SECONDARY SCHOOL
The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP)
What is International Baccalaureate Programme (IB)?
The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a global leader in international education—developing inquiring, knowledgeable, confident, and caring young people. For over 50 years, IB four programmes provide a solid, consistent framework and the flexibility to tailor students’ education according to their culture and context. These programmes empower school-aged students to take ownership in their own learning and help them develop future-ready skills to make a difference and thrive in a world that changes fast. Students at International Baccalaureate® (IB) World Schools are given a unique, challenging and diverse education.
IB learners are:
• encouraged to think critically and solve complex problems
• drive their own learning
• a core part in educational programmes that can lead them to some of the highest-ranking universities around the world
• more culturally aware, through the development of a second language
• able to engage with people in an increasingly globalized, rapidly changing world.
Research shows that students in the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) and Middle Years Programme (MYP) performed better than non-IB students in a global International Schools’ Assessment study that ran from 2009-2011.
Research indicates that Diploma Programme (DP) graduates complete college faster than their peers, feel more prepared for college-level coursework involving research, and are better able to cope with demanding workloads and time-management challenges.
What is the Middle Years Programme (MYP)?
The MYP is a challenging framework that encourages students to make practical connections between their studies and the real world. The MYP is a five-year programme, which can be implemented in a partnership between schools, or in several abbreviated (two, three or four year) formats. Students who complete the MYP are well-prepared to undertake the IB Diploma Programme (DP) or Career-related Programme (CP).
The MYP curriculum
The MYP curriculum framework comprises eight subject groups, providing a broad and balanced education for early adolescents.
The MYP requires at least 50 hours of teaching time for each subject group, in each year of the programme. In the final two years of the programme, carefully-defined subject group flexibility allows students to meet local requirements and personal learning goals.
External Assessment and Recognition
In the final year of the programme, optional MYP e-Assessment provides IB-validated grades based on examinations and course work. Students who undertake external assessment are eligible for MYP course results and the IB MYP Certificate.
Middle Years Programme (MYP) comprises eight subject groups:
– Language acquisition
– Language and literature
– Individuals and societies
– Sciences
– Mathematics
– Arts
– Physical and health education
– Design.
The MYP requires at least 50 hours of teaching time for each subject group in each year of the programme. In years 4 and 5, students have the option to take courses from six of the eight subject groups within certain limits, to provide greater flexibility in meeting local requirements and individual student learning needs.
Each year, students in the MYP also engage in at least one collaboratively planned interdisciplinary unit that involves at least two subject groups.
MYP students also complete a long-term project, where they decide what they want to learn about, identify what they already know, discovering what they will need to know to complete the project, and create a proposal or criteria for completing it.
Teaching and Learning Approach
The MYP aims to help students develop their personal understanding, their emerging sense of self and responsibility in their community.
Teaching and learning in the MYP is underpinned by the following concepts:
Teaching and Learning in Context
Students learn best when their learning experiences have context and are connected to their lives and their experience of the world that they have experienced.
Using global contexts, MYP students develop an understanding of their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet through developmentally appropriate explorations of:
– identities and relationships
– personal and cultural expression
– orientations in space and time
– scientific and technical innovation
– fairness and development
– globalization and sustainability.
Inclusion and Learning Diversity in MYP
As part of the MYP curriculum, schools address differentiation within the written, taught and assessed curriculum.
This is demonstrated in the unit planner and in the teaching environment, both of which are reviewed during programme authorization and evaluation.
The MYP allows schools to continue to meet state, provincial or national legal requirements for students with access needs. Schools must develop an inclusion/special educational needs (SEN) policy that explains assessment access arrangements, classroom accommodations and curriculum modification that meet individual student learning needs.
STEM Education in the MYP
The MYP curriculum focuses on STEM as an important perspective from which to consider integrated teaching and learning in concepts and skills related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
English
Lower Secondary English enables learners to communicate confidently and effectively and to develop the skills to respond to a range of information, media and texts with understanding and enjoyment. Learners who follow this framework will develop a first language competency in English based on a curriculum designed to be successful in any culture and to promote cross-cultural understanding.
The school has a separate ESL department targeting the less-performing students who join our classes with a low language proficiency level. Students are accompanied individually and outside the usual classroom till they meet the linguistic requirements necessary for their educational growth.
Science
This curriculum framework covers four content areas: scientific enquiry, biology, chemistry and physics. Scientific enquiry is about considering ideas, evaluating evidence, planning investigative work, and recording and analysing data. The scientific enquiry objectives underpin biology, chemistry and physics, which are focused on developing confidence and interest in scientific knowledge. Environmental awareness and some history of science are also part of the curriculum.
Mathematics
The curriculum framework explores six content areas: number, algebra, geometry, measure, handling data and problem solving. The first five content areas are all underpinned by problem solving, which provides a structure for the application of mathematical skills. Mental strategies are also an important part of the number content. The curriculum focuses on principles, patterns, systems, functions and relationships, so that learners apply their mathematical knowledge and develop a holistic understanding of the subject.