IB Learner Profile
The International Baccalaureate (IB) learner profile is a framework for holistic learning that represents a range of human capacities and responsibilities that go beyond academic success. The framework is developed and used by the IB, an international education non-profit that offers educational programs to a community of IB World Schools across 150 countries. IB programs are designed to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people who help create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. The learner profile focuses on a set of values and attributes identified by the IB as critical to developing internationally-minded, respectful, and responsible members of local, national, and global communities.
Breakdown by Domain
Domain Key
- Cognitive 14%
- Emotion 3%
- Social 23%
- Values 51%
- Perspectives 6%
- Identity 3%
Key Features
Context & Culture
- IB allows for schools to adapt and/or add Learner Profile attributes to the framework to meet the needs of their specific school communities
- Notes that how skills are developed, deployed, and expressed is influenced by context and culture
Developmental Perspective
- Notes that IB's Primary Years, Middle Years, and Diploma Programs are designed to develop Learner Profile attributes in aligned yet increasingly robust and sophisticated ways as students mature
- Summarizes various ways that students might display progress in their development and use of learner profile attributes (e.g., transferring to new settings, strengthening skills, understanding how attributes are related)
- No learning progression provided
Associated Outcomes
- A study of IB alumni at universities in the Asia Pacific demonstrated a link between Learner Profile implementation and increased intercultural understanding
Available Resources
Support Materials
- Provides informational handouts, posters, and videos that describe the IB programs and Learner Profile attributes
- Offers webinars, presentations, and trainings on a variety of topics, including those that specifically focus or reference the learner profile and those that cover non-academic skills more generally (e.g., social and emotional learning; skills for global learning and engagement; personal, social, and physical education and wellbeing; and more)
Programs & Strategies
- The IB offers four educational programs that provide authorized IB World Schools with a detailed academic curriculum or curriculum framework that also focuses on building attributes of the IB learner profile:
- The Primary Years Programme for ages 3-12
- The Middle Years Programme for ages 11-16
- The Diploma Programme for ages 16-19
- The Career-Related Programme for ages 16-19
Measurement Tools
- Due to the highly contextualized nature of how the attributes are developed and expressed, the IB recommends that attributes be assessed via students documenting evidence of personal growth themselves through a portfolio process that draws on students' experiences in and outside of school to encourage reflection and inform future action
Key Publications
- International Baccalaureate Organization. (2013). The IB Learner Profile. Retrieved from: https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/fd82f70643ef4086b7d3f292cc214962/learner-profile-en.pdf
- International Baccalaureate Organization. (2017). What is an IB Education? Retrieved from: https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/what-is-an-ib-education-2017-en.pdf
- Lee, M., Spinks, J.A., Wright, E., Dean, J., & Ryoo, J.H. (2017). A Study of the Post-Secondary Outcomes of IB Diploma Alumni in Leading Universities in Asia Pacific: Report for the International Baccalaureate Organization. Bethesda, MD, USA: International Baccalaureate Organization. Retrieved from: https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/publications/ib-research/dp/postsecondary-outcomes-asia-pacific-full-report-en.pdf
*International Baccalaureate website: https://www.ibo.org/