IB Diploma tutoring in Geneva

Geneva, where the IB Diploma was created

Geneva is unusual: several school systems operate side by side, and one of them — the IB Diploma — was invented here. The École internationale de Genève (Ecolint), founded in 1924, is where a group of teachers built the programme through the 1960s, before its official launch in 1968. A tutor is only useful if they work inside the syllabus your child is actually assessed on, so it is worth being precise about which that is.

The main routes followed by pupils in the Geneva region
Route	Language of assessment	What tutoring has to match
Swiss public system	French	Cycle d'orientation groupings, then the Collège, École de culture générale or apprenticeship track, and the maturité gymnasiale.
French national curriculum	French	The French brevet and baccalauréat, followed by pupils commuting from just across the border.
IB Diploma	Mostly English	Command terms, internal assessment, Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay alongside subject content.

We are not affiliated with any school. We simply work with the programme your child follows, whichever it is.

Tutoring for the IB Diploma

The Diploma punishes students who know the content but not the conventions. Three areas account for most avoidable losses.

Command terms. State, describe, explain, evaluate, show that and hence each carry a defined expectation. Answering an evaluate question with a description scores poorly no matter how accurate the description is.
Internal assessment. Structured, criterion-marked and produced over weeks. A tutor can help a student plan, structure and critique their own work — and must not do more than that, which is a matter of academic honesty as well as usefulness.
Mathematics routes. Analysis & Approaches and Applications & Interpretation are genuinely different courses at both Standard and Higher Level. Choosing between them, or moving between them, is a decision worth talking through before it is made.

For subject content, Luckas teaches maths, physics and chemistry fully in English, having come through French preparatory classes and holding an MSc from Imperial College London. For Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay, our tutors help with structure, argument and critique of the student's own drafts, in French.

What to check before choosing any tutor

Do they know your exact syllabus?
Not "maths", but which route and which level. Ask them to name the assessment structure. If they cannot, they will be learning it on your time.
Can they teach in the language of assessment?
A brilliant explanation in the wrong language leaves the student unable to reproduce it in the exam.
Will they let your child struggle productively?
A tutor who supplies answers produces smooth lessons and no learning. Ask how they check that the student can work alone afterwards.
How will you be kept informed?
You should know what was covered and what is still fragile, without having to wait for a school report.

Frequently asked questions

Can you help with the Extended Essay or Theory of Knowledge?

We can help with structure, argument and critique of the student's own drafts. We do not write or substantially rewrite work that is submitted as the student's own.

My child is moving from the Swiss or French system to an English-medium school.

That transition has two components: the language, and the assessment conventions. They are best addressed together, and the earlier the better — ideally over the summer before the move rather than during the first term.

Do you cover both IB Mathematics routes?

Yes — Analysis & Approaches and Applications & Interpretation, at Standard and Higher Level, with Luckas.

Is the IB really harder than the Swiss maturité or the French baccalauréat?

The three are demanding on different criteria: the IB tests a broad subject base plus Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay, while the maturité and the baccalauréat weigh things differently. Which one feels harder usually depends on the student's own profile.