As part of the physical activity component of CAS, the IB encourages candidates to participate in organized sports such as school athletics, city leagues and competitions.
Some candidates, whether as part of their individual preparation or to meet personal goals, opt to exercise and train independently.
While this is a good opportunity for a candidate to show personal maturity and responsibility, it is also the most difficult to provide objective, authenticated evidence of. Therefore, the IB discourages using this type of activity for CAS.
There are times however, when independent training can be justified. In this case, the responsibility lies with the candidate to assure that adequate documentation is provided as evidence of engagement as well as reflection focused on how the activity is providing sufficient opportunity to grow personally in regard to the Learning Objectives.
To that end, OIS has established the following requirements for any Diploma candidate wishing to include independent physical training as part of CAS.
- On Managebac, there must be a clear description of the project which includes:
- Specific, measurable physical development goals
- Clearly defined explanation of how the activity will address identified learning objectives
- Long-term and short-term goals and check points.
- A supervisor agreement must be signed by the supervisor and candidate, which enumerates all of the above requirements and your plans to reach your goals.
- The supervisor must be an OIS staff member, qualified to evaluate training plans and physical progress, such as someone in the Athletics / PE department.
NOTE: An outside supervisor will be considered if (s)he teaches / trains you as part of a class or group, or is a professional coach, such as a swim or tennis coach. Personal trainers are expressly excluded as a CAS Project supervisor.
- The candidate must meet with the supervisor once per month to present the training / workout log for discussion of training and development progress for the month and adjust further goals based on the discussion. Each page of the log must be signed by the supervisor. This document must be uploaded as evidence on Managebac.
- Ongoing reflection must:
- Be frequent
- Discuss progress toward goals, setbacks, adjustments made to the goals and practices
- Explain what is being learned and how (s)he is growing as a person based on the identified Learning Objectives.
- At the end of each term, the supervisor will need to complete a supervisor review that considers:
- Commitment and consistency of workouts
- Progress toward goals
- Willingness of the candidate to modifying goals and plans based on feedback from the supervisor
- Proactiveness in all documentation, scheduling and meeting with the supervisor.