Hi Ruth,
That’s really interesting to hear, having made that shift myself 5 years ago when we moved schools – although mine also involved becoming EPQ co-ordinator. I found the biggest difference for me was that with the IB EE we (as the Library) ran support lectures and workshops at a number of key points in the year (possibly four?), and in between students met with their supervisors to discuss the progress of their projects but there weren’t weekly lessons. For the EPQ there is supposed to be a 30-hour taught course underpinning the project. I believe some schools may deliver these in intermittent chunks the way our EE support was delivered, but I think most run a group teaching session every week (ours are an hour long and after school because the EPQ is an extra-curricular option) with some individual supervision meetings outside that where necessary. In larger schools these lessons may be delivered by supervisors to smaller supervision groups, with ‘experts’ invited in for particular sessions (e.g. the Librarian or someone from the marketing team). In our school I teach all of the taught course sessions (and my students also have supervisors, whom they meet with as and when required).
I have found this regular teaching and learning opportunity much more helpful than the info dump approach that is required when there is no regular lesson time, because I can step and scaffold students though the inquiry process, give them time for supervised practice of key skills and revisit important concepts at regular intervals. It has been a much more rewarding process because I can see the students growing as inquirers though it. I also really like the Production Log that is part of the EPQ assessment (they vary a bit between exam boards – ours is AQA) because it really pushes the students to engage with the inquiry process throughout.
One big difference for me here is that the EPQ is not compulsory, where the EE is a compulsory core component of the DP, which has positives and negatives. It does mean that my students have chosen to undertake a research project – I’m not needing to force them through it – but it also means that only some of the year group benefit from learning these key skills in this in-depth, immersive way (I do run a short, 6-week induction course for everyone).
I would love to keep in touch as your school makes the transition and see how you find it. The main EPQ/HPQ discussion is here if you do want to continue the EPQ/EE conversation there. I’ll continue to post any updates I have about referencing here though, as that has broader application.
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