High school, Count your blessing : Middle Years Programme of IB

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Ninta is very grateful for winning a scholarship from Global Jaya International School (Bintaro/Tangerang - Indonesia). So are the rest of the family members.

This is going to be a quite long post about Middle Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate which is applied by Ninta's school. The terms "MYP' and 'IB' had been rather mysterious to me even when Ninta had already been studying there for a couple of months ... until the school gave an explanation about them at a meeting for new students' parents the other day.

So here it is...

Ninta currently sits in year 10 (we understand it as kelas 1 SMA) or in the final year of the Middle Years Programme.

MYP or Middle Years Programme is a part of the three programmes developed by International Baccalaureate, a non-governmental organization (NGO) of UNESCO, which aims at developing the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills for students to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. To this end the IB works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.


IB develops three programmes of international education:

• Primary Years Programme, a six year curriculum for pupils aged 3 to 12
• Middle Years Programme, a  four year curriculum for pupils aged 11 to 16
• Diploma Programme, a two-year curriculum for students aged 16 to 19, which leads to final examinations and a qualification that is welcomed by leading universities around the world.

MYP is expressed through three Fundamental Concepts:

• intercultural awareness: MYP fosters students' tolerance, respect and empathy in term of multiple cultures and perspectives
• holistic learning: this concept encourages students to see the relationship between subject, subject content and the real world
• communication: MYP stresses the importance of verbal and non-verbal communication

MYP students are required to study their mother tongue, a second language, humanities, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical education and technology. Students study the eight subject groups through the five areas of interactions (as illustrated by means of an octagon with the five areas of interaction at its centre):

The five areas of interactions are:

1. approaches to learning: emphasizes the development of student's thinking skills, strategies, attitudes (How do I learn best? How do I know? How do I communicate my understanding?)
   
2. community and service: develop student's community awareness and a sense of responsibility through service activities (How do we live in relation to each other? How can I help others? How can I contribute to the community?)
   
3. human ingenuity: relates to human creativity and its impact on society (Why and how do we create? What are the consequences?)
   
4. environment: concerned with the interdependence of human beings and their environment as well as with sustainable development (What are our environments? What resources do we have/need? What are my responsibilities?)
   
5. health and social education: concerned with mental and physical health and the interactions between the students and community (How do I think and act? How am I changing? how can I look after myself and others?)
   

The eight subject groups available at Global Jaya International School are:

1. Language A: English and Bahasa Indonesia
   
2. Language B: English, Bahasa indonesia, Spanish and Mandarin
   
3. Humanities: History, geography and economy
   
4. Sciences
   
5. Mathematics
6. Arts
   
7. Technology: information technology, food technology, material technology, entrepreneurship (entrepreneurship begins at year 10)
   
8. Physical Education: physical education and health

Assessment of process and is carried out on a daily basis. Students are provided with opportunities to analyse their own learning as well as their progress, and to recognize what areas need improvement.
Summative assessment is the judgement made by teacher at the end of a particular task, unit work, or assessment period.
Assessment is both formative and summative. Formative assessment is an important part of the teaching and learning.

All MYP subjects receive final Grades in the range of 1 to 7. The general Grade Descriptors below indicate the achievement required for the awarding of each subject grade.

MYP General Grade Descriptors:

• Grade 1 (very poor): minimal achievement in terms of the objectives
• Grade 2 (poor): very limited achievement against all objectives
• Grade 3 (mediocre): limited achievement against most of the objectives of clear difficulties in some areas.
• Grade 4 (satisfactory): a good general understanding of the required knowledge and skills and the ability to apply them in a variety of situations
• Grade 5 (good)
• Grade 6 (very good)
• Grade 7 (excellent): a consistent and thorough understanding of the required knowledge and skills and the ability to apply them, almost faultlessly, in a wide area of situations. Consistent evidence of analysis, systhesis and evaluation is shown where appropriate. The students consistently demonstrates originality and insight and always produces work of high quality.

MYP students are also required to undertake Community and Service activities throughout their study in the MYP. A structure is established to organize and monitor students' activities. The structure is described in the journal (booklet) which should be kept until they have accomplished the final year of MYP. No grades will be awarded to students for fulfilling the requirements but an MYP certificate cannot be awarded unless the requirements are met.
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Year 10 students must also complete a final assignment called the Personal Project, which allows them to demonstrate the understandings and skills they have developed throughout the programme.