In Balance

Reform to the International Baccalaureate

P. P. Zhang

WHAT DO QUEENWOOD, CRANBROOK AND NEWINGTON COLLEGE ALL HAVE IN COMMON? This may sound like the start of a joke but the punchline is no laughing matter. Apart from being some of the most elite private schools across the country, they all offer the International Baccalaureate. If you don’t know what the IB is, it’s essentially an alternative diploma program to the HSC (Higher School Certificate), which consists of a two-year course in the final years of high school. According to a spokesperson, the IB is recognised globally for its “academic rigour and holistic education”. For some students, it’s a preferred alternative to the HSC due to its broader curriculum, which allows greater flexibility based on career interests. Additionally, the IB has often been labelled as “a different approach to learning”, which better prepares students for university and the workforce. 

Now, the reason for the recent controversy surrounding the IB is due to its apparent unfairness: last year, potential grade inflation and overly generous marking led to a spike in the number of students awarded a perfect score of 45. But the worst part is, the broad nature of the scoring meant that all these students received the maximum ATAR of 99.95 upon conversion. This effectively means that out of the 600 students who took the IB last year, one in twelve received a perfect score. For some context, less than 0.1% of the students who take the HSC receive an ATAR of 99.95. The IB is blatantly painting a picture of elitism – it’s not offered at public schools, and students who take it instead of the HSC have to pay an extra fee. 

The IB is often promoted as a pathway to international study, but in recent years, it’s become a way for students to gain an unfair advantage over their peers, with more than 90% of IB students last year going on to study at a major Australian university, despite the name “International Baccalaureate”. 

St Ursula’s College will become the first Catholic school to offer the IB starting from next year, and the King’s School will make it available to Year 11 students from 2025. But there’s some good news for HSC students and their parents. As more schools look to offer alternatives to their students, universities have vowed to ‘level the playing field’ for course entry. They plan to do this by determining a selection rank among IB students using their raw marks rather than the final score out of 45. 

Furthermore, schools such as St Ursula’s are creating their own reform, with a pledge to remove the extra fee attached to the course when offered to their students next year. This ultimately will make the IB more accessible to a wider range of socioeconomic backgrounds; a major step that all schools should aim to follow, in an effort to increase fairness. Around the world, the IB is offered in over 150 nations, and, in many of these countries, it is state funded using public money. As the IB becomes a real option for many students around Australia, perhaps it is time for us to consider some changes.