Fifteen Years of International Baccalaureate Research: A Systematic Evidence Map and Thematic Analysis of Curriculum and Instruction
Akın MetliBackground
Research on International Baccalaureate (IB) education has expanded, but its programme coverage, regional distribution and thematic development have not been mapped over an extended period from a curriculum and instruction perspective.
Purpose
This study maps IB-related scholarship indexed between 2010 and 2024 and examines how the reported research agenda changed across the period.
Methods
The dataset comprised 1,527 records listed in the IB’s annual research annotated bibliographies. Bibliography records - not full-text studies - were the unit of analysis. Records were mapped by year and programme, and their annotations were coded for region, method and six curriculum-related themes. Descriptive statistics and annotation-level thematic analysis were used. No appraisal of study quality or intervention effectiveness was undertaken.
Findings
Of the 1,527 indexed records, 608 concerned the Diploma Programme (39.8%), 531 were cross-programme (34.8%), 221 concerned the Primary Years Programme (14.5%), 150 the Middle Years Programme (9.8%) and 17 the Career-related Programme (1.1%). The annotations indicate a shift from international mindedness and programme distinctiveness in 2010–2012, towards assessment, programme evaluation and access in 2013–2017, and greater attention to digital pedagogy, interdisciplinarity and teacher learning in 2018–2024. Regional coverage was concentrated in the Americas and Europe within the available annotations.
Implications
The map identifies where the literature is concentrated and where evidence remains thin, especially for the Middle Years and Career-related Programmes and for research from the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. Because the review did not examine full texts or assess study quality, its findings identify research trends and gaps rather than effects on teaching or student outcomes.