Supervisor

Introduction

By accepting the role of supervisor you also accept the responsibilities that go with it. Some of these are obligatory and some are strongly recommended. A good supervisor will see them all as important and want to do their utmost to encourage and support their student(s) to the best of their ability. A good supervisor should also know the roles and responsibilities of the school and the student. Remember that the IB strongly recommends that the school has a responsibility to ensure that you have the correct training to take on the role of supervisor. If you feel that you have not been trained sufficiently then you should make your concerns known. Before undertaking any supervision you should read carefully the Extended Essay Guide and also work through the Teacher Support Material and accompanying video under the heading of "In practice" on the online version of the guide. There are also examples of extended essays assessed under the new criteria under "Assessment".

Obligatory responsibilities

Essentially as a supervisor you are required to:

  • Discuss the nature of the Extended Essay with your student(s).
  • Encourage and support the student throughout the whole process.
  • Give advice and guidance in the skills needed for research
  • Discuss the choice of topic with the student and give particular help in formulating the precise research question so that it is sharply focused.
  • Ensure that the topic complies with all legal and ethical standards with regard to Health and Safety, confidentiality, environmental, animal welfare and human rights issues. (There are two guidelines produced by the IB for ethical considerations that you can download from My IB. One is general and the other is for all the sciences on animal experimentation policy.)
  • Know the IB regulations and assessment criteria for Extended Essays and provides copies and discuss these with the student.
  • Undertake three mandatory reflection sessions with the student - the final one being the viva voce.
  • Read and comment on one completed draft only of the extended essay (but does not edit the draft). This should be done after the interim mandatory reflection session but before the final mandatory reflection session (viva voce).
  • Monitor the progress of the student throughout and provide guidance to ensure that it is all the student’s own work and to read the final version of the essay to confirm its authenticity.
  • Sign and date each reflection summarized on the Reflections on planning and progress form and provide summative comments at the end of the process.
  • Write a report for the IB coordinator if there is any question of suspected plagiarism or malpractice

Strongly recommended responsibilities

Although the IB lists six additional responsibilities as recommended, rather than obligatory, they still form an essential part of the ‘job description’ for anyone who wants to carry out their task as a supervisor professionally and competently. These can be found along with the obligatory responsibilities in the IB Extended Essay Guide. Essentially they are: 

  • Read recent Chemistry Extended Essay Examiner's Reports (available from the programe resource centre on My IB).
  • Spend about 3-5 hours supervisory time with the student on the essay.

  • Encourage students to develop a Researcher’s reflection space.

  • Set a clear schedule for the three mandatory reflection sessions.

  • Give advice to the student on:

Access to relevant resources (e.g. laboratory, library, Internet, people)
Techniques on how to gather and analyse information, data and evidence
Documenting sources

  • Ensure that the research question is appropriate to Chemistry.

Managing the responsibilities

Some of the responsibilities are administrative and are relatively straightforward. Hopefully in your training you will have been shown how your responsibilities fit in with your own school’s way of managing extended essays. Make sure you read the other pages on this website regarding the school and the student’s responsibilities and that you can either draw up the list yourself for your own school discussed on the ‘Individual school approach ‘ page or that you can fit into your school’s existing list. The major part of your responsibilities involves giving advice and support to your student(s) throughout the whole process. This is covered in the pages on ‘Research’ and ‘Writing the essay’ and very specifically under each of the headings for the separate assessment criteria. So, for example, giving help and advice on formulating a precise and well-focused research question can be found under Framing the Research Question and also in Assessment Criterion A: Focus and method.

    External supervision

    The official supervisor must be a member of the school. In some cases a student may decide to use the facilities of a university research laboratory or carry out some of their work in an industrial or other setting that is outside the school. Although I personally do not recommend this, as it means you can never be certain how much external help the student receives, it is permissible. If this is the case the school must agree to their being an external mentor and you still retain the official position of supervisor. The external mentor must receive a letter from the school which outlines the nature of the extended essay and gives clear instructions about the level of guidance that is allowed. It should clearly state that students must not receive assistance with any aspect of the research, writing or proofreading of the extended essay.

    This letter must be electronically signed by the external mentor and must be inserted in the appendix of the essay as part of the document file rather than as a scanned document. If a student has had an external mentor, this signed letter is an important part of the authentication of the essay and the supervisor must ensure that it is present.

    Note that the three mandatory reflection sessions must be undertaken by you the supervisor. The external mentor may help to inform the nature of the comments but the actual comments and signature written on the Reflections on planning and progress form (RPPF) must be written by the supervisor. If at any time you suspect that the EE could not have been completed without the assistance from an external source it is your duty to inform the management of the school (EE coordinator or IB coordinator) who in turn must inform the IB, as this may then be investigated as a possible case of academic dishonesty.

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