International qualifications 2013 (pdf) - CUKAS

Appendix C – International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme
(MYP), Diploma Programme (DP) and Certificates and the IB Career
Related Certificate (IBCC)
MIDDLE YEARS PROGRAMME (MYP)
The Middle Years Programme (MYP) offered by the International
Baccalaureate (IB) provides a framework of academic and life
skills for students aged 11–16. The five-year programme follows
on from the IB’s Primary Years Programme and serves as a
preparation for the IB’s Diploma Programme.
The MYP provides a framework of concepts, skills, objectives and
assessment criteria in eight subject groups and a pedagogy
aimed at engaging students in disciplinary understanding by
exposure to authentic connections as well as developing their
awareness of the relationships between disciplines.
The MYP is guided by the following three fundamental concepts,
rooted in the IB mission statement: communication, intercultural
awareness and holistic learning.
The “areas of interaction” are at the core of the programme,
providing the contexts for curriculum planning and an opportunity
for teachers’ and students’ interaction with authentic situations.
Students develop an understanding of each through contribution
in all subjects. They are grouped as: approaches to learning,
community and service, health and social education,
environments and human ingenuity. These pervade and recur
throughout the five years of the MYP, through the eight subject
groups, and also through interdisciplinary teaching and projects,
whole-school activities and the MYP personal project. The areas
of interaction are not directly assessed nor awarded individual
grades, since they are perspectives rather than subjects.
In the last year of the MYP, students complete the personal
project, a significant body of work, the product of the student’s
own initiative and creativity. The personal project must reflect a
personal understanding of the areas of interaction and the
application of skills acquired through approaches to learning.
MYP students are expected to choose their project, which can
take many forms, and take the process to completion with the
supervision of an adult in the school. The personal project forms
part of the assessment scheme of the MYP. It involves planning,
research and a high degree of personal reflection.
All schools are expected to develop their own written curriculum
following the guidelines provided by the IB and ensuring students
will be able to meet the objectives for the final year of the
programme. In doing so, schools may need to consider any
national or local requirements about mandated curricula, provided
the integrity of the MYP is respected at all times.
The MYP subject groups:
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Arts – visual arts and performing arts
Humanities – studies of individuals, societies and environment
including subjects such as history, geography, economics,
politics, civics, sociology, anthropology and/or psychology
Language A – student’s best language, usually the school’s
language of instruction
Language B – a modern foreign language learned at school
Mathematics – course includes the five branches of
mathematics: number, algebra, geometry and trigonometry,
probability and statistics, and discrete mathematics
Physical Education – course includes health and fitness,
individual and team sports
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Sciences – biology, chemistry, physics
Technology – computer and design technology.
MYP authorisation and programme evaluation of schools: All
schools undergo an authorisation visit, following a minimum of
one year as a candidate school. Four years after authorisation
and then every five years, the school receives a programme
evaluation visit, which is the culmination of a detailed self-study
process. The IB standards and practices provide the framework
towards authorisation and programme evaluation.
ASSESSMENT
Teachers assess students’ work with guidance from IB according
to prescribed, published criteria which state final levels of
achievement in each discipline for the final year of the
programme. All schools must assess their students with the
published assessment criteria in the final year. The IB also
provides recommended interim assessment criteria based on the
objectives for each of the subject groups for years 1 and 3 of the
five-year programme. Schools can opt for the MYP certificate,
accompanied by a record of achievement issued by the IB. These
are formal documents limited to schools that offer the last year of
the programme and elect to have their own student assessment
validated by IB through a rigorous and quality assured process of
external moderation.
The IB will issue an MYP certificate to each student who satisfies
the following conditions. The student must:
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be registered, and have gained at least a grade 2 in at
least one subject per subject group of the MYP. (Please
note that a second language A may be taken instead of a
language B.)
have gained at least a grade 3 for the personal project
have participated in the programme for at least the final two
years
have met the expectations of community and service to
the satisfaction of the school
have gained a grade total of at least 36 from the eight
subject groups and the personal project combined, out of a
possible maximum of 63. (This total and the maximum will
be different in the case of the mother-tongue language
option or if a student has gained an exemption due to
special educational needs.) If more than one subject has
been entered in a given subject group, only the single best
grade will count towards certification, although all subject
results will appear on the MYP record of achievement.
The IB also provides all schools with a portfolio of achievement
for each student. This allows the school to document the
student’s accomplishments at the end of the course. The portfolio
includes papers from the IB describing the programme. The
school may add its own certificates, academic results and
awards, a self-evaluation by the student, information about
community and service, the personal project and any other
achievements. Schools not applying for MYP certificates are
required to regularly submit samples for the process of
monitoring of assessment to ensure they comply with the
assessment requirements of the programme.
78 INTERNATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS