The IB DP CAS
Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) is one of the three mandatory essential components of the IB Diploma Programme. It aims to provide a 'counterbalance' to the academic side of the programme by having students participate in a range of activities along with their studies. CAS is planned to with seven primary outcomes in mind-
- Strength & growth
- Challenge & skills
- Initiative & planning
- Working collaboratively with others
- Showing perseverance and commitment
- Global engagement
- Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Students are to take part in two CAS activities for each category (Creativity, Activity, Service) and students need to keep track of their activities by creating proof of participation/activity. The students are required to have one CAS project which lasts the duration of a month. In the end, the student must have proof of the CAS activities have resulted in the seven projected outcomes of CAS.
Structure
CAS has the following characteristics-
- Creativity – arts, and other experiences that involve creative thinking.
- Activity – physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle, complementing academic work elsewhere in the DP.
- Service – an unpaid and voluntary exchange that has a learning benefit for the student. The rights, dignity and autonomy of all those involved are respected.
The CAS projects should challenge students to:
- Show initiative
- Demonstrate perseverance
- Develop skills such as collaboration, problem solving and decision making.
Aims
CAS aims to give IB schools the opportunity to "give students the means to learn through experience how to take actions in the service of others."
The three aspects of CAS are vaguely defined purposely and it is upto the students to interpret as imaginatively as possible, due to this there is a wide variety of different activities which are elegible to qualify for CAS.
Documentation
Different schools have different methods of documentation, but they all require some form of proof or the signature of the supervisor of the experience to be presented after its completion. Students are required to keep track of their CAS work in log or diary format. This is done so that students can monitor the number of required hours and to present a relevant documentation of their entire CAS experience.
Assessment
The CAS is not graded but instead is internally assessed. CAS operates on a simple system of whether or not the requirements are met or not met. These requirements change from school to school but eventually depend on the judgment of the IBO.
The IBO originally used the "number of hours logged" system to determine whether or not the criterion was satisfactorily met. This meant that the student had to meet a certain minimum number of hours of activities for all three segments of CAS. This was done by the students being required to keep a log and record of every hour of activity and provide some means of verifying that you completed the experience.
Now, the student has to provide evidence of consistent CAS activities over the 18 month IB period from the start of your first year to your exam study break (if you have one).
The IBO reserves the right to ask to submit a number of random samples. Failure to do so will result failing grades for the entire Diploma The candidates are given one more year to finish their CAS program in the case of failing to submit relevant proof. If they complete it in their second year they will receive their diploma.
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