What is it like to be an Extended Essay Supervisor?

By Nishtha Saraf

The Extended Essay is a 4000 word essay that every IBDP student has to write over the two years of their course. This is usually on a topic of their choice and largely led by their interest. It is by far one of those aspects of the IB that is capitalised on to attract students. As someone who did the IBDP myself I can say with full confidence that the EE process is something that definitely stands the test of time for the student. It makes the research and writing process in university seamless. 

However, as a supervisor there is much to take note of. In your time period as an EE supervisor there are some types of students you will encounter. The super enthusiastic ones who need little to nothing from you only guidance. The hardworking ones who are not the best writers but willing to compensate for that with their research and actioning all your feedback. The one who is a good writer but will do all the work last minute. The student who struggles with writing and is lazy with their research.The one who struggles to remember what is going on. However the most lethal one is those who are addicted to AI for all their answers. The advice for the supervisor is completely different for each category of student. 

However, there are some common threads that in my opinion every EE supervisor should be aware of: 

1. The IB Guide is your holy grail. 

2. The student needs support. 

3. What to do if it is not your expertise. 

4. Some procedural aspects to be aware of. 

5. Section if you are a supervisor for the first time. 

1. The IB Guide is your holy grail

I cannot emphasise it enough- read the general and your subject specific aspect of the IB Guide. Everything you need to know is there! As the EE coordinator, of course, I am happy to answer any questions however, a good place to start is the IB Guide. It lays down everything from expectations, processes and results. As the supervisor, the student will look to you for answers, troubleshooting and problems. Even though the guide has been signposted to the students in reality most of the time they have not looked at it. 

With our current year 12s, there is now a newer version of the markscheme. Hence, it needs to be assured that the marking process is understood by both us and them. To ensure this not only is the sixth form team running drop down days but also, addressing this during tutor time. However, the reality of the situation is that you as supervisors will be the ones marking these essays. Therefore, it is essential that you look through the guide. 

Some EE supervisors say that they print out the guide and keep it handy going into supervisor meetings. However, in a world of Control+F it is much easier to just know where you have it in the deep google drive before the meetings. In the IB world it is considered best practice to actually bring up and model the use of the IB guide to the students. 

2. The student needs support 

Even though the students are in sixth form and we are preparing them for the ‘outer world’, to produce good research they will need your help. All of us have done two degrees to be here, if not more. You are the best person to guide them about how to do research because you will share your personal anecdotes with them. All the tricks we apply for Ks3 and Ks4 apply in a similar way for Ks5. These students are doing this process for the first time and most of them are stressed, overwhelmed, anxious and exhausted. They are juggling their six subjects, university applications, EE, Theory of Knowledge and CAS. 

Realistically, the enthusiastic students and hardworking students are either very good at asking for help or finding the answers themselves. The good writers will somehow make it through. However the last three categories really need the chasing up and the support. They barely will check their emails so will need you to remind them and explicitly state what the expectations are. 

3. What to do if it not your expertise

It is but natural that some of the topics will be outside your content area of expertise. Let me reassure you that it is okay, you have the expertise in the subject area as a whole. You can guide them with the structure. You can hold them accountable for them meeting deadlines. If you want of course you can do some research about the topic. This can range from youtube videos, articles, blogs etc. This will definitely help you in fact checking their writing but it might also help you give the students recommendations. If you do go out of your way, it will be much appreciated by the student. 

4. Some procedural aspects to be aware of

1. You will have three meetings with your student. 

2. Your managebac will be created so make sure you log in and activate that. This is where you will access the students' essays. 

3. In addition to the essays, the students also have to write three reflections. They often forget about that. To make these reflections meaningful encourage them to write it after each of the meetings. 

4. I will keep sending you updates signposting different aspects that need to be completed. 

5. It will be communicated that the students are expected to write their first drafts over the summer. 

6. If you are leaving the school at the end of the year, please make sure you check in with the student and lay down their scaffold for their summer. 

5. If you are a supervisor for the first time

Firstly, thank you so much for trying this out. I know that it is intimidating and seems like another thing to do. If I am being honest I really hope you enjoy the process. The best place to start is to read the guide to understand the process. Please always ask questions if you are stuck. No question is too obvious. I am happy to set up a meeting and discuss it further if you prefer to ask a question in person. I am here to help :) 

The Power of Language: Arabic and the WA Pillars in Action

By Sazan Ibrahim

At the heart of our school’s vision are the WA Pillars — Climate and Character, Quality of
Instruction, Assess and Adapt, and Success for All. Each one finds a natural expression in
the teaching and learning of Arabic, a subject that not only develops linguistic skill but also
nurtures cultural awareness, empathy, and global-mindedness.

Climate and Character
Learning Arabic fosters respect and curiosity for one of the world’s richest linguistic and
cultural traditions. In our classrooms, students build character through perseverance —
mastering new sounds, scripts, and expressions — while developing intercultural
understanding and appreciation for diversity. The result is a positive, inclusive learning
climate rooted in curiosity and respect.

Quality of Instruction
Arabic lessons exemplify our commitment to high-quality teaching. Teachers use engaging,
communicative approaches that balance traditional literacy skills with modern contexts. From
storytelling and songs to real-world applications, lessons are designed to make language
learning active, joyful, and purposeful.

Assess and Adapt
Assessment in Arabic goes beyond vocabulary tests. As a teacher I continuously adapt
instruction to meet learners’ needs — supporting beginners while challenging more
advanced students. Through formative assessment, reflection, and feedback, students
become more aware of their progress and motivated to take ownership of their learning.

Success for All
Every student deserves the opportunity to succeed in Arabic. Whether they are native
speakers deepening their identity or new learners discovering the language for the first time,
our program celebrates individual growth and achievement. Arabic connects learners to a
global community and opens doors to understanding, communication, and future
opportunities.

In this way, the teaching of Arabic at WA becomes more than language instruction — it
becomes a living expression of our WA Pillars in action.

My Year 13 IB Arabic students have beautifully captured what it means to learn Arabic at
Westminster through an inspiring vlog (below). In their own words, they share how each of
Westminster Academy’s pillars shapes their journey — from building confidence in
conversation to appreciating Arabic culture and literature.

“Studying Arabic has taught us more than a language — it’s taught us how to think globally
and connect meaningfully,” says one student.

Thoughts From A Visitor: Centre For Tutorial Teaching

By Tessa Palfreyman, Director of Teaching and Learning at CTT https://www.centrefortutorialteaching.org/ 

We are a global centre for tutorial teaching based in Oxford, UK. We are a community of professors, researchers, experienced teachers, executive leaders and instructional designers, each of whom have experienced the Tutorial Method at some point in our careers. Some of us have been delivering tutorials at the University of Oxford for decades, while some of us have implemented tutorial learning in our local primary school classrooms. We have staff who were taught by the Tutorial Method at the University of Oxford, and others who are veteran instructional designers who have long wanted to embed the method in their work. We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit Westminster Academy in January 2023 and gained some valuable insights into the International Baccalaureate (IB), how it can work in a non-fee-paying school sixth form and the impact it has on students. There are a number of parallels between the IB and the Tutorial Method and this was evident when visiting the school. 

What did we do during our visit?

During our visit we met with Holly Youlden, Assistant Vice Principal for Teaching and Learning, and Dr Paul Wood, Principal and CEO of Westminster Academy. Holly and Paul talked us through the Diploma and Career-related IB programmes that are on offer to their sixth form students. We discussed the importance of students leaving school being fully prepared and equipped for further education and employment and what schools can do to ensure this. Dialogue-based learning and metacognition were two key pieces that we agreed were fundamental for students and the Tutorial Method and IB offer students. During our morning at the school, we were also able to observe some Year 12 and Year 13 students in their IB lessons in both Maths and Anthropology, this gave us the chance to see the two programmes in practice and the way in which teachers facilitate learning. In the Maths class, we were able to speak with three students and ask questions about their experiences of the IB and the way in which they are taught at the school. This was certainly the highlight of our visit and gave us insights and learnings we could take back to our work at CTT. 

What did we learn from our visit? 

We took a huge amount of learning away from our visit to Westminster Academy and are incredibly grateful to have met Holly and Paul and their articulate and interesting sixth form students. Hearing the positive impact that the IB has on students from both senior leaders and the students themselves consolidated what the data shows, but more importantly the crucial life-long skills that are developed through this way of teaching. As dialogue-based learning, independent work, study skills, relevance and intent are some of the key aspects of the IB programmes we, as experts in the Tutorial Method, were able to see how aligned the IB and the Tutorial Method are and how the method can be utilized by teachers on IB programmes to further enhance their teaching and offerings to students. We were encouraged to see how a programme typically only available in fee-paying schools is working so well in a state school, demonstrating the potential that other programmes and schools can have without being confined to traditions that may no longer work for students in the 21st century. We are excited to learn even more about the IB and the ways in which the Tutorial Method can be used within and alongside IB programmes.

Bitesize Research: Impact Of The IB On Students Going To University

By Jaya Carrier

I hope you’re all having a good week so far - and have a restful and joyful break when it comes around. This term, with Sixth Form Open Evening, and with lots of YR11 Post-16 progression work taking place, we’ve been thinking lots about how to continually highlight the amazing benefits of an IB Post-16 education. As such, in this final bitesize of T2 and of 2022, I wanted to share some recent research published by the IB about students who have taken both the DP and CP programmes and their successes at university.

Objectives: To understand the impact of the IB programmes on students going to university 

Summary: 

• In the UK, students taking the IB were three times more likely to enrol in a top 20 university than their A level counterparts

• Students who have taken IB programmes were also more likely to obtain a 1st or 2:1 degree, as well as study at postgraduate level

• UK IB students were also more likely to have greater levels of critical thinking than their counterparts doing other programmes

• There is also compelling evidence about the impact of the CP programme on UK students going to university. For example, the research suggests that 70% of CP alumni obtain a 1st or 2:1 degree. 

• CP students also self-reported as having strong academic, work-related and personal skills.

  
  

How does this impact me and my practice?: 

Some reflections arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

• How confident do I feel in explaining the benefits of an IB education to our students?

• What information or support do I need to help me with this?

 

Please do get in touch if you would like to talk further about this - I’d love to hear from you! Have a lovely break, and wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Thoughts From A Visiting Teacher: University of Leiden

By Luca, Britt, Doris, Lola and Myrthe

We are students from the Netherlands in our second-last year to become teachers at the University of Applied Sciences Leiden. Last November 15^th we visited Westminster Academy to experience the differences and similarities between the British and the Dutch school systems. We were excited and learned a lot. We had a great time because of all the nice people we met. 
 
The first thing we noticed are the school uniforms. In the Netherlands it’s normal to wear casual clothing to school. Teachers are required to dress presentable, but whether you do that wearing a dress, a skirt or jeans doesn’t matter. Children are allowed to choose how to dress. To us it was a new experience to see all the students wearing uniforms and for all the teachers to be in business dress.
 
Another concept we are not familiar with, is the houses. Houses and house points are things we only recognise from the Harry Potter books. To see it in real life was a special experience for us. Something we noticed about Westminster Academy is the self-made lessons that are taught. In the Netherlands it’s normal for a school to have pre-made lesson plans. Teachers don’t usually make their own lessons. In the Netherlands they are trying to encourage teachers to find a balance in making lessons and using the pre-made lesson plans. The teachers at Westminster Academy showed us the joy of teaching self-made lessons and that the children can really benefit from it. 
 
After we had seen a few lessons, we also noticed that all the children are taught on the same level (i.e. mixed ability classes). In the Netherlands, especially in secondary school, there are different levels for children to learn at (i.e. students are streamed in all subjects in Secondary education). The level impacts the amount of lessons you have, the amount of years you spend at the school and the difficulty of the teaching material. This is a big difference to what we are used to in secondary school and is more similar to the Dutch primary schools. 
 
And maybe the biggest surprise to us, might be a silly one. We were really surprised to see that the children can get a warm lunch at the school. There were even different things to choose from. The lunches in the Netherlands are simple, cold and you bring them from home. The most common one is a slice of bread with some butter and cheese on it. It really felt like a special meal to us.  
 
We thank all the people for the great care we received at Westminster Academy. We had a great time! 

How To Integrate TOK Into Lessons

By Charlotte Nicholas

It was really great to have the opportunity on INSET Day to speak a little more about TOK and critical thinking in our subjects. More often than not we are ‘doing TOK’ in our lessons but it would be fantastic if we were more explicit in our practice. This blog post aims to give you some suggestions on how to bring TOK into your teaching; from Year 7, all the way through to Year 13.

In order to ensure that our inclusion of TOK is consistent, It is crucial for us to have a shared knowledge of what TOK is. Below is a screenshot of the TOK specification. One suggestion of how to fit TOK into your lessons could be to use the It knowledge framework as a way of framing questions, for instance; which perspectives are involved in the arts? Are some perspectives more valid than others? Why? What methods do mathematicians use to make mathematical claims? What is the scope of language, can it be independent of knowledge?

One misconception with TOK is that it is the same as philosophy or ethics as this is included in the knowledge framework. It is important not to fall into the TOK trap of conflating these different subjects (although they are closely related). An ethical question may consider what is right or wrong or attempt to make moral judgements whereas TOK would consider which approaches might exist towards an ethical dilemma, what knowledge has informed these approaches and the role that knowledge plays in people’s perspectives and actions towards ethical issues E.g. As knowers, do we have a moral duty to examine our own biases and assumptions? Are there situations where ignorance/lack of knowledge is an excuse for unethical behaviour? It would be great to see more of us bringing TOK into our classrooms. Below are some suggestions of what you could do to include it more explicitly and meaningfully. I look forward to hearing from you about how this goes and how students respond!

• Apply Michael’s idea of bringing in a current affairs / news article into your lesson and getting students to approach it from a TOK lens. Please see Michael’s slides here.

• Apply Michael’s idea of starting with a misconception / finding out what students already know. E.g. What moral values do you think scientists have?

• Ask students provoking questions using the TOK concepts; certainty, truth, explanation, culture, evidence, justification, power, perspective, values, objectivity, responsibility and interpretation. How has your culture affected your perspective? Do you think the fact we have discussed is objective? Is religion the only place that faith plays a role?

• Use objects in your teaching (students use objects in their TOK exhibition). For instance, get students to consider how objects link to your specific discipline and the knowledge within it. What can this phrenological skull tell you about historical knowledge and scientific knowledge?

• Consider the content you are teaching from a different perspective -- How about if we asked the same question to an indigenous community? How about if we asked this question to a religious / non-religious group?

• Encourage students to consider themselves as ‘knowers’ and use phrases like ‘experts’ ‘ ‘community of knowers’ etc.

• Subscribe to Michael’s newsletter at Theoryofknowledge.net and frame your thinking in a TOK way more frequently.

• Mention TOK or critical thinking explicitly and use the TOK logo whenever you are doing some TOK thinking to get students to think explicitly about it.

• Discuss the methodology in your subjects with students to help them understand how knowledge is formed in your area. E.g. Why do historians’ views change over time? How do scientists ensure their work is accurate? Is only the artist's intended interpretation of their art the only valid view?

• Stay up to date with the yearly TOK essay titles (see below) -- discuss with students how you would approach them from your perspective / with your expertise.

Finally, it would be excellent to welcome staff to the TOK Exhibition event on Wednesday 22nd June 5pm-7pm. This will be a fantastic opportunity to learn more about what students have been doing in TOK and in order to probe their thinking further with your expertise. Thanks for reading and happy TOK’ing!