The Middle Years Programme
Eastwood International School Erbil is a Candidate School for the Middle Years Programme.
The school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School.
These are schools that share a common philosophy—a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that Eastwood International School Erbil believes is important for our students.
The Middle Years Programme (MYP) is for students aged 11-16
About the program.
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The Middle Years Program (MYP) is a framework designed by the International Baccalaureate Organization to challenge young students between the ages of 11-16 and prepare them for the academic challenges of the Diploma Program (IB DP), university, and future careers through an integrated and holistic approach to studies. In essence, the core philosophy of the MYP is one of interconnectivity: how the different subjects connect to each other and how they relate to real life applications thereof.
There is an added emphasis on global awareness, international-mindedness, and social responsibility in the MYP, as well as on personal projects and community service, to ensure a well rounded, socially responsible student body to carry forward our future. -
The Middle Years Program (MYP) curriculum in details
The MYP program begins in Grade 6 and follows through to Grade 10. The program entails inquiry-based teaching to ensure that students reach a higher level of critical thinking. -
At EIS, we pride ourselves in our moving towards a student led approach rather than the typical teacher led classroom.
At EIS, we pride ourselves in our moving towards a student led approach rather than the typical teacher led classroom that focus on memorizing facts.
Our curriculum is concept-based, which is an approach to curriculum design that moves away from subject-specific content and instead emphasizes on key concepts which are “big ideas” that can transfer across multiple subjects.
Meanwhile related concepts are more subject specific and they enrich the learning by giving depth to it through concentrating on developing the language of each subject area.
According to H. Lynn Erickson, a concept - based curriculum:
• Focuses on concepts, principles and generalizations, using related facts and skills as tools to gain a deeper understanding of disciplinary content, trans-disciplinary themes and interdisciplinary issues.• Facilitates conceptual transfer through time, across cultures and across situations.
• Values a solid base of factual knowledge.
• Raises the bar for curriculum and instruction by shifting the focus from memorization to the conceptual level of understanding.
Our curriculum is experiential and concept-based, which is an approach to curriculum design that moves away from subject-specific content and instead emphasizes on key concepts which are “big ideas” that can transfer across multiple subjects.
Teaching and learning
in context
Contextual teaching and learning gives the possibility to students to connect the concepts that they are learning to real life experiences. Global contexts tunnels the learning toward real world settings, events and circumstances and that in its turn encourages international mindedness and global engagement within the programme.
Global contexts tunnels the learning toward real world settings, events and circumstances and that in its turn encourages international mindedness and global engagement within the programme.
Why is the MYP a better
choice for your child ?
Research studies also show that the MYP provides students with an advantage over their counterparts in other programs. For example, a study done on two comparable US schools, one with MYP and one without, resulting in significant increases in performance for math and sciences, as well as a slight improvement in English proficiency and reading.
Although not strictly academic, the MYP program has an added benefit socially for the students. Most notably, students of MYP find themselves to be more globalized, open-minded, and caring for those around themselves. These values both encompass those of the IB program and Eastwood itself: service to others, academic excellence, and making the world a better place.
Sizmur, J., Cunningham, R. (2012). International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) in the UK, Slough: NFER.
FAQS
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MYP GLOBAL FEEDBACK
This feedback is based on an anonymous survey taken by hundreds of MYP students across many international schools, with consistent resulting data.
Sizmur, J., Cunningham, R. (2012). International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) in the UK, Slough: NFER.
The results are clear, more than 65% either agree or strongly agree that they enjoyed the MYP. Furthermore, an overwhelming majority (also greater than 65%) claim that MYP provided them with a broader learning experience, awareness of other cultures, interest in global issues, and critical thinking skills. Such feedback is clear: students love the MYP.
MYP Subjects:
The IB MYP consists of 8 subject groups which our students benefit from to grow academically and as a global citizen:
• Language and Literature
• Language Acquisition (French or Arabic)
• Individuals and Societies Sciences
• Mathematics
• The Arts (Visual Arts and Preforming Arts)
• Design
• Physical and Health Education (PHE)
The requirement from year 1 to year 3 (grades 6 to 8) is a minimum of 50 hours of instruction per subject group in each academic year. Although for years 4 and 5 (grades 9 and 10) the requirement is a minimum of 70 hours per subject group. -
Students in the Years 1-3 of the IB MYP program are in class 32 hours a week which offer all eight subject groups.
Students in Years 4 & 5 of the IB MYP program are free to choose between Visual Arts and Design, and between History and Economics.
In the MYP programme, the students will also be subjected to at least one interdisciplinary unit (IDU) that integrates together concepts, and skills from two or more disciplines and create new understanding. The advantages about IDUs is that students end up expanding their learning with different subjects which leads to collaborations and innovative thinking.
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Approaches to learning (ATL) is a concept in MYP that permeates through all the subjects. Its purpose is to teach the students how to learn, become life-long learners, and to become responsible participants in their local and global communities.
MYP transcends the theoretical method of teaching of traditional schools and brings the knowledge taught in the classrooms to the real world. ATL skills must be integrated in the curriculum and explicitly or implicitly taught.
They include five categories which are extended to ten clusters, as follows:
Communication
Social: Collaboration
Self Management: Organization, Affective, Reflection
Research: Information Literacy, Media Literacy
Thinking: Critical Thinking, Creativity and Innovation, Transfer -
1.PERSONAL PROJECT
The core of the assessment in the MYP is the personal project which culminates the student’s learning experience. Each MYP year 5 (grade 10) student is mandated by the program to complete a personal project, which includes the creation of a product and the writing of a report that explains the whole process. The main idea is for the students to choose a subject of interest to them and that provides them with a challenge. To reach the aims of the personal project the students must fulfill its objectives: Investigating, Planning, Taking Action and Reflecting.
Each student will be supported by a supervisor, who is trained to provide the student with the necessary guidance and supervision to perform well. This project is corrected and moderated internally at the school and must also be externally corrected and moderated through IB to ensure fairness and to maintain quality.
This is the most important project that the student will be working on throughout the MYP program and reflects the accomplishments of the students and of the program itself.2. SERVICE AS ACTION
MYP schools are required to provide students opportunities to fulfill the service as action requirements and learning outcomes which are directly linked to the IB learner profile attributes and ATL skills. It teaches them to collaborate with others, to persevere in order to achieve their goals and that is to help their local and global community. One very important part of service as action is to reflect ethically on how their actions affect their community.
TYPES OF SERVICE:
•Direct service: the students are in direct contact with the beneficiary
•Indirect service: the students carry out action that benefits the community meanwhile without having any interaction with the beneficiary.
•Advocacy: Raising awareness through a campaign, play, a video etc…
•Research: Students collect information through varied sources, analyse data, and report on a topic of importance to influence policy or practice.
3. eAssessment
The Middle Years Programme (MYP) is a framework for teaching and learning, built around teachers’ judgment of student achievement against the criteria. To achieve Formal recognition of achievement for MYP, year 5 students have to sit for eAssessment.
To be eligible for eAssessment, the students need to have followed at least 6 MYP subjects for a duration of minimum 70 hours of teaching and learning per year in MYP4 and MYP5.
To get their MYP certificate students need to achieve successful results in:
•five on-screen examinations (one from each of four required subject groups: Mathematics, Sciences, Individuals and societies, Language and Literature, plus an interdisciplinary assessment)
•one ePortfolio from a course of study in language acquisition
•one ePortfolio from a course in physical and health education, arts or design
•the personal project.
•In addition, students must meet the school’s expectations for community service.
The students can achieve an MYP bilingual certificate by achieving successful results in one of the following:
•A second language and literature course (instead of a course in language acquisition)
•One (or more) science, individual and societies, or interdisciplinary examination(s) in a language other than the student’s chosen language and literature course
References
International Baccalaureate Global Policy & Research Department. (2014). Key findings from research on the impact of the IB Middle Years Programme. Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/
Sizmur, J., Cunningham, R. (2012). International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) in the UK, Slough: NFER.
MYP: From Principles Into Practice. International Baccalaureate Organization, 2014.
Fostering interdisciplinary teaching and learning in the MYP, 2014.
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