UK students enrolled in International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme stand out from the crowd says NFER study

THE HAGUE, Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The International Baccalaureate (IB) has published a new comparative research study which examined differences between the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) and two popular national qualifications in the UK, and surveyed students, their teachers and parents at six schools offering the MYP in the UK. The findings demonstrate a clear distinction between MYP students and those who are not enrolled in the MYP.

“This research demonstrates that the Middle Years Programme represents an innovative and exciting framework for educating 11-16 year-olds”

Conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to investigate the teaching and learning benefits of the MYP, the researchers found that MYP students exhibit positive attitudes and behaviours, particularly in civic and cultural contexts uncommon in their non-IB peers. On all factors related to civic-mindedness, MYP students scored significantly higher than their non-IB peers—even in their future expectations of civic participation.

The NFER study compared and contrasted the MYP with the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), similar education qualifications.

Key findings are:

The MYP covers all the main areas that the GCSE and the IGCSE do, and in some cases goes above and beyond, incorporating additional areas of study.
Non-scholastic attributes such as international- and civic-mindedness were more pronounced in MYP students, along with the expectation to develop higher-order thinking skills.

Science, mathematics and English are relatively well matched across the three qualifications with some notable distinctions:

Science and maths are less prescriptive in the MYP;
MYP science includes elements not included in the other two programmes;
Discrete maths is exclusively in the MYP domain, though calculator work is not;
Only the MYP includes study of visual communication skills as part of its curriculum in English.

“This research demonstrates that the Middle Years Programme represents an innovative and exciting framework for educating 11-16 year-olds,” states IB Chief Academic Officer Judith Fabian. “The MYP encourages young people to go beyond simply learning for examinations, and to grow into reflective and civic-minded individuals. Innovative new developments for the MYP are to launch in 2014 to build on existing strengths and better prepare students for success in the IB Diploma Programme or IB Career-related Certificate and beyond.”

For more information, visit http://www.ibo.org/research/policy/programmevalidation/myp/