Education in our era calls for global learners who reflect on themselves with an open minded and inquiring attitude and lead positive changes in the world in preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the transition to a hyper-connected society. Therefore, our school is working hard on researching and implementing innovation in elementary education by running a program that incorporates the characteristics of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) for the first time in public schools. Kyungpook National University Elementary School (KNUES) has been conducting the Primary Years Program (PYP) since September 1, 2019, after being certified as an IB candidate school. The IB PYP has only been implemented at a few foreign private schools in Korea, and this is the first time that the curriculum has been introduced at a non-private elementary school. As a school leading the national curriculum, the foremost purpose of our school in implementing the IB PYP is to seek practical methodologies to enhance the effectiveness of the Korean National Curriculum. Therefore, based on the Korean National Curriculum, the IB program naturally incorporates the characteristics of the education system and continues to review the optimization of the Korean elementary education program. This is the major difference between IB education and main education at foreign schools in Korea. Our students are growing into self-directed lifelong learners by asking themselves questions and cooperating with friends through concept-based inquiry classes that transcend the subject. Through implementing the IB PYP education program, our school will improve the student-centered classroom culture and the curriculum-based teaching methods.

Kyungpook National University Middle School received a verification visit from December 16 to 17, 2020, after two years of running a candidate school after obtaining IB MYP candidate school qualification in March 2019. On January 22, 2021, the school became the first national public school in the country as an authorized IB school. As a result, the IB MYP program will be operated as a member of IB World School from March 2. In this paper, the introduction process of IB MYP program and the success factors of Kyungpook National University Middle School and the opinions of the school members on the operation of IB program are examined. Through this, three proposals that can help other middle schools in Korea which introduce the IB MYP program in the future will be presented. First, schools preparing to introduce the IB MYP program should pay attention to the IB framework. The IB framework is the basis for the application of IB program. Therefore, it is wise to prepare for the introduction of the IB MYP program in accordance with the situation facing each school, focusing on the IB framework. Second, the decisive factor in the introduction of the IB MYP program is teaching and learning. Therefore, how schools can support teachers to design and guide the understanding-based curriculum and concept/inquiry-based classes is a very important question. Some examples of Kyungpook National University Middle School provide a good answer to this question. Schools considering the introduction of the IB MYP program should think about what systems should be designed to foster teachers’ professional development in teaching and assessment based on the unique context of each school. Third, the International Baccalaureate Organization(IBO) provides only a guide for the school to apply the program, and all practical application can be flexibly operated according to the situation of the country and the context of the school. Therefore, if the school is ready to introduce the IB MYP program, the school members need to think deeply about how to flexibly operate the IB MYP program in consideration of each school’s educational philosophy and context rather than trying to find the right answer.

The outstanding product of the MOC (Memorandum of Cooperation) between the IBO (International Baccalaureate Organization) and the DMOE (Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education), Korean Dual Language Diploma Programme of International Baccalaureate (IB), is the result of meeting bottom-up research and practices by teachers who’ve made efforts for classroom innovation by focusing on learners’ competences along with top-down actions by DMOE shifting its pedagogical paradigm towards a goal of developing future competences of students for future society. Although it is not easy to adopt pedagogical reform to improve the limited and rigid educational situation which has been geared toward the framework of college entrance systems, efforts to pursue the essence of education have taken form connected with IB, which has been internationally refined and verified over a significant period of time. Each part of the IB programmes has been used for college application worldwide by operating stable ‘criterion referenced assessment.’ This could suggest us a lot in solving such issues as student-centered learning, growth-oriented evaluation, and differentiated education, which are key factors for the full implementation of the high school credit system and its successful settlement. Here I provide the past two years of efforts and actions which Kyungpook National University High School has made from the phase of consideration up to the current candidacy phase of consultation visit with its overall influences on the school community.

The Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education (DMOE) is introducing and implementing the International Baccalaureate (IB) program in public education in order to foster future global talents with creativity and critical thinking skills in preparation for the 4th Industrial Revolution society, to develop the efforts with teachers to improve class instruction, integrating a consistent ‘Curriculum-Teaching & Learning-Assessment-Records’ system into classes, and to bridge the regional educational gap by providing priority support for schools in areas with difficult educational conditions. In particular, in order to implement the Diploma Programme without language barriers, DMOE and the IB has singed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) and the Dual Language (English & Korean) Diploma Programme (DLDP) is being introduced. Currently, there are 9 IB candidate schools and 6 IB interested schools, a total of 15 schools, under the support of DMOE, and the first IB World School in the language of Korean in public education field is expected to come out early next year. DMOE is spurring the implementation of the IB programmes as an educational model to develop students’ future essential competencies preparing for the future society, through various efforts such as strengthening teacher training and drawing support from the community on the policy.

This paper focuses on the implementation of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) at Chung Nam Samsung Academy (CNSA), an autonomous private high school located in Asan, Republic of Korea. CNSA became the second Korean school in the country to be authorized by the International Baccalaureate (IB) when it became an IB World School in August 2020. In the context of IB in Korea―dominated by international schools on the one hand and the expectations surrounding the development of the IB Dual Language Diploma Programme (IB DLDP) in Korean on the other hand―one distinctive about the IBDP at CNSA is the choice to offer the program in English, as part of a Korean school. The goal of integrating it into the school as a whole and making it as accessible as possible to interested students presents both practical and more abstract challenges. In planning for IBDP implementation, the school developed a language policy to articulate its language philosophy, explain possible reasons behind why students would want to pursue the IBDP in English, and develop strategies for English-language learning for both IB students and staff, while at the same time affirming the use of Korean as a mother tongue and identifying specific ways to continue to cultivate students’ Korean linguistic competency and cultural awareness. It is suggested that, with a proper approach, students can develop in both their Korean and English abilities, and, in tandem, become more engaged both locally and globally. In other words, they can become more internationally-minded―one of the goals of IB education. The idea of autonomy and student choice ultimately underscores the educational approach at CNSA, as the English-language IBDP is just one of many curricular options available in the school.

The present study aimed to analyze the link between Backward Design and IB curriculum, which is frequently mentioned and recommended as an alternative in overcoming the problems of our existing education. We also explored the implications of school curriculum design. This study has the following two major research lines. The first was to analyze the link between the Backward Design and IB curriculum. The results were derived through literature research and feedback from seven experts. The second was to explore the implications of such a relevance analysis for the Goals (Objectives) and assessments of school curriculum design. Several scholars, as well as the Daegu and Jeju education offices, acknowledge the advantages of IB education and strive to introduce it into public education. With the prospective increase of the number of IB-certified schools in Korea, such analysis and exploration of implications are expected to have a positive impact on our education in the future.