The International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme (IBCP)

Introduction and History

The IBCP is an educational framework that incorporates the values of the IB into a career-related programme that leads to enhanced college admission prospects, internships, and professional employment. Fully established in 2012, it is the newest of the IB programmes, growing out of the efforts of international schools to establish a common curriculum and university entry credentials for geographically mobile students.

The CP originated from an IB project that began in Finland in 2004 and was extensively piloted around the world before being introduced into interested DP authorized schools in 2012. By 2016, it was made available to all schools without the requirement of Diploma Programme authorization. Its objectives arose in response to the complexities that modern life places on graduates entering further/higher education or employment. It enables students to become self-confident, skilled and career-ready learners who are not only equipped with the necessary skills and learning dispositions, but also the ability to manage and influence change. Over the course of the two-year programme CP students will be able to

develop a range of broad work-related competencies and deepen their understanding in specific areas of knowledge through their Diploma Programme courses
develop flexible strategies for knowledge acquisition and enhancement in varied contexts
prepare for effective participation in the changing world of work
foster attitudes and habits of mind that allow them to become lifelong learners willing to consider new perspectives
become involved in learning that develops their capacity and will to make a positive difference.

The IBCP Framework

IBCP students select one Career-related study (CRS) from among our Career Technical Education (CTE) offerings, each of which will last two years spanning 11th and 12th grade. For the 2025-2026 school year, the available CRS/CTE courses will be:

Graphic Arts
Horticulture
Sports Medicine
Video Production

Along with their CRS, CP students will select a minimum of two (2) IB Diploma courses, either Higher Level (HL) or Standard Level (SL) from among any of our DP course offerings, one of which must last through the two year span. In addition, IBCP students complete the CP Core which includes the two-year Personal Professional Skills course, the Reflective Project, 70 hours of Language and Cultural Studies either within or without the context of a language acquisition class, and 70 hours of Community Engagement. This core interweaves and unifies the academic and career-related coursework for a diverse, interdisciplinary experience spanning both junior and senior year.

The IBCP Core

Personal and Professional Skills (PPS)

The PPS class is designed for students to develop attitudes, skills, and strategies to be applied to personal and professional situations and contexts now and in the future. Emphasizing workplace skills development which are transferable and applicable to a range of situations, the course encourages responsibility, perseverance, resilience, self-esteem, and academic honesty. Centered around five different themes including personal development, intercultural understanding, effective communication, thinking processes, and applied ethics, it enables students to make links to their career-related studies. They will take the PPS course through both their junior and senior years where they will also manage their Reflective Project, Language and Cultural Studies, and Community Engagement core requirements.

The Reflective Project (RP) asks students to investigate an ethical dilemma within their career related study. It is an in-depth body of work produced over an extended period of time and submitted in the spring of their senior year. It is the product of the students’ own initiative and reflects their personal experience within the CP. It promotes high-level research, writing and extended communication skills, intellectual discovery and creativity through a variety of potential approaches. The entire research, outlining, writing, and revising process will last around 40 hours, spanning both junior and senior years, and will be individually supervised by an ERHS faculty member. The final product will be either 3,000 words (10-12 pages) approximately or else 1500-words (5-6 pages) accompanied by an additional presentation or video.

Language and Cultural Studies

Language and Cultural Studies aims to provide students with the necessary skills and intercultural understanding to enable them to communicate in an environment where the language and culture studied is spoken. This process encourages students to go beyond the confines of the classroom, expanding their awareness of the world and fostering respect for cultural diversity. It ensures that students have access to and are exposed to a language programme that will assist and further their understanding of the wider world. The ability to communicate in more than one language is essential to the IB’s concept of an international education.

Community Engagement

Community Engagement (CE) offers opportunities for students to learn in, from and with communities as well as to apply knowledge and skills acquired in other areas of learning. It invites students to engage with communities in dialogic, reciprocal, reflective, and reflexive ways, and to expand their understanding from a personal to a relational to a systems dimension. Students engage in an inquiry-based process of exploring and preparing, relating and acting, evaluating and sharing that is aimed at responding to relevant opportunities and challenges identified both by and with communities. Through this process, students: develop and apply critical- and creative-thinking skills, social and affective skills, and ethical reasoning reflect on their positionality, develop the ability to build reciprocal relationships, and engage in place-based learning gain a deeper understanding of local and global issues, and develop the ability to manage complexity, develop a sense of individual and collective responsibility and agency, and the capacity to become active participants in bringing about that for which they and their communities hope. In these ways, CE provides a foundation for engaging in compassionate, informed and responsible action, and prepares students for the complex challenges they may face in the present and future.

The relationships between students and the community are central to CE. CE places value on solidarity as a central principle to action-oriented pedagogies, and requires students and all participants to approach engagement with a spirit of humility, openness and critical curiosity.

Diploma Programme Assessment

CP students complete at least two Diploma Programme courses, either at standard or higher level, in any of the following subject groups:

studies in language and literature
language acquisition
individuals and societies
sciences
mathematics
the arts

The courses chosen should be relevant to the students’ career-related studies.

Students take written examinations at the end of the programme which are marked by external IB examiners. Students also complete internal assessment tasks in school, which are either initially marked by ERHS teachers and then externally moderated by IB examiners.
The marks awarded for each course range from 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest).
Assessment is criterion-related, which means student performance is measured against pre-specified assessment criteria based on the aims and objectives of each subject curriculum, rather than the performance of other students taking the same examinations. The range of scores that students have attained remains statistically stable, and universities value the rigor and consistency of Diploma Programme assessment practices.