As the CISH’s MYP Coordinator, I had the pleasure of attending the IB Global Conference in Adelaide Australia last week thanks to the efforts of Dr. Francis Pang and Madame Du Juan. It was the first face-to-face global conference for the Asia-Pacific region since the pandemic and it was a wonderful opportunity to get together with my peers to discuss and learn about the future of IB and best practices for students, teachers, and schools moving forward in our rapidly changing world. 

The conference was book-ended with two engaging and relevant keynotes. The introductory keynote was “Taking An Inclusive Approach to Support Wellbeing in Schools” by Dr. Helen Street and it focused on Contextual Well-being. Contextual Well-being supports an inclusive approach to whole school well-being and learning engagement through the development of a healthy school context.  She discussed the importance of shifting our understanding of ‘being well’ from the individual to the collective; and our understanding of ‘acting well’ from the self to the social. The closing keynote was “Teaching for tomorrow: How to future-proof our schools, students and educational systems” by Michael McQueen and it looked at the rapidly changing face of technology in education framed around educationalist John Dewey’s warning of “if we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” It highlighted new technologies, how to implement them effectively, and how to effectively prepare our students for their future. 

I also attended several breakout sessions that looked at school culture and identity, transitioning from the PYP into the MYP, shifting pedagogical mindsets, rubrics, assessments, and validity in the MYP, constructing teacher performance indicators, and how school systems and cultures inhibit learning. Most importantly, I attended 3 sessions with the lead MYP curriculum designer Nat Erbes on the upcoming changes to the MYP program through Enhancing the MYP. Instead of subject-specific changes, the IB is looking at the MYP holistically as a whole to enhance it in order to: prepare all learners to shape their future with transformational IB learning experiences, empower educators to adapt, design and deliver a dynamic future-facing curriculum, and support schools to cultivate inclusive learning communities and realize the full value of the MYP.

- MYP Coordinator - Sean Miller