IB chief: Why we’re reviewing our wellbeing impact on pupils

In this article from TES magazine by Olli-Pekka Heinonen, the Director-General of the International Baccalaureate, explains why he is pushing the organization to review how its courses impact children’s wellbeing to see if adaptations are needed. Wellbeing has become a focal point in the educational world for the past few years and rightfully so! SEL and Wellbeing has to become a new norm for schools around the world. Same applies to collecting data on the above and gaining invaluable insight to measure the impact and support the students. The Director-General believes that wellbeing matters more than ever, emphasizing that wellbeing does not have to be in conflict with the rigor of a programme. They are aims that can be met simultaneously. That last point shows IB’s commitment to this agenda. He outlines that the two priorities for IB going forward will be to focus on the flexibility of teaching and assessment, but most importantly, depressurise schooling: to think about the whole student, and the whole school community, not just curriculum models and exams. Starting July 2022, the IB research and design teams will launch a complex innovation project to support IB schools with wellbeing in their own context, which one hopes will start a new conversation about adding rigor to this way of thinking. Please read the full article here.

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