ISJ April 2015: Evolving the IB Middle Years Programme – Curriculum

Robert Harrison

Abstract:

The early history and subsequent development of the Middle Years Programme (MYP) is now well described and documented (Bunnell, 2011; Hayden and Thompson, 2011; Hannah 2011a, 2011b). Sitting as the ‘middle child’ in the International Baccalaureate’s (IB) suite of programmes, the growth and geographical extent of the MYP through its first 20 years has been a subject of interest and surprise.

From its early struggling days of 15 schools in 1994, the programme is now implemented in more than 1100 schools around the world. In terms of curriculum development, the MYP has demonstrated a great deal of continuity in its educational philosophy and programme requirements that reach back as far as 1980 when the International Schools Association met in Tanzania to consider the ‘great need for a curriculum in the junior secondary group’ (Nicolson and Hannah, 2010, p4).