IB Diploma updates

Year 11 Theory of Knowledge – outing to the NSW Art Gallery

On 13 June the Year 11 Diploma cohort went on an outing to the NSW Art Gallery North Building to explore Art as an Area of Knowledge. The outing allowed us to explore two of the TOK concepts namely – Perspective and Interpretation. The aim was to explore the question – Who decides what art means? The students had to choose three or more artworks, in the gallery, and formulate a presentation to their cohort using the above guiding question. For more information about the IB Diploma TOK course for students from 2022 please see this short video.

Year 12 Global Politics update

Global Politics differs from other IB subjects as the Internal assessment has a weighting of 40%. Twenty percent is based on their two Higher Level presentations on a global issue of students’ choosing that needs to fall into one of the following themes – environment, poverty, health, identity, borders and security. The Engagement Activity, also 20%, is a 2000-word report based on the student’s actual engagement with a political issue.

Here are some examples of this semester’s Higher Level presentations which were absolutely amazing:

To what extent are China’s claims of legitimacy in the South China Sea a violation of territorial sovereignty as outlined in the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling?

Rosanna

To what extent was the inaction of the international community in response to the Tigray-Ethiopia conflict a failure of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine?

Natalie

To what extent are the continued sanctions in post-Mugabe Zimbabwe (2017) contributing towards increased povert

Lydia

To what extent is Israel’s current occupation of the Palestinian territory, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, a violation of state sovereignty?

Olivia

I am looking forward to marking the final Engagement Activities over the holidays – a vast range of activities were undertaken and some of their research questions are listed here:

To what extent does the Escaping Violence Payment effectively support women escaping domestic violence?

Sophia

To what extent did the Melbourne COVID-19 lockdown escalate the victimisation of violence against women?

Sophie

How would reducing the voting age to 16 impact upon the nature of democracy in Australia?

Natalie

To what extent have ‘School Strike 4 Climate’ demonstrations in Australia impacted the state’s involvement in the climate movement?

Olivia

Is there a case for gender quotas in Australia’s democracy?

Lydia

2027 Development Plan

One of our chosen development plans for our 2027 review is to ensure that we all teach TOK – critical thinking in our subjects. At our June staff meeting teachers worked across faculties in exploring the six 2023 Theory of Knowledge prescribed knowledge questions. It was wonderful to see how different subject areas tackled the questions and gave staff an insight into the essays the Year 12s are busy writing.

Julie Harris
Dean of IB