The MYP is designed for students between the ages of 11 and 16. This period, encompassing puberty and early mid-adolescence, is a particularly critical phase of personal and intellectual development. The MYP aims to help students develop the knowledge, skills and attitude they need to participate actively and responsibly in a changing and increasingly interrelated world. In doing so, learning how to learn and how to evaluate information critically is as important as the content of the disciplines themselves.

For an overview of subjects offered in the MYP, click here.

myp model

In the programme model for the MYP the student is placed at the centre, represented by the IB learner profile.

The first ring describes the features of the programme that help students develop disciplinary (and interdisciplinary) understanding:

  • Approaches to learning (ATL)— demonstrating a commitment to approaches to learning as a key component of the MYP for developing skills for learning;
  • Approaches to teaching— emphasizing MYP pedagogy, including collaborative learning through inquiry;
  • Concepts— highlighting a concept-driven curriculum;
  • Global contexts— teaching and learning in the MYP involves understanding concepts in context. The MYP identifies six global contexts for teaching and learning that are developed from, and extend, the PYP’s transdisciplinary themes:
    • Identities and relationships
    • Globalisation and sustainability
    • Orientation in space and time
    • Personal and cultural expression
    • Scientific and technical innovation
    • Fairness and development

​The second ring describes some important outcomes of the programme.

  • Inquiry-based learning may result in student-initiated action, which may involve service within the community.
  • The MYP culminates in the personal project (for students in MYP year 5).


The third ring describes the MYP’s broad and balanced curriculum.

  • The MYP organis​es teaching and learning through eight subject groups: language and literature, language acquisition, individuals and societies, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical and health education, and design.
  • In many cases, discrete or integrated disciplines may be taught and assessed within a subject group: for example, history or geography within the individuals and societies subject group; biology, chemistry or physics within the sciences subject group.
  • The distinction between subject groups blurs to indicate the interdisciplinary nature of the MYP. The subject groups are connected through global contexts and key concepts.

(MYP: From Principles into Practice 2014)