How to raise kids who question and think. The beauty of an IB education.

We all want to raise kids who can navigate a complex and interconnected world, wade through the noise of online influence and be comfortable with change. And wouldn’t it be great if they could write well, manage their time and even understand how they learn?

The International Baccalaureate (IB) programme has been future-proofing children for ages. And in today’s world, IB may be education’s superfood.

Glenlyon Norfolk School (GNS) in Victoria is the only IB boarding school in BC and one of the very few IB continuum schools in Canada, meaning IB is available to students from junior kindergarten through grade 12. Angie Girard has been part of GNS for 32 years and the IB diploma coordinator for 12 years. She marvels at how IB develops critical thinking, something she considers an essential 21^st-century skill.

“The IB curriculum takes an inquiry-based approach,” she says. “Rather than providing students with answers, it’s about giving them the tools to ask the questions.”

IB students are encouraged to actively construct their understanding of the world, instead of passively receiving information. This process makes them adaptable, resilient and resourceful.

“It’s a great advantage in life to be able to think through something, consider it from different angles and be thoughtful about it,” Girard says. “We often hear students say, ‘IB forced me to develop the skills to actually think for myself and to think on my feet.’”

Gina Simpson has been teaching the Middle Years Programme (MYP) at GNS for over 20 years, and has been the coordinator of curriculum planning for the last nine. She says IB promotes a global mindset and nurtures a strong sense of social responsibility.

“Another part built into IB is service as action,” she says. “The idea is that students are inspired in some way by what they learn and are moved to go out into their local community to take action.

In grade 6, for example, students study the UN global goals and look at really big international issues, and then they take one of those goals, zoom in and look at how they can make an impact locally.

“It’s about connecting what they learn in the classroom with the world outside,” Simpson says. “They’re actually working with it and saying, ‘I’m studying gender equality in the classroom. I’m going to go and look at how I can support a women’s shelter in the local community,’ for example.”

The end goal is to prepare students to be responsible, engaged citizens who can navigate different environments with respect and understanding.

“When they leave GNS, they take with them life skills that go way beyond academics,” Girard says. “They go out into the world set up not just to survive, but to thrive.”

Learn more at mygns.ca

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