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Middle Years Programme

The  Middle Years Programme (MYP) is a programme of study designed to meet the particular educational needs of students between 11 and 16 years.

Picture with a portrait of Pernilla Rankin Principal and Coordinator Middle Years Programme
Pernilla Rankin – Principal and Coordinator Middle Years Programme

It is internationally accredited and prepares students over a period of four or five years for entry into the IB Diploma programme.

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

  • Language acquisition. (English, Swedish, French, Spanish)
  • Language and literature. (English, Swedish)
  • Individuals and societies.
  • Sciences.
  • Mathematics.
  • Arts. (Visual Arts, Music, Drama)
  • Physical and health education.
  • Design. 

The MYP requires at least 50 hours of teaching time for each subject group in each year of the programme. In years 4 and 5, 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.

Each year, students in the MYP also engage in at least one collaboratively planned interdisciplinary unit that involves at least two subject groups.

MYP students also complete a long-term project, where they decide what they want to learn about, identify what they already know, discovering what they will need to know to complete the project, and create a proposal or criteria for completing it.

Developing students in the MYP

The MYP 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.

As part of the IB continuum, the MYP is designed to help students develop the characteristics of the IB learner profile.

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.

At a time when students are establishing their identity and building their self-esteem, the MYP can motivate students and help them to achieve success in school and in life beyond the classroom.

Our approach to teaching and learning

The MYP aims to help students develop their personal understanding, their emerging sense of self and responsibility in their community.

Teaching and learning in the MYP is underpinned by the following concepts:

Teaching and learning in 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 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 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.

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 ISH to meet Swedish national legal requirements for students with access needs. We have developed an inclusion/special educational needs (SEN) policy that explains assessment access arrangements, classroom accommodations and curriculum modification that meet individual student learning needs.

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