International Baccalaureate Group 3: Individuals & Societies

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Discipline

International Baccalaureate

Copyright

2023

Program Type

Core

Delivery Method

Blended (Print & Digital)

Imprint

Pearson Learning Group

Reach a deeper understanding of human environments, society and history.

Our resources for IB Diploma Group 3 cover all of the core themes, with clearly differentiated content for Standard and Higher Level students. Our textbooks provide comprehensive coverage of the latest Subject Guides in Environmental Systems and Societies, Global Politics, Business Management, Economics, Psychology, and History.

Our Environmental Systems and Societies, Global Politics, and Psychology resources are co-published with the International Baccalaureate, which means that they are fully aligned with the current IB curriculum and have passed the IB’s rigorous quality-assurance process.

environmental studies — Comprehensive coverage of all eight topics and the HL lenses from the IB Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS) course.

Fully revised in line with the 2024 Subject Guide, this latest edition has been developed in cooperation with the IB.

Written by experienced IB teachers and examiners, it provides full coverage of all eight topics and the Higher Level lenses, with all new Higher Level content covered and labelled for clear differentiation.

Self-contained real-world examples put learning into context, encouraging critical thinking and building awareness of environmental issues.

Popular tried-and-tested feature boxes boost engagement in the IB classroom, helping learners to deepen their understanding of key themes and concepts.

Guiding Questions showing the links between new and previous knowledge, and connections between concepts and topics, encourage active investigation of the content covered.

Chapters dedicated to TOK, the Internal Assessment, the Extended Essay, and exam strategies, offer learners effective support with their assessments.

Exercises and practice questions, including past-paper questions, provide opportunities for formative and summative assessment.

eBook resources include answers, downloadable activities and auto-marked quizzes.

Check out the authors on this blog:

Exploring the innovative new IB Environmental Systems and Societies syllabus

View Sample FAQs Free teaching materials

ib psychology — Written by experienced IB teachers, examiners and curriculum specialists, this latest edition of our popular Psychology title for the IB Diploma Programme provides full coverage of the subject guide for first assessment in 2027 and it has been developed in cooperation with the IB.

These co-published resources offer opportunities for flexible teaching of the new subject guide and include:

Full coverage of the Psychology themes: including, Concepts, Content and Contexts, the Internal Assessment and the HL only content

Engaging Feature boxes, such as: TOK, hints for success, interesting facts, and key facts, for extra support, context and interest, plus Activity boxes to help learners show their understanding

Class Practicals examples for students to be guided through a critical discussion of each approach to research

Key words highlighted in bold with a full glossary for quick reference

Additional chapters dedicated to Paper 1, Paper 2, Paper 3, TOK and the Extended Essay, along with eBook resources with additional teacher support and exam practice to help learners prepare for the assessment.

View Sample Access free resources FAQs

business management ib — Written and reviewed by experienced IB teachers for the 2022 Subject Guide, this new textbook and eBook provide comprehensive coverage of the five course units and a clear introduction to the business management toolkit, which is signposted throughout.

Specifically developed for international learners, and using our tried-and-tested approach to the Diploma Programme in this subject for the first time, helps transform your learners into active thinkers, using sustainable and ethical case studies to build awareness of real-world contexts and to bring Business Management to life with:

an emphasis on conceptual understanding

inquiry questions to help focus learners

guidance on internal and external assessment, including practice exam questions

integrated references to TOK and the IB Learner Profile throughout

clearly differentiated Higher Level content

links to engaging online resources to consolidate knowledge and explore topics further

auto-marked quizzes for revision

a full glossary of subject-specific terms.

Check out Brad Opfer (co-author) on this blog

7 takeaways from the new IB DP Business Mgmt Subject Guide

View Sample

economics cover — A comprehensive textbook and eBook written specifically for the 2020 Economics curriculum. Designed to aid students’ understanding of real-world economics, it features clearly differentiated content for your Standard and Higher Level learners, and uses clear, accessible English for English as a Second Language (ESL) students.

Clearly differentiated content for both Standard and Higher Level learners.

Includes highly visual graphs and topical examples to aid learners’ understanding of real-world economics.

Contains answers to quantitative exercises found throughout the book.

Essentials: Economics provides condensed support that’s perfect for EAL learners and ideal for revision.

Try out our free mini Economics lessons with your class!

We have put together this interactive lesson plan with Jason Welker, creator of The Economics Classroom and co-author of our new IB Diploma Economics Student Book. Watch these videos with your class using the discussion points for each.

Download lessons View Sample

history covers — Written for the latest History IB Subject Guide, with support for new curriculum features and full of links to Theory of Knowledge (ToK), each textbook offers a clear overview and analysis of key events, equipping students with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed.

Enhanced eBooks feature worksheets, quizzes and source material - perfect for extended studying.

Comprehensive coverage of the most popular history topics for the 2015 Group 3 curriculum

A clear overview and analysis of key events.

Practice in analysing source material, including photographs, cartoons and letters.

Focus on the examination requirements, with ‘hints for success’ throughout.

Theory of Knowledge section and questions to fuel research and discussion.

View Sample

Authors

Psychology Authors:

Alan Law

Alan Law is Teacher-in-Charge of Psychology at The English College in Prague, and is an Assistant Examiner in Psychology. He has a postgraduate diploma and an MSc in Occupational Psychology, and as a qualified English language teacher also has experience training teachers in UK summer schools.

Christos Halkiopoulos

Christos Halkiopoulos (CPsychol) is a registered Coaching Psychologist and Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society. His chartership is in the field of teaching and research in psychology. His membership of the Association for Business Psychology was also recently upgraded to the highest membership level of principal practitioner.

Dr. Christian Bryan

Dr. Christian Bryan has taught A-level and Diploma Psychology since 1998. He currently works at the American International School of Budapest, where he teaches Psychology and ToK. He is an experienced IB Workshop Leader and EAL curriculum delivery for the Diploma. He is also series editor for the Pearson Baccalaureate EAL support series, Essentials.

History Authors:

Eunice Price

Eunice Price has taught IB History since 1978 and is currently Head of History at the United World College of the Adriatic. She has taught at schools in the USA, the Far East and the Middle East. Her mainarea of expertise is twentieth century global history.

Brian Mimmack

Brian Mimmack has taught the IB since 1979, and is currently Humanities Chairperson at the International School of Düsseldorf, Germany. A former Deputy Chief Examiner and External Advisor for History, and the Principal Examiner for Paper 1, Brian is also heavily involved in IB curriculum development and assessment.

Daniela Senés

Daniela Senés holds a B.A. (Hons) in International Relations and has specialized in Latin American Studies. She has taught IB History and Theory of Knowledge for twenty years in Argentina, where she was also Head of Senior School. She has been involved with the IB Programme since 1996.

Jo Thomas

Jo Thomas has more than 20 years’ experience as Head of History at three leading IB schools: Munich International School, United World College of South East Asia (Singapore) and the British School of Brussels, where she is currently Head of History and Politics. Jo is also an IB Examiner for History and an IB workshop leader.

Keely Rogers

Keely Rogers has taught the IB Diploma History program for over 15 years. She has taught at the UWC of S E Asia, the International School of Brussels and is currently Head of Group 3 at ACS International school in Surrey. She is a former faculty member forHistory on the Online Curriculum Centre, an experienced IB History workshop leader, and a Senior IB Examiner in two papers.

Economics Authors:

Sean Maley

Sean Maley teaches IB Economics at the American International School of Bucharest, Romania. He has served as co-curriculum author/subject matter expert in the creation of the online IB Economics courses.

Jason Welker

Jason Welker teaches IB and Advanced Placement Economics at Zurich International School in Switzerland. He has served as co-curriculum author/subject matter expert in the creation of the online IB Economics courses. He also created and maintains Welker’s Wikinomics, a website for economics students and teachers.

Environmental Systems and Societies Authors:

Andrew Davis

Andrew Davis is an IB examiner and workshop leader for ESS, and was a curriculum developer for the new 2024 syllabus. He has taught the subject for 15 years. Andrew worked in South East Asia for 10 years as part of the Royal Society’s Rainforest Research Programme, examining the effects of rainforest disturbance on insect communities. He has published many articles on his insect work and maintains an active interest in tropical ecology and conservation.

Garrett Nagle

Garrett Nagle has been an IB Examiner since 2004 and has been involved in over 50 textbooks and numerous articles. He has also been an IB Workshop Leader. He is Chairman of the Oxford Geographical Association.

Global Politics Authors:

Carolina Chavez Fregoso

Carolina is an Adjunct Professor of International Relations and Conflict Management at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City. She has taught IB Global Politics and helped to develop the curriculum. She holds an MA in International Conflict and Security from the University of Kent, UK, and an MA in Protocol and Soft Diplomacy Skills from the International School of Protocol and Diplomacy.

Michael O’Shannassy

Michael is the Head of Global Studies at UWCSEA (Dover, Singaport). He has a PhD in International Relations from the Australian National University. He is the Principal Examiner for the Global Politics Paper 2 and has also been an examiner for the IA Engagement Activity. He has been involved extensively in helping develop the latest IB Global Politics curriculum.

Stephan Anagnost

Stephan teaches at the United Nations International School, Hanoi, Vietnam. He has taught TOK and Global Politics at IB world schools in Austria, Curacao, Ghana,and Vietnam. He is involved with the IB as an examiner, workshop leader, site visitor, and curriculum developer. Before teaching, Stephan worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and later served in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Kosovo.

Business Management Authors:

Brad Opfer

Brad Opfer began teaching Business Management in 2004 at international schools in Europe and Asia. He is an author of the online Business Management course and has led the Business Management department at Pamoja since 2009. Other recent professional experience for Brad includes being an IB examiner, Oxford Study Course teacher, technology facilitator, professional development trainer, and editor.

Pete Atkins

Pete Atkins is currently a member of the Senior Leadership Team at an International School in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He has more than 16 years of experience teaching the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, specialising in Business Management and Economics. Alongside holding many Senior Leadership positions across various schools in the UK, Italy and the UAE, Pete is also a Senior Examiner for IB Business Management and the IB Extended Essay. He has a Masters degree in International Education from the University of Bath, at which he is continuing his Doctoral studies.

Dr. Hareem Navaid

Dr. Hareem Navaid is a passionate IBDP Business Management teacher with expertise in digital learning, curriculum development and conceptual and contextualised teaching. She completed her MBA in Accounting and Financial Management Services from McMaster University, Canada and the Educating Global Citizen course from Harvard University, USA. As a subject expert, Dr. Navaid also offers consultation services and has conducted several financial training sessions for startup businesses, in collaboration with the World Bank’s WeFi initiative for women entrepreneurs in Pakistan, Invest2innovate and National Incubation Center Islamabad. She also holds roles as an IB examiner and IB basecamp contributor for the Enhancing the Middle Years Program project.

Virtual Samples

Business Management

Business Management

Business Management Lesson Plan

IB DP Environmental Systems and Societies FAQs

Find answers to your questions

Below you’ll find the answers to your questions on teaching the IB Diploma Programme Environmental Systems and Societies 2024 Subject Guide from our expert author, Andrew Davis.

Andrew answers your questions on everything from planning your course to how the Pearson Environmental Systems and Societies for the IB Diploma Programme Student Book can support you. 

Assessment

Yes, the CSP is a way of getting the students in the Sciences to collaborate together and students are expected to do it. There are 10 hours allocated in the time of the course.

There are also 10 hours allocated for the IA, the same for both HL and SL, even though the weighting is slightly different: it's 25% of the final assessment for SL and 20% for HL 20%.

It's a very familiar model: Paper one, Paper two. The Higher Level will have a two hour paper, vs a one hour paper for Standard Level. The two-hour paper is basically an extended case study, but with more data to analyze, relating to the Higher Level material the students have to cover.

If you look at the sample material from the IB, this will clarify things. It’s likely they'll have a case study from one region and for HL there will be more information, covering more legal, economic and ethical angles. The questions might start off similar for both SL and HL, then the HL will have more questions to deal with. Paper 1 is double the length for HL, so it's a weightier case study, but the approach is exactly the same, but with more information to take on.

From the MyIB site. This site also has the new Guide, Teacher Support Material and sample exams for the new syllabus.

Course Content

In my country, we follow the EU Environmental regulations. In India, where I am teaching, the laws are different and more based on English common laws. So, while teaching Environmental Law, do I need to concentrate on international or local environmental regulations?

It's a bit of both! The IB have selected the key components of different aspects of Environmental Studies and try to unpack it in a way which is hopefully fairly easy to follow and say to use local or international examples that work best for your students and makes the most sense for them. Often the examples they give in the guide are quite general so that you can select your own examples. Ultimately, when it comes to the exams, students will want to use examples to illustrate their answers and if there's a local example, they're more like to remember it.

Which Practical Scheme of Work (PSOW) do we need for each ESS topics?

Many students who choose to take this course tend to think ESS is the easiest out of the Science course options and not out of interest for environmental topics, but then tend to do poorly because they’ve underestimated the effort they need to have to put into the class / how they need to practice putting various concepts together to make the appropriate applications/connections in Paper 1/2 longer response questions. How do you feel this will be reflected in SL vs HL? Do you think the 2026 exams will be a bit more reflective of this / according to the world averages ?

With ESS now available at HL, hopefully the subject will be seen in a new light. It is not, and never has been, an easy option. By embedding the concepts in teaching (there are now only three, so this should be more straightforward than in the 2015 syllabus where there were 6), students should be able to develop the skills needed (i.e. making connections between the concepts and the content) in the longer response questions.

What content has been removed from the old ESS syllabus in the new 2024 syllabus? Are there any changes of terminology in the new syllabus, such as changing the term "case study" to "real world example"?

Some material has moved from SL to HL, and so overall there has been a reduction of content at SL with greater time allowance for practical activities. This site has a useful comparison between the old (2015) and new (2024) course: https://www.thinkib.net/ess/page/53412/comparing-ess-2024-and-ess-2015

Most of the terminology is the same, but there are a couple of changes that come to mind:
• MEDC and LEDC are not used in the new Guide – these terms are replaced with HIC (high income countries) and LIC (low income), and also developing countries and developed countries.
• ‘cellular respiration’ is used in Topic 2 rather than just ‘respiration’

Which chapter is the most challenging in the new syllabus?

Higher Level

How can we guide students in the Higher Level lenses?

There are very detailed suggestions in the IB’s Teacher Support Material (TSM), with 3 different routes you could take. Pages 14-20 of the TSM show you how you might integrate HL lenses. This takes careful planning when HL and SL students are in the same class, so that you ensure you can engage the SL students whilst HL students cover HL material. The TSM is available on the IB website.

When we are teaching combined HL/SL classes, how might we integrate the Ethics & Economics HL lenses to benefit everyone? How about the Awesome Anthropocene Goals, SDGs and neo-colonialism?

Students will be doing Ethics within TOK, so they'll be very familiar with that. You start teaching the course with the Foundations; the expectation is that you start with topic one, and as you go through there will be chances to introduce ethics when you're looking at perspectives, and Economics when you're looking at sustainability law. You can integrate it that way to start off the conversation, and as you go through the course, through ecology or conservation, you can then see how you could apply the HL lenses to that particular topic. In the Pearson ESS Student Book, we give you ideas about where the HL lenses can be applied right through the course.

In the early discussions of the curriculum review it was decided that Awesome Anthropocene Goals should be included even though it’s a bit controversial. What the IB were trying to do with the new syllabus, also in terms of SDGs, was to futureproof it. The SDGs go through to around 2030, like the course. What we were looking for were models which you could pin ideas to in the course. They are used as examples of what sustainability is and how can you actually realise it.

Neo-colonialism is very much a talk approach. There’s plenty you could look at in terms of environmental law.

Can a student pursue an Environmental Science career at university with ESS HL? Has there been any collaboration with universities on this account?

Yes, during the development of the curriculum, various universities were involved in the consultation. The HL course was developed very much with a view to students applying to study the full breadth of environmental course, including environmental law, as well as environmental science. University representatives looked at the syllabus and what's in it and they're happy with it.

The Activity and Skills boxes in the Pearson ESS for the IB Diploma Programme Student Book have information and advice about skills that students need to develop and that can be used for their IA. The IA chapter has advice on how to structure a good IA, with hints and tips for research questions and methodology. There will also be worksheets as part of the eBook which have suggestions for practical activities.

Teaching Support

As a Biology teacher who will be teaching ESS for the first time next school year, what can you recommend on how I will mix-up the concepts required necessarily only needed for ESS in contrast to concepts intended for Biology students. Are these subjects totally different in terms of teaching approach?

ESS has three concepts which are taught ‘up front’ in the Foundation topic (Topic 1). In Biology, the concepts (of which there are more) are revealed during the teaching of the course. ESS is an interdisciplinary subject and so reaches across two subject groups (‘Sciences’ and ‘Individuals and Societies’), and has a holistic approach, whereas the sciences such as Biology tend to take a reductionist approach (although the idea if emergent properties is taught in the Biology syllabus). I would say that the teaching approach is different, although both have a strong practical aspect.

What percentage should be taught by a Geography teacher and Biology teacher if we are doing team teaching?

Initially, I actually taught the whole thing myself and I think there's a lot to be said for that, because you have an overview of the whole course. It depends on your particular College and who's available.

The Higher Level lenses incorporate Economics, Law and Ethics, but they're done to a level where a non-expert can teach them, using the advice in the material from the IB.

If you've got a geographer and a biologist who are interested you can both do it together. The course does divide up quite nicely: topics 1- 3 being Biology, and 4-8 covering the urban environment, which might be more familiar to a geographer, and then a joint effort on the HL lenses.

Global Politics for the IB DP 2024: FAQs

Find answers to your questions

Below you’ll find the answers to your questions on teaching the IB Diploma Programme Global Politics 2024 Subject Guide from our expert author Dr. Michael O’Shannassy.

Michael answers your questions on everything from planning your course to how Pearson Global Politics for the IB Diploma Programme Student Book can support you. 

Assessment

For a question grounded within the unit, for example: how contested notions of rights affect the implementation or the practice of human rights in global politics, you do not need to go into development and sustainability or peace and conflict to answer that question – you could, there's nothing stopping you from doing that, but when the mark scheme comes out, you'll see that there's no requirement. It would be a case of how do contested notions of rights, or contested conceptualizations of rights, affect the practice of human rights within global politics.

An integrating question, the ones that appear in Section B, very clearly signpost that you need to draw from the Rights and Justice chapter or unit, as well as from Development Sustainability, or Peace and Conflict. It could be something like: universal human rights are necessary for positive peace to be achieved. You've clearly got a bit that's been taken out of Peace and Conflict and a bit that's been taken out of Rights and Justice, and you need to deal with both of those if you're going to score highly.

I would point you towards the specimen paper from the IB to see an example in practice.

I can't speak on behalf of the IB, so I don't know the exact reason. I've just introduced the engagement activity, as we're still calling it with my current grade 11s who will be the last ones to go through it in its current iteration, and I have Global Politics students who are doing, for example, something on refugees for their IA, and they also want to do something with refugees for their EE. For me that's not “double dipping” because it's a huge topic. Where the IB identifies “double dipping” is if you are basically plagiarizing yourself by using the exact same case study, or using the exact same material, for both. I don't think it's a clear line and I think we need to be careful about quashing student interest and passion in a topic, which should be lying at the heart of both the IA and the EE.

I think they will still be valuable, but I'm not sure it's going to be quite as explicit as it was in the old Subject Guide. In a similar way to how the engagement project is still very much based at the local level, I think if we look at the current subject-specific material for the extended essay in Global Politics, one of the options is also making connections between local level phenomenon or how things play out at a local level, and a national or regional or even an international level, and that might be a point of comparison or contrast in terms of analysis and evaluation in an extended essay.

There are sections on how to answer questions on each paper, which include how to develop analysis skills. The Student Book also has practice questions throughout to develop analysis skills.

The assessment criteria have changed so that there is a little bit more of an explicit emphasis on skills, and on actually planning out a project that we’ve already seen in some of the other IB subjects too. The messaging we're getting from the IB is around 21st Century skills, like project management, and how you plan something out and then bring it to fruition. One of the criteria in the project is the planning process: can you see evidence in the final report of how this project was planned and then implemented? It’s one of those subtle but very significant shifts because it's something that students were always doing: if they were going to do well in the engagement activity they had to project manage it; this was built into it, but it just wasn't assessed. I think the IB wanted to make it explicit, so it's now something that we are going to teach explicitly.

2,000 words for Standard Level and 2,400 words for Higher Level. HL students also need to include a policy proposal.

As in other IB subjects, it’s not enough for HL students to simply understand and analyze phenomenon or events, they actually have to start to propose possible policy solutions or ways of resolving a problem. They have to make recommendations, using higher order thinking, which is why the extra 400 words has been added. HL students are expected to do more than SL students and to have a deeper understanding, putting into practice some of their analysis.

I wouldn't necessarily say there's specific content because I think the idea, much like the current HL oral extension, is that students pick the topic. You could start with a common topic that we're all going to do to give students an idea of how to do their research and how to present those findings, but at the end of the day the Global Political Challenges should be something that the student has chosen for themselves.

The chapter in our Student Book on the HL extension topics would be helpful as a starting point to give some material for students to use as a springboard into their research.

The major difference between the current system and Paper Three is the explicit requirement for students to make those interconnections, and that's going to be what’s slightly different about the teaching process – you need to constantly
encourage students to make those interconnections to be able to see how there's that interplay between different GPCs and different case studies.

Students pick a topic, start to develop a case study, and then within that case study they're identifying different Global Political Challenges that fit, and they can work out the three or four strongest or most meaningful interconnections.

I recognize that's quite daunting because it can be quite a fluid approach and this is one of the reasons why I probably wouldn't start introducing the the GPCs and the case studies too early in the course.

Cases

How does a new Global Politics teacher work on cases/real world examples? Does the teacher choose which cases to teach in classs?

It requires a bit of work upfront. I'm not saying you necessarily have to have entirely complete and streamlined case studies ready to go at the start, but I'm going to create four to six case studies.

I know that my students coming into Grade 11 next year will not have had much exposure to a case study methodology, so in my first term I will be introducing and modeling the difference between an example, a case and a case study, which is something you can find in the Subject Guide and also in our Student Book.

How do you go about setting a deadline for a draft on a Case Study for a Year 12 class?

I plan on modeling a case study approach throughout the first year of the course and then providing some scaffolding for students in the second year. I don't think that we can simply throw students in the deep end right away but instead need to guide their inquiry in an appropriate fashion and at an appropriate pace. My thinking is that if we have already covered 4-5 case studies, created by me but co-developed to varying degrees with my students as we move through the course, then this last student-generated case study is less about the content (what is learned) and more about the process (how learning in Global Politics can be structured, encouraging student agency, etc.). While I do still believe that this experience will help them as they prepare for their IB exams (in particular Paper 3 for HL students), I take a long-view approach to teaching Global Politics and see at least some of what we are doing as preparation for university...and beyond!

As for setting a deadline, this would vary depending on your students but I would imagine that somewhere around two weeks before your Grade 12s go on study leave would be about right. I would also have them present their work to their classmates. I would also curate a collection of the most impressive and share these with all of my students as far ahead of their IB exams as possible.

Course Content

I see there is a bit of a move away from required theory for each theme (unless I am mistaken). There is also no need for explicit levels of analysis and group perspectives. How should be be encouraging analysis, as I used required theory and perspectives to do this. Will we have to find appropriate theory class by class?

I would respectfully disagree with the premise of this question. While there was some reference to 'theoretical foundations' in the previous guide and some expectation that theory might feature as part of a Paper 2 response, theory/theories never featured explicitly as part of the prescribed content. By comparison, the new Guide has an explicit focus on theory with one of the prescribed topics in the Core Unit being 'Theoretical perspectives in global politics' with its accompanying prescribed content including: Theories, models and analytical frameworks in global politics / Use and applicability of theories and models to political issues / Bias and limitations of theories and models. So, I think that opportunities to use theory as the basis for analysis still exist. Given that theory (and, I would argue, theorising) needs to be directly taught / covered now, I think that we can ask students to begin to make links to theory as they engage with the Thematic Studies. For example, how do different theories view conceptualisations of justice? In short, I think that student will now have a firmer theoretical base for their critical thinking and analysis.

Concerning the levels of analysis, while it is true that the new Guide does not see the same explicit focus on them as was the case previously there are still references to the need for students to approach content and concepts from 'the local to the global level' scattered throughout the new Guide. Again, I don't think that you will necessarily need to do anything differently than it seems you are already doing.

It is also possible that you can encourage other forms of analysis and/or evaluation. I used to be an IB Economics teacher and one of the tools that I've carried over into Global Politics from teaching Economics is CLASPP. Without going into too much detail (as it is not all relevant to us), the 'L' stands for 'long-run vs. short-run', the 'A' stands for 'assumptions', the 'S' stands for 'stakeholders', the first 'P' for 'pros and cons', and the second 'P' for 'priorities/prioritisation'. Each of these offers itself as an opportunity for analysis/evaluation.

Higher Level

Do students need to cover two HL extension topics?

At least two. Students need to be able to make connections between two topics in Paper 3, which is not too dissimilar to what they are currently doing. In the old Subject Guide students had to cover two separate topics, but were not required to make interconnections between them. Now with Paper 3 they are required to make interconnections. They could potentially do more than two, although you have to keep it keep it manageable so that there is a degree of depth to their understanding of the topic, so that they can apply it effectively.

How can teachers use the HL links throughout the Student Book to support students in the lesson?

Links to HL topics are there to remind students that they should constantly be making connections to HL themes. Relatively early on in the process, for an HL class, you will have introduced the eight Global Political Challenges, so that they’re thinking about them throughout the course and that's where HL extension occurs, and the more flexible approach to teaching and learning that the IB is trying to encourage. We don't make the connections for learners, but we want to leave it up to them to make those connections; we're just flagging that a connection is possible.

What was the justification for removing the HL presentation component? Although it was logistically a bit challenging it did give candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in a different way, which I think was very valuable.

In many of the curriculum development meetings this was a topic of heated discussion amongst all of the teachers and the participants.

I've always loved the presentation because it was a real point of difference between Global Politics and all the other Group 3s in terms of their internal assessment.

Initially the HL was externally assessed, and this became too much for the IB with the exponential growth of student numbers, which is why it became internally assessed, which left us with, unlike most subjects, 40% of an HL student’s grades
being internally assessed. We had two IAs, which is not consistent with student experiences in other IB subjects and so there was a discrepancy.

There was also an issue in terms of some of the ways in which a video oral presentation might be assessed, e.g. reading off a script vs. not reading off a script, so there was a little too much variability and a little too much of students being assessed on their presentation skills, which is not actually what they're supposed to be assessed on.

As a teacher I'm sorry to see the the oral presentations go, but I do like some of the changes. In particular, I like the requirement for students to make interconnections. There is nothing stopping us as teachers from continuing to do HL presentations in class, they just won't be externally assessed. I certainly think that this is something that I'll end up doing around the HL extensions. Even though everyone's going to be showing evidence of their learning in Paper 3, it doesn't mean that we still can't have students develop those skills within a class and that also becomes a really lovely way for them to share their research with other students. The more we can collaborate and the more we can build knowledge together, the easier it's going to be for them indivdiually when they get to the exam.

Psychology for the IB Diploma Programme: 2025 Subject Guide

Find answers to your questions

Discover how to effectively teach the new IB DP Psychology subject guide from September 2025 and learn how Pearson's new IB DP Psychology textbook, developed in cooperation with the IB, can support you.

Get all your questions answered here!

Subject Guide

The role of cognitive bias in decision making → The role of anchoring bias in decision making as a learning objective → The role of environmental factors is related to operating conditioning. Then within the contexts, in many of the subheadings, you’ll have natural alternative explanations.

In the Subject Guide, there are at least two natural critical thinking concepts (with a small ‘c’), alternative explanations.

Whenever you see examples of alternative explanations, that immediately feeds into the Concept of Perspective. Read the related terms under each Concept.

Under Perspective, you've got this idea of alternative explanations. In the Context, for example, of rival treatment, competing treatments, competing explanations.

The Concepts are fundamental to teaching in any first-year Psychology course.

The Concepts only need to be taught once, and it is probably most effective for student learning to teach them in association with one of the Contexts.

The Pearson Psychology for the IB Diploma Programme Student Book spreads conceptual thinking throughout, so that all the three ‘C’s are discussed together.

Studies

As the students don’t have to memorise so many studies, do you feel that they will still need the two implicit skills of ‘writing fast’ and ‘remembering a lot’?

Will we still be able to prepare a set number of studies as evidence or examples to use in exam responses?

The IB are moving away from memorising a structured outline and from memorised template answers. But there are Content/Learning Objectives for which it just makes sense to learn about some classic/key studies, for example, Classical conditioning – Pavlov, Social Identity Theory (Sherif, 1954). Students won’t be expected to know the details of these studies, such as the number of participants.

With regards to not memorising studies – do students still need to include descriptions of studies in SAQs and ERQ?

Planning

How can I plan the course over the two years?

If you view the course in terms of approximately symmetrical blocks labelled Contexts (the Context is the anchor), you’ll have four anchors and then around that you're going to input your Content and your Concepts. (Relatively symmetrical chunks because health and wellbeing have an extra subheading.)

If you want to teach four symmetrical blocks plus the IA, interweave your research methods into your Contexts.

If you think about it as four symmetrical blocks of knowledge, for a two-year course, it will be two in DP1, and then two in DP2.

Is it possible to prepare for the IB exam in one year in this revised curriculum?

As a rule, you must assure the IB that you're doing concurrency of learning over two years, if the rule does not apply to your school and you have double the number of hours that you would have if you were doing it over two years, then yes, it's perfectly doable. You should also consider the maturity of the students are 16, 17, or 18 years old.

Higher Level extensions

What does it mean that HL students need to go deeper for HL extensions?

Regarding the HL extensions, it seems that there is a lot of material that needs to be covered, do we need to cover all of it?

Practicals

How in-depth and detailed do the practical assignments need to be? Are they in effect mini-IAs? How much should they be guided? Opportunities to explore and make errors? Or assessed?

Can you give some examples of the experiments that are to be conducted for the class practical?

You can conduct any experiment. The purpose is for students to see and learn about what goes in to planning and conducting an experiment.

There are some examples in the Pearson Psychology for the IB Diploma Programme Student Book. After each Class Practical, students should review it, taking into account the four related exam questions (Paper 2 Section A).

There is some ambiguity in terms of the conduction of the class practical, if it is to be done in groups

Assessment

Can students who do a retake for Psychology in the old curriculum, move their IA forward? Or should they redo the IA in the new form?

Is the IA effectively the same? And if so, why can't students carry it out? The carrying out bit is only a few extra hours and a lot of fun! Or is the idea that the IA is a development of one of the class practical assignments? And should we be providing the opportunity for a full IA practice as in the past?

The IA has changed. It is an individual activity not a group activity. The IA is a research proposal using one of the four Research Methods (Experiment, Interview, Observation, Survey/Questionnaire), ie. not just an experiment.

Students are required to propose it but not conduct it. Because it is an assessment activity, schools/teachers should be careful to ensure it is the work of only the student i.e., there is no support/collusion from other students.

Will students be given the sources they need to cite in Paper 3?

Do we still have command terms?