International Baccalaureate is an educational program that focuses its attention on the framework of education and not its curriculum. The curriculum is decided by the teachers of this program. Whereas, IGCSE is a fixed curriculum, headed by the University of Cambridge.

IB is an international educational foundation that runs 4 different age-specific programs. They are called Primary Year Programme (PYP), Middle Year Programme (MYP), Diploma Programme (DP) and Career-related Programme (CRP). This programme is operated from Geneva. IB doesn't take any formal exams, they instead take assessments of students. IB programme mainly focuses on Communication, scientific knowledge, scientific inquiry, scientific attitudes, etc.

IGCSE is Managed by a department at The University of Cambridge, UK. It's a pre-decided, country-specific, content-based examination. Cambridge provides the curricular guidelines to the schools which are then implemented uniformly throughout the country. Its a class X equivalent certificate, and it also has a class XII equivalent called Pre U exams. IGCSE has a more diverse programme and subjects are based country-specific, emphasizing majorly on the content.

Let's weigh the pros and cons of IB and IGCSE side by side.

Pros

IB

• Teachers play a pivotal role in the curriculum of the students. Because the teacher understands the student the most, given that they are closest to the students, they personalize the curriculum based on socio-cultural backgrounds.
• Recruiters tend to lean towards IB school students as skilled employees.
• Creativity is appreciated on the teachers part to design the curriculum giving them freedom of choice.
• A lot can be learned with this framework without many hurdles.
• Being a skill centred approach, this course is great for promoting creativity and the development of multiple intelligences.
• The idea of truly being international can be fulfilled by being an IB student.

IGCSE

• There is a fixed course that the student has to look ahead to. There is no confusion reaching goals as there is clarity.
• Teachers do not have to attend frequent workshops
• The curriculum follows the motto 'Global Village' though international, they have very specific content nationally.
• The assessment is considered very credible and helps the students focus more
• Teachers are not burdened with curriculum designing. A lot of countries don't have teachers which can design curriculums.
• Parents all over the world prefer fixed external exam arrangements.

Now let us weigh the cons of both.

IB

• It is a burden for teachers to keep updating themselves with the regular changes and amendments in the framework.
• An error in judgement by either the school staff or teachers can compromise the efficacy of the curriculum.
• Students level of knowledge may differ from school to school.
• More resources are required by a school to be able to impart the IB framework.

IGCSE

• Though an international curriculum, the main focus here is always exams.
• Classwork and homework are not included in the final assessment of the students.
• The course is fixed and is not revised according to the new batch of students.
• No creativity or space is appreciated in the IGCSE curriculum.

Though both the course choose opposite paths, they are necessary for the emerging global needs of the students. Many students opt for a combination of both, where they do IGCSE first and take a diploma with IB, given them the best of both worlds. Both these approaches aren't new and have been in the international market for a while now. Making both of them quite reputable and worthy of the students.

Given that these international frameworks are quite competitive, it's best to always be prepared. A lot of parents choose from qualified IB tutors at Hudson Academy. Our IB tutors guarantee success after a minimum of three months of training with us. You can either book group or individual classes for your child. That said, Hudson academy also provides students with IGCSE tutoring. Hudson academy is an all-inclusive academy. Our IB tutors make a personalized course for every student, focusing on their setbacks, and how can they improve them.

Author Bio:

Semil Shah, Chief Marketer at Shrushti Digital Marketing According to his team, Semil Shah can take any digital marketing profile to the next level. With over 15 years of experience in the SEO world, he is a certified SEO specialist, who mainly focuses on growing businesses.