School choice

Classical or IB Primary Years?

The difference between Classical and IB Primary Years is mostly one axis: technology at school. Classical sits firmly toward kept out until late; IB Primary Years sits toward built in from the start. They agree, more than most people expect, on mixed ages, what the family can put in and what it is for. Neither is the correct one. What follows is what each asks of a parent, and where the difference actually shows up on a Tuesday.

Classical

A specified body of knowledge, taught in a deliberate order, on the argument that you cannot think critically about something you do not know. The trivium stages it: facts and memorisation while memory is easy, then logic, then rhetoric. Often Latin, usually history in chronological sequence, and always explicit instruction from the front.

What it asks of you

  • Comfort with memorisation and recitation, which are unfashionable and central here
  • Accepting a canon, and that choosing one is a value judgement however old it is
  • Homework, and a household that supports it
  • Checking which tradition a given school belongs to — the name covers a wide political range

IB Primary Years

Children investigate big transdisciplinary questions rather than subjects, within a framework that is specified in considerable detail. It is the most internationally portable education available, built for families who may move, and it is explicit about wanting to produce a certain kind of person — open-minded, inquiring, principled — which is an admirable aim and also a worldview.

What it asks of you

  • Fees almost everywhere, and usually substantial ones
  • Comfort with a school that states the disposition it is trying to produce
  • Tolerance for a lot of process language — the framework is heavily specified
  • A reason to want portability, or you are paying for something you will not use
Side by side

Where they differ

Classical is the filled marker, IB Primary Years the hollow one. Widest difference first.

E3Technology at school
kept out until latebuilt in from the start

Classical sits firmly toward kept out until late; IB Primary Years sits toward built in from the start.

L5What a teacher is
a guide who steps backan authority who instructs

Classical sits firmly toward an authority who instructs; IB Primary Years sits between the two.

L4Where the curriculum comes from
it emerges from the childrena fixed body of knowledge, set in advance

Classical sits firmly toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance; IB Primary Years sits between the two.

E2Outdoors and the body
learning happens at a tableoutdoors and hands-on is the point

Classical sits toward learning happens at a table; IB Primary Years sits between the two.

L1Who directs the day
the child chooses what to dotimetabled, and directed by adults

Classical sits firmly toward timetabled, and directed by adults; IB Primary Years sits a little toward timetabled, and directed by adults.

L3Measuring it
no grades, no testsgraded and tested regularly

Classical sits toward graded and tested regularly; IB Primary Years sits between the two.

V2Who else is there
a broad, mixed intake matters mosta community that shares our values matters most

Classical sits a little toward a community that shares our values matters most; IB Primary Years sits a little toward a broad, mixed intake matters most.

C2Money and distancewhat your life allows
free and local, or it is not an optionwe can pay, and we can travel

Classical sits a little toward we can pay, and we can travel; IB Primary Years sits toward we can pay, and we can travel.

L2When formal academics start
when the child is ready, and late is fineearly, and ambitiously

Classical sits toward early, and ambitiously; IB Primary Years sits a little toward early, and ambitiously.

V1A view of the world
school should stay neutralschool should teach a view of the world

Classical sits toward school should teach a view of the world; IB Primary Years sits a little toward school should teach a view of the world.

Where they agree

Usually more than the argument between them suggests.

  • Mixed ages. Both sit toward classes of the same age.
  • What the family can put in. Both sit between the two.
  • What it is for. Both sit toward it should set up university and a career.

Neither of these is the correct one

Which fits depends on what you value and on what your week actually allows — and the second of those is the half nobody writes about. The questionnaire scores both.

See which one you are already doing