International Baccalaureate

International Baccalaureate provides students opportunities for academic excellence. In February 1978 Retamar obtained authorization from the International Baccalaureate Organization to develop the Diploma program and register candidates for the corresponding exams. At that time there were two IB schools in all of Spain and there were fewer than 100 in the entire world. The first cohort of Diploma students left school in 1980. Since then many of our students have obtained the International Baccalaureate Diploma.

The International Baccalaureate® (IB) is a non-profit educational foundation whose fundamental objectives are embodied in its declaration of principles and where the student is the central axis. It was founded in 1968 in Geneva, Switzerland and currently works with more than 4,500 schools in 147 countries to develop and offer four challenging educational programs (the Primary Years Program, the Middle Years Program, the Diploma Program and the Career Orientation Program) to around 1,000,000 students between the ages of 3 and 19. It is headquartered in Geneva and has representatives in Bath, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Cardiff, Geneva, Mumbai, New York, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Vancouver.

The International Baccalaureate has been conceived to facilitate and extend to students the possibility of selecting those universities and upper secondary schools that best suit their interests in the different countries of the world. It arose from the effort to establish a common curriculum, accredited by universities, for the benefit of students with geographic mobility.

Living in the interconnected and globalized world of the 21st century requires critical thinking skills and an international mindset. The education provided by the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program prepares students to learn to recognize and understand this need.

IB Diploma Program
The Diploma Program is a demanding international education curriculum aimed at students aged 16-19 years. It allows access to most of the world’s universities, private and state, according to the existing agreements in each case. In Spain, the IB Diploma is homologated with the title of Spanish Baccalaureate and allows direct access to university (Resolution of March 21, 2017, of the Secretary of State for Education, Professional Training and Universities). Some universities award academic credit to students with high scores on IB exams. Only schools evaluated and accepted by the IB Office are authorized to prepare and present candidates for the IB Diploma.

The IB learner profile seeks to ensure that its students are inquiring, informed and educated, thinkers, good communicators, upright, open-minded, caring, bold, balanced and thoughtful (IB student profile).

Academic Curriculum
Over the course of the two years of the program, students study six subjects: two languages, social studies, experimental science, mathematics and the arts. Three are studied at Higher Level (240 teaching hours) and another three at Intermediate Level (150 teaching hours).

The program also has three components that constitute its common core. These aim to broaden the educational experience of students and encourage them to put their knowledge and understanding into practice.

These three components are the extended essay, the Theory of Knowledge course and the 100 hours of CAS (Creativity, Action and Service) activities.

The extended essay requires students to carry out independent research through in-depth study of a topic related to any of the subjects they study, led by a teacher from the school in a given subject.

The Theory of Knowledge course invites students to reflect on the nature of knowledge through a critical analysis of the different forms of knowledge (perception, emotion, language, reason or faith) and types of knowledge (scientific, artistic, mathematical and historical).

With the Creativity, Action and Service (CAS) activities, students actively participate in concrete projects outside the classroom and learn from this experience. They can carry out activities that combine these three components or specific activities for each of them.

At Retamar we offer the Bilingual Program in English, which consists of doing at least one subject in Social Sciences or Experimental Sciences in that language. We also encourage students to do the extended essay in English.

Evaluation System
At the end of the program, students take written exams that are graded by external IB examiners. They also carry out assessment tasks at school that are assessed by teachers and subsequently reviewed by external moderators, or sent directly to external examiners.

The diploma is awarded to those students who achieve at least 24 points, as long as they have achieved a certain level of performance in the entire program and have met the Creativity, Action and Service requirements. The highest total score that can be awarded to a student is 45.

Internal Evaluation
In all subjects, at least part of the evaluation is carried out by teachers of the school, who correct individual assignments submitted as part of their coursework. Examples of these tasks are oral exercises, projects, folders and portfolios, class presentations, laboratory practices, mathematical investigations and artistic interpretations.

External Evaluation
Some assessment tasks are directed and supervised by teachers without the restrictions of an exam, but are corrected by external examiners. Examples of this include Language A world literature written assignments, English B written assignments, Theory of Knowledge essays and the extended essay. Given the higher level of objectivity and reliability of the standard exam, most of the evaluation of the subjects is carried out by means of examinations corrected by external examiners of the school.

Academic Fees
The IB finances its activities by charging fees for the services it offers (specifically, for student assessment services, teacher training and publications), in addition to the annual fee paid by each IB World School. In addition, both sponsors and governments contribute donations to finance specific projects and initiatives. The school charges the students the amount of said fees and the administrative and academic expenses that it entails, since Retamar's participation in this Program is non-profit; it only tries to provide one more service to families.

Final Summary
At Retamar, the IB is integrated into both the Science and Technology Baccalaureate and the Humanities and Social Sciences Baccalaureate. It is recommended both to students who plan to continue their higher education in another country and to those who want to open up to broader intellectual options, and are willing, with a desire to improve, to make an extra effort. Obtaining the corresponding IB Diploma allows them to be equated with high school graduates from other countries of recognized scientific and cultural prestige.