The International Baccalaureate emphasizes in their “What it means to be an IB student” page of their website that the IB Learner Profile positions students at the center of their IB education. It is also described as the IB mission statement in action. The mission statement expresses two clear goals for student outcomes, 1- “to help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect” and 2- “to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners”.
One important aspect of every IB programme in the continuum is service as action or community engagement. The concept of taking-action in the community is defined by IB to have an “aim to provide an education that enables students to make sense of the complexities of the world around them, as well as equipping them with the skills and dispositions needed for taking responsible action for the future.”
In this blog post, we will explore the idea that service as action or community engagement can help students develop personal growth in the cultivation of the IB learner profile, the development of social skills by explicit attention to approaches to teaching (focused on effective teamwork and collaboration) and learning (social skills), and to utilize resources and workshops provided by CASIE to support implementing service as action to achieve our goals for students. Visit each section for insights and tips!
What is Service as Action (SA)?
Service as action encourages students to participate in activities that make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment. Two IB resources provide excellent definitions for what it means.
The MYP Service as Action Nano PD describes it in this way, “Service as action arises from the curriculum. Learning about important issues, informing others, engaging in advocacy, organizing, and taking individual and collaborative action are all forms of service as action.”
The What is an IB Education? document states, “action in all IB programmes: a focus on moving beyond awareness and understanding to engagement, action and bringing about meaningful change to make a more peaceful and sustainable world for everyone.”
Both resources link the importance of service as action to the IB’s mission.
Benefits of SA
Service as action or community engagement has a positive impact on the learners, community, and society. Schools like The International School of Azerbaijan have been highlighted in IB platforms to demonstrate the transformative power of engaging with the community in meaningful ways as an outcome of learning. The August 22, 2022 IB Community Blog shares how the MYP and then subsequently the PYP students used their knowledge and skills to address their concern for food waste in their school and beyond. Their project produced varied types of successes. Including…
- increased awareness about food waste
- reduction in organic waste
- the authentic use of mathematical learning to produce data results
- the inspiration to engage in related individual action
- the inspiration for the PYP students to implement related activities in the local community
These successes illustrate how service as action facilitates a shift to global education or what the IB defines as international-mindedness. This important shift is detailed in the CASIE blog post, Three Questions for a Global Education Shift.
How to Get Started
Guidelines and Requirements
The IB learner profile represents a student-centered set of learning outcomes consisting of ten dispositions. Caring is one of the ten traits and is explicitly part of the IB mission statement. The aspiration to be caring is expressed in this way, “We show empathy, compassion, and respect. We have a commitment to service, and we act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and in the world around us.” The service as action element of IB is captured in this statement.
The four IB programmes are guided by the Programme Standards and Practices document to set goals for the school community using the IB philosophy. This document also organizes and presents the requirements for each programme within the standards and practices. Within the standard of Learning: Lifelong Learners, we find these aspirational practices:
5: Students exercise the flexibility, perseverance, and confidence they need to bring about positive change in the wider community and beyond. (0402-05)
Lifelong learners 5.1: The school provides opportunities for students to directly apply their learning by taking action. (0402-05-0100)
Lifelong learners 5.2: Students demonstrate a commitment to service with and for the community throughout their learning, in accordance with programme documentation. (0402-05-0200)
Additionally, each programme has the following community engagement requirement(s):
- Primary Years Programme (PYP) has the Exhibition.
- Middle Years Programme (MYP) has the Community Project and Personal Project.
- Diploma Programme (DP) has the Creativity, Action, Service program.
- Career-related Programme (CP) has the Service Learning engagement.
In each of these culminating learning experiences, reflection is an important opportunity for considering the skills and knowledge acquired and how those may be utilized in next and new situations. Another IB learner profile disposition to be nurtured is to be reflective. IB presents this trait as, “We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experience. We work to understand our strengths and weaknesses in order to support our learning and personal development.” This statement can be fulfilled along with the other IB Learner Profile traits by explicitly teaching the IB Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills. More information on how this can occur can be found in this CASIE Blog post on ATL skills.
IB Service as Action Examples
Students can engage with the community to take positive action in numerous ways including participation, advocacy, social justice, social entrepreneurship, or lifestyle choices. Many IB schools use the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to align service opportunities with units of inquiry and provide choices for students to connect to their interests and the local or global contexts. The Good Life Goals provide 85 actions that we can take to engage in the work with SDGs. Their Action Pack provides so many ideas such as, learning the causes of poverty or hunger locally and globally, sharing and donating, learning about things like the importance of healthy lifestyles, saving water, using clean energy, and taking a stand for your own and others’ rights. Below are what these ideas could look like when combined with students’ interests and the need of communities:
- Supporting a local food bank
- Connecting to residents at a senior citizens’ home
- Assisting at a senior citizens’ home
- Conducting a socks/coats/clothing drive
- Creating care packages for women’s shelters
- Fundraising for Clean water initiatives
- Organizing a supplies drive for students in need
- Fundraising for disaster relief
- Partnering with a children’s hospital to support kids
- Organize improvements for a community center
- Promoting literacy in the school/community
Why is Service as Action Important?
Service as action or community engagement is integral for causing a global education shift. In the IB’s research study conducted by Claremont Evaluation Center, it was determined that Service as Action “seeks to develop caring members of the community who act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and their environment. Through service as action experiences, students learn the value of community participation and gain a deeper understanding of the issues facing their immediate surroundings.” These findings link directly to the IB’s mission statement. Below is an example from each programme in the IB continuum:
- Schools like Sawyer Road Elementary, an IB PYP school in Marietta, Georgia, USA, made a positive impact in their community by planning and implementing a canned food drive that fed over 4,500 families.
- MYP students at École Mondiale World School, in India discovered that migrant students in Mumbai did not have access to water and set out to partner with a nonprofit to help donate water. This service action rose from their Population and Migration geography unit.
- A DP student in Vietnam, volunteered to organize an international sports tournament between Australian schools in Asia and coach one of the soccer teams. This has led to a series of opportunities and led him to his passion as he went on to university and beyond. At Lincoln Park High School in Chicago, Illinois, USA
- CP students create artwork to be auctioned to raise funds for their school. The IB Learner Profile traits are being nurtured as students become more caring, reflective, knowledgeable, and inquirers as they serve others in thoughtful ways.
Start Making a Difference with CASIE
Service as action or community engagement is instrumental to actualizing the IB’s mission. It allows for students to apply their knowledge, ATL skills, and develop their IB Learner Profile dispositions in ways that make a positive difference and help make a better world.
Explore more service as action resources or join one of CASIE’s IB workshops to build capacity to engage students in the community.
