Stakeholders

Diploma students need to submit their Extended Essay so that the external examiner receives it by March 15^th. (May session) or September 15^th. (November session) in the student’s second year. The whole process for the students however will almost certainly begin in their first year so that the school needs to be thoroughly prepared a long time in advance.

The IB has very clearly defined the responsibilities for each of the three main stakeholders – the School, the Supervisor and the Student. They are however intimately entwined. A good supervisor needs to be very clearly aware of all the responsibilities of all three parties so that they can ensure that their students have every opportunity to achieve to the best of their ability. Even if you, the supervisor of a Chemistry Extended Essay, have no responsibility for formulating the overall school policy for Extended Essays you should be aware of what such a policy should contain and how it can be improved. You are then in a good position to make constructive suggestions if you think it is lacking in some way.

I repeat what I have stated on the overview page. Don’t be tempted to skip the ‘boring’ bit about responsibilities. If all parties know clearly what is expected of them and fulfil all their responsibilities the end result is virtually guaranteed to be of a much higher quality.