Clarendon was disappointed to read that funding for the International Baccalaureate (IB) in state schools is to be withdrawn.
Until now, schools offering the IB received an additional £2,400 per pupil to cover the extra teaching hours the programme requires. From next year, that funding will instead be redirected towards students taking four or more A-levels in STEM subjects. This may raise broader questions about the quiet sidelining of the arts – but perhaps that’s a conversation for another week…
The IB differs from A-levels chiefly in its breadth. Where A-levels invite depth – three or four subjects studied intensively – the IB consists of 6 subjects, alongside an Extended Essay, a Theory of Knowledge course, and a ‘Creativity, Activity, Service’ component designed to encourage a life beyond the classroom. It is, in short, an education that aims to produce thinkers rather than memorisers.
The concern, of course, is that many state schools will no longer be able to offer it – Tonbridge Grammar School has already announced it will be scrapping it. That risks creating a two-tier system, where the IB becomes the preserve of the independent sector – a curriculum for those who can afford choice, rather than for those who might most benefit from it.
The UK already asks students to specialise earlier than other countries. Systems such as the Irish Leaving Certificate or the French Baccalauréat maintain a broad curriculum well into the late teens, combining languages, sciences, mathematics, and humanities before university. The IB offers something similar within the British system – a rare opportunity for students to keep their intellectual horizons open for just a little longer.
We at Clarendon have seen, time and again, the value of the IB. It encourages independence, intellectual curiosity, and that elusive combination of rigour and reflection that employers and universities alike claim to prize. To have a 16-year-old told that their chosen qualification may no longer be available seems, at best, unhelpful.
We doubt that Bridget Phillipson is spending her evening reading the Clarendon Newsletter, but if by chance she is – we’d politely urge her to reconsider.