WSL Newsletter September 2009
Welcome to 2009-2010 Regional Events
Dear AEM workshop leaders,
A new academic year is now beginning for most of you. This is the opportunity for the regional IB office to thank you for making professional development in our region, the success it has been over the past academic year and for your continued support and professionalism towards PD in 2009-2010.
In this newsletter you will find information on:
2009-2010 regional events
Useful information on participant registations to regional events
Global PD and regional PD looking ahead
PD for workshop leaders
Invitations to regional workshops & regional event preparation
New global workshop architecture for regional workshops
Continuum
Category 3 regional workshops
Some facts and figures
Some logistics on regional events
With kind wishes to you all,
Victoria Pierlot
Head of AEM PD Services
2009-2010 regional events
- The full schedule of workshops on offer in our region for the 2009-2010 academic period was promoted to all schools in June 2009. We will be promoting it fully once again in September 2009, as well as per event wherever needed.
- The full schedule was sent to all workshop leaders in the region to show interest, and we are pleased to report that there are very few workshops for which there was no interest.
- In September, schools will also be notified about the new global architecture (more information on this in the ‘New global workshop architecture’ section of this newsletter).
- The schedule contains workshops organised by IB but also those outsourced to external PD providers but recognised by IB. As a result the schedule contains a far greater offer of workshops for both schools and workshop leaders.
- Due to the implementation of the new global workshop architecture, the 2009-2010 academic year will be split as follows:
Sept 09 – Dec 09 current nomenclature, aims & objectives remain
Starting Jan 2010 new nomenclature with corresponding aims & objectives – more information on these in the ‘New global workshop architecture’ section of this newsletter
- Last year we produced a printer-friendly version of our full regional workshop offering from Jan 09 – August 09 which was a great success. We have done the same upcoming 2009-2010 academic calendar.
Version 1 contains levels, aims & objectives per level ,as last year and is valid through to December 2009.
Version 2 contains levels, aims & objectives as per new global workshop architecture.
Both of these documents can also be found in REGIS for each event you prepare for.
- As always, this information can also be found on the workshop/conferences pages of the IB website: http://www.ibo.org/events/workshops.cfm
Useful information on participant registrations to regional events
Criteria for MYP/DP workshops
In the past, particular attention was given to the school status (interested, candidate, IB World) of the participant to be registered. Moving forward, and as school status is no longer always indicative of the level to the participant, more focus will be given the participant’s knowledge level of the programme (more information on this in the ‘New global workshop architecture’ section of this newsletter). If you should find yourselves with participants who are not prepared for the category for which they registered, please feel free to stay on track with your agenda as this will reflect what the majority of the other participants registered for.
Criteria for PYP workshops
Same target audience criteria and workshop descriptions apply. Please refer to PYP workshop handbook for schools.
Deadlines
Registrations are usually made via the school coordinator. In an effort to make registrations easier for schools, these are open for a full academic year, i.e. starting June 2009, for the 2009-2010 academic year. In future, we hope to have all registrations open by March-April for the following academic year.
Different schools manage their budgets, staff resources and allocation, in different ways. These factors will therefore continue to influence when participants are registered to events.
For this reason, and although we do our utmost to provide you with information in the timeliest way to prepare for your workshops, we still very much rely on when schools register participants to be able to confirm your workshops and communicate final participant information.
Reminder: registrations officially close 6 weeks prior to all event start dates, but may be extended to 3 weeks prior to event start date.
Global PD and regional PD looking ahead
There continue to be many changes in the way we provide professional development for schools and teachers across regions and programmes.
The new global PD team is now complete and will start the exciting task of reviewing current best practices across regions, harmonising where appropriate, and give workshop leaders the consistent academic support, assistance and resources to effectively facilitate workshops. There is already significant work being done behind the scenes to improve the OCC for 2010. You will be updated on this and much more as the team puts the changes in place.
This global PD team will have a designated programme specialist for all 3 IB programmes. Taking a global perspective on PD should reduce the differences which have developed across regions, thereby making it easier for workshop leaders to work across regions, but even more importantly for participants to receive a consistent approach wherever they choose to register for a workshop.
Regionally, the PD team will be responsible for PD Services, i.e. implementing global frameworks, ensuring global quality standards apply, monitoring workshop provision against workshop demand in the region, organising/promoting events, inviting & communicating with workshop leaders/participants in preparation of events, and contracting with external PD providers.
In your AEM region:
Participant coordinators Workshop leader coordinators Contract coordinators
Communication with schools Communication with workshop Communication with venues
and workshop participants leaders
Anil Rikye Julie Suter Marianne Kristensen
Clarisse Coeur Julie Jean Carlo De Donato
External PD administrator Head of PD
Arlina Traanberg Victoria Pierlot
Text: we will be happy to answer your queries or pass them on to global PD for academic support whenever necessary – pd.wsl.ibaem@ibo.org
NOTE – All of the above staff will ensure on-site event management/support. Although Julie & Julie will not be on-site at each workshop, they will provide their colleagues with all the WSL communication relevant to the on-site staff for your event.PD for workshop leaders
Facilitating workshops is in itself an extraordinary form of professional development and highly valued by schools across regions.
However, we are pleased to also offer special rates to those workshop leaders who may want to attend another workshop to further develop their competencies/skills/knowledge. For more information on this please do not hesitate to contact pd.wsl.ibaem@ibo.org
Invitations to regional workshops & regional event preparation
For those who have facilitated workshops over the past academic year, you will have noticed our new communication/invitation process. It has been a bit of a challenge aligning ourselves with an academic year rather than a calendar year, as was previously the case. We did not quite achieve our target in preparing for the 2009-2010 academic period, however we have made significant progress and are confident that the 2010-2011 workshop schedule will look like this:
New global workshop architecture for regional workshops
LETTER FROM GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PYP overview remains the same: PYP workshop handbook for schools
Continuum
As more and more schools become IB world schools from Primary Years through to Diploma Years, questions from participants on other programmes become more frequent.
Although the 3 programmes were not historically designed to follow on from one another, in recent years great effort has been put into developing a holistic approach, thereby reducing any gaps between programmes. Equally, much work has also gone into the government recognition of not only the DP but also the MYP which has been a welcomed success.
It is therefore important that questions arising from participants regarding other programmes which you are uncomfortable answering, be passed on to us. Building on your questions we will in turn be sure to provide you with some answers via channels such as the OCC etc.
Category 3 regional workshops
Many of you have written to the regional office with suggestions of exciting new topics for category 3 type workshops. The new global PD team will soon issue a formal vetting process that these will go through to ensure that they can all be certified and quality assured. We look forward to receiving your proposals and having them up on our 2010-2011 schedule as soon as the process has been communicated to you.
Some facts and figures
- "Authorized" or IB World schools in the AEM region
PYP : 129
MYP: 118
DP: 669
Did you know? A school has to be an ‘IB World School’ to teach the diploma programme.
- Candidate schools in the AEM region
PYP: 101
MYP: 66
DP: 72
Did you know? Schools must trial-implementation the PYP and MYP programmes prior to being ‘IB World Schools’ (i.e. in ‘Interested’ and/or ‘Candidate’ statuses).
- Total number of regional events (incl. external PD providers) and workshops from Sept. 08 – Aug. 09
PYP events: 4 / PYP workshops: 26
MYP events: 5 / MYP workshops: 48
DP events: 10 / MYP workshops: 155
Did you know? To satisfy professional development requirements, PYP schools hosted 73 In-School workshops from Sept 08-Aug 09 for just over 2500 participants.
- Total participants to regional events from September 08-August 09
PYP: 801
MYP: 908
DP: 2998
Did you know? There are 296'026 MYP students in the world, and 214'229 DP students.
- Total workshop leaders used from September 08 - August 09 in AEM
PYP: 52
MYP: 61
DP: 162
Did you know? IB counts close to 1800 workshop leaders across the 3 programme, across the world.
Some logistics on regional events
- ACCOMMODATION is booked as a rule for 3 nights, and in the same venue where workshops are held.
- COMMUNICATION. We will continue to communicate with you on specific events via MEMOS 1,2,3 however the rather lengthy information contained in these memos will now be available on REGIS our on-line registration system.
- CONFIRMATION. Workshops will be confirmed as soon as we reach the minimum number of participants (MYP, DP = 10), (PYP = 14). Only then must you start working on your workbook and booking travel.
- EXPENSE CLAIMS must be completed electronically, printed, signed and returned to regional office with original receipts.
- HONORARIUM for 3 day workshops is USD 770.00 (includes attendance at briefing/de-briefing meetings)
- SOFTWARE. Please make sure that if you do not travel with your own laptop, that all your electronic documents are compatible with Windows XP or VISTA.
- TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT. If you use your own technical equipment this will be paid as follows (if not already provided on site free of charge by the venue):
- USD 50.00 for 1 laptop
- USD 25.00 for speakers
- USD 25.00 for 1 beamer
If you do not own some of this technical equipment it will be provided to you, please be sure to indicate what you need on your registration (REGIS).
- TERMS AND CONDITIONS. Please refer to terms you agreed to when selecting workshops for 2009-2010
- TRAVEL. In principle and for security reasons, all flights should be booked via the Cardiff travel office travel@ibo.org and as soon as possible after your workshop has been confirmed.
- WORKSHOPS ORGANISED BY EXTERNAL PD PROVIDERS are handled by these providers. Further to your show of interest in June, we sent this information through to the external PD providers and they will be managing all further correspondence with you and your schools as necessary
NOTE All of the above information and much more will be made available to you as we correspond concerning the events in which you will actively participate, via MEMOS 1-3.
