IB MTS key terms

The formal declaration that IB programmes aim to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

Ten attributes-inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, reflective-that describe the dispositions the IB aims to develop in all students across its programmes.

A disposition combining intercultural understanding, global engagement, multilingualism and an orientation toward action, cultivated through the IB continuum rather than taught as a separate subject.

The four linked programmes-PYP, MYP, DP and CP-sharing a philosophy, the learner profile and a commitment to inquiry, while differing in age range, structure and assessment.

The IB programme for students aged roughly 11 to 16, organised around eight subject groups, key and related concepts, global contexts, approaches to learning and an internally assessed ePortfolio and personal project.

The eight required areas of study: language and literature, language acquisition, individuals and societies, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical and health education, and design.

Broad, abstract organising ideas-such as aesthetics, change, communication, communities, connections, creativity, culture, development, form, global interactions, identity, logic, perspective, relationships, systems and time, place and space-used to frame MYP units and encourage transfer.

Subject-specific ideas, such as character, audience, balance or adaptation, that give disciplinary precision to a unit's exploration of a broader key concept.

Six contexts for MYP learning-identities and relationships, orientation in space and time, personal and cultural expression, scientific and technical innovation, fairness and development, and globalisation and sustainability-that frame meaningful inquiry.

A concise unit statement that combines a key concept, related concept and global context to express the conceptual understanding students should reach.

Knowing ideas and their relationships well enough to transfer them to new situations, rather than merely recalling facts; a central aim of MYP curriculum design.

An approach in which student questions drive investigation and meaning-making, with the teacher designing provocations, scaffolding and structures rather than transmitting content directly.

A staged process-commonly connecting, investigating, planning, creating and reflecting-used to structure MYP units so that exploration leads to action and evaluation.

Meaningful, often student-initiated responses to learning that extend beyond the classroom, such as advocacy, service, or changed personal behaviour, valued as an outcome of inquiry.

The skills-communication, research, thinking, self-management and social-that support learning across the MYP and are explicitly taught, practised and reflected upon.

The grouped sub-skills within each ATL category, for example collaboration and organisation, which teachers use to plan explicit skill instruction and monitor development.

ATL skills covering organisation, time and task management, affective regulation and resilience, enabling students to work independently and cope with challenge.

The part of self-management concerned with managing emotions, motivation, mindfulness and resilience during learning.

Learning in which two or more disciplines are integrated around a shared concept or problem so that understanding is greater than the sum of the separate subjects.

An MYP unit planned by teachers from at least two subject groups around a common statement of inquiry, assessed against interdisciplinary criteria.

The four MYP assessment criteria-evaluating, synthesising, communicating and reflecting-used to judge student performance in an interdisciplinary unit.

Four criteria per subject group, each marked out of eight, describing what students should be able to demonstrate in that subject; schools use them to standardise judgements.

The professional decision a teacher makes when a body of evidence sits between descriptor levels, choosing the level that most fairly describes the student's overall performance.

Ongoing assessment used to inform teaching and learning by revealing what students understand and where support is needed, rather than to assign a final grade.

Assessment that occurs at the end of a learning period to establish what students have achieved against criteria and to inform reporting.

Optional IB-external on-screen examinations and ePortfolio moderation that provide IB-verified results and, where requirements are met, the IB MYP certificate.

A student-directed culminating MYP project, typically in year 5, in which students pursue a self-chosen goal, document their process in a report and are assessed against four criteria.

MYP expectation that students engage in meaningful service that meets a genuine community need and is linked to their learning, documented and reflected upon rather than graded.

Structured, regular joint planning among teachers-within and across subject groups-to design units, align assessment and share responsibility for student learning.

A team of educators who meet regularly to examine student work and data, share practice and improve teaching through collective inquiry.

The periodic self-study and external verification process through which an IB World School reviews implementation of programme standards and practices and plans improvement.

A school authorised by the IB to deliver one or more IB programmes after meeting the IB's standards and practices and completing the authorisation process.

The IB's framework of requirements covering philosophy, leadership, organisation, curriculum and assessment that schools must meet for authorisation and continued delivery.

Deliberate adaptation of content, process, product or environment so that students with varied readiness, interests and profiles can access the same conceptual goals.

The IB's commitment to developing and valuing more than one language, supported in the MYP through language and literature and language acquisition requirements.

Judging student performance against published criteria and descriptors rather than against other students, so that achievement is reported on an absolute scale.

The MYP planning document that records a unit's statement of inquiry, concepts, global context, ATL skills, content, learning experiences and assessment tasks.