IB Middle Years Programme: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:36, 13 August 2023

Revision as of 01:30, 27 September 2023

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==History and development of the IB Middle Years Program==

The Middle Years Program was developed significantly later than the [[IB Diploma Programme|Diploma Programme]], and in parallel to and independently of what would become the [[IB Primary Years Programme|Primary Years Programme]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bunnell|first=Tristan|date=2011-12-01|title=The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme after 30 years: A critical inquiry|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1475240911423604|journal=Journal of Research in International Education|language=en|volume=10|issue=3|pages=261–274|doi=10.1177/1475240911423604|s2cid=145667093|issn=1475-2409}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2017|title=History of the IB (Presentation)|url=https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/digital-toolkit/presentations/1711-presentation-history-of-the-ib-en.pdf|url-status=live|website=International Baccalaureate Organization}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Barnes|first=David|date=1998|title=And Then There Were Three...IB Programmes, That Is...|url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ575274|journal=International Schools Journal|language=en|volume=18|issue=1|pages=44–47|issn=0264-7281}}</ref> The Middle Years Programme's "birthplace" is considered to be the International School Moshi, in Tanzania, today known as the [[United World College East Africa]], which had been the first school to introduce the IB diploma to the African continent.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hayden|first=Mary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4oI7EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT183|title=Perspectives on Assessment and Evaluation in International Schools|date=2018-07-30|publisher=John Catt Educational|isbn=978-1-911382-66-9|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lope|first=Marjorie D.|date=2014|title=Perceptions of global mindedness in the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme: The relationship to student academic performance and teacher characteristics|url=https://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/handle/1903/16270/Lope_umd_0117E_15769.pdf|journal=Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park}}</ref> In the late 1970s the school identified a pedagogical disconnect stemming from teaching the British [[GCE Ordinary Level|O-levels]] curriculum to students aged 11–16, and then the International Baccalaureate Diploma for students 16–18. The headmaster at the time, Lister Hannah, led discussions on the potential of developing a new two year pre-IB curriculum at the ''Association of International Schools in Africa'' conference in Nairobi in October 1978. Hannah, together with the heads of the [[International School of Lusaka]], Zambia, and the [[International School of Tanganyika]] in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, engaged in discussions with the [[International Baccalaureate|International Baccalaureate Organization]] and the ''International Schools Association (ISA)'' about establishing a new pre-IB programme. In 1980, the school hosted a conference of the ''International Schools Association (ISA)'' in Moshi, titled 'The Needs of the Child in the Middle Years of Schooling (ages 11–16)'.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bunnell|first=Tristan|date=2011-11-29|title=Book review: The Changing Face of International Education: Challenges for the IB|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1475240911421263|journal=Journal of Research in International Education|volume=10|issue=3|pages=306–308|doi=10.1177/1475240911421263|s2cid=147238045|issn=1475-2409}}</ref> This conference recommended the development of a course to meet the needs of students aged 11–16 years, with a focus on six key ‘needs’, which were described as ''Global'', ''Intellectual'', ''Personal'', ''Physical'', ''Creative'', and ''Social''.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017|title=History of the IB (Presentation)|url=https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/digital-toolkit/presentations/1711-presentation-history-of-the-ib-en.pdf|url-status=live|website=International Baccalaureate Organization}}</ref>

Further workshops and conferences (Lusaka in 1981, New York in 1981, Wersen in 1981, London in 1982, and Cyprus in 1983) brought additional schools into the conversation, including the [[International School of Geneva|International School of Geneva (Ecolint)]], the [[United Nations International School|United Nations International School (UNIS)]] in New York, and the [[Vienna International School]], and established a framework for what would become the ISA curriculum (ISAC), and later the Middle Years Programme. It was during this time that Gérard Renaud, previously a teacher at Ecolint and then Director General of the IB,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gérard Renaud|url=https://www.ibo.org/about-the-ib/governance-and-leadership/director-general/past-directors-general/gerard-renaud/|access-date=2022-01-19|website=International Baccalaureate®|language=en}}</ref> and Robert Belle-Isle, who was the director at UNIS and had previously been the superintendent of the Chambly school district in Quebec, became involved in the initiative.

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From 1983 to 1990 the discussions crystallized into a five-year curriculum for students aged 11–16, rather than a purely pre-IB course. At the 1987 ISA annual conference in Svendborg, it was decided to pilot the newly designed curriculum. Three schools took part in the initial pilot: the [[Macdonald Cartier High School|MacDonald Cartier High School]] in Quebec, Canada (in Belle-Isle's former school district of Chambly); [[Het Rijnlands Lyceum Oegstgeest|Het Rijnlands Lyceum]] in the Netherlands; and St Catherine's School in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The [[Vienna International School]] joined soon after, and other school boards in Quebec became interested in the program at MacDonald Cartier, and around 20 schools soon began implementing the experimental program.

The ISAC programme was taken over by the International Baccalaureate Organization in the early 1990s, officially becoming the IB Middle Years Programme in 1994.<ref>{{Cite web|date=September 2010|title=A History of the Middle Years Programme|url=https://balimyp.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/history-of-the-myp.pdf|url-status=live|website=International Baccalaureate Organization|page=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Peterson|first=A. D. C.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48837050|title=Schools Across Frontiers|date=2003|publisher=Open Court|isbn=0-8126-9505-4|edition=2|___location=Chicago, Ill.|pages=241–244|oclc=48837050}}</ref>

==Discussion==