IB Humanities Courses

Overview of the courses

In our humanities offerings, students can select Economics, Business and Management or Geography at either Standard or Higher Level. 

IB Business and Management

The course takes the student from an initial business idea through funding options and marketing techniques to the finer details of leadership. Students learn about detailed financial analysis and valuation techniques and they learn how to apply these to real business situations. The course considers the essential aspects of business: human resource management, finance, marketing, and also the environment in which businesses operate. Students are challenged to make decisions appropriate to the business as a whole. Meeting this challenge will enable students to assimilate the principles of business and management and become effective participants in our globalised world.

This course can be studied at both Higher and Standard Level.

Core content for Higher and Standard Level:

• Business organisation and environment
• Human resources
• Accounts and finance
• Marketing
• Operations management
• Business Strategy (Higher Level only)

IB Economics

Economics has long been considered the choice subject for many of society's leaders.  Economics gives us an insight into the levers of wealth and well-being and offers us a framework by which the world can be ordered and understood. It helps us construct reasoned responses to the most complex scenarios whilst understanding that this is just one perspective. The study of Economics in an international setting is especially important for examining contemporary problems. Economics forces shape upon all of our lives. It is only through studying a situation that one can hope to understand it and attempt to alleviate the problems associated with population growth, development, hunger and poverty for example.

Our IB classes are enlivened by self-directed research, simulations and much discussion.

Economics can be studied at Higher or Standard Level and the course at either level assumes no prior knowledge of Economics.

The course is designed for students who:

• want to understand how individuals, companies, governments, societies and regions apply economic objectives;
• want to apply economic analysis to topics like sustainable development, environmental issues, and the impact of technology;
• want the ability to evaluate economic theories, concepts, situations and data;
• like to follow media coverage of national and global affairs and want to understand the interdependence and diversity of economic reality.

Core content at both levels:

• Microeconomics: markets and market failure
• Macroeconomics: national income accounting, economic growth and development, unemployment, inflation, contemporary theories of economics
• International Economics: international trade, international agreements on trade, issues that arise from trade and the balance of payments
• Development Economics: Sources of growth and development, consequences of growth, barriers to growth and development and different strategies used to approach development.

IB Geography

Geography fascinates and inspires by focusing our thinking and decision making skills. Geography gives students a holistic view of the world by combining the natural and social sciences helping us to live our lives as knowledgeable global citizens.

From environmental management to globalisation through the power of earth-shaping forces, climate change, food security, energy choices, peace and justice – none of this can be understood without a geographical perspective. Geographers have the skills and knowledge to deal with the variety of issues that impact our sustainability in the 21st Century. Geographical investigation deepens our understanding of contemporary challenges and nourishes our curiosity. Geographers don’t simply use maps. We use new technologies, numerical data and graphical modes of communication to further our understanding of the geographic information systems that underpin our lives. Spatial technologies like GIS and mobile data collection in the field form a key focus for  geography education now and in the future.

IB Geography requires an inquiry approach to the teaching of Geography and this approach equips students with the knowledge and skills of investigation, critical thinking, problem solving and communication. As a result, students are equipped to foster attitudes that will assist them to participate as active and informed citizens in our global society and to appreciate and apply the concept of sustainability. Geography is indeed a subject vital to the education of every young student in the 21st century. Geography is about the world in which we live, with which we interact, and on which we depend. As responsible citizens we should all understand how the manner in which we chose to live our lives has implications for others and for the environment, both locally and globally. The discipline is the spatial science that provides a unique bridge between the study of the physical environment, and the study of societies and cultures.

The Geography programme is designed for study at both Higher and Standard Level. It is not necessary to have studied GCSE Geography or equivalent.

Compulsory topics:

• Population in transition
• Disparities in wealth and development
• Patterns in environmental quality and sustainability
• Patterns in resource consumption

Higher level students will study three and standard level students will study two of the following optional topics:

• Extreme environments
• Hazards and disasters
• Urban environments
• Freshwater – Issues and Conflict
• Oceans and their coastal margins
• Leisure, sport and tourism
• The geography of food and health

Higher level students will study a Global Interactions course additionally

At both higher and standard level, students are expected to complete one 2,500 word internal assessment field work project. The internal assessment will be based on a fieldtrip that all students will be expected to attend. This trip will enable students to collect and analyse their data and start to write up their project as well as gain important case study information to support the core and optional themes.