The MYP at Scotch College - Highly Commended but Never Complacent
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. 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 once again to the Humanities Department for their rich collection of supporting documents. The moderators also singled out our Personal Project supervisors; commending them for their detailed understanding and application of the assessment criteria.
The reports presented a promising reflection of our students' academic performance with our students out-performing the global average in eleven out of the thirteen sampled subjects.
The intent behind our search for annual feedback from the IBO (which is an optional element of the programme) is self-improvement and not self-congratulation. While is it wonderful to receive praise for the courses of work we design here at Scotch, the more important aspects of the feedback we receive are their suggestions for further improvement. With this in mind, our teachers will move away from a post-task approach to students' self-reflection and towards a free, on-going approach that will include feedback from peers and teachers. We will also continue to drive a focus on integrity through academic honesty. Our aim will be to increase our students' understanding of what constitutes academic dishonesty or malpractice and to up-skill our students in the use of referencing - thus preparing them for the realities of life at university and in the work-place.
The future of the MYP at Scotch College certainly continues to shine brightly and I am looking forward to another successful in which our staff seek to further improve an already praise-worthy programme.
Charlotte Cook-Casey
Middle Years Programme Coordinator
