Admission Policy (IB Diploma Programme)

Table of contents 2 1. Assessment philosophy 3 3 1.1 Requirements for admission to the IB DP at the Aloisiuskolleg 3 1.2 Application to the IB DP at the Aloisiuskolleg 4 1.3 Requirements to remain in the IB DP

2. Bibliography 5

1. Admission Policy 3 1.1 Requirements for admission to the IB DP at the Aloisiuskolleg At the Aloisiuskolleg students who would like to take part in the IB DP have to do their exams for the German ‘Abitur’, too. Thus, there is a great workload on those students. Although the IB DP exams they have to attend are only at the end of the programme, students still need to work on projects, take part in oral examinations, have to write essays or papers for the IB DP during the two years which will all be part of their final marks. Furthermore, they will have to attend more lessons than those students that only strive to gain the German ‘Abitur’. The Aloisiuskolleg aims to find the best link between the requirements of the two diplomas, however, students need to be willing to accept this extra workload. This means that not only good or excellent academic performance is necessary to be accepted as an IB DP student at the Aloisiuskolleg but also the willingness to accept a greater workload than those students have that only attend classes for the German ‘Abitur’. Students must have shown good time-management skills and self-directed learning skills already in the years before. Next to this, students also need to be good students of English and German in order to be successful in the exams of the IB DP. They need to be enthusiastic about the IB subjects that the Aloisiuskolleg offers (i.e. German A HL: language and literature, English B HL, Mathematics SL, Biology SL, and Chemistry SL or French B SL). Furthermore, they must show an interest in the core of the IB, i.e. the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) class, the participation in Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) projects and in writing the Extended Essay (EE). Students also need to be aware of the fact that they must pay for the examination fees of the IB DP. At the moment students must pay 800 euros for both years in order to cover the fees. If students think they meet these requirements, they can apply for the IB DP at the Aloisiuskolleg.

1.2 Application to the IB DP at the Aloisiuskolleg

Because students who want to attend the IB DP also have to attend classes for the German ‘Abitur’ they must make a specific subject choice already for year 10, as the Ministry of Education of North Rhine Westphalia tells students that only those subjects can be chosen for the German ‘Abitur’ in year 11 and 12 that students already attended in year 10 (APO- GOSt, §6 (6)). Therefore, already in the second term of year 9, students and their parents are informed by the IB coordinator and the sixth form coordinator about the subjects they definitely have to choose for year 10 if they want to attend the IB DP next to their ‘Abitur’ classes. Students in year 10 and their parents must again be informed about subjects they must choose and about subjects they can opt for for the German ‘Abitur’ (APO-GOSt §11). During these meetings students who want to attend the IB DP and their parents are informed about the subjects they can choose in order to meet the requirements of both the German ‘Abitur’

and the IB DP. Just before the end of the first term and at the end of year 10 all teachers of that year, the heads of the year, the sixth form coordinator and the IB coordinator meet to discuss the achievement of each student. Students are only allowed to enter year 11 if they 4 have passed enough classes in year 10 (APO-GOSt, §9). During that meeting teachers will decide together with the heads of the year, the sixth form coordinator and the IB coordinator whether they think that those students who applied for the IB DP meet the requirements to do so next to attending classes for the German ‘Abitur’. For those students who have not been at the Aloisiuskolleg from year 5 onwards this means that it would be best to come to the school already in year 10 so that subject teachers, the heads of the year, the sixth form coordinator and the IB coordinator have had enough time to get to know the students and their academic performance and willingness to work hard. If students want to come to the Aloisiuskolleg just to attend year 11 and 12 to do both the German ‘Abitur’ and the IB DP, they must hand in reports of their former school that show that they meet the general entrance requirements to attend the sixth form for both the German ‘Abitur’ and the IB DP. If students applying to the school at this time, have any learning disabilities they are also asked to hand in appropriate official documentation describing the difficulty and official recommendation on how to support the student. Moreover, they need to come to an interview with a parent or guardian in which the headmaster or his deputy, the sixth form coordinator and the IB coordinator need to find out whether they think that the students will be successful in doing both the German ‘Abitur’ and the IB DP.

1.3 Requirements to remain in the IB DP

Just before the end of the first term and at the end of year 11 teachers will again meet together with the heads of the year, the sixth form coordinator and the IB coordinator to discuss the development of each student and the marks they got for each subject in their classes for the German ‘Abitur’ and also for the IB DP. These meetings are of major importance as students wanting to pass their exams for the German ‘Abitur’ are only allowed to enter year 12 if they have passed enough classes (APO-GOSt § 19). However, as those students who will be allowed to attend the IB DP will be students whose academic performance is good or even excellent and who have shown in the years before that they are keen on working hard to be successful, IB DP students will most certainly not be among those that will have problems to run through the sixth form successfully. Nevertheless, during these meetings all participants will discuss whether they are still of the opinion that the development of students attending the IB DP next to doing their German ‘Abitur’ shows that they are capable of doing both examinations. If any of the students seem to have problems, the participants discuss how these students can be supported or whether it might be better to tell students to leave IB DP and to attend IB certificate classes only if the pressure on them seems to be too much. Just before the end of the first term and at the end of the second term of year 12 the same meetings are held again. Once more, the development of each student is discussed. As in the year before, students must pass enough classes to be allowed to attend the final exams of the German ‘Abitur’ (APO-GOSt §19, §30). If they fail to pass enough classes, they

have to do year 12 again (APO-GOSt §31). However, as was said before, this will most certainly never apply to IB students. In any case, if it did apply, IB students would also not be allowed to do their final IB exams either in this year but might have to try to do them the 5 following year. These meetings are of major importance for IB DP students as well as the participants discuss their development in the IB DP again. Once more a major focus will be put on how individual student might need to be supported or if it might be better to leave the IB DP and attend certificate classes only.

2. Bibliography

Schulministerium NRW. APO-GOSt. Ausbildungs- und Prüfungsordnung, in: www.schulministerium.nrw.de, 23rd July, 2017.