IB Middle Years Programme (MYP)

The IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) is a framework for a five-year programme aimed at students aged 11 to 16 years. It is taught in almost 100 countries worldwide and can be implemented in a concurrent partnership between schools, or in several abbreviated (two, three or four year) formats.

The programme aims to develop students who are:

• Active learners
• Internationally minded
• Able to empathize with others
• Have the intellect and skills to pursue lives of purpose and meaning

It offers students opportunities to:

• Develop their potential
• Explore their own learning preferences
• Take appropriate risks
• Reflect on, and develop, a strong sense of personal identity

Upon completing the MYP, students are well-prepared for the rigorous study that is characteristic of further education. They also benefit from the consistent educational aims, clear pathways for progression through academic disciplines, and shared approaches to teaching of the MYP, Diploma Programme (DP) and Career-related Programme (CP).

In the final MYP year, students can participate in MYP eAssessment. This is an optional component of the programme which features examinations and externally-evaluated course work, similar to that often required at the end of secondary school, and gives them the opportunity to earn a formal, internationally-recognised certificate.

Click on the links to the left to learn more about MYP course results and eAssessment.

The MYP Curriculum

The MYP helps students develop both subject-specific and interdisciplinary understanding. Its curriculum framework includes:

• Approaches to learning (ATL), helping students learn how to learn by developing skills for research, critical and creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and self-management.
• Key and related concepts, helping students explore big ideas that matter.
• Global contexts, helping students understand the relevance and importance of their study for understanding their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet.

The Middle Years Programme comprises eight subject groups:

• Language and literature
• Language acquisition
• Individuals and societies
• Sciences
• Mathematics
• Arts
• Physical and health education
• Design

At least 50 hours of teaching time is required for each subject group in each year of the programme. In years 4 and 5 however, 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.

Interdisciplinary Learning

In each year of the MYP program, students also engage in at least one collaboratively planned interdisciplinary unit that involves at least two subject groups. This allows students to bring together concepts, methods, and forms of communication from two or more disciplines or established areas of expertise so that they can explain a phenomenon, solve a problem, create a product, or raise a new question in ways that would have been unlikely through a single discipline without interdisciplinary understanding.

Click on the link to the left to learn more about Interdisciplinary Learning.

MYP Projects

The MYP culminates in an independent long-term learning project. Students complete the work over an extended period of time, encouraging them to consolidate their learning and reflect on the outcomes of their work.

Students who complete the MYP in Year 3 or Year 4 complete the community project. All students who complete the MYP in Year 5 complete the personal project. The community project provides an opportunity for students aged 13-14 to collaborate and pursue service learning. All MYP Year 5 students are registered for external moderation of the personal project, promoting a global standard of quality.

MYP projects involve students in a wide range of activities to extend their knowledge and understanding and to develop their skills and attitudes. These include:

• Deciding what they want to learn about, identifying what they already know, and discovering what they will need to know to complete the project.
• Creating proposals or criteria for their project, planning their time and materials, and recording developments of the project.
• Making decisions, developing understandings and solving problems, communicating with their supervisor and others, and creating a product or developing an outcome evaluating the product/outcome and reflecting on their project and their learning.

As students become involved in the self-initiated and self-directed learning process, they will find it easier to construct in-depth knowledge on their topic, and develop an understanding of themselves as learners.

Click on the links to the left to learn more about MYP projects.

MYP Subject Groups