The CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) Program is one of three required core elements that make up the IB Diploma Program. Students must complete a CAS project before they graduate.
CAS seeks to involve students in a range of activities that take place alongside their academic studies. The component’s three strands, often interwoven with particular activities, are characterized as follows:
- Creativity – exploring and extending ideas leading to an original or interpretive product or performance. This may include visual and performing arts, digital design, writing, film, culinary arts and crafts.
- Action – physical exertion contributing to a healthy lifestyle. Pursuits may include individual and team sports, dance, outdoor recreation, fitness training, and any other form of physical exertion that purposefully contributes to a healthy lifestyle.
- Service – collaborative and reciprocal engagement with the community in response to an authentic need. Through Service, students develop and apply personal and social skills in real-life situations involving decision-making, problem solving, initiative, responsibility, and accountability for their actions. Service experiences can be approached using the Service Learning model. Service Learning is the development and application of knowledge and skills towards meeting an identified community need. In this research-based approach, students undertake service initiatives often related to topics studied in the curriculum, utilising skills, understanding and values developed in these studies. Service Learning builds upon students’ prior knowledge and background, enabling them to make links between their academic disciplines and their Service experiences.