Middle Years Programme

Origin of the MYP

The MYP began as an initiative of the International Schools Association (ISA). Aspiring to meet the needs of middle level learners in international schools, ISA led the development of a flexible curriculum that promoted the fundamental concepts of intercultural understanding, communication and holistic learning.

Since being introduced as part of the IB continuum, the MYP has retained the spirit of collaboration encouraged by the dedicated educators by whom it was conceived.  After twenty years of rapid growth and development, the programme was fully reviewed and then re-launched in 2014—ready to meet the needs of a new generation of students, teachers and school communities.

How teaching and learning is organized in the MYP

The MYP organizes teaching and learning through eight subject groups.The programme promotes interdisciplinary study that helps students make important connections between academic subjects. Integrated teaching and learning helps students analyze complex issues and develop the habits of mind they need to participate in our increasingly interconnected world.

Action and Service

Action is learning by doing and experiencing, and is a key component to all IB programmes. Through responsible action, tightly connected with sustained inquiry and critical reflection, young people and adults can develop the kinds of attributes described by the learner profile that are essential for success in future academic pursuits and life beyond the classroom. Service, as a subset or particular kind of action, has always been a shared value of the IB community. IB learners strive to be caring members of the community who demonstrate a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.

Service as action: With appropriate guidance and support, MYP students should, through their engagement with service as one of the significant forms of action, meet the learning outcomes to develop the skills and attributes of an IB learner. IB World Schools value service with others as an important way to engage in principled action across a range of overlapping local and global communities.

Approaches to Learning

One of the most important facets of the MYP curriculum framework is its clear focus on approaches to learning (ATL), or learning how to learn. This fundamental aspect of the MYP is drawing attention to a developmentally crucial task for 11- to 16- year-olds. ATL now stands near the center of all IB programme models, alongside approaches to teaching. Across the IB continuum, five broad categories of ATL skills represent aligned language and educational through-lines that can inform and structure skills development for all students. The five, broad categories of ATL are: Research, Communication, Social Skills, Thinking Skills, and Self Management Skills.

Global Contexts

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. Meridian teachers plan units together and separately, each using a global context to help frame the unit for students.

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 identity
• orientations in space and time
• scientific and technical innovation
• fairness and development
• globalization and sustainability