Middle Years Program (MYP) Overview

The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) comprises of eight subject groups:

• Language Acquisition
• Language and Literature
• Individuals & Societies
• Science
• Mathematics
• Health/Physical Education
• Arts
• Design

The MYP provides a framework of learning that encourages students to become creative, critical and reflective thinkers. It emphasizes intellectual challenge, encouraging students to make connections between their studies in traditional subjects and the real world. It fosters the development of communication skills, intercultural understanding and global engagement–qualities that are essential for life in the 21st century. 

The IB Middle Years Program

• addresses students’ intellectual, social, emotional and physical well-being.

• enables students to understand and manage the complexities of our world, and provides them with the skills and attitudes they need in order to take responsible action for the future.

• ensures breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding through the study of eight subject areas.

• requires the study of at least two languages to support students’ understanding of their own culture and of others.

• provides the opportunity for students to undertake an independent project in an area of personal interest.

An IB education is the result of a dynamic interaction between…

• IB learners (who)

• teaching and learning in the IB (how)

• global contexts for teaching and learning (why) and

• the pursuit of significant knowledge and understanding (what).

The IB’s philosophy of education is informed by research and by over 40 years of practical experience in international education. This philosophy remains open to reflection and review; the IB has always championed a stance of critical engagement with challenging ideas, one that both values the past and remains open to innovation.

What the MYP offers students

The MYP aims to develop active learners and internationally minded young people who can empathize with others and pursue lives of purpose and meaning. The program empowers students to inquire into a wide range of issues and ideas of significance locally, nationally and globally. The result is young people who are creative, critical and reflective thinkers. 

How teaching and learning is organized in the MYP

The MYP organizes teaching and learning through eight subject groups. The program 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.

Our approach to teaching and learning

The Middle Years Program (MYP) helps students develop both subject-specific and interdisciplinary understanding. The MYP curriculum framework includes “global contexts” - helping students understand the relevance and importance of their study for understanding their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet; “Key and related concepts” - helping students explore big ideas that matter; and “approaches to learning” (ATL) - helping students learn how to learn by developing skills for research, critical and creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and self-management

Global Context

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. Using the 6 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.

Conceptual understanding
Concepts are big ideas that have relevance within specific disciplines and across subject areas. MYP students use key and related concepts as a vehicle to inquire into issues and ideas of personal, local and global significance and examine knowledge holistically. The MYP prescribes sixteen key interdisciplinary concepts along with related concepts for each discipline.

Approaches to learning
A unifying thread 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, through community service
Action and service have always been shared values of the IB community. 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. Service as action is an integral part of the program, especially in the MYP community project.

Inclusion and learning diversity in MYP
As part of the MYP curriculum, schools address differentiation within the written, taught and assessed curriculum. This is demonstrated in the unit planner and in the teaching environment, both of which are reviewed during programme authorization and evaluation. The MYP allows schools to continue to meet state, provincial or national legal requirements for students with access needs. Schools must develop an inclusion policy that explains assessment access arrangements, classroom accommodations and curriculum modification that meet individual student learning needs.

*Information on these pages is from the MYP Subject Guides and the MYP Project Guide. International Baccalaureate Organization. 2014. Print.