IB Docs (2) Team
CAS & BM
"Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all."
- Aristotle (384BC - 322BC), Greek philosopher in Ancient Greece
As part of the IB Core, all Diploma Programme (DP) students must complete the course in Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS). CAS enables students to engage in education beyond the classroom and their academic studies, leading them to reflect on their experiences and learning, and enabling them to put the IB learner profile in practice.
The three strands of CAS, which are often interwoven, are characterized by the IB as follows:
Creativity – the arts and other experiences that involve creative thinking.
Activity – physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle (which helps to complement academic work).
Service – an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the DP student. The rights, dignity and autonomy of all those involved are respected in this process.
Note that although CAS is not formally assessed in the same way as the Extended Essay (EE) or Theory of Knowledge (TOK), students must formally reflect on their CAS experiences as part of the Diploma Programme, and provide evidence of achieving the 7 learning outcomes for CAS. This must then be signed off by the CAS supervisor and/or CAS Coordinator at the school.
So, why does the IB focus on CAS and require all DP students to complete this in order to be awarded the Diploma (if there is no academic grade attached)? The answer is in the way the question was phrased. The IB wants students to have a holistic education that focuses not only on academic growth and exploration of the subjects being studied, but also the physical, altruistic, and creative growth as part of the IB's mission to make the world a better place through education. In an increasingly divided world, the importance of doing more for others has become even more important.
CAS requires students to get involved in a range of activities alongside their academic studies. As a practical academic discipline, Business Management provides ample opportunities for students to engage in their CAS programme. Some common examples of these opportunities include students getting involved with:
charity / volunteer work
environmental / sustainability projects
enterprise activities, clubs and competitions, such as stock market competitions, Young Enterprise and Junior Achievement
school-based activities, such as a Business Club or enterprise projects
opportunities to take on an active role in the local community.
CAS opportunities during school trade fairs and enterprise week
ATL Activity (Thinking skills)
Study the four quotes below and think about how they relate to the CAS programme. Be prepared to share your thoughts with the rest of the class.
"Sometimes the most brilliant and intelligent students do not shine on standardized tests, because they do not have standardized minds." - Professor Diane Ravitch, American educational policy analyst
"It's not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It's our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless." - L.R. Knost, Award-winning author, feminist, and social justice activist
"The more we view ourselves as self-made and self-sufficient, the less likely we are to care for the fate of those less fortunate than ourselves." - Professor Michael J. Sandel, Harvard University Law School
"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." - Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790), Founding Fathers of the United States
The idea behind CAS is to enable students to enhance their personal and interpersonal development as an IB learner, by learning through experiences beyond the classroom. CAS aims to provide students with opportunities for self-determination and collaboration with others, fostering a sense of accomplishment and enjoyment from their work. At the same time, CAS provide an important framework to counterbalance the demands of academic pressures of the Diploma Programme.
There are also many opportunities to link CAS to the IB Business Management course. Some examples include:
Unit 1.1 Business plans - Students could create a business plan for their CAS project. Alternatively, they could even start their own school-based not-for-profit organization of their own. This should include functional aspects of their organization, including consideration of human resources, financial resources, marketing and operations management.
Unit 1.3 Ethical business objectives - Students could find a work placement (work experience) with a non-profit organization in their local area. They could review and reflect on the NPO's vision and/or mission, its aims, objectives, strategies and tactics, and the relationships between these. This should also include aspects of the firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR). This helps to add context to their learning, and could prove very useful for the CUEGIS essay in Paper 2, Section C.
Unit 2 - Students can create a form "Code of Conduct" for a CAS activity / extra-curricular activity / club or event. They can use various aspects of Human Resource Management to create and communicate policies and procedures that set standards and practices for behaviour and other expectations, such as attendance, time keeping, and dress code. There would also be consideration of any consequences for violation of the Code of Conduct.
Unit 4.3 Sales forecasting - HL students could carry out sales forecasts for upcoming school events, such as a fundraising event, school production or annual school fair. Similarly, they could apply other techniques (such as 3.3 Break-even analysis, 3.7 Cash flow forecasting and 3.9 Budgets (HL only) in order to maximise funds raised for good causes.
Unit 4.4 Primary market research - Students can be encouraged to investigate the opinions of various stakeholder groups regarding a particular school issue or proposed change. This encourages real-world application of content (such as sample sizes, qualitative and quantitative methods, and possibly secondary market research) to a contextualised example that students can understand.
Unit 4.5 Promotional mix - Students can devise a promotional campaign to support a school-based activity or event, such as the annual school production, school fair or any other major whole-school event. They can be encouraged to apply the principles of advertising, promotion and marketing discussed in the classroom in order to advocate a desirable cause or fundraising campaign, for example.
Top tip!
Considering turning your personal hobbies/interests into CAS experience - If there is something you really enjoy doing, such as music and/or sports, why not take the opportunity to turn something you enjoy doing into a CAS experience? This is an efficient way to engage in the CAS programme while making time for yourself to do something you really enjoy.
Case Study 1 - CAS volunteer work experience at WWF (Hong Kong)
Whilst volunteering at the WWF in Hong Kong, four of my students were able to make direct links with their CAS volunteer work experience and the IB Business Management syllabus:
Unit 1.3 Mission statement
Unit 1.4 Pressure groups
Unit 2.2 Organizational structures
Unit 3.1 Sources of finance
Unit 3.9 Cost centres (HL)
Unit 4.2 Marketing planning
Unit 4.5 The importance of branding
Unit 5.1 Ecological sustainability
Unit 5.4 Location
The students were also able to make direct links to the CUEGIS concepts:
Change
Changes to the WWF name (simplified to "WWF" from World Wildlife Fund and World Wide Fund to appeal to a global audience)
Changes to the WWF logo
Changing focus of the charitable organization from wildlife to biodiversity and ecological footprint.
Culture
Culture is defined by WWF's core values (“Together possible”)
Hong Kong's seafood culture has provided a focus for lobbying activity from the WWF
Community engagement and education
Ethics
Conservation education programme
Safeguarding the planet
Emphasis on sustainable seafood recipes
Globalization
Global brand management (the WWF brand and its registered trademarks such as its Panda logo)
Worldwide outreach and global operations
Innovation
WWF and the Earth Hour initiative
Online donations using new platforms such as AsiaPay
Social media marketing – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube etc.
Strategy
WWF's 5 year development plan (also available online from its website)
Ecological sustainability through education of future generations
Earth Hour as an annual reminder of WWF's mission for a more sustainable planet.
Case Study 2 - CAS volunteer work experience at Second Chance (Bangkok, Thailand)
I had the huge privilege of spending some time with two amazing IB Diploma students in Bangkok at their work placement at a small local charity. Second Chance is a social enterprise set up to improve the lives of local people in one of the poorest parts of Thailand's capital city. Second Chance was a local initiative established by local residents of Bangkok’s largest slum, Klong Toey. The organization has a workforce of 16 employees. The business emphasises "people before profits" and operates by its mantra of "Recycle, Renew, Reuse" as well as emphasis on upcycling (the creative reuse of existing and unwanted products).
Ba Kit, the shop manager at Second Chance, describes the corporate culture simply as "Our bosses are not like bosses but family”.
One of the added benefits for these two students volunteering at Second Chance was that they were both able to formulate a research question for their Business Management HL Internal Assessment.
Based on her time at Second Chance, Ooi chose to focus on the below-the-line promotional strategies that the charity should use in order to increase sales revenues from its small shop that sells recycled and upcycled products such as purses, headbands and ties. Second Chance faces cash flow problems especially during off peak seasons when tourist numbers drop.
Sian focused her HL IA on the use of social media marketing to gain greater exposure. Ba Kit, the shop manager, had told Sian that Second Chance "is stuck on marketing", which gave Sian the opportunity to work alongside the organization to tackle this specific issue.
Case Study 3 - Education outside the classroom (St. Dominic High School, Sint Maarten)
In February 2022, St. Dominic High School hosted its Business Fair at the school in St. Maarten. The IB DP 1 students organized a day event for all Business students in Grades 9 and 10. The younger students were put into groups and assigned supervisors. As students arrived at the school, they were escorted to their rooms and each group was given a business scenario (start-up business).
Students were also given business plan layout and rubric to work with (click the links to download the files). The preparation time was 2 hours to work on their pitch. There was absolutely no access to the Internet or mobile devices of any kind. The objective was to help students with the ATL skills (namely communication, thinking, self management, and social skills).
The judges (referred to as the Sharks - based on the US Shark Tank series) were invited from the real business world and each group was asked to pitch in their idea to the audience and judges. These included the Business Development Officer from the Chamber of Commerce and the CEO of Arena Cafe (a local and popular business) and the Dutch facilitator.The groups were asked to communicate their short term and long term goals, anticipated market share, target audience, expected profit margins, channels of distribution, and many more relevant issues to their business plan.
Given the context of the school, the event was also attended by the school's Dutch facilitator, who happens to also be the CAS Coordinator. She had also invited her Dutch students to be part of the event but they had to deliver their pitch in Dutch!
Prior to this day, students in Grades 9 and 10 had no idea what was to be expected of them. The school did not want them to come prepared beforehand - the Internet can be a disadvantage at times in students' learning and they have had plenty of opportunities to develop their ATL research skills!
Overall, it was a great way of making students realize the real-world applications of their learning in the classrooms through these activities outside of the classroom.
Each group was allotted 5 minutes to present (a timer was set) plus an extra 3 minutes for questions and answers from the Sharks, and watched on by the audience and teachers.
Many thanks to Saakshi Daryani who organized this event for the students and for being so generous in sharing this with us on InThinking.
Education outside the classroom can be very powerful and goes a long way to consolidate what students learn in the classroom. Why not give this a go in your own schools?
The event was subsequently covered in The Daily Herald. Click the hyperlink to read the feature.
You can also download the Subject Brief for the CAS programme here or from the MyIB / Programme Resources Centre portal.
Can it be CAS? Teachers and students can use this poster to work out whether something they want to do can be considered as a CAS experience by the IB. Permission has been granted by Hodder Education to share this poster, which originally featured in their flagship publication, IB Review magazine.
Links to other components of the IB DP Core
Return to The IB Diploma Core homepage
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