Our different TOK workshops for students

Our workshops for students fall broadly into three categories: ones designed to help them understand the central concepts and ideas of the TOK course, ones designed to develop the skills needed to create great final assessment tasks, and ones to introduce the course as they begin.

All our workshops are designed on a bespoke basis, so if you’d like to adapt what you see outlined here, or want something completely different, we’ll be happy to set this up for you. We can also deliver any of these workshops for teachers, to help them understand the course from a student’s point of view.

Previous workshops & appearances

Oct 2021, WESTMINSTER ACADEMY. A workshop for a small TOK team, focusing primarily on the assessment tasks, but also covering various other aspects how to deliver a great TOK course, at a very exciting school in the heart of London.

Oct 2021, HOCKERILL ANGLO-EUROPEAN COLLEGE, BISHOP’S STORTFORD. A workshop for 250 Year 12 & 13 students at one of the UK’s top state schools, explored the learning objective: I can offer an critical response to the statement: “TOK is the most important element of the DP”

Apr 2021, INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF LUXEMBOURG. Our third workshop with ISL was an all-day online workshop to explore the changes to the TOK syllabus, with a particular focus on the exhibition.

Feb 2021, DPS INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, GURGAON. ‘Chief guest’ at a fantastic online event featuring the exhibition work of DP1 at this exciting school, that follows the BQ approach to the course.

Jan 2020, GULF ENGLISH SCHOOL, DOHA. A whole-day workshop for TOK teams from 11 different schools in Qatar, outlining how to create a great department, instill passion in your students, and adapt to the new syllabus changes for TOK. This was followed by a morning session for students from different schools in the same city, asking them to assess the importance and usefulness of TOK.

Jan 2019, UNITED WORLD COLLEGE, MAASTRICHT. A whole-day workshop for the TOK team at UWC Maastricht, on the most effective ways to motivate and inspire students, followed by two seminars with the whole DP1 cohort on the point of TOK, and what distinguishes a great critical-thinker.

Jan 2019, ST EDWARD’S SCHOOL, OXFORD. A half-day workshop, involving sessions on how to deliver an effective TOK course, and integrate it with the rest of the IB Diploma.

Apr 2018, BRITISH SCHOOL OF MANILA. An online workshop introducing the Big Question framework, and fielding questions regarding how to adapt to this way of delivering the course.

Feb 2018, INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF LUXEMBOURG. A follow-up workshop, consolidating the 8BQ approach with ISL’s TOK team (whole day), followed by a morning session with their students on the TOK presentation.

Jan 2018, INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF PARIS. A whole-day workshop, involving two sessions for non-TOK teachers on how to incorporate TOK in their lessons, one session for TOK teachers on the 8 Big Questions, and a final session for students on the nature of TOK, and why we do it.

Nov 2017, NEWTON COLLEGE, LIMA. A two-hour workshop on ‘Rebooting TOK’ for seven different DP schools in Lima, explaining the BQ framework, and why this is represents a superior way of delivering the course compared to the traditional approach.

Jan 2016, YAMANASHI GAKUIN HIGH SCHOOL, KOFU. A series of online consultations aiding the design and delivery of a pre-TOK critical thinking course for Y11 students.

Jan 2016, STEPHEN PERSE FOUNDATION, CAMBRIDGE. In association with Cambridge University Press, teacher workshop (for IB and non-IB schools in the region) on placing critical thinking at the heart of the learning experience.

Dec 2015, ST EDMUND’S COLLEGE, HERTFORDSHIRE. Teacher workshop on ‘We’re All TOK Teachers’ + student workshop on ‘Think Different’.

Nov 2015, EYÜBOGLU EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, ISTANBUL In Association with Cambridge University Press, Key note speech at the 14th Annual International Students’ ToK Youth and Culture Conference.

Nov 2015, ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS ACADEMY, BIRMINGHAM. Teacher workshop on ‘Putting TOK at the Heart of the IB Diploma’ + student seminar on ‘Mastering the TOK Essay’ and ‘It’s Good to Be Confused’.

Aug 2015, NESIBE AYDIN COLLEGE, ANKARA. An association with Cambridge University Press, teacher workshop on ‘Putting TOK at the Heart of the IB Diploma’ for multiple international schools in Turkey.

Jun 2015, ST JULIAN’S SCHOOL, LISBON. A whole day TOK student seminar for five of the international schools in Lisbon.

Thank you so much for the sessions you led with us, the TOK team is certainly feeling more confident in their teaching of the two assessments of the course and you have given me lots to think about in terms of the way we currently approach TOK.

Charlotte Nicholas, TOK Coordinator, Westminster Academy

The Gulf English School was delighted to have Michael present over two full days in January. Michael delivered a teachers workshop to a variety of teachers repressing 11 local schools. The workshop allowed fantastic opportunities for teachers to gain insight into the new TOK course. In addition, the student workshop provided fantastic high quality student engagement through a range of activities. Thank you Michael, for delivering two very successful workshops.

Hannah Cashell, TOK Coordinator, Gulf English School, Doha

Thank you again for spending the days with us; students were buzzing for a while after, and the ToK team appreciated the opportunity to connect, think, and talk ToK. Hope we have a chance to work again in the future.

Dasha Lis, Head of TOK, UWC Maastricht

Thank you very much for the ToK workshop… as a ToK novice, I found it incredibly interesting and reassuring.

Alex Waring, CAS Coordinator, St Edward’s School, Oxford

Yesterday we had a ToK collaboration meeting, and the feedback from the workshop was fantastic! Everybody was happy… we need people like you!

Dorothee Prendergast, Head of Languages, and TOK, International School of Luxembourg

• [The workshop has given] a broader, more complete/intuitive understanding of the course, will certainly improve critical thinking and subject connections.
• Great ideas for new and innovative practices and approaches to teaching the course.
• Good preparation with tools, tactics and new ideas. Very helpful.
• Very practical, and offered concrete ideas on how to approach the course.
• Terrific opportunity to collaborate and share ideas with the speaker and my colleagues.
• [This will] Help students how to understand ToK better by improved teaching schedule and lesson structure.
• The structure of the 8 questions programme makes so much more sense.

Feedback from the ISL teachers, following Michael’s visit to Luxembourg in January 2017

The feedback I have had from the teacher workshops has been really positive. My colleagues really approached your personable style and found the content engaging. Everyone felt they had an immediate takeaway and a better understanding of TOK generally. We’d love you to come back and do more.

Joanne Perkins, Head of TOK, International School of Paris

I can’t say how thankful we are for your visit. Chatting to the students yesterday showed that they really felt the day helped them to grasp the essential concepts of TOK in a way that had thus far evaded them. Feedback was all positive and many have gone on to plan their final presentations on the back of ideas that came to them during the day.

Kieran Hennigan, Head of TOK at St Julian’s School, Lisbon

As an IBDP coordinator who has attended your workshop at Nesibe Aydin Schools in Ankara, I would like to thank you for the great ideas you have shared with us.

Müge Özgönül, IBDP & CAS Coordinator, Eyüboglu High School

Thank you so much for delivering your ToK session. Staff were really energised by it!

Tricia Kelleher, Head of School, Stephen Perse Foundation