The Career-related Program (CP), officially launched in 2014, offers an alternative to the Diploma Program (DP). It is aimed at students with a particular career path in mind, allowing them to specialise and develop skills specific to the field they want to pursue. Since its inception, it now has over 300 participating schools in approximately 50 countries worldwide.
Each IB school offers a different collection of CP courses. While some courses, such as Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), World Academy of Sport (WAoS), and Pearson, are available to schools around the world, others are region-specific. For example, the World Academy of Career Programmes (WACP) is available only in the Asia-Pacific region.
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DP vs CP
This is a basic comparison of the various course elements of both DP and CP to help one better understand what the two programs offer. Keep in mind that the DP and CP elements are in no way the same. This table is to help people form connections between a more familiar curriculum and an unfamiliar one.
| Program | Diploma Program | Career-related Program |
| Number of courses | Six IBDP Courses | The CP requires students to take two to six IBDP Courses and a Career-related Study (CRS) Course. The exact number of DP courses students are expected to take changes from school to school. CRS, or Career-related Study, is the specific course a student takes for their specialisation. For example, if an organisation such as WACP offers courses related to AI and Business Administration, each of these two options is a CRS course. |
| Core Subjects | Theory of Knowledge (TOK) | Personal and Professional Skills (PPS) |
| Extended Essay (EE) | Reflective Project | |
| Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) | Service Learning | |
| Language Studies | Language is part of IBDP courses. For example, French, Spanish and whichever additional language a school chooses to give. | Language Development Course (This is also part of the CP Core). |
CP Core
Just as the IBDP has core subjects (TOK, EE and CAS), so does the IBCP! These are classes that enhance personal development while emphasising the development of practical skills. While they can be compared with the DP core (as shown above), each of the core elements below have nuances that make them more relevant to the CP style of teaching.
Personal and Professional Skills (PPS)
This is a course designed to develop and reinforce skills students may need during the course of their life and in the workplace. These may include communication, thinking and self-management. It also imbibes strategies that can be applied to personal and professional contexts, such as stress management and improvisation in interview settings. PPS is a class that integrates all the other elements of the CP Core.
1. Personal Development
- This theme introduces topics such as setting expectations, building confidence, and managing stress.
- Subtopics include: Self-awareness (Focuses on emotional intelligence and reflection), Self-management (Involves effective organisation and financial literacy) and Relationship management (Examines collaboration and leadership)
2. Intercultural Understanding
- This serves as a lens through which people see the world, and goes hand in hand with themes of international-mindedness and understanding the importance of intercultural collaboration. The subtopics include cultural identity, which looks at assumptions, values, social norms, and behaviours.
- Subtopics include: Cultural identity (Looks at assumptions, values, social norms, and behaviours), Cultural diversity (Delves into language and customs) and Intercultural engagement (Looks at interactions and change).
3. Effective Communications
- The subtopics include interpersonal skills, including social awareness, active listening, and non-verbal cues. Literacies, which looks at digital and media literacy, and self-expression, which helps build presentation and interview skills. This theme focuses on shaping learners into effective communicators.
- Subtopics include Interpersonal skills (Includes social awareness, active listening and non-verbal cues), Literacies (Examines digital and media literacy) and Self expression (Helps build presentation and interview skills).
4. Thinking Processes
- Developing thinking skills is a focal point in all PPS themes. While this is true for Thinking Processes, its main purpose is to encourage students to explicitly reference prior learning and experience. The aim is for students to reflect on when they have used thinking skills before, and make those skills transferable to other situations.
5. Applied Ethics
- Ethics is used in every element of the course, and this theme aims to help students better understand what it includes.
- Subtopics include Introduction to ethical dilemmas (Looks at right versus wrong, and how to approach a dilemma), Case studies in applied ethics (Examines business, environment, and biomedical situations) and Professional ethics (Discusses the expectations and standards of working professionals).
Reflective Project
Students must write an essay about an ethical dilemma related to their respective career-related study. This project encourages the development of research and communication skills, and builds curiosity and creativity.
It is graded from A to E, with A being the highest level achievable. Students are expected to spend at least 50 hours on this project. The reflective project begins in year 1 and culminates in year 2. Students receive a supervisor from their chosen CRS who provides guidance and supports them with research, analysis and evaluation.
Students may choose between two formats: Option 1, a 3000-word essay, or Option 2,a 1500 to 2000-word essay with an additional submission. This submission could be a film, oral presentation, interview, play, or display. All presentations should either last a maximum of 7 minutes or students can submit a 700-word long written script instead. The display can be up to 15 images or 700 words.
Service Learning
Students work with their community and undertake service activities to help solve needs they identified in their surroundings. Unlike DP’s CAS, Service learning is focused only on the service aspect, not on creativity nor activity. Every CP student has to complete multiple experiences (smaller Service Learning activities) and a larger service project. While the experiences can be any sort of service task, the project must be related to the student’s chosen career path. There are five learning outcomes that students are expected to fulfil at least once each through their Service Learning activities.
Five Stages of Service Learning
- Investigation: Students take an interest in the world around them, and actively look for issues and ethical concerns.
- Preparation: This is aimed at increasing a student’s understanding, encouraging them to inquire into the possible actions they could take, the resources needed for the same, and any consequences.
- Action: Students implement their plan, responding to the community needs.
- Reflection: Students reflect on the challenges faced and improvements that could be made, considering the local and global impact of their project.
- Demonstration: In this, students use their service learning portfolio to share accomplishments with one another, discussing the journey and possible extensions.
Five Learning Outcomes
- LO1: Identify personal strengths and develop areas for growth.
- LO2: Demonstrate participation with service learning experiences.
- LO3: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.
- LO4: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.
- LO5: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.
Similar to CAS, Service Learning also has three interviews. These help schools track the progress of students. Giving teachers the opportunity to lay out expectations, review experiences and help students with the reflection process.
Students are expected to spend a minimum of 50 hours on service learning.
Language Development
Students are expected to study an additional language (apart from their first language). Similar to the IBDP Group 1: Language Acquisition, the aim is to further a student’s understanding of another culture through written and oral communication. Thus, it involves developing oral, written, reading and visual interpretation skills. Students must also create a portfolio and update it with reflections of their learnings.
Students are expected to spend at least 50 hours on language development.
There are multiple ways in which the requirement can be fulfilled. Students can take a Group 2 language as one of their DP subjects, learn via an online course, self-direct their studies, use a school-designed course, or use an externally provided course. The flexible nature of this element means that the assessment is determined by each school.
There are 6 levels of language development. These help students quantify their existing proficiency and identify what they should learn next.
- Phase 1 and 2: Emergent Communicator
- Phase 3 and 4: Capable Communicator
- Phase 5 and 6: Proficient Communicator
Assessments
Every student must complete the requirements of their CRS and all elements of the CP core. In most cases, assignments and submissions are assessed internally by the respective schools. The only exception is the Reflective Project, which is externally moderated and graded by the IB themselves.
Depending on the organization one does their CP course with, there may be some additional examinations. For example, some courses require students to take an assessment at the end of Year 1 and 2 (such as WACP), while others have no final assessments (SCAD). However, keep in mind that students are still expected to sit for exams on the DP subjects they have chosen at the end of Year 2.
Final Notes
The CP program is still relatively new and has yet to be implemented in many schools worldwide. However, it is an extremely beneficial curriculum that allows students to follow their chosen education pathways by combining academic subjects with their personal and professional interests. CP, through its core, encourages students to develop critical, creative, and communicative skills just as well as DP. It is recommended to any student with a career goal already in mind!