Curricula

Are there specific IAB curricula?

A curriculum consists, for ERC, of a framework and a set of practical components specifically designed to help students develop a particular student profile. Practical curriculum components include a program of study and corresponding learning, instruction and assessment methods and means, all designed to realize specific measurable outcomes associated with the target profile.
IAB promotes, in specific ways, ERC Student Profile. It concentrates on the assessment of the profile in question, and the way students gradually develop it throughout secondary school. It is not confined to a specific program of study, and does not prescribe a particular instructional methodology. Nevertheless, it does not subscribe to traditional lecture and demonstration, and considers assessment not an end in itself, but an integral part of learning and instruction. As such, IAB constitutes a comprehensive authentic assessment program grounded in a particular ERC assessment framework, hereafter referred to as IAB framework.

ERC recognizes for IAB any curricula in place that are aligned with IAB framework, and that explicitly empower students to develop the ERC Student Profile. To ascertain whether curricula at a given school foster the development of the target profile, ERC has set the following guidelines:

1.  Various curricula must be governed by a generic curriculum framework that is aligned with IAB framework.
2.  The program of study in any field must entirely cover the corresponding scope set by IAB. This scope is defined in the form of IAB outcomes described below. Different schools may cover the IAB scope at different pace, and using course materials of their choice.
3.  Learning and instruction must follow an experiential methodology. They should allow development of the target profile through teacher mediation of interactive, minds-on, hands-on learning activities. They should also take advantage of modern technology, especially Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
4.  Assessment should be authentic and conducted in accordance with IAB guidelines and using, in part, IAB assessments described below.

1. Science: physics, chemistry, biology and earth sciences.
2. Mathematics: algebra, geometry, trigonometry, measurement, calculus, probability and statistics.
3. Social studies: history, geography and civics.
4. Languages: Arabic and a foreign language (English or French).
5. Auxiliary fields: ICT, economics, arts, or other fields to be announced in due course.

Science, mathematics, social studies and auxiliary fields may be studied and assessed in any of the aforementioned three languages (Arabic, English and French).