Working with an IB coordinator is most effective when both sides distinguish programme administration from subject-level professional responsibility. The Diploma Programme coordinator manages implementation across the school and acts as the main administrative link with the IB. Subject teachers remain responsible for curriculum delivery, assessment judgments, feedback, and the authenticity of work in their classes.
Each school must define its coordinator’s role and local procedures. However, local arrangements cannot transfer a teacher’s academic judgment to the coordinator or assign teachers processes requiring coordinator access, such as candidate registration through IBIS.
The coordinator’s role in the Diploma Programme
The coordinator is more than an examinations officer. Under IB programme standards, the coordinator contributes to pedagogical leadership and should receive enough authority, time, support, and resources to facilitate the programme.
The coordinator normally oversees:
- Communication between the school and the IB
- Candidate registration and examination entries
- Programme-wide assessment calendars and internal deadlines
- Distribution of regulations, updates, and procedural instructions
- Submission of internally and externally assessed work
- Examination organization, security, and conduct
- Programme-wide academic integrity and inclusion procedures
- Results administration and enquiries upon results
The IB’s 2026 General Regulations for the Diploma Programme state that the coordinator completes candidate registration through IBIS. The coordinator is also the normal intermediary for formal communication between candidates or legal guardians and the IB.
This means the coordinator manages the system surrounding assessment. It does not mean they determine subject marks or personally interpret every assessment criterion.
What remains the subject teacher’s responsibility
The subject teacher applies the current subject guide. Teachers must understand the syllabus, assessment objectives, command terms, component requirements, criteria, permitted assistance, and relevant course updates.
Typical responsibilities include:
- Planning and delivering the prescribed curriculum
- Designing formative and summative assessments
- Teaching subject-specific assessment criteria
- Applying criteria consistently and completing internal standardization
- Supervising assessed work within permitted limits
- Checking authenticity before submission
- Producing defensible marks and predicted grades
- Preparing complete files by internal deadlines
- Reporting concerns before submission day
The IB assessment guide for teachers and coordinators explains that moderation evaluates how accurately and consistently teachers applied the criteria. A coordinator can organize submissions and check documentation, but the teacher must justify the academic judgment behind each mark.
Coordinator versus teacher responsibilities
| Area | Coordinator usually handles | Subject teacher usually handles |
|---|---|---|
| Curriculum | Programme coherence, access to guides, and cross-subject planning | Subject content, sequencing, teaching, and syllabus coverage |
| Internal assessment | Calendar, samples, forms, file checks, and submission | Supervision, permitted feedback, authentication, marking, and standardization |
| Predicted grades | Collection, completion checks, and administrative submission | Determining a defensible grade from suitable evidence |
| Examinations | Registration, scheduling, security, invigilation, and IB communication | Exam preparation that does not compromise security |
| Academic integrity | School policy, investigations, procedures, and formal reporting | Teaching ethical practice, monitoring work, and raising concerns |
| Inclusion | Coordinating evidence and applications for arrangements | Providing support and evidence of the student’s usual way of working |
| Results | Distribution and authorized administrative follow-up | Analysing subject outcomes and improving instruction |
This is a common division, not a universal staffing model. An examinations officer, department head, inclusion specialist, or academic integrity lead may complete some tasks. The school should document who holds each responsibility.
Responsibilities that must be shared
The assessment calendar should be coordinated centrally but informed by subject teachers. Coordinators identify programme-wide congestion, while teachers estimate the time needed for experiments, drafts, performances, fieldwork, or oral assessments. Teachers should question unrealistic dates while the calendar is being created rather than disregard agreed deadlines later.
Academic integrity is also shared. The IB academic integrity policy identifies teachers as central agents of academic integrity in the classroom. Teachers explicitly teach citation, acceptable collaboration, source use, and feedback boundaries. Coordinators ensure that school and IB procedures are applied consistently when concerns arise.
Teachers may also notice missed milestones, declining attendance, or sudden changes in writing before anyone else. The coordinator can determine whether the pattern crosses several subjects and organize a programme-level response.
A practical communication routine
At the start of the academic year, teachers and coordinators should confirm:
- Which subject guide and examination session apply
- Internal deadlines and final IB submission dates
- File naming, storage, authentication, and upload procedures
- Who enters marks, predicted grades, and candidate information
- How extensions, adverse circumstances, and misconduct concerns are escalated
- When internal standardization will take place
Teachers should separate subject interpretation questions from administrative procedure questions. Subject issues should be resolved through current guides, teacher support materials, training, and departmental standardization. Registration, submission, examination, and candidate-specific communication should normally go through the coordinator.
Status updates should be brief and actionable. For example: “Two students may miss the internal deadline. One has a documented absence, while the other has not produced usable evidence. I need confirmation of the school procedure by Friday.” This allows the coordinator to act without transferring normal classroom monitoring to them.
Common causes of friction
Treating internal deadlines as optional
Schools need time for authentication, standardization, file checks, uploads, and technical corrections. An internal deadline can therefore be earlier than the final IB deadline and still be operationally necessary.
Expecting the coordinator to resolve marking
A coordinator can clarify procedures and facilitate standardization, but should not invent or override a subject mark. Disagreements should be tested against the current guide, criteria, annotated examples, and departmental evidence.
Reporting concerns too late
Late notification restricts the school’s legitimate options. Missing work, authenticity concerns, access needs, and adverse circumstances should be raised as soon as a pattern appears.
Confusing school policy with IB rules
Teachers should ask whether an instruction is an IB requirement, an official deadline, or a school procedure. Schools may adopt stricter processes for valid reasons, but they should not present local practice as a universal IB rule.
Building an effective working relationship
Use meetings for decisions, supported by a shared calendar, responsibility matrix, and submission checklist. The RevisionDojo guide for IB teachers and departments and its guidance for IB coordinators explain how shared assignments and analytics can support consistent decisions without removing teachers’ professional responsibility.
RevisionDojo’s resources on collaborative planning and connecting IB policy with classroom practice can also support common workflows. Any AI-generated feedback, including Jojo AI output, must be checked against the current guide and school rules on permitted assistance.
Conclusion
The coordinator manages programme systems, communication, compliance, and cohort oversight. Teachers retain responsibility for subject teaching, assessment judgment, feedback, predicted grades, and classroom academic integrity. Calendars, standardization, student support, and risk management require active cooperation.
Teachers should raise concerns early, identify whether questions are procedural or subject-specific, and retain evidence supporting assessment decisions. RevisionDojo for Schools can support shared Questionbank assignments, Mock Exams, analytics, and Jojo AI when both teachers and coordinators maintain professional oversight.
Sources and referenced URLs
- IB 2026 General Regulations for the Diploma Programme
- IB Rules for IB World Schools: Diploma Programme
- IB Programme Standards and Practices
- IB Academic Integrity Policy
- IB Assessment Guide for Teachers and Coordinators
- RevisionDojo for IB Teachers and Departments
- RevisionDojo for IB Coordinators
- Collaborative Planning With RevisionDojo Teacher Tools
- Connecting IB Policy to Classroom Practice
- RevisionDojo for Schools