MYP IDUs as Vehicles for Authentic Community Engagement
A photo from February 2025 when I was on-site at ARIS. These four wonderful educators are the service learning leaders at ARIS: (left to right) Temi Ray-Odekeye (MYP coordinator), Kelvin Apeti (CAS coordinator), Yinka Iloanya (PYP educator) and Dorcas Addo (PYP educator).
Sometimes the most profound educational shifts happen when we stop trying to add something extra to our curriculum and instead recognize what was always meant to be there. For Temi Ray-Odekeye, MYP Coordinator at Al-Rayan International School (ARIS) in Accra, Ghana, this realization came through a fundamental mindset shift about community engagement and interdisciplinary learning.
"The most impactful experience for us this year is seeing what we've perceived as impossible for the past year become possible before our very eyes," Temi reflects. "Before, we couldn't even connect service learning to our disciplinary units, and now we can connect them to our interdisciplinary units. Mind-blowing."
The Mindset Revolution
The transformation didn't happen overnight. Like many educators, Temi's team initially struggled with the perceived constraints of time and curriculum demands. "We struggled to connect service learning to our units because we felt we didn't have enough time to do so. We felt that it should happen at the end of the unit, and then there'd be no time because you have to do exams and all of that,” she reflects.
But the breakthrough came when they realized their entire teaching design needed to change. "We realized that the whole teaching strategy - our whole teaching design - had to change if we wanted students to take action, meaningful action,” Temi says.
The new approach follows a natural progression: students must care about an issue first, then gain knowledge and skills, develop awareness, and finally take action. "Teachers now intentionally plan learning experiences that help students care about an issue using root analysis trees, iceberg models and additional tools. It's so interesting how everything ties together to make sense," she smiles.
Real Learning in Action: IDUs in MYP years 1, 2, and 3
Year 1 (Grade 6): "Layers of Me" - Exploring Inequalities
The sixth-grade IDU in 2024/25 connected visual arts and language and literature through the lens of reducing inequality. Students explored different types of inequalities—racial, gender, and economic—through powerful storytelling experiences.
"Many people came into their classrooms. They listened to stories, and just listening to these stories developed the emotional connection for these students," Temi explains. Students visited art galleries, read literature about bullying, and then chose specific inequalities to address through their own advocacy work.
The result? Students created podcasts, interviewed community members, and made artwork to raise awareness. "For them, that learning experience was priceless, beyond paper and pen, beyond typing questions and answers. These are the things we want students to leave their classrooms with—the experience and the mindset that they can take action,” says Temi.
Photos below: a root cause analysis tree that students created to investigate signs and causes of bullying, and two MYP year 1 (grade 6) students preparing to record a podcast to advocate for anti-bullying in schools.
Year 2 (Grade 7): Sustainable food systems
The seventh-grade IDU between sciences and integrated humanities focused on sustainable food production. Students visited a chocolate factory that produces sustainable chocolate, following the entire process from farm to factory.
"Students came back more enriched, more knowledgeable, and again, more attached to the learning experience. And the beauty is when they started working on their projects… they did't see it as an assessment. They said, 'I'm taking action. I'm doing something about what I have seen,’” recounts Temi.
Student action involved planting herbs and food on the school campus, creating videos and articles about sustainable farming, and promoting kitchen gardens to the broader community.
Below: photos of planting and gardening on campus.
Year 3 (Grade 8): Cultural Preservation
The most developed IDU in 2024/25 connected humanities and language acquisition through cultural preservation for MYP year 3. Students travelled to northern Ghana to experience different cultures firsthand, armed with research questions and action plans.
One student created a multilingual menu for a hotel because she noticed some guests were struggling to communicate in their mother tongues. Another student made a video about the shea butter village she visited, documenting the complex process and struggles of the women who make this valuable product.
"She said, 'This woman goes through all this process to make just one basket of the cream. I wouldn't have appreciated or valued it. I can showcase the voice of these women to showcase what they actually go through and this will make other people appreciate it,” says Temi.
Beyond Action: The Power of Deep Listening
The Grade 8 experience culminated in something particularly powerful—a deep listening session that brought students and parents together. Temi explains: "We explained to them the importance of deep listening... how to show that you are deep listening to somebody, the body language, your eye contact, and all of that."
Parents were amazed by their children's insights and perspectives on cultural preservation, and the feedback was transformative. Parents wanted to incorporate deep listening into their home routines, recognizing that "sometimes it's not all about replying, finding a solution. It's just listening and showing that you are there and present in that moment for your kid,” says Temi.
Below: photos from the deep listening session with students and parents at the end of the unit.
Embracing Community Engagement Over Service Learning
This shift aligns perfectly with the IB's evolution from "service learning" to "community engagement" language. For Temi, this change opens minds and eyes to issues and layers of understanding that might not have been visible before.
"When there is no communication and you are in a different space, you think you know the problems that others might have. You think you know the solutions. But when you come and connect with people and communicate with them, you understand the struggles better. And sometimes you might not even need to do anything, but just appreciate them and help amplify their voice,” Temi reflects.
Moving Forward
What started as an "impossible" integration has become the natural way of teaching and learning at ARIS. The IDUs now seamlessly blend academic rigour with authentic and experiential community engagement, creating experiences that transform both students and the communities they serve.
As Temi puts it: "Students learn better, and learning is meaningful for students when it is rooted in context and when students know why they are learning what they are learning." This isn't about adding community engagement to existing unit plans; it's about recognizing that authentic community engagement is education at its finest.
Check out my conversation with Temi (below) to hear all about the three MYP IDUs from 2024/25, as well as Temi’s reflections on the value of deep listening (especially involving parents), and the shift in MYP language to “community engagement”.
