’ CP.
The five service learning stages offer a helpful ongoing process framework for students.
Reflection is central to building a deep and rich experience in service learning. Reflection allows students to explore ideas, skills, strengths, limitations and areas for further development, and to consider how they may apply their prior learning and background in new contexts.
Aims
The aims of service learning are for students to:
develop and apply knowledge and skills towards meeting an authentic community need
develop as leaders who take initiative, solve problems and work collaboratively with others
enjoy the experiences of both learning and service
develop a sense of caring about, and a responsibility for, others
gain a deeper understanding of themselves, their community and society through meaningful reflection
enhance and strengthen their experience with the existing school curriculum.
Time Required
A minimum of 50 hours is expected to be devoted to service learning. The school and students must give service learning as much importance as any other element of the CP and ensure sufficient time is allocated for engagement in service learning.
Learning Outcomes
The five learning outcomes articulate what CP students are able to do at some point during their service learning programme. Through meaningful and purposeful service learning experiences, students develop the necessary skills, attributes and understandings to achieve the five service learning outcomes.
Language Development at Leigh Academy Minster
Language Development is a compulsory element in the IBCP Core, designed to help students ensure that all students have access to, and are exposed to, a second language that will assist and further their understanding of the wider world. The course aims to provide students with the necessary skills and intercultural understanding to enable them to communicate in an environment where the language studied is spoken: students will develop the transferable linguistic skills necessary to succeed in the globalised employment market or in successfully applying to higher education institutions.
The four aims of Language Development are to:
enable students to understand and use the language they have studied in context
encourage an awareness and appreciation of the different perspectives of people from other cultures
provide students with a basis for further study, work and leisure through the use of an additional language
provide the opportunity for enjoyment, creativity and intellectual stimulation through knowledge of an additional language.
Students will follow an ab initio Language course, choosing a new language to study from a range including French, German, Spanish and Mandarin. The course will blend key grammatical concepts with intercultural understanding and essential skills necessary in a global workplace. No previous experience in the chosen language is required, as the course aims are applicable to all students, regardless of the level of linguistic proficiency they have when they begin the IBCP. Language development is designed to accommodate all students and ensure they are exposed to a language other than their best language that will assist and further their understanding of the wider world.
Language development is a non-examined course. Instead, students work on developing a language portfolio.
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