IB Asia Pacific Newsletter

Quarter Two, 2007

Networks and Associations

Association of IB Schools in Japan and Korea Update    

I would like to begin by congratulating Ms Karin Caffin (Osaka International School Head) for her recent nomination onto the IBO Council of Foundation. It is good to have a representative from our sub-region on the council, and on behalf of the AIBSJK, would like to thank her and all the other RHRC and IHRC members for giving up their time to represent our region.

Each programme group has held meetings since the last IBAP newsletter update. Members should have received meeting minutes by now – if you have not, or are interesting in receiving a copy, please contact your respective group chairs (contact details below).

I would like to share a few items from the MYP East Asia Network Group meeting held at Osaka International School in March which IBAP newsletter readers may find interesting:

• Simon Mills (OIS) gave a presentation on the “EasyGrade Pro” mark-book software which participants found interesting. The EGP programme is one of the first commercial packages to have standards based grade recording capabilities, so is MYP friendly after a little adjustment for the specific MYP descriptors. Of especial note is the ‘Power Law’ function, which can take data and give a predicted grade of where the student is at based on the data – a mathematical function of the MYP final summative grade (although it is noted this should still be used as another piece of data in the allocating of final descriptor levels).
• Kyoko Bernard, IBO Representative for Japan, reported the official Japanese translation of the Learner Profile is complete and available from Kyoko. Thanks to Akiko Taira and Kazuhisa Hara for helping Kyoko with this important task. A glossary of translated MYP terms will be distributed soon.
• Many schools noted they are using the International School’s Assessment (ISA) test to assess students using an external standardized test. More information can be found here: http://www.acer.edu.au/tests/school/isa/intro.html **It is interesting to note the ISA are cooperating with the IB on various research projects as well! http://www.acer.edu.au/tests/school/isa/IBO.html
• Andrew Hancock (TIS) introduced the Global Issues Network – a network based around the book “High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them” by Jean-Francois Rischard. This is an MUN-like collaboration with students coming together like a ‘town meeting’ to discuss the issues raised in the book, agreeing to focus on an area, then leaving with a dedication to action on the area.

Andrew is suggesting the Gomi on Mt. Fuji could be a great action area for schools in Japan!

More information can be found here: http://www.global-issues-network.org/gin/home.html  

The next programme group and AGM meeting times and contact details are as follows:

PYP Network Group meeting – Next meeting To Be Confirmed

   (Terry Tiplady, pyp_co@kist.ed.jp, PYP Network Group Chair)

MYP East Asia Network Group meeting – To Be Confirmed  [Thurday 29 November 2007 OR Fri 16 November 2007 proposed]   /  Location: Tokyo International School

   (Gwyn Underwood, gunderwood@senri.ed.jp, MYP East Asia

    Network Group Chair)

DP Coordinators Group meeting - To Be Confirmed

   (Peter Heimer, pheimer@senri.ed.jp, AIBSJK Vice-Chair)

AIBSJK 2007 AGM and Head of IB schools discussion meeting: The AIBSJK spring meeting will be held separately from the programme group meetings this year, and will be only for heads or head’s representatives. The meeting was scheduled for 5 October, but this needs to be re-scheduled as the IBAP conference is also at this time. Karin Caffin will be contacting member heads to determine a new date. Location – Kanto (school TBA).

   (Karin Caffin, kcaffin@senri.ed.jp , OIS head)

Upcoming events:

-  Tamagawa Gakuen will host the 2nd IB Symposium on the 17th of November 2007

-  Tokyo IS will host an MYP Community Induction on 30 Nov – 2nd Dec

-  Yokohama IS will host PYP workshops on 30 Nov – 2nd Dec

Please feel free to contact us for more information.

Gwyn Underwood       Peter Heimer

AIBSJK Chair             AIBSJK Vice-Chair

Library Information Specialists (LIS)

Committee update

The IBAP LIS committee would like to formally thank Yvonne Barrett (Singapore) for her contributions and commitment to our group since July 2005. Yvonne has been an advocate for change and demonstrated a strong commitment to the IB. We wish Yvonne every success in her new educational adventure and IB journey when she moves to Portugal at the start of the Northern hemisphere school year.

We welcome Katie Day (Singapore) from United World College as a new committee member. Katie has agreed to take on the position of Secretary and will continue to be the direct liaison with the IBAP Regional office staff as she is based in Singapore. We also thank Anthony Tilke (Japan) for taking on the role of Deputy Chairperson, following on from Marie Turnbull, who is staying with the committee but has decided to relinquish the role of Deputy. Anthony has demonstrated a strong commitment to IBAP LIS and the OCC and we look forward to a representative from Japan being Deputy Chairperson.

The IBAP LIS committee now has representatives from six countries within the Asia Pacific Region – Australia (3), China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore.

IBAP Teachers’ Convention – “Information Literacy across the programmes” Singapore March-April 2007
For the first time “Library/Resource Management" was included as a stream in an official IB co-ordinated teachers convention rather than on a separate librarians day. This was the second annual convention for IBAP teachers.  The delegates were inspired by a range of keynote speakers including Ms Karen Bonnano and Professor Stephen Heppell.

The communication and networking that developed between teachers and teacher librarians was invaluable. The forums allowed participants to air their concerns and prepare recommendations for the IBO. Teachers demonstrated strong support of the value of the collaborative teacher librarian role in programs in IB schools. Jane Viner presented the summary of the library stream at the plenary session. Everyone enjoyed seeing this convention come to fruition through the persistence and enthusiasm of both the IBAP LIS committee and the wonderful support and encouragement from Judith Guy, Regional Director and Ed Lawless, Professional Development Manager and their staff. It was a highly successful “Information Literacy” convention.

Two committee members presented at the convention. Yvonne Barrett (Singapore) co presented with Ingrid Skirrow (Austria) “What is the role of the library in PYP? – the story so far”. Jane Viner (Australia) presented “IB Diploma – Extended essay library program”. Their presentations and forum feedback can be viewed on the IBAP website at http://www.ibo.org/ibap/conference/

A selection of regional group reports
Australia – South Australia- IBSAT – Alison Hicks
IBSAT stands for International Baccalaureate South Australia Teacher Librarians Network  At a recent IBSAT network meeting teacher librarians examined the School Library Association of South Australia role statement for teacher librarians. The group decided to endorse this statement and seek approval from the local association to add extra criteria relevant to the context of an IB school. Our active members are in PYP and MYP schools so if approval is granted by the local association we will contact members in DP schools to see if they wish to add criteria to the IB Statement.

Indonesia – Hanna Latuputty
A meeting is planned for May for IB Librarians located in Indonesia. Please forward any ideas or suggestions to Hanna’s email address.

Japan – Anthony Tilke

Informal contacts from several schools in Japan have demonstrated an interest to develop library services as they investigate or commence PYP, MYP or DP. Enquiries have focussed on guidelines or lack of guidelines for IBO Schools as well as appropriate resources. Some direct enquires from Oceania have also been received. Japan does not have a separate IB school library grouping but does have an established network and co-operation group of international schools at which IB matters can be realised as appropriate. These Japanese schools have a variety of curricula – national and international.

Singapore - Yvonne Barrett

Teacher Librarians of IBAP in Singapore continue to meet regularly. We are meeting for our second job-alike session for the year to promote sharing of ideas and practices. We also sought wider networking at the recent IBAP Teacher’s Convention on Information Literacy, with Library Tours of the Australian International School Singapore, United World College and Overseas Family School. We continue to stress the importance of keeping in touch re questions, sharing and practices through using the Online Curriculum Centre.

In February Yvonne Barrett from AISS attended an IBO Library PYP Level 3 Workshop in Vienna. The presenters were Ingrid Skirrow (Library Co-ordinator) and Kate Dalton (PYP Co-ordinator).

Thirty-six IBO PYP Librarians attended from Germany, Russia, Tanzania, Switzerland, Singapore, Ukraine, Romania, Belgium, USA, UAE, Italy, Turkey, France, Denmark, Qatar, Kuwait, UK and India. Yvonne then co-presented with Ingrid at the recent IBAP Teacher’s convention.

Contact IBAP LIS

We welcome input from regional groups in the quarterly newsletter. Please send a report to your country representative or to Jane Viner.

Looking forward to hearing from you either by email or on the OCC.

Check out the IBO website and look at the Asia Pacific information.

Australia – Jane Viner vinermj@mlc.vic.edu.au
Alison Hicks ahicks@gillesstps.sa.edu.au, Marie Turnbull

China – Helena Trevor htrevor@wab.edu

India – Sasi Antony sasiantony@yahoo.co.in

Indonesia – Hannah Latuputty hanna@bis.or.id

Japan – Anthony Tilke tilkea@yis.ac.jp

Singapore – Katie Day

Jane Viner

Chairperson IBAP LIS