MYP at Espoo International School (EIS)
Espoo International School (EIS) follows the Finnish National Core Curriculum in all grades. EIS is also an International Baccalaureate (IB) authorized world school for Grades 7-9 in the Middle Years Programme (MYP). Therefore, we offer the Finnish National Core Curriculum through the Middle Years Programme Framework for Grades 7-9.
IB mission statement: The International Baccalaureate (IB) aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
The IB offers high quality and challenging educational programmes for a worldwide community of schools, aiming to create a better, more peaceful world. IB students are forever curious, fully engaged citizens, who both embrace their own culture and are open and responsive to other cultures and views. At the heart of the IB is the “learner profile”, a long term, holistic vision of education that underpins all three programmes and puts the student at the centre of everything we do. The learner profile is the IB mission statement translated into a set of learning outcomes for the 21st century. The ten aspirational qualities of the learner profile inspire and motivate the work of teachers, students and schools, providing a statement of the aims and values of the IB and a definition of what we mean by “international-mindedness”. The learner profile unites us all with a common focus: on the whole person, as a lifelong learner. It applies to us all–student, teacher, parent or administrator–for we are all continually learning.
What is the MYP?(external link, opens in a new window)
Welcome to the MYP at EIS(external link, opens in a new window): an introduction
About the MYP at EIS
Academic integrity is a guiding principle in education and a choice to act in a responsible way whereby others can have trust in us as individuals. It is the foundation for ethical decision-making and behaviour in the production of legitimate, authentic and honest scholarly work.
Academic integrity means doing one's own work and giving proper credit to the work and ideas of others. It is the responsibility of each student to become familiar with what constitutes academic honesty, academic dishonesty and plagiarism and to avoid all forms of cheating. This topic is presented clearly in the student handbook and is promoted by all teachers and staff.
Fostering an academic integrity culture, and a personal positive attitude towards it, requires a school strategy that combines policies and good academic practice, while understanding the fundamental principles that are present at EIS and in the MYP. Refer to our Academic Integrity Policy here(external link, opens in a new window).
Every year, EIS 5th-9th grade students and parents are asked to read and sign an Academic Integrity agreement, thus ensuring that all students, teachers and parents have a common understanding of EIS and IB principles and policies concerning academic integrity and honesty.
The MYP comprises eight subject groups: Arts, Design, Individuals and Society, Language Acquisition, Language and Literature, Mathematics. Physical and Health Education, Sciences.
Assessment is integral to all teaching and learning. MYP assessment requires teachers to assess the prescribed subject-group objectives using the assessment criteria for each subject group. In order to provide students with opportunities to achieve at the highest level, MYP teachers develop rigorous tasks that embrace a variety of assessment strategies. As units of study unfold, teachers will conduct formative assessments in order to assess student learning and adjust instruction where necessary to best meet the needs of the students. Formative assessments are essentially the practice leading up to a final summative assessment. Refer to our Assessment Policy here(external link, opens in a new window).
At EIS, middle school students will receive two grades in each subject or subject group:
- an MYP grade based on a grade scale of 1-7 (received at the end of the school year)
- and a Finnish Curriculum grade based on a grade scale of 4-10 (received biannually, at the end of each semester).
MYP grades are based on four criteria: A, B, C and D. Each criteria is assessed on a scale of 1-8 points, with a final total out of 32. This is then converted to a grade out of 7. Personal Project and Interdisciplinary both have 3 criteria and are assessed out of 24 points, which is then converted to a grade out of 7..
Below you will find guides for each MYP subject group.
In these guides, you will find general information about the subject group: curriculum, assessment criteria and more.
Below you will find guides for each MYP subject group.
In these guides, you will find general information about the subject group: curriculum, assessment criteria and more.
At EIS, the MYP subject groups are made up of the following disciplines:
Arts(external link, opens in a new window): Visual Arts and Music
Design(external link, opens in a new window): Home Economics and Crafts
Individuals and society(external link, opens in a new window): History and Geography
Language acquisition(external link, opens in a new window): Swedish
Language and literature(external link, opens in a new window): English
Mathematics(external link, opens in a new window): Maths
Physical and health education(external link, opens in a new window): Physical Education and Health Education
Sciences(external link, opens in a new window): Biology, Chemistry and Physics
The Personal Project
The Personal Project is an academic-year-long, student-directed, teacher-guided project. It consists of three main parts: a process journal, a product (or outcome) and a project report. It is an integral and obligatory part of the IB’s Middle Years Programme (MYP).
The project to designed to help the student develop, demonstrate and apply the skills which were developed through the MYP’s Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills.
Students will receive a predicted grade from EIS in May and an official final grade, along with an MYP certificate, from the IBO the following September.
Projects(external link, opens in a new window): Personal Project Student and Supvisor Handbook
Take a look at our digital projects that had been completed during the pandemic.
Exhibition 2019-2020(external link, opens in a new window)
Interdisciplinary Units
In the Finnish National Core Curriculum, students must partake in multidisciplinary (MDUs) units. In the MYP, these are called interdisciplinary (IDU) units. According to the Finnish national curriculum, integrative instruction plays a vital role throughout the comprehensive school years. The curriculum states that “In order to safeguard every pupil’s possibilities of examining wholes and engaging in exploratory work that is of interest to the pupils, the education provider shall ensure that the pupil’s studies include at least one multidisciplinary learning module every school year” (National Core Curriculum for Basic Education). In the IB, IDU units Interdisciplinary teaching and learning is grounded in individual subject groups and disciplines, but extends disciplinary understanding in ways that are integrative (bringing together concepts, methods or modes of communication from two or more subject groups, disciplines or established areas of expertise to develop new perspectives) and purposeful (connecting disciplines to solve real-world problems, create products or address complex issues in ways that would have been unlikely through a single approach).
Each MYP Grade Level completes an MDU/IDU and are graded on Criteria A, B and C. These grades will appear on the students end of year MYP Report Card. For more information on the units of work and the assessment criteria, please refer to the subject course outlines or the interdisciplinary subject group overview(external link, opens in a new window).
Community Engagement
The IB’s concept of community engagement highlights various approaches to engagement with the community. Students focus on responding to a relevant opportunity or challenge. They jointly define the scope of their engagement with the community.
A smaller number of learning objectives provide greater clarity of purpose, as well as closer alignment between the MYP and other IB programmes. Students can respond to their unique contexts through dialogue, relationship-building and reflection and reflexivity. If a teacher selects community engagement as a guiding principle for a given unit of inquiry, the unit must include opportunities for students to collaborate with their peers and communities, to respond to opportunities and challenges locally and/or globally.
Community engagement is a form of learning in which students engage respectfully and equitably with their communities, utilising knowledge and skills learned in the classroom. It provides opportunities for learners to engage responsively to opportunities and challenges in and with their communities, and to contribute positively through principled action.
IB learners strive to be caring members or partners of the community. They demonstrate a personal commitment to community engagement, and they act to make a positive difference. Community engagement is an important way to participate in principled action—the making of responsible choices—across a range of overlapping communities, both locally and globally. Through principled action, sustained inquiry and critical reflection, learners can develop the attributes described by the IB learner profile. that are essential for success in future academic pursuits, and for life.
To view our Community Engagement Handbook, please visit here(external link, opens in a new window).
At Espoo International School, we encourage all queries to be made directly to the parties involved before a complaint is needed to be escalated. We have created a dynamic school culture that fosters communication and open-mindedness at its core.
Further queries can be facilitated by the MYP Coordinator and the Principal.
Should there not be a resolution in this communication, contact the IB directly(external link, opens in a new window).
