Jinho Kim, a doctoral student in the instructional technology Ph.D. program, co-authored a book chapter published in “Centering Whole-Child Development in Global Education Reform.” The chapter is titled “Does the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP) Contribute to Whole-Person Development? The Rise of the IBDP in Asia and its Implications for Education Reform.”
We asked her a couple of questions about her work:
How does this publication help with your research goals and/or interests?
I am interested in student engagement through collaborative discussions, which relate to students’ communication and collaboration skills. Whole person development encompasses communication and collaboration skills alongside creativity, critical thinking, international mindedness and self-management skills, so working on this publication has allowed me to explore how the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is facilitating student engagement.
Summarize your topic:
In Asia, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP) is gradually perceived as a pedagogically progressive, internationally validated, high-quality curriculum that is designed to support whole-child/youth development. While there is a growing, positive sentiment about the IBDP in conjunction with whole-person development, little is known about how successful the IBDP is in facilitating whole-person development in school. In this chapter, we review what research tells us about how the IBDP plays out in whole-person development. We found that the research literature largely supports the proposition that the IBDP contributes to whole-person development by facilitating students’ creativity, critical thinking skills, international mindedness, communication, collaboration, and self-management skills. Especially when compared with non-IBDP students and/or graduates, this tendency seems more evident. Our review suggests that the IBDP as a pedagogically well-balanced curriculum may work for whole-person development across different cultural contexts, including Asia. In this regard, we conclude that the reform idea of introducing the IBDP to local school systems in some countries in Asia is worth pursuing. At the same time, however, we provide several caveats for the reform idea, based on the limitations of the existing research literature.
Does this published item relate to anything happening in the news? If so, what?
Traditionally, learning outcomes focused on subject content measured through standardized tests. Nowadays, whole-person development is being highlighted, and there is a growing emphasis on non-academic learning experiences and outcomes. Within this shift is the IBDP, which advocates a high-quality curriculum supporting whole-person development. This book chapter reviews existing research to explore the IBDP’s impact on whole person development, and see what its implications are for education reform in Asia.
Are there others to credit for the work on the article?
Moosung Lee, Sejin Kim and Su Yon Choi
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