IB program to be offered in Korean at Jeju high school

GETTYIMAGESBANK

By Lee Suh-yoon

A high school on Jeju Island will start offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP) in Korean starting 2022, according to the Jeju Provincial Office of Education, Monday.

It said Pyoseon High School was chosen as the first school to implement a Korean-language IBDP here.

The IBDP is currently offered at 11 international schools in Korea, all of which offer classes in English. Pyoseon will be the first to offer the two-year program in Korean. The adoption of the IBDP program, led by the local education office, reflects the country's need for new public education options amid growing criticism of the existing system.

“With the selection of Pyoseon as the first (Korean-language) IB school, we addressed a key problem regarding high school education reform for more balanced educational development in the country,” an official at Jeju education office told local media.

The IBDP, a two-year high school curriculum developed at an international school in Switzerland in the 1960s, is recognized by university admissions offices both here and abroad. Unlike AP courses, which are one-year subject-centered courses that provide credits based a standardized exam, IB is a two-year comprehensive program that students need to fully commit to throughout their junior and senior years. Apart from taking standardized tests in six academic subject groups at the end of the two years, students must take a course on the theory of knowledge, write a 4,000-word essay and participate in community service to earn the diploma.

The IB program is well-known for its critical discussion-centered learning and strong focus on world affairs. Its literature course, for example, recognizes a wide range of literary content from around the world, including Korean writers, according to Lee Seok-moon, head of the Jeju Office of Education.

“Implementing the International Baccalaureate program does not mean we lose our own education system. Novels like The Story of Hong Gildong or poetry by Korean poet Baek Seok can still be read, just with changes to teaching and evaluation methods,” Lee said in a related press conference in April.

The IB program also has its downsides, including high costs for schools and the limited pool of teachers who have gone through IB's separate two-year curriculum training.