Reflections on the new International Baccalaureate Diploma Classical Languages Syllabus

Abstract

At the end of January 2022 the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) published the new Diploma syllabus for Classical Languages (for first assessment in 2024). The new IB Diploma syllabus has at its heart a desire to move away from the teaching of language and literature as two distinct skills, while embracing a broader range of teaching and assessment methods which do greater justice to the richness, diversity and range of skills students can, and do, develop through the learning of classical languages. In what follows, I will discuss the new IB Classical Languages syllabus and whether it lives up to these worthy aims.

Keywords

• Latin
• Sixth Form
• IB
• Diploma
• Assessment
• Classical Languages