Hugh Carson, retiring Headmaster of Malvern College, the only HMC school that has, for over a decade, offered a sixth form choice between A levels and the IB Diploma, considers the choice.

A levels and the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma are both perfectly valid routes to university. Some individuals appear to benefit more from the broader demands of the diploma course while others, largely thanks to the way in which universities express their entrance offers, can take advantage of the narrowness A level courses permit.

We have found at Malvern that the diploma course’s rigour and breadth requires, on average, approximately 15% more teaching and study time than A level. As long as pupils are prepared to do the work, those who achieve a flat grade profile in their GCSEs, whether they be mostly A*, A or B grades, will perform better on the IB diploma course – in relation to those grades – than at A level. On the other hand those whose profile is more bumpy at GCSE might – if success is, wrongly in my view, to be measured solely in terms of University entrance – benefit from studying fewer subjects in the sixth form and take A levels.

A level pupils will almost all acquire a less coherent breadth than that of their IB contemporaries. However, they will be in a position to devote more time to those subjects that they particularly enjoy. Most educationalists would argue that weaknesses should be addressed but A levels, by allowing pupils to play to their strengths, cater for those with areas of weakness. We offer candidates this option otherwise some would feel disadvantaged in relation to pupils at other schools.

Will A level candidates be as well-prepared for life after university, and the demands of a shrinking world, as IB pupils?
The answer depends on the individual’s aspirations. The coherent breadth of the IB is more demanding but in my view it repays individuals by equipping them better for the longer-term challenges of life, especially in their careers.

IB Diploma candidates have to study three subjects at a Higher Level and a further three at Standard Level (Higher is intellectually equivalent to the A2 level while Standard levels equate to two thirds of an A2 course). Those six subjects have to include:

• the candidate’s own language;
• another modern language;
• mathematics;
• a science;
• one of the humanities – pupils tend to choose between geography, history, economics and politics; and
• one more subject chosen from the whole range of normal sixth form courses.

The diploma demands a wider spread than A levels but pupils who have areas of weakness can, through carefully choosing their Standard Level courses, address their challenges in a way that encourages them. (For example weaker linguists can choose an ab initio course as their second modern language.)
In addition to their six subjects IB candidates must complete the core of the diploma. The core requires them to:

• write a 4000 word report on a piece of personal research into a subject of their own choosing;
• follow a theory of knowledge course – not as alarming as it might sound – which teaches them to think and analyse across the traditional subject boundaries; and
• spend at least half a day a week on some creative, aesthetic or community service activity.

Through its breadth and ethos the IB also encourages familiarity with different cultures and an awareness of the world outside academic institutions.

Having gained entry to the university course of their choice pupils who have followed the less prescriptive A/S, A2 and A level extension paper option sometimes find that their narrower sixth form education counts against them: both during their undergraduate course and in years to come.

It is little wonder, therefore, that universities throughout the world welcome IB students and in the UK, in particular.

Do you have to be especially bright to study the IB?
Those who misguidedly think the IB diploma should only be pursued by clever pupils should remember that the IB offers the same potential seven points in the Standard Level subjects as it does in the more demanding Higher Level. This, of course, encourages pupils in their Standard Level courses – very often subjects they have chosen to study at that level because they feel less strong in them.

Those who produce league tables have struggled to find equivalences between IB and A level levels of attainment. The IB course is out of 45 points and, based on our years of experience, we would say that a straight B grade A Level candidate would expect to achieve about 33 IB points in the diploma. The threshold for Oxbridge entry (straight A grades) equates to about 39 points in the diploma. A further advantage of the diploma course is that it differentiates between the very good (39 points) and the truly outstanding (anyone over 40). To score 45 points is truly exceptional: only one in a thousand candidates achieves this – whereas straight A grades at A level, achieved by 9.5% of A level students, is relatively commonplace.

Hugh Carson, Headmaster, Malvern College,

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