SCHOOL COUNSELING AMIDST GLOBALIZATION: A FRAMEWORK FOR AN

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE (IB) DIPLOMA PROGRAMME (DP)

CANDIDATE SCHOOL
Background of the Study
In the advent of the 21st Century, Globalization has become
one of the catch-all terms used to describe several, intertwined,
world-wide processes that have resulted in the expansion of the
boundaries that once divided the different countries of the
world. This expansion has resulted in the integration and
interconnection of different countries through a vast network of
social interactions that unite them economically, socially, and
even politically (Koons, 2013). In other words, Globalization has
paved the way for international cooperation and meaningful coexistence that far transcends the boundaries of ones country of
origin. Concepts such as nationalism and national pride are now a
thing of the past; the goal of today is to move towards global
citizenship, which is shared stewardship over the entire world.
The challenge therefore, for everyone living in todays
global community, is to be able to move beyond knowledge, skills
and abilities that are specific to ones country of origin.
Rather, to be able to transcend ones home culture and thrive in
the global community, one has to turn back on their own
educational system and embrace the values of the economically
developed world (Cambridge & Thompson, 2004 as cited in Koons,
2013, p.14).

The type of education described above is what is currently

known as international education. According to Cambridge and
Thompson (2004, as cited in Koons, 2013), international education
is the worlds response to globalization, as evidenced by the
fact that it reconciles the dilemma between the contrary trends
of cooperation through international relations and competition
through economic globalization (pp.17-18). As such,
international education equips learners with a competitive edge
that will allow them to thrive and become successful in the
global community. To allow this to happen, international
education purports to provide common goals for education
worldwide, developing similar evaluation benchmarks and
techniques, and disseminating effective practices between
schools (Jallade, 2011 as cited in Koons, 2013).
A concrete example of this is the current experience of the
Philippines, in its transition towards the K-12 Program. As a
result of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), a regionalization
of ten (10) South East Asian countries, the Philippines had to
change its educational landscape from its previous K-10 program
(Kinder to Fourth Year High School) to a K-12 Program, with an
addition of two (2) Senior High School years.
According the AEC Blueprint (2008), The AEC will establish
ASEAN as a single market and production base making ASEAN more
dynamic and competitive with new mechanisms and measures to
strengthen the implementation of its existing economic

initiatives; accelerating regional integration in the priority

sectors; facilitating movement of business persons, skilled
labour and talents; and strengthening the institutional
mechanisms of ASEAN (p.5). The unification of standards and
practices in training and education among the different ASEAN
member nations is a response to the opportunity of movement of
human resources across the ASEAN. As such, standardization of
qualifications and qualifications registers of different
professions across the ASEAN had to be facilitated. This is to
ensure that the knowledge and skills, application, and
responsibility and accountability expected of each profession
would be the same across the region.
To allow the comparability of qualifications across the
ASEAN, the ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF) was
developed. This referencing tool purports to enable comparisons
of qualifications across countries that will support recognition
of qualifications; facilitate lifelong learning; promote and
encourage credit transfer and learner mobility; promote worker
mobility; and, lead to better understood and higher quality
qualifications systems (ASEAN, 2013, p.2). The AQRF therefore
ensures that the National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) of the
ASEAN countries are up-to-date, and compatible and comparable to
frameworks of member nations, as well as that of other
international qualifications frameworks. Therefore, aside from

being a mechanism that aids in the comparability of

qualifications within the ASEAN region, the AQRF also serves as a
link of the NQFs of the participating ASEAN countries to that of
other regional and international qualifications systems,
therefore allowing the recognition of qualifications in other
parts of the world (ASEAN, 2013).
Ultimately, the introduction of the new Philippine
Qualifications Framework (PQF) and the AQRF paves the way to
improving the competitive edge of Filipinos and other ASEAN
nationalities in the global community. The AQRF has moved the
different NQFs of the ASEAN countries towards international
education, that is, education that is relevant to and meaningful
for all human beings: who we are, where we are in place and time,
how we express ourselves, how the world works, and how we
organize ourselves (Singh, 2002 as cited in Koons, 2013, p.16).
However, though the concept of injecting international education
in local or national education programs may be something that is
quite new in the ASEAN region, or in the Philippines for that
matter, international education is not something of novelty.
Prior to the AEC Integration in 2015, the concept of
international education in the Philippines was something that was
only associated with international schools, or schools that
deviated from the national curriculum (Koons, 2013). As such,
before the introduction of the K-12 program in mainstream
Philippine Education, several international schools were already

offering international education programs. Among the myriad of

international programs offered locally, as well as
internationally, the International Baccalaureate Diploma
Programme (IB DP) is considered to be the most established
(Hayden & Wong, 2006 as cited in Koons, 2013). In the
Philippines, the IB DP is currently offered by fourteen (14)
schools (www.ibo.org/about-the-ib/the-ib-bycountry/p/philippines/).
The IB DP is one of the four program offerings of the
International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). The IBO is a nonprofit organization founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968 by a
group of teachers from the International School of Geneva,
considered to be one of the oldest international schools in the
world (Koons, 2013). The mission of this organization is to
develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who
help create a better and more peaceful world through
intercultural understanding and respect. To this end, the
organization works with schools, governments, and international
organizations to develop challenging programs of international
education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage
students across the world to become active, compassionate, and
lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their
differences, can also be right (IBO, 2014). This mission can be
accomplished through the organizations four different programme

offerings, as well as through the IB Lerner Profile, which it

aims to instil in graduates of any of its programmes. The IB
Learner Profile states that the aim of all IB Programmes is to
develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their
common humanity and shared guardianship over the planet, help to
create a better and more peaceful world (IBO, 2013). As such,
learners enrolled in IB programmes are expected to bear ten
attributes valued by IB World Schools, which they strive to
develop throughout and after their completion of their respective
IB Programmes. These characteristics are being Inquirers,
Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Principled, Open-Minded,
Caring, Risk-Takers, Balanced, and Reflective (IB), 2013).
Among the IB Programmes, the DP is the oldest and has the
widest range of implementation around the world (Koons, 2013).
According to the IBO (2009), the DP provides a challenging,
internationally focused, broad and balanced educational
experience for students aged 16 to 19. Students are required to
study six subjects and a curriculum core concurrently over two
years. The programme is designed to equip students with the basic
academic skills needed for university study, further education
and their chose profession as well as developing the values and
life skills needed to live a fulfilled and purposeful life
(p.3). Indeed, several researches have been published to support

the IB DPs reputation of exemplary international education and

high quality education.
Studies have shown that the IB DP can be used concurrently
with and is aligned with the national curriculums and
qualifications frameworks of countries like Australia (Dixon,
Charles, Moss, Hubber & Pitt, 2014), Germany (Faas & Freisenhahn,
2014a), Switzerland (Faas & Freisenhahn, 2014b), and Turkey
(Ateskan, Onur, Sagun, Sands & Corlu, 2014). This means that the
DP is a highly flexible program that can be utilized in
conjunction with local curriculums, while ensuring that students
meet the qualifications set by their countries of origin, as well
as those set by other international qualifications frameworks. In
terms of academic achievement, a study of the district-wide
implementation of the IB DP in the US yielded results that showed
students under the IB DP gained higher GPAs compared to the
national GPA, as opposed to their non-IB counterparts (Beckwitt,
Van Camp & Carter, 2014). Furthermore, studies involving
graduates of the IB DP from Australia, China, USA, and UK were
found to transition better into university, in terms of their
successful applications and enrollment to post-secondary courses,
especially to colleges and universities in and out of their
countries of origin, including top colleges and universities
around the world (Coca, Johnson & Kelley-Kemple, 2011; Edwards &
Underwood, 2012; Higher Education Statistics Agency, 2013; Lee,

Leung, Wright, Yue, Gan, Kong & Li, 2013; Beckwitt, et al.,
2014). Once enrolled in college, IB DP Graduates were shown to
perform better with higher GPAs (Edwards & Underwood, 2012;
Ateskan, et al., 2014; Conley, McGaughy, Davis-Molin, Farkas &
Fukuda, 2014), persist longer for at least the first two years of
college (Coca, et al., 2011; Halic, 2013; Ateskan, et al., 2014,
Conley, et al., 2014), and graduate from a four-year or six-year
degree, compared to their non-IB DP counterparts (Halic, 2013;
Ateskan, et al., 2014). In various self-survey studies across
China, Turkey and the USA, IB DP Graduates felt prepared for
college (Coca, et al., 2011; Lee, et al., 2013; Ateskan, et al.,
2014, Beckwitt, et al., 2014; Conley, et al., 2014) and
attributed their success on their preparedness for the rigors of
college workload through balancing the IB Core (Theory of
Knowledge (TOK), Creativity, Action, and Service (CAS), and
Extended Essay (EE) and their other subjects through time and
task management skills (Coca, et al., 2011, Lee, et al, 2013;
Conley, et al., 2014). Comfort with tests, exams and assessments
(Conley, et al, 2014), essay writing skills (Lee, et al, 2013),
work ethics, motivation, help seeking behavior and the depth and
quality of relationships they developed with their teachers and
peers in the IB (Coca, et al, 2011), were also some of the other
reasons cited by the IB DP graduates in terms of their college
success.

Through the above mentioned data, it is clear that the IB DP

is indeed a program that ensures the success of its graduates.
However, it is apparent that the success of the students is not
entirely reliant on the program structure and curriculum alone.
Through the self-survey results, it can be surmised that the
success of the students was also brought about through strong
collaboration with other members of the school community, one of
which is the Guidance and Counseling Services. The IB DP places a
high regard for the availability of Guidance and Counseling
Services, specifically with regard to college preparation. Based
on the IB Programme Standards and Practices (IBO, 2014), Standard
B2: Resources and support states that the school has systems in
place to guide and counsel students through the programme (p.
4). Furthermore, IB DP standards also state that aside from the
provision of guidance and counseling services, the school
provides guidance to students on post-secondary options (IBO,
2014, p. 23).
Despite the above mentioned, there are no existing studies,
locally or abroad, regarding the implementation of Guidance
Programs in the IB DP. It therefore raises the question, How do
we integrate Guidance and Counseling in the IB DP? A look into
the IB Learner Profile, which epitomizes the IB DP graduate, as
well as concepts of guidance and counseling in international

schools may pave the way for the development of a school

counseling framework that works with the IB Diploma Programme.
Theoretical Framework