Pyoseon High School is holding briefing sessions for middle school students on the International Baccalaureate or IB programs the school will adopt.
The school is reassuring parents and students that although the new program will consist of a completely new curriculum, it will not hinder students from entering colleges in Korea.
Parents and students who attend the sessions express their interest in the program.
Mike Laidman reports.

Report


Parents and Grade 3 students from a local middle school gather to attend a briefing session organized by (표선) Pyoseon High School on the International Baccalaureate, or IB Program, the school will adopt moving forward.


The IB Program has thus far only been offered at private or international schools, and is different from Korea's regular high school curriculum which is more aligned with the Korean college entrance exam.

The high school spent a significant portion of the briefing session explaining that the IB Program does not hinder students from entering universities in Korea, as they look at diverse admission criteria.


Parents and students, however, struggled to understand the unfamiliar subject names and the curriculum itself.


But they expressed a great deal of interest in the IB's self-directed learning method.


In April this year, the Provincial Education Office approved (표선) Pyoseon High School as a candidate school to obtain IB certification.


According to the high school's plan, the IB Program will be applied from the spring semester of 2022.
This means that current grade 3 middle school students will enjoy a more international curriculum when they enter their second year of high school.


Pyoseon High School is planning to announce its student selection criteria and enrollment process in September, which will apply to this year’s crop of Grade 3 middle school students.

This introduction of the IB Program is the first attempt ever in the educational history of Jeju to bring an international standard to the public school system.

Mike Laidman, KCTV