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What is the International Baccalaureate Organisation?

The International Baccalaureate® (IB) was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1968 as a non-profit educational foundation. At it’s heart the IB promotes intercultural understanding and respect, not as an alternative to a sense of cultural and national identity, but as an essential part of life in the 21st century.

The IB offers three programs of international education for students

• The Primary Years Programme (PYP for students aged 3 to 12 focuses on the development of the whole student in the classroom and in the world outside.

• The Middle Years Programme (MYP for students aged 11 to 16 provides a framework of academic challenge and life skills, achieved through embracing and transcending traditional school subjects.

• The Diploma Programme (DP) for students aged 16 to 19 is a demanding two-year curriculum leading to final examinations and a qualification that is welcomed by leading universities around the world.

What is the mission of the IBO?

• to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people.

• to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

• to work with schools, governments, and international organizations to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment.

• to encourage students worldwide to become active, compassionate, and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. Regardless of location, size, or make-up, an IB school strives to develop an internationally minded person.

How is this visible at GAIS?

It means our students are taught WHY they should know something and how it connects to other subjects and the world around them. It means high quality teaching and learning—challenging instruction and worldwide knowledge “at home” (so to speak, in whichever country where you live and go to school). It also means great opportunities to study abroad for college/university, as well as opportunities to make friends with other students at IB schools around the world.

What is an Internationally-minded Person?

The aim of all IB programs is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. The MYP believes that an internationally minded person is someone with the attributes and dispositions described in the Learner Profile. The ultimate goal of our program at GAIS is to support our students in developing this set of attributes and dispositions within themselves.

IB learners strive to be:

Inquirers
They develop their natural curiosity. They acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research and show independence in learning. They actively enjoy learning and this love of learning will be sustained throughout their lives.

Knowledgeable
They explore concepts, ideas and issues that have local and global significance. In so doing, they acquire in-depth knowledge and develop understanding across a broad and balanced range of disciplines.

Thinkers
They exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to recognize and approach complex problems, and make reasoned, ethical decisions.

Communicators
They understand and express ideas and information confidently and creatively in more than one language and in a variety of modes of communication. They work effectively and willingly in collaboration with others.

Principled
They act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness, justice and respect for the dignity of the individual, groups and communities. They take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences that accompany them.

Open-minded
They understand and appreciate their own cultures and personal histories, and are open to the perspectives, values and traditions of other individuals and communities. They are accustomed to seeking and evaluating a range of points of view, and are willing to grow from the experience.

Caring
They show empathy, compassion and respect towards the needs and feelings of others. They have a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.

Risk-takers
They approach unfamiliar situations and uncertainty with courage and forethought, and have the independence of spirit to explore new roles, ideas and strategies. They are brave and articulate in defending their beliefs.

Balanced
They understand the importance of intellectual, physical and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others.

Reflective
They give thoughtful consideration to their own learning and experience. They are able to assess and understand their strengths and limitations in order to support their learning and personal development.

What is the Middle Years Programme?

At GAIS we are trying to meet the widely varying needs of our international student body. We know that our students, as well as teachers, come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, and bring many different beliefs and expectations to school. Our goal is to create a program that will not only meet the needs of this diverse group, but also benefit from the richness of the diversity.
A group of international educators who were working on the same problem, combined their own knowledge and expertise with the best practice from the many national systems, and created a new way of thinking about curriculum. The Middle Years Programme, or MYP, adopted by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), was the result of their work.
The MYP is an international curriculum framework created for students aged 11 to 16 provides a framework of academic challenge and life skills, achieved through embracing and transcending traditional school subjects. Early and present curriculum developers of the Middle Years Programme have shared a common concern to prepare young people for the changing demands of life in the twenty-first century.
The Middle years, encompassing early puberty and mid-adolescence, is a particularly critical phase of personal and intellectual development and requires a program that helps students participate actively and responsibly in a changing and increasingly interrelated world. Learning how to learn and how to evaluate information critically is as important as learning facts.

What will my student be learning?

Eight subject groups provide a broad, traditional foundation of knowledge, while the pedagogical devices used to transmit this knowledge aim to increase the students' awareness of the relationships between subjects. Students are encouraged to question and evaluate information critically, to seek out and explore the links between subjects, and to develop an awareness of their own place in the world.

 

MYP general	MYP at GAIS
Language A	German (5), English (5)
Language B	Spanish (3), or French (3)
Math	Math (5)
Humanities	Humanities (Geography, History, Social Studies) (5)
Science	Science (Physics, Biology, Chemistry) (5)
Arts	Music, Visual Arts
Physical Education	PE
Technology	Integrated in all subjects

The MYP aims to develop in students:
• the disposition and capacity to be lifelong learners
• the capacity to adapt to a rapidly changing reality problem-solving and practical skills and intellectual rigor.
• the capacity and self-confidence to act individually and collaboratively an awareness of global issues and the willingness to act responsibly
• the ability to engage in effective communication across frontiers respect for others and an appreciation of similarities and differences.

What are the programs fundamental concepts?

Adolescents are confronted with a vast and often bewildering array of choices. The MYP is designed to provide students with the values and opportunities that will enable them to develop sound judgment. Learning how to learn and how to evaluate information critically is as important as the content of the disciplines themselves.
From its beginning, the MYP has been guided by three fundamental concepts that underpin its development, both internationally and in individual schools:

• Holistic Learning
• Intercultural Awareness
• Communication

Holistic Learning
• emphasizes the links between the disciplines
• provides a global view of situations and issues
• allows students to become more aware of the relevance of their learning, and come to see knowledge as an interrelated whole
• allows students to see the cohesion and the complementarities of various fields of study
• is done within the context of disciplines, which retain their own objectives and methodology.

Intercultural Awareness
• concerns the developing of students' attitudes, knowledge and skills as they learn about their own and others' social and national cultures
• encourages students to consider multiple perspectives, intercultural awareness to fosters tolerance and respect, which may also lead to empathy.

Communication
• fundamental to learning, as it supports inquiry and understanding, and allows student reflection and expression.
• particular emphasis on language acquisition which allows students to explore multiple forms of expression.

How does the MYP ensure that students see the connection between the subject content and the real world?

Approaches to learning, community and service, human ingenuity, health & social education and environments are areas of interaction which give the MYP its distinctive core. These areas are common to all disciplines and are incorporated into the MYP so that students will become increasingly aware of the connections between subject content and the real world, rather than considering subjects as isolated areas unrelated to each other and to the world. The MYP presents knowledge as an integrated whole, emphasizing the acquisition of skills and self-awareness, and the development of personal values. As a result, students are expected to develop an awareness of broader and more complex global issues. The areas of interaction are explored through the subjects, thereby fulfilling their integrative function. Some aspects, however, may also be approached as separate modules and interdisciplinary projects throughout the MYP.

Areas of Interaction Students are required to experience and explore each of the five areas of interaction in every year of the program:

Approaches to Learning (ATL)
• tools for lifelong learning skills
- Collaboration
- Information Literacy
- Thinking
- Organization
- Reflection
- Transfer

Community & Service
• develops community awareness and sense of belonging
• encourages responsibility towards a community to become engaged and act in response to the needs of others

Human Ingenuity
• looks at human contributions in the world
• stresses the way humans can initiate change
• reflects and examines the outcome of this change

Environment
• considers the natural, built and virtual conditions surrounding us
• supports the students in the focus on the wider place of human beings in the world and how we create and effect our environment
• encourages questioning, responsibility, motivation, skills and commitment to contribute to the environment

Health & Social Education
• looks into how humanity is affected by a range of social issues in various cultural settings in different times
• concerns itself with physical, social and emotional health and intelligence
• promotes the development of a balanced lifestyle

What are the aims and objectives of the MYP?

The objectives of each subject group are skills-based and broad enough to allow a variety of teaching and learning approaches. The precise choice and organization of content is left to schools in order to preserve flexibility. In some subjects the content is not specified while in others a framework of concepts or topics is prescribed for all students to address over the five years. Such prescription is kept to a minimum and schools expand their scope of topics and depth of treatment according to their individual needs and preferences.

The aims and objectives of the subject groups address all aspects of learning including knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes.

Knowledge	The facts that the student should be able to recall to ensure competence in the subject.
Understanding	How the student will be able to interpret, apply or predict aspects of the subject.
Skills	How the student will be able to apply what has been learned in new situations.
Attitudes	How the student is changed by the learning experience.

 

What does a “Unit of Inquiry” look like in the MYP?

All curricular content is divided in units. A Unit of Inquiry at GAIS typically lasts 5- 6 weeks. During this time the students explore a unit question which is connected to one of the areas of interaction. For example in English students might inquire into: To what extend do human beings need choices and freedoms to live a fulfilling life? They explore this under the area of interaction of community and service. As they explore English literature they examine beliefs and values and take a closer look at how we live in our own society. The unit question provides a framework on which our teachers build students’ knowledge. With the IB MYP, the priority is not on using a set of textbooks, but rather the emphasis is on a wide variety of resources from which teachers and students extract knowledge, develop understanding, and explore ways of applying that to real life.

What resources does GAIS use?

Because the IB MYP philosophy believes that students learn best through authentic inquiry. While there is certainly a place in the curriculum for textbooks and workbooks, GAIS uses a wide range of resources that best cater to our students’ individual needs and learning styles. The IB MYP also recognizes that it is not knowledge alone that makes a learner successful, but the skills and attitudes they develop along the way. That is why and GAIS teachers and administrators spend a lot of time researching, creating and collecting a variety of recourses that are stored in our library, in the classes and on the computer. All classes also use many guest speakers and fieldtrips to allow for authentic inquiry related to real life issues.

How will I know how my student is doing?

The MYP promotes the use of a range of assessment strategies, which are designed to give a clear picture of your student’s progress. Assessment is criterion-related by subject and match the aims and objectives identified by the teachers. Throughout the unit teachers engage in several formative assessment tasks that support the teacher in determining the students progress and helps in the planning of further instruction. Each unit ends with a summative assessment, showing the students cumulative knowledge in the subject. This progress will be reported to you regularly, both orally and in writing. There are teacher-led conferences and student-led conferences scheduled during the year. We believe in open communication between home and the school. You are encouraged to play an active role in supporting your student’s learning. Students will also receive a progress report twice a year as well as a report card in the middle and at the end of the year.

How can I support my student’s learning?

We at GAIS strongly believe that learning is a partnership between student, parent and school.

You can help your student by:

• ensuring that your student doesn’t miss school unless he/she is sick

• being on time in the morning

• maintaining regular contact with your student’s teacher and school

• supporting your student’s mother tongue through speaking, reading and writing

• assisting your student with research projects and expressing interest in what they are learning

• attending information sessions at school and parent/teacher conferences

• providing an appropriate setting and structured routine for doing homework

Will the MYP help my student fit into another school?

Although no school or curriculum can guarantee a perfect fit when students transfer to a new school, particularly a school in a different country, it is important to note the following:

Transfer to schools offering a national curriculum

• close attention is paid to a range of national curricula when developing the MYP curriculum

• students transferring international schools usually have no trouble with standards of national schools

Transfer to other schools offering the MYP

• Students in other MYP schools will have common learning experiences in terms of conceptual development, skill acquisition, positive attitudes and meaningful action. There will be less uniformity of specific content in certain areas, since schools will naturally wish to reflect the nature of their own locations.

• The MYP Assessment is criterion-related, so students around the world are measured against pre-specified criteria for each subject group, which will facilitate the transfer of students.

How do we know the MYP at GAIS is a quality program?

Any school wishing to offer the MYP and attain IB World School status must first go through a rigorous authorization process. The requirements for authorization are the same for all schools, even though the process is administered slightly differently in each IB region. The process is designed to ensure schools are well prepared to implement the program successfully. This is a challenging programme that demands the best from both motivated students and teachers. Schools can access an extensive package of IB professional development for teachers and administrators and commit to ongoing professional development. Teams made up of trained MYP professionals visit IB World Schools every 3-5 years to support an ongoing process of review and development, using standards and practices that apply to all IB World Schools.

What shall I do if I still have questions?

If you have questions with regards to the MYP at GAIS, please feel free to make an appointment to discuss your questions with:

• your student’s teacher

• the Academic Director, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

• the IB coordinator, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

• The IBO website: www.ibo.org