The International Baccalaureate Diploma programme is recognised as a rigorous preparation for universities in the UK and worldwide.

And since 2012 the IB Organization has been offering a Career-related programme  that schools can run in parallel, which offers a mix of academic and vocational training.

Employers also appreciate the qualities the IB brings to job applicants.

So why don’t more schools do it? Our case studies take a look at some of the schools offering the IB in England, from independent and international schools to the new wave of state schools in Kent taking up the Career-related programme.

With the additional teacher-training it requires, many school leaders may assume the IB is simply too expensive to run. Our myth-busting article offers some responses to the most common misconceptions about IB, from the principal of a state boarding school.

There’s a place for A-levels and the IB to coexist, says one headteacher whose school offers both , but since “better the devil you know” can often feel like the safer bet, we’ve laid out the basic structure of the sixth-form IB programmes most commonly studied in the UK.

Finally, there’s an overview of the data, with charts showing how many schools and pupils are studying the IB in the UK and internationally, and looking at trends over time.

We hope you enjoy the read!