The MYP - Going from Strength to Strength at Scotch College
Every year Scotch College submits samples of work from our Year 10 courses for evaluation by the International Baccalaureate Organisation. These samples contain course outlines, unit outlines, assessment tasks, assessment rubrics copies of support material and assessed student work. The purpose of this is for the IBO to ensure that the appropriate pedagogies are being employed, that the requisite academic rigour is being maintained and that their philosophical outlook is being upheld. Upholding the IBO's philosophy has never posed a challenge to us since there is no incongruence between our Mission Statement (and values) and theirs.
We have just received our annual IBO MYP moderation reports and were delighted with the positive commentary they provided on the MYP as it operates here at Scotch College. The quality of the assessment tasks our teachers design was lauded and it was recognised that these tasks enable all students to attain the highest levels of achievement. Our use of technology for recording student performances and reflection was also commended - as was our accurate application of the assessment criteria. The IBO moderators were highly complimentary about the overall quality of the sample packages submitted by the teachers at Scotch College with particular praise going to the Humanities Department for their rich collection of supporting documents.
The reports also presented a promising reflection of our students' academic performance with our students out-performing the global average in the vast majority of their learning areas.
Our teachers are currently developing a range of new and highly innovative units of work for the Middle Years Programme at Scotch - these units are specifically designed to 'prepare our boys for life' with input from both the community and industry in order to develop skills and understandings with real life application.
The future of the MYP at Scotch College looks very bright indeed and I am looking forward to seeing exactly what it holds for our students.
Charlotte Cook-Casey
Middle Years Programme Coordinator
