Image of the exterior of South Salem High School. Photo by Zoey Keele
The International Baccalaureate Career-Related Programme, (IBCP), is a new diploma program that South Salem High School is piloting in the 2024-2025 school year. The class of ‘26 is the first batch of students to test out this pathway. IBCP allows students to get an IB diploma that is more centered around the career that they want to pursue. There are six career programs that students can choose from: Broadcast Journalism, Business Management, Computer Science, Culinary Arts, Graphic Design and Health Services.
According to ibo.org, “The CP is a framework of international education that incorporates the values of the IB into a unique program addressing the needs of students engaged in career-related education. The program leads to further/higher education, apprenticeships or employment.”
Students doing IBCP will take two IB classes, four core classes and one career-related class. Similarly to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, (IBDP), Theory of Knowledge class, IBCP students will also take a class called Personal and Professional Skills. This class will take place during the second semester of Junior year, and the first semester of Senior year. These classes also cover the amount of community service hours for IBCP and IBDP.
“The CP requires 50 hours of Service total over junior and senior years. Ideally, it relates to the strand of CP you are in, but it is not a requirement,” John Dixon said.
IBCP students’ community service hours do not have to be done within all of the Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) requirements. They only have to be done within the Service category of CAS. IBDP students have to do more within the CAS requirements.
Counting hours is not the approach the full IB diploma program takes. Quality experiences are how we measure students’ choices rather than how much time a volunteer opportunity takes. Some volunteer opportunities only take an hour of a student’s time and are just as valuable and meet the needs of others just as well as other opportunities the student takes extended time over several days. Thus, students have the freedom to personalize their choices of service experience they engage in and are the key decider if the service is meaningful and should count towards the service requirement. Over time, however, we do require that students engage in service and not have long extended periods where they’re not meeting the needs of others. Service is part of the CAS requirement for full diploma students- creativity (generating something unique and original), activity(making the body sweat), and service (meeting the needs of others without compensation). Students must engage weekly in one of these pursuits- creativity, activity, service- but it’s okay if they get focused on a project and their weekly engagement is only in creativity for a while for example,
Jennifer Harris-Clippinger said.
While full IB students will be required to take an IB language class, such as IB Spanish, IB French and IB German, IBCP students will have to complete 50 hours of cultural expansion. This could either be a language class or a cultural exploration. The options are entirely up to each IBCP student. This could either be taking an online language course, learning different traditions from different cultures, creating dishes and meals from other parts of the world and so forth.
