The successful project for student-athletes at International Baccalaureate (IB) World Schools, supporting their dual career aspirations, has been approved to now applies to both IB Diploma Programme (DP) and IB Career-related Programme (CP) students.
The World Academy of Sport (WAoS) Athlete Friendly Education Centre (AFEC), project has seen 25 IB World Schools receive accreditation as they provide excellent support services to high-performing and emerging student-athletes. Over 100 student-athletes have now taken up the opportunity to extend their DP studies, which allows them to better balance their sport and education commitments. The announcement today confirms that AFEC accredited schools are now able to also afford the opportunity for student-athletes to extend their period of study of the CP. IB course requirements of the CP can be extended for AFEC schools, and flexibility for career related studies (CRS) can be determined by IB World Schools and CRS providers as it best fits for each student and school.
WAoS has also now developed a partnership with Federation University, an Australian university, to establish a purpose-built online CRS for international sport management. This extension of the WAoS partners provides further exciting opportunities for IB World Schools and students interested in sport to enter an educational pathway from school to university through to industry. The programmes offer a unique blend of WAoS’ extensive industry experience with academic rigour that have been purpose built for distance learning.
Haif Bannayan, Director of Outreach and Conferences, comments: “We are excited to see the further developments in the partnership with WAoS that has seen innovations be piloted and proven for IB students over a number of years. It is most exciting that we are able to extend the provision of flexibility for student-athletes to those wishing to undertake the CP. This unique approach provides a global framework to those students who are strongly committed to excelling in both their sport aspirations and their education studies. The IB, together with WAoS, is removing the perception of sacrifices that student-athletes have to make to an approach whereby such commitments can be achieved through well supported, flexible options.
“To see WAoS, our global industry partner for sport, further engage with the IB and develop a CRS offer is another great step in our partnership. For IB World Schools, the opportunity to engage with the AFEC project and now a CRS offer for international sport management is very exciting as it provides a basis for IB World Schools to engage with their local and national sport sectors in meaningful and practical ways.”
Chris Solly, Managing Director of the WAoS says: “It has been many years of collaborative work with the IB that we are able to announce the additional support now able to be provided to student-athletes looking to undertake the CP. We strongly believe in the IB’s mission to create a better world through education and our work with the IB continues to be a great motivator for us to expand opportunities for those involved in sport and those interested in careers in the international sport sector.”
In parallel to the announcement of flexibility for CP students, WAoS is also unveiling an education support package for IB World Schools, which is backed by WAoS and its Global Education Partners University of London and Federation University. The education support package aims to assist IB World Schools to navigate the challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and will offer:
· 100 scholarships to support schools that wish to develop athlete-friendly educational structures (in partnership with Federation University in Australia),
· Between September 2020 and January 2022 up to 3,500 post-graduate scholarships targeted to PE and sport teachers looking to upskill in international sport management (in partnership with the University of London), and
· Up to 25,000 WAoS Athlete Certificate scholarships.
The WAoS educational support package was launched on the 7 July 2020 and runs through to January 2022.
