TASIS Portugal is an authorized IB World School for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). IB World Schools share a common educational philosophy: a commitment to high-quality, challenging, and internationally minded education that prepares students for success in higher education and beyond.
Only schools authorized by the International Baccalaureate (IB) may offer its academic programmes, which include the Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP), Diploma Programme (DP), and Career-related Programme (CP).
TASIS Portugal's IBDP vision
At TASIS Portugal, the IB Diploma Programme is designed to prepare students for further academic study by fostering intellectual curiosity, academic rigor, and independent thinking. Our approach emphasizes critical analysis, research skills, and disciplined inquiry, ensuring that students are well equipped for the demands of university-level coursework.
The IBDP at TASIS Portugal combines a challenging academic curriculum with opportunities for enrichment and personal development. Students benefit from academic enrichment classes, a broad range of elective options, and co-curricular opportunities that support achievement while encouraging creativity, leadership, service, and physical well-being.
Assessment in the IB Diploma Programme
The IB Diploma Programme uses a combination of external and internal assessments to evaluate student learning.
External assessments, including written examinations, form the basis of assessment for most courses and may include essays, structured and short-response questions, data analysis, case studies, and text-based responses. Internal assessments, conducted by teachers and moderated by the IB, include oral assessments in languages, laboratory work in the sciences, fieldwork in geography, mathematical investigations, and artistic performances.
This balanced assessment model supports the development of strong academic habits, reflective thinking, and subject mastery.
What is the IB Diploma Programme?
Established in 1968, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a two-year academic program for students aged 16–19. It is recognized and respected by leading universities worldwide, with research indicating that IB Diploma graduates enroll in and succeed at higher education institutions at higher rates than many non-IB peers.
The IBDP curriculum consists of six subject groups and a core programme, which includes:
Theory of Knowledge (TOK)
Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS)
The Extended Essay
Through the DP core, students reflect on the nature of knowledge, conduct independent research, and engage in meaningful service to their communities.
Why choose the IBDP?
The IB Diploma Programme:
Encourages critical thinking and the questioning of assumptions
Develops strong research, writing, and analytical skills essential for university study
Promotes interdisciplinary learning across cultural and national boundaries
Prepares students to take responsibility for their own learning
May allow students to earn advanced standing or university credit at many American universities
The IBDP is academically demanding and intellectually rigorous. In some cases, it may present challenges comparable to first-year undergraduate coursework. At TASIS Portugal, students are guided and supported throughout the programme by experienced teachers and advisors who are committed to their academic success and personal well-being.
The following option blocks represent the possible subject combinations for Grade 11 in 2025/26 and Grade 12 in 2026/27.
Students must select subjects according to the IBDP framework (1 subject from each group, with the exception of group 2 (if another from group 1 is selected) and group 6 (if another from groups 1-4 is selected).
In addition, students can only select courses that correlate with the TASIS Portugal option blocks as shown below. Students must select one course from each block.
There are six key pedagogical principles that underpin all IB programmes. Teaching in IB programmes is:
Based on inquiry
Focused on conceptual understanding
Developed in local and global contexts
Focused on effective teamwork and collaboration
Differentiated to meet the needs of all learners
Informed by assessment (formative and summative)
Approaches Learning
This area develops essential skills that include behavior and emotional management skills, those that allow the student to monitor their own effectiveness in their learning and allow them to process information effectively (often called “study skills” in a school environment). Although these skills may be in use when developing a certain natural ability or talent, they are different from both ability and talent themselves because proficiency in any skill can be increased through the deliberate use of techniques and strategies, feedback, and challenge. These categories should be seen as interrelated, as well as linking closely with the attributes highlighted in the IB learner profile. Teaching and learning in the Diploma Programme (DP) therefore incorporates the development of:
The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) curriculum sets out the requirements for study of the DP. The curriculum is made up of the DP core and six subject groups. The DP core aims to broaden students’ educational experience and challenge them to apply their knowledge and skills. Assessment of subjects is based on a combination of internal/IB moderated assessment and external examinations in April/May of Grade 12. Students receive grades ranging from 1-7. The final diploma result score is made up of the combined scores for each subject.
The DP core consists of:
Theory of knowledge, (TOK) in which students reflect on the nature of knowledge and on how we know what we claim to know. The TOK course is assessed through an exhibition and a 1,600-word essay. The exhibition requires the students to create an exhibition of three objects that explores how TOK manifests in the world around us. The essay focuses on a conceptual issue in TOK. For example, asking students to discuss the claim that the methodologies used to produce knowledge depend on the use to which that knowledge will be used.
Extended essay, (EE) which is an independent, self-directed piece of research, finishing with a 4,000-word paper. The EE should be focused on its approach, but apart from initial teacher supervision and guidance, should be based on the student’s own personal research and appropriately cited.
Creativity, activity, service, (CAS) in which students serve the community and keep a CAS portfolio related to those three strands. Students in the IB Diploma program must organize the three strands of CAS, defined as follows:
Creativity: exploring and extending ideas leading to an original or interpretative product or performance.
Activity: physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle.
Service: collaborative and reciprocal engagement with the community in response to an authentic need.
The Extended Essay and TOK are graded in a letter grade format from E (elementary/failing) to A (excellent). The maximum possible score which can be achieved in the IB Diploma is 45 points: 6 subjects x 7 and the additional 3 points for TOK + EE.
Students are introduced to the concepts and ethos of the IB in the fall of Grade 9 through information sessions led by the IBDP Coordinator. Additionally, career and university presentations consist of Future Pathway sessions with the Director of Post Secondary Counselling, College and Careers. In Grade 10, students are guided through the IBDP subject options via individual interviews with the IBDP Coordinator and the Director of Post Secondary Counselling, College and Careers, followed by an Options Fair in early Spring. Initial option choices are then reviewed and further one to one meetings take place with students and their parents in order to ensure they arrive at informed and confident choices.
