CONGRATULATIONS ISR | An Interview with Deputy Director Mr. Cete & How They Achieved Record-Breaking IBD Results

For the very first time in ISR history, this year’s graduates achieved an average of 38 points on their IB Diploma, 5 points above the global average (comparable to a 1.6 or better average in the German Abitur). Typically, only about 3% of IB students achieve these results worldwide.

The IBDP (also known as the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program) is a two-year globally recognized program that is offered around the world. This educational program offers a two-year curriculum with three weeks of standardized testing in the final year. It is also a world-renowned program and is highly recognized by international universities.

So, as you can see, achieving record-breaking results is a reason to celebrate on its own, but achieving record-breaking results in the middle of a pandemic?! How on earth does a school manage to achieve this?! 

I sat down with Deputy Director and Head of Secondary, Mr. Emil Cete to ask him exactly that. Is there a secret sauce? How did students manage to overcome the struggle of online education and still successfully complete their IBDP with flying colors? 

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Mr. Cete, what do you personally think makes ISR stand out above all others? Is there a different model you focus on that has allowed the school to achieve such excellent results?

“At ISR, our motto is “we enable great minds and strong characters”. Everyone who is part of our school community shares the same values and proclivity for excellent education, which in turn unites us in our common objective.” says Cete. “It all comes down to drive and shared objectives“. 

Cete mentioned on numerous accounts that the success comes directly from the students and the support and dedication of their teachers and staff at ISR.

It is the students’ drive, their willingness to adapt, and their synergy that helped them carry that same motivation to move forward and to succeed despite the circumstances. Let us not forget the outstanding support  the students receive from their parents and families who are with them every step of the way in their school career. We are fortunate enough to have a strong and very involved parent community at ISR who unconditionally support and encourage their children! 

In addition, one of the most important parts of ISR is the Student Life Organization (SLOⓇ) – the heart of ISR. This organization is run by the students themselves and allows them to shape how other students perceive their own community and school environment. Even during the pandemic, the students self-organized many fantastic initiatives to help other students remain in a healthy headspace and get the support and community feel they needed whilst at home during the lockdown or in quarantine.

For example, the Mental Health Awareness Campaign, which allowed the SLOⓇ group to organize peer groups for students to simply get together and chat with each other virtually. They also organized sport and health challenges which helped the students exercise together virtually and remain fit even in the middle of a pandemic.

Day 1: Challenge yourself to 50 push-ups and send us your video proof! 

This was just one example of many fun ways the Student Life Organization (SLOⓇ) encouraged students to get up, out of their seats, and find entertainment in their lives even while cooped up at home.

“It really is all about loving what you do, and working hard” mentioned Cete.

Nothing comes easy, and as Cete mentioned. It’s putting in the elbow grease, working hard, and actually enjoying being part of the ISR Family -that creates this ultimate end result.

 

Do you have any expert tips on how ISR achieved record-breaking International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB DP) results this year?

“I’m a big fan of sports analogies,” says Cete “it’s all about training for the real game.“

The IBDP standardized testing is no walk in the park, neither is a final match in football, and this is exactly what Mr. Cete referred to when discussing the success of his students. Schooling is essential and lays the foundation for future success, but it is not the end of the educational journey. The aim is to pave the way to a successful future for the students and to accompany and successfully prepare them on their way to the university of their choice – and beyond. 

A successful person → The best possible support and guidance  →  a successful student 

This is Mr. Cete’s recipe for success. The IBDP students at the ISR International School on the Rhine are successful in their studies because they’re bright and successful individuals. With the right training and the best real-life support they offer at ISR, their students were able to achieve the best results they possibly could in the middle of this pandemic.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the student’s most crucial years leading up to graduation were required to be completed under extreme learning conditions. 

It wasn’t only a matter of training the students for success, but re-training them for success in the middle of a pandemic when education was brought online and the benefits of face-to-face learning were no longer present. It was the drive of the students, their willingness to learn in a new environment and to adapt to new study habits that led to these amazing IBDP results this year.

 

So, what types of projects or activities did ISR offer in order to prepare your students for the IBD examinations?

“If there’s one thing I want to highlight, it’s what the students did for themselves,” mentioned Cete.

In addition, it was of course beneficial that our students had the technical support from the beginning. We were able to move to the virtual model as early as March 2020, allowing us to guarantee continuous curriculum instruction at all times through virtual lessons for all our students from kindergarten to grade 12. In this way, we ensured seamless educational continuance.

Finally, our internal UCC was also essential for the success of the students. Despite the pandemic situation, they advised our students and helped them to apply for the universities of their dreams. On top, students were able to participate in various virtual career talks where they were inspired by high-level speakers from various career fields. The team of student counselors, the UCC team and all the teachers who supported the students beyond the classroom were finally essential for their academic success.

“As a school, we have the tech and academic support that the students need, but that’s only half the battle. Feeling comfortable and the willingness to contribute to the community, interacting with other students, and being able to still grow together is so important,” says Cete.

 

What was it really like for your students to have to complete their studies and examinations in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic?

“There were a lot of non-physical components – online classes, staying at home, etc.- but they found a way to keep their academic standards high .“

Cete mentioned that by not having these physical components present, there was a lot more onus being put back on the students, which came quite unexpectedly.

Everyone needs a few attempts at something before they’re able to perfect it, but when students are learning for the first time how to shape their study habits to succeed, it’s not easy to have to re-learn and adapt these new study habits to their new pandemic life and learning style.

Students no longer had the luxury of meeting the teacher face-to-face. However, teachers tried their hardest to be able to offer the same experience online as they had offline so that the virtual exchange was even more intensive.

It was their role to learn how to gain their students’ trust in an online environment. Teachers wanted to make sure that their students felt heard, but that they also understood why some teaching methods were the way they were and that during the pandemic there were simply hurdles that both the teachers and the students would have to jump over.

The students missed the personal contact, but the mutual trust of teachers and students ultimately led to success. The deep trust in the teachers to do their best to prepare the students academically despite the unusual situation helped our students a lot to get through the situation.

“Even if the students had preferred face-to-face classes, they really showed trust in their teachers and peers and came out stronger because of this,” mentioned Cete.

 

Were there any new teaching methods you needed to adapt during the pandemic? Which methods are you particularly proud of or believe helped the children most?

“Our online offerings,” answered Cete immediately. “What we tried to achieve is that the online lecture happened exactly as it was structured for offline learning.“

Before the first schools were closed due to the pandemic, all necessary measures were already taken at ISR to be able to teach virtually as well. The school made this their priority when it came to online education. This allowed them to ease the transition for students and to make it as interactive as possible, even when 100% of the lectures needed to take place online.

“We had to think ahead, and unfortunately this also included the aspect that schools might be closed. In order to avoid a loss of teaching time, our IT department installed everything necessary to be able to teach completely virtually as of March 2020.”

These new teaching methods have actually worked so well that ISR is planning on keeping these capabilities in their classrooms moving forward in order to help support students who may not be able to attend class (perhaps due to medical reasons). A fantastic step into the future of education!

The IB also played an integral role in helping the students adapt during the pandemic by restructuring the program. They were able to offer more flexible deadlines, reduce the content of the exam, and establish a way where certain countries, depending on the current situation, could or could not write exams.

 

After the children complete their IB Bilingual Diploma successfully, what do they end up doing? Is there a particular career path that is more popular?

There was a significant shift this year in what the students ended up wanting to do in their career paths, likely due to the pandemic.

While three-quarters of ISR graduates opted to enroll in universities abroad this year (Great Britain, Netherlands, USA, Canada, Spain, Japan, and Switzerland being popular choices), a large number of students preferred to stay local or in neighboring countries.

Similarly, while careers in the science field have proven to be particularly popular in recent years, there has also been a spike in interest in economics and business careers since the pandemic.

Students received offers this year from universities including the University of Toronto in Canada, King’s College London, Keio University in Japan, Boston University and Michigan State University in the USA, as well as the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

 

I’ve heard that you have recently taken over a new kindergarten location in Düsseldorf and Meerbusch. Are there any other projects that ISR is aiming for in the future?

“We are definitely a very active bunch,” mentioned Cete. “I will say this much, I will be very surprised if in the next 24 months we have nothing new planned.” 

As many of you may know, this is very much true for the International School on the Rhine. The ISR Education Group is an active and interactive bunch who are always looking for new and innovative ways to work together and grow. If you have new ways you’d like to connect or build with ISR, Cete seemed excited and eager to embrace the future.

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Have any additional questions? Or interested in finding ways to work together with ISR? Feel free to reach out to Annika Poestges, for any inquiries.