Is my dislike of MYP rational?

[stikmatix]

Please could anyone give any input or share any experiences their DC have had with the MYP curriculum.

After many years of hearing various friends and colleagues complaining that it was too woolly and full of rhetoric, as well as not being academic enough to provide a sound basis for beginning IB Diploma study in Year 12, I feel rather anti-MYP.

I've done some reading about the curriculum etc, but now it's time to make a decision, I'd love to hear some real-life experiences!

Thanks!

What school are your DC in? Mine are overseas and doing a mix of MYP and American curriculum (apparently).

Yes it is rational, we disliked it very much though its different from school to school, couldnt wait to get out of it.

I teach MYP, and have done for 6 years.

(However it is possible I am still not fully in tune with the programme.)

I admire its philosophy and share its aims and objectives.

As I see it, the programme encourages true understanding rather than drilling for an exam.

Pupils are not only assessed on whether their final answer is correct or not, but they are encouraged to reflect upon the validity of the answer (maybe in terms of accuracy, appropriateness (?), feasability).

They may be asked to explore different approaches to a particular problem and then evaluate these approaches.

They will be assessed on how well they communicate their ideas.

However...

This is all great (imo), but I am not convinced it really prepares pupils for the IB Diploma (apart from the Extended Essay and possibly ToK and one or two other subjects)

The frustration as a teacher is the frequency with which the IBO move the goal posts. The MYP has been in operation for a number of years now, and yet I still do not feel they have sorted themselves out in terms of what the expect from schools and generally how they operate.

I ought to add that I am a very big fan of the IB Diploma. The fact that more and more UK schools are now offering it is no surprise to me. (Though I teach overseas)

I agree bad experience with the MYP. My child moved up a year and still learned little. Only got frustrated at the never ending reflections and some totally strange things to do not relating to anything useful. Ended up sending back to a good UK school. IB is good but MYP? No discipline, kids stopped caring as assessments were arbitrary. Often the bright kids lost out as they never got commended for any MYP awards. Very soft and completely useless except for teaching the process of learning not the content!

DS1 did MYP for three years. From what I saw, it looked to be a great curriculum, and excellent preparation for IB, which in turn is very good preparation for university (better than A-levels).

I would recommend MYP highly for a DC that can manage a wide range of subjects; and not so good for a child that strongly dislikes one or more of the subjects.

MYP didn't suit DS1, but I don't know of anyone else that withdrawn a child from the school because of MYP.

Doesn't a lot of this depend on the school and the teaching, though? I bought DD1 (who is 14) some maths revision books - I got her the GCSE standard and higher books, to see how it compared with what she is doing. She (and DD2, who is 12) romped through the standard one, no difficulty at all, and DD1 did pretty well with the higher one, although there was stuff in there that she hadn't covered. Neither are "gifted" at maths.