Why Do IB Students Feel They Receive Insufficient Guidance?

Recently, after a long Extended Essay session, an IB student sent me a thank-you message. But it was their last words that stayed with me:

“My supervisor never mentioned any of this… why?” 🤦‍♀️

This was not an individual case. The student was intelligent, hardworking, and responsible. Their struggle wasn’t due to lack of motivation; it was because the basic expectations had never been explained to them. And the truth is, this happens frequently throughout the IB Diploma Programme.

So why do so many IB students feel they receive insufficient guidance? This gap affects not only students, but also parents and teachers.

The Myth of “Built-In Guidance”

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is often presented as a holistic and supportive program. Parents, reassured by its reputation as a rigorous and globally recognized framework, begin the programme convinced that schools will provide a robust system of guidance. Students, in turn, expect coordinators and teachers to explain the essentials of major components like the Extended Essay (EE), Theory of Knowledge (TOK), or Internal Assessments (IAs).

But in reality, the quality of guidance varies dramatically from school to school, and even from teacher to teacher within the same school. Some schools run EE workshops, provide detailed handbooks, and ensure systematic feedback cycles. Others give little more than a checklist and a deadline reminder.

The result?

Students feel lost — not because they are lazy or careless, but because no one has ever clearly shown them how to meet the standards.

Why the Gap Exists

There are several reasons for the “guidance gap” in IB education:

1. Overloaded Teachers

IB teachers juggle lesson planning, grading, pastoral care, and extracurricular responsibilities. EE or IA supervision often gets buried under this workload.

2. Varying Levels of IB Experience

Not all teachers are IB-trained or deeply familiar with the criteria. New teachers may be learning the system alongside their students. While IB provides professional development, schools vary widely in how much they invest in training.

3. Limited IB Training

The training that IB offers is generally basic, not exhaustive. This means that teachers themselves often rely on each other—or their coordinators—for practical guidance. Where that network is weak, students inevitably suffer.

4. The Independence Misconception

The IB emphasizes independent learning. While valuable, this is often pushed too far: students are left to figure out for themselves skills that should be explicitly taught, such as justifying controlled variables in a lab report or structuring a TOK essay.

5. Limited Parental Understanding

Parents who never experienced IB themselves assume schools will “cover everything.” Without transparency, they can’t see where their children are missing crucial guidance.

The Human Cost of Missing Guidance

For Students

  • Stress and confusion: Even responsible students panic when they discover late in the process that they’ve missed essential elements.
  • Unfair outcomes: Grades may reflect access to guidance more than actual ability.
  • Lost confidence: Students often blame themselves rather than the system.
  • Low-quality outcomes: Many students (and their parents) do not realize until the final stages that essential components are missing or poorly executed.

For Parents

  • Frustration: They see their children working hard but not achieving results.
  • Helplessness: Without understanding the IB structure, they cannot intervene effectively.

For Teachers

  • Burnout: Dedicated teachers feel stretched too thin to give students what they need.
  • Inconsistency: A student’s success may depend more on luck of assignment than on their own effort.

What “Good Guidance” Should Look Like

If schools consistently provided strong support, IB students would be taught:

  • Clarity of expectations: A precise explanation of each criterion.
  • Practical skills: Referencing, experimental design, critical thinking, and writing.
  • Feedback cycles: Opportunities to act on detailed feedback well before final deadlines.
  • Holistic integration: Showing how EE, TOK, and CAS connect instead of treating them as isolated tasks.
  • Emotional support: Recognizing that time management and well-being are just as important as academic work.

Closing the Guidance Gap: What Can Be Done

For Students

  • Don’t mistake silence for approval. Ask for specific, explicit feedback.
  • Reject vague comments such as “This looks good” or “This isn’t working.” Feedback should always be tied to a criterion and provide actionable direction.
  • Learn from peers — upper-year students or recent graduates are among the most valuable resources. Their experiences can help you avoid common pitfalls.
  • Use external resources: guidebooks, online communities, exemplars, or mentors.

For Parents

  • Take time to learn the structure of the IB (EE, TOK, IAs, CAS).
  • Be cautious of unverified information from WhatsApp groups or social media. Stick to reliable sources.
  • Encourage your child to track criteria and deadlines.
  • If you notice inconsistency at school, advocate for clearer communication.

For Schools

  • Provide continuous teacher training, not one-off workshops.
  • Develop shared resources so that all students receive the same baseline guidance.
  • Monitor supervisor–student interactions to ensure fairness.
  • Balance independence with instruction: give students freedom after teaching them the rules of the game.

A Call for Equity in Guidance

At its best, the IB cultivates resilient, critical, globally minded students. But when guidance is patchy, the programme risks becoming more of a lottery than a learning experience.

Two equally capable and hardworking students can end up with drastically different outcomes purely because their schools offered different levels of guidance.

A hardworking student should not remain unaware of basic expectations.
A parent should not be left in the dark.
A teacher should not be unsupported in supporting their students.

Until schools address the guidance gap, many IB students will continue to echo the same painful message:

“Why did no one tell me this before?”