On Monday and Tuesday of this week, TIS went through the authorization process to complete our bid to become an MYP school.
What is the authorization process? This is a process where by the International Baccalaureate visits a candidate school to monitor the progress which has been made since its application to become a full IB MYP school. TIS educational beliefs and values were showcased in these two days to demonstrate how the school’s leadership and administrative structures have been supporting the MYP authorization process.
So what happened on Monday and Tuesday? The authorization team met academic staff on the first day to introduce themselves and to explain what they would be doing over the two days which included touring the school, talking to students, staff, SMT, board members and parents and going through documented evidence of our journey so far.
After the briefing with staff on the first morning, the authorization team joined the school in the Monday assembly and they were not disappointed.
The two-man team (Christophe Etienne and Ryan Evans) are teachers themselves so they enjoyed visiting classrooms and even managed to stop and talk to a couple of our students during their lessons.
They were accompanied by the Regional Development Manager for Africa, Adzo Ashie as an observer. TIS is only the second school in Ghana and the first in Tema to go for MYP authorization so this was a l
earning experience for MYP in Ghana.
During Monday and Tuesday various discussions held with the authorization team built a picture which would be used to verify what TIS has been doing towards becoming an authorized MYP school. The school infrastructure was also under scrutiny and the team even managed a visit to the PYP site.
Authorization visits are scheduled so that there is very little disruption to the school; however, everyone involved in the MYP and many others will attest to the fact that the school had a new buzz to it on Monday and Tuesday. There was excitement in the air, and everyone knew an important corner was being turned in the TIS story.
What does this authorization mean for TIS? Once authorization is granted, a school can begin to prepare its students for certification. This means that TIS will be able to offer e-assessments to all MYP students who will enter Grade 10 and the IB in turn will be able to accept TIS students’ personal projects and e-portfolios which are uploaded in the assessment season of Grade 10 in 2020.
The authorization team has now left Ghana and it will take a while before we get any news about the result but while we wait, we can all say that this has been a beneficial experience for the school in terms of moving in a new direction.
Another piece of the IB continuum will be put into place once TIS is authorized as an MYP school. This continuum prepares our students to be better equipped for the new DP courses which begin after 2020. At this time requirements for teaching and learning within the different levels of the IB continuum will be more alike and prior exposure will be a major strength for the future DP students. In our 15th anniversary year, the MYP authorization process has truly exemplified our anniversary theme of ‘Inspiring new directions’. “Well done everyone in the TIS family for contributing to making this authorization process run smoothly!”
MYP Coordinator, Yvonne Tagoe
