MYP at Espoo International School (EIS)
Espoo International School (EIS) follows the Finnish National Curriculum in all grades. EIS is also an International Baccalaureate (IB) authorized world school. Therefore, in addition to National Core Curriculum, we offer the Middle Years Program (MYP) to all grade 7-9 students.
MYP Slide show(external link, opens in a new window) and EIS Slide show (external link, opens in a new window)from In-coming 7th Grade Parents' Evening 30.5.22
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) (external link, opens in a new window)
The IB and MYP in Finland(external link, opens in a new window)
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 goes beyond a definition and a well-structured school policy; it should also be part of an “ethical culture” of any educational institution, be that a primary school or a university. It is an obligation which must be embraced and fostered by the entire school community, so students continue their future life, whether in higher education or in the workplace, in strict adherence to this principle. As a community, our goal is to develop and maintain a culture that is based on honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. When students learn integrity in school and in classroom settings, it helps them apply similar principles to other aspects of their lives.
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.
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. A digital version of the EIS student handbook can be found from our school webpages.
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.
Our role in promoting academic honesty
Every teacher and staff member is involved in promoting academic integrity. It is understood that teachers and staff play a key role in creating and fostering an atmosphere of academic integrity. Therefore, it is the responsibility of teachers to ensure that expectations, assessment criteria and instructions are clear, fair and achievable.
It is also the school's responsibility to respond to every case of academic misconduct in a fair, consistent, transparent and timely manner. In order to do this, it is also important that the school's academic integrity policy is clear, unambiguous and easily accessible to all members of the community.
In order to avoid accusations of unintentional plagiarism, students will be taught, will practice and will learn to actively source, reference and use in-text citations. At EIS, the format chosen for citations is MLA8 or MLA9.
If you are unsure if what you are doing constitutes academic dishonesty, ask a teacher for advice.
What Constitutes Academic Dishonesty?
Plagiarism:
Plagiarism is representing another's ideas, expressions, writings or work as your own. It can be:
-Copying word for word from the Internet, books, journals, other students or any other source without proper citations.
-Paraphrasing, which is borrowing ideas from a source and presenting them in your own words. The words are yours, but the ideas have not been given proper credit.
Cheating on a test or quiz:
-Bring answers into a test situation, copying from another student's paper, unauthorised use of notes or technologies, such as calculators or smart phones.
Sharing knowledge of a test:
-Sharing questions or answers with others about a test that you have already taken.
Parents and homework:
-Having parents do most or all of an assignment, a task or any other school work is academic misconduct. Parents are encouraged and expected to support their children in the learning and studies, while not doing school work on their children's behalf.
Copying homework:
If homework is copied, all students involved will receive the same disciplinary action.
All acts of intentional academic dishonesty will result a failing grade for the assignment, test or project in question. This failing grade will inevitably influence the final course grade.
The MYP is comprised of eight subject groups: Arts, Design, Individuals and Society, Language Acquisition, Language and Literature, Mathematics. Physical and Health Education, Sciences. In addition, there are the MYP projects: Personal Project and Service and Action.
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.
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, with the exception of the Personal Project, which has 3 criteria and is assessed out of 24 points.
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: Swedish
Language and literature(external link, opens in a new window): English
Mathematics: 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
Projects(external link, opens in a new window): Personal Project and Service as Action
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.
The Personal Project and IDUs
In the Finnish National Core Curriculum, in Espoo, at EIS and in the MYP, multidisciplinary (MDU) and interdisciplinary (IDU) units are a central part of learning. According to the Finnish national curriculum, integrative instruction--or MDUs and IDUs--play 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).
At EIS, MDUs are implemented throughout the primary grades. The 7th and 8th grades take part in MYP IDUs, which meet the objectives and conditions set out by both the Finnish national core curriculum and the MYP.
The 9th grade does not have a separate IDU. Instead, all 9th grade students plan and carry out a self-directed Personal Project. This project meets the objectives and conditions set out by both the Finnish national core curriculum and the MYP. It is the compulsory 9th grade integrated learning module.
EIS has traditionally held a Personal Project exhibition for students and parents at the end of the school year to highlight and profile the outstanding projects carried out by 9th grade students. However, because of the Covid-19 situation, a digital exhibition has been initiated. Note: Student participation in the digital exhibition is voluntary and are small selection of the excellent, creative projects carried out over the years. Visit the exhibitions by clicking on the below links:
Exhibition 2019-2020(external link, opens in a new window)
Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills are a unifying thread running throughout all MYP subject groups. They provide the foundation for independent learning and encourage the application of knowledge and skills in unfamiliar contexts (transfer).
Understanding ATL skills is understanding that learning is not only mechanical, but is about the application of knowledge in different subjects, contexts and in real life situations outside the classroom setting.
Developing and applying these skills helps ensure that learning occurs in a deeper, more meaningful way.
Note: ATL skills correspond closely with the Finnish curriculum's transversal competences and content areas.
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IB learners strive to be caring members of the community who demonstrate a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment. IB World Schools value service with others as an important way to engage in principled action across a range of overlapping local and global communities. Through responsible action, tightly connected with sustained inquiry and critical reflection, young people and adults can develop the kinds of attributes described by the learner profile that are essential for success in future academic pursuits and for adult life.
We aim to help students develop their personal understanding, their emerging sense of self, and their developmentally appropriate responsibility in their community. As students become more aware and acquire a better understanding of the context, and of their responsibilities, they become empowered to make choices about how to take thoughtful and positive action. This action will be different from student to student and from context to context.
Guide for MYP Service as Action(external link, opens in a new window)
If you have concerns relating to practices occurring within the IB or an IB World School, please contact the school principal, the MYP coordinator or see the attached document for procedures and protocol.
Downloadable files
Contact information
