IB mission statement
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to 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 programmes 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.
School mission statement
Druga gimnazija Sarajevo teaches and encourages students to learn, nurture their talents and apply them to various challenges of today. It introduces young people to a rich world of friendship, tolerance and intercultural understanding, while guiding them to think critically, be just and
socially responsible
IB learner profile
IB learners strive to be:
Inquirers They develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. They actively enjoy learning and this love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives.
Knowledgeable They explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In so doing, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines.
Thinkers They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions.
Communicators They understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others.
Principled They act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them.
Open-minded They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience.
Caring They show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.
Risk-takers They approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. They are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs.
Balanced They understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others.
Reflective They give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experience. They are able to assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning and personal development.
Aim and purpose of the document
In all IB programmes, teaching is designed to remove barriers to learning. Teaching is inclusive and values diversity. It affirms students' identities, and aims to create learning opportunities that enable every student to develop and pursue appropriate personal goals. (What is an IB education? 2013:6)
The aim of this document is to define inclusion and diversity in both available IB programmes at Druga gimnazija Sarajevo, to ensure welcoming environment for each student, to ensure that the learning support requirements are identified early and provided for, to identify staff roles and responsibilities and to specify procedures and arrangements in order to help students reach their full potential.
The purpose is to support school in structuring and developing practices of inclusive education within IB standards and practices.
It is intended for the head of school, program coordinators, caounselors, teachers and students. This document is public and available for all.
What is inclusion
"Inclusion is an ongoing process that aims to increase access and engagement in learning for all students by identifying and removing barriers. Inclusion is an organizational paradigm that involves change. It is a continual process of increasing learning and participation for all students. It addresses learning support requirements and questions the broader objectives of education, the nature of pedagogy, curriculum and assessment. It is an educational approach to which all schools should aspire. Inclusion is facilitated in a culture of collaboration, mutual respect, support and problem-solving involving the whole school community." Inclusion is all about removing barriers to learning and considering these barriers from multiple perspectives. "Barriers to learning may be found in the way schools are organized and resourced, their cultures and policies, the approaches to teaching and learning, the physical aspects of buildings and the ways in which individuals within the school community interact on a daily basis." Learning diversity and inclusion in IB programmes, IB, 2016:1)
Inclusion and IB standards and practices
The following IB standards and practices have a particular focus on inclusion: Purpose: The school community fosters internationally minded people who embody all attributes of the IB learner profile. (0101-03)
Leadership and governance: The school organizes time for learning and teaching that provides a broad, balanced and connected curriculum and serves the changing needs of its community. (0201- 03)
Student support: The school provides safe and effective learning spaces and learning environments. (0202-01-0300)
Student support: The school implements and reviews systems and processes to identify the needs of students. (0202-02-0100)
Student support: The school supports the identified needs of students, and evidences this support through planning, policy and practice. (0202-02-0200)
Student support: The school provides staff, facilities and resources as outlined in their inclusion policy. (0202-02-0300)
Student support: The school demonstrates a commitment to make the most effective use of learning spaces and learning environments in ways that meet the needs of all students. (0202-02-0400) Student support: The school identifies and allocates spaces and resources to support the social, emotional, and physical well-being of its students and teachers. (0202-03-0100) Student support: The school demonstrates in its systems, processes and policies attention to the social, emotional, and physical well-being of its students and teachers. (0202-03-0200) Student support: The pedagogical leadership team and teachers support students’ social, emotional and physical well-being. (0202-03-0300)
Student support: The school implements and reviews systems and processes to provide advice and guidance to students on programme choices, careers and/or additional education opportunities as they move further in their learning. (0202-04-0100)
Student support: The school identifies and uses a variety of human, virtual and physical resources in the wider community that aid and extend student learning. (0202-05-0100) Culture: The school implements and reviews an access and/or admissions policy that clearly describes the conditions for participation in the school’s programme(s). (0301-01-0100) Culture: The school provides relevant support materials, resources and structures to promote access to the school’s programme(s) for as many students as reasonable. (0301-01-0200) Culture: The school provides opportunities to access the programme(s) for the broadest possible range of students. (0301-01-0300)
Local community, legislatives and arrangements
Druga gimnazija Sarajevo is located in the Center Municipality of Sarajevo, which is the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Ministry for education of Sarajevo Canton has the authority for all education legislatures, policies and arrangements. There are two legislatives that impact our school the most:
- National inclusion policy addresses to only students with physical or cognitive disabilities. Access arrangements for these students is provided by individualized syllabus and/or help of assistant in the classroom.
- The high school admission policy (includes admission to IB MYP), regulated by the Ministry of education, ranks applicants based mostly on academic achievements during elementary school and defines the number of students enrolled in each school.
Even though our school is willing and open to secure access to an IB education for the broadest possible range of students, we are limited by the above mentioned policies. This results in enrolling only students with high academic achievement and. Therefore, it is hard for students with different learning or physical challenges to even consider applying to Druga gimnazija Sarajevo.
School organization and resources
DGS actively works on providing human and every other support and resources to effectively address all needs of students. Our school community values internationally minded people who are open to develop students’ IB profile attributes and desired skills.
School ensures that structures and resources are in place to recognize, identify and plan access arrangements for students of MYP and Diploma program that come across different types of challenges and barriers. The school appoints the following structures:
- Coordinator
- Counselors
- Teachers and homeroom teachers
- ATL leaders
- Teaching and learning support
- Parents.
If existing structures cannot provide sufficient support for a student, the team uses outsourcing, it means that the school collaborates with specialists outside the school. The specialists provide valid documentation with steps that will help the team and the student to reach the highest level of academic achievement and personal development. This documentation is part of the student file and it is held in a counselors’ office under confidentiality (only accessible by request to the team or head of school).
The schools’ architecture does not include the elevator and/or wheelchair ramp but due to heavy restrictions for making reconstructions (as part of city centers’ protected area) it is difficult to overcome the issue and provide such support.
The best way to create a motivating and trusting environment for students to overcome the barrier is the collaboration between all important stakeholders in this process. This includes parents, teachers, coordinators, experts and counselor. Having a constant and an open communication is the key part of success as well as dedication, consistency, persistence and involvement of all subjects that are included. Continuously keeping track and record of students’ progress or setbacks and passing the information to whom it might be of an interest is essential part of collaboration.
The School is responsible to:
- Provide instruction and training to teachers and staff to support differentiation and individual learning requirements
- Raise teacher and staff awareness of individual learning needs of students and provide resources to implement individual learning plans.
Programme coordinator is responsible for:
- Work collaboratively with teaching staff to support students with learning difficulties - Be involved in creating individualized learning plans
- At enrollment, advise parents of rigorous programme requirements to ensure appropriate placement
- Communicate school document Inclusion policy
Teachers responsibilities are:
- To implement schools policies
- To teach in a manner that respects the dignity and rights of all students without prejudice of the race, colour, nationality, place of origin, religious beliefs, sex, sexual orientation or physical characteristics
- To identify educational needs, to implement instructions of individualized plan, to evaluate and to keep a record of a students’ progress
- To report any concerns to homeroom teacher, coordinator or a school counselor
Parents responsibilities:
- Be aware of the schools policies
- Play an active role in child’s education
- Provide school with supporting documentation of the child (medical documentation, experts opinion)
- Collaborate with coordinator, teaching staff or school counselor for advice and support
School counselor is responsible for:
- Conduct class observations
- Monitoring implementation of a plan for individualized learning
- Support and advise teachers and parents during implementation of individualized learning plans
- Counselling - individual or group counseling for students
- Workshops and education for students to raise awareness (choosing suitable topics) - Maintaining confidentiality of student files and records
- Collaborate with Programme Coordinators and teaching staff in order to keep track of students progress.
Students are responsible for:
- Provide feedback, as age appropriate, for learning and goals
- Provide input into learning engagements
- Provide reflections (written or verbal) on social and emotional growth
Learning needs
Students that are currently enrolled at Druga gimnazija Sarajevo have difficulties that could be challenge/barrier for our students such as:
- Language barriers - most students come from Bosnia and Herzegovina or other countries’ educational systems where the curriculum is not taught in English. These students show lack of English language knowledge and therefore have difficulties in learning and understanding subjects
- Emotional and psychological difficulties - encountering stress, emotional disorders, psychosomatic illnesses, eating disorders,
- Chronic illness - diabetes, allergies, epilepsy, spinal deformities,
- Writing/reading difficulty (dyslexia, dysgraphia)
- Speech impairment (stuttering, pronunciation)
- Vision or hearing impairment,
- Talented/gifted students,
- Athletes,
- Lack of prior knowledge in certain subject,
- Different social/economic background,
- Difficulty in adaptation to a new surroundings,
- Attention disorders (focus, ADHD, ADD etc)
- Neurological difficulties.
Practices (procedures, arrangements)
The school has standard procedures before creating individualized approaches and plans for students with specific difficulty. There are two different types of situations that school encounters: TYPE 1
- Parents/legal guardians are obliged to inform the school if the child has medical history from before or if changes in their child's health occur during the school year.
- Medical documents need to be submitted in the student file.
- The application form has a health condition statement included that parents/legal guardians are obliged to fulfil and sign. This document holds information such as chronic illness, impairments, allergies, surgeries that had an impact on the health of the student etc. TYPE 2 1. Teaching staff recognizes and identifies the issue that the student has, then notifies homeroom teachers, coordinators and schools’ counselors about it.
2. The coordinator/counselor/homeroom teacher are obliged to inform the students’ parents/legal guardians about the problem and following procedures in order to give support to a student. This procedure includes a written record that states that parents/legal guardians are . informed about their child’s status and which steps to take in order to overcome the challenge/barrier/difficulty. For example, the student that encounters challenges with learning language or math and shows lower academic performance is offered additional language/math support classes in school.
In both types of situations the schools’ responsibility is to inform the parents/legal guardians about the progress of the student. When it comes to difficulties with certain subjects, the teachers’ responsibility is to inform students’ homeroom teacher, programme coordinator and counselor about the progress. The school counselor manages emotional and psychological support for students, as well as collaboration between all stakeholders. The school counselor keeps track of students' overall health (physical and mental) and progress. If the school counselor is not sufficient to meet the needs for expertise, the school is using outsourcing and collaborates with medical staff (specialists, psychotherapists etc.). The parents/legal guardians are given contact information of the experts outside of school.
Any medical documentation or written records about students’ progress are held in the counselor's office and the access to the file has the head of school, coordinator, school counselor, homeroom teacher and student’s parents/legal guardians only by request and discretion. School counselor is the official that manages the passing of the information at transition points such as switching programs or schools.
Taking into account all circumstances previously stated, Druga gimnazija Sarajevo makes sure that all students have access to quality education according to their abilities and needs.
Barrier
Possible issues/matters to be
addressed
Arrangements
Language barriers
- understanding teachers and subjects - communication with peers and staff - misunderstanding instructions - assessment (not reaching full potential)
-additional language classes or offering ab initio language levels
-teaching staff making sure that student understands the content and is following instructions properly
Chronic illness
-lack of focus and interest
-adapting deadlines for submitting work
-missing classes
-medication side effects
-mental health concerns
-additional consultations
-introduce students’ illness to teachers in order to get a better perspective and first aid protocols
-introduce first aid protocols to students’ classmates
Barrier
Possible issues/matters to be
addressed
Arrangements
Psychological/emotio nal needs
-emotional issues
-stress, anxiety, panic attacks
-lack of focus and motivation
-emotion control
-self-esteem issues
-poor self-management skills
-introduce relaxation techniques -provide safe and trusting environment -self awareness
-help with time management
-techniques and coping skills for dealing with stress
-providing techniques to regulate emotion
Dyslexia/dysgraphia
-difficulties with understanding subject materials
-needing more time to write/read -teachers unable to read handwritten work
-lower grades due to poor handwriting -self-esteem issues
-additional time to complete tasks -prolonged deadlines for submitting work (reading/writing)
-additional classes and written exercises to improve handwriting
-peer to peer support
Speech impairment
-verbalization difficulties
-self-esteem issues
-needing more time to answer
questions
-additional time to verbalize during oral assessment or presentations
-make sure not to interrupt the student during oral presentation
or trying to help pronounce words
Vision/hearing
impairment
-missing out the information
-self esteem
-adapting seating arrangements (closer to whiteboard, teacher being near, loud enough and clear while speaking)
Talented/gifted
-monotony
-losing interest during classes
-losing motivation
-provide additional tasks,
-provide additional reading materials or homework,
-organize individual consultations -include and prepare students for various competitions
-organize creative workshops
-allow students to express their creative thinking
Athletes
-missing classes due to competitions -having hard time understanding content of a subject due to not being present during classes
-needing more time to complete tasks
-adapting deadlines for submitting work -additional explanation and
consultations
-peer to peer support
Poor prior knowledge
-comprehension of subject
-missing important parts of subject -needing more time and effort in order to understand content
-additional classes
-supporting materials
-consultations with teachers
-peer to peer support
Barrier
Possible issues/matters to be
addressed
Arrangements
Attention disorders
- Lack of focus
- Easily distracted
- Behavioral issues
- Differentiated teaching
- Individualized lesson plans
- Repeating task requirements - Additional clarificatio
School year 2023/2024
DGS policy revision team
