IB Middle Years Programme (MYP)
The MYP is a challenging framework that encourages students aged 11 to 16 to make practical connections between their studies and the real world, preparing them for success in further study and in life. Students who complete the MYP are well prepared to undertake the IB Diploma Programme (DP).
The MYP aims to help students develop their personal understanding, their emerging sense of self and responsibility in their community.
Teaching and learning in context
MYP students using Global context, develop an understanding of their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet through developmentally appropriate explorations of:
- Identities and relationships
- Personal and cultural identity
- Orientations in space and time
- Scientific and technical innovation
- Fairness and development
- Globalization and sustainability
Concept based Curriculum
A concept is a big idea — a principle or conception that is enduring, the significance of which goes beyond aspects such as particular origins, subject matter or place in time. MYP students use concepts as a vehicle to inquire into issues and ideas of personal, local and global significance and examine knowledge holistically.
Key concepts form the heart of a connected curriculum. They come from and are shared across academic disciplines. They unify students’ academic experience and provide teachers with a common vocabulary. These concepts create a culture of thinking that invites students to see connections, contradictions, alternative perspectives, and different ways of thinking.
In addition, discipline-specific related concepts provide depth and focus. Related concepts invite teachers and students to go beyond studying facts to thinking about what those facts mean and why they are relevant.
Approaches to learning (ATL)
Throughout all MYP subject groups, approaches to learning (ATL) provide the foundation for independent learning and encourage the application of their knowledge and skills in unfamiliar contexts. Developing and applying these social, thinking, research, communication and self-management skills helps students learn how to learn.
Service as action
Students take action when they apply what they are learning in the classroom and beyond. IB learners strive to be caring members of the community who demonstrate a commitment to service making a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.
In MYP, students are exposed to a wide and varied curriculum to encourage and explore diverse options. The curriculum provides a stimulating and effective framework for learning, both within subject areas and across subject boundaries.
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 (IDU) that involves at least two subject groups.
In the year 5 of the programme, students also engage in a personal project, which allows them to demonstrate the understandings and skills they have developed throughout the programme.
The teaching methodology in MYP maintains a student-centered approach; encourage students to learn through a variety of media. Even as students are eased into the examination system, project based learning will be used extensively in the curriculum and assessment framework.
