Monday 11 March 2013

IB Journal of Teaching Practice - great, but why charge?

The International Baccalaureate Organisation have announced, in their inaugural issue of "IB Global News", the debut of the IB's Journal of Teaching Practice. Published twice a year, in February and August, it will have action research reports, studies in practice and review of resources.
"The journal is based on the premise that teacher research is a powerful form of professional development that can have a positive impact on student learning," says co-editor in chief Robert Harrison. "The journal complements the wide variety of IB teacher workshops as well as the IB educator certificates."
This is excellent news. The IB is planning far reaching pedagogy changes to the way the IB programmes are delivered, being much more specific on the "Approaches to Teaching and Learning". Given this, it is excellent that they are fostering a grass roots interest in action research and the discussion on what works in learning for the IB programmes.
But, why charge? The trend is for open access to learned journals. The opportunity for open access, for discussion, for getting reaction  and opinion, is severely limited by placing it all behind a wall.
Who will be paid? The peer reviewers. They will be paid a $50 honorarium for each review they complete. 
The rank and file, in a journal which is tagged "Written by teachers, reviewed by teachers, published for teachers", will have to pay to access it. 

 Come on, IBO, you can do better than this.