Middle Stage
The Middle Stage is for three years and includes Grades 6, 7, and 8.
“The Middle Stage will comprise three years of education, building on the pedagogical and
curricular style of the Preparatory Stage, but with the introduction of subject teachers for
learning and discussion of the more abstract concepts in each subject that students will be
ready for at this stage across the sciences, mathematics, arts, social sciences, and
humanities. Experiential learning within each subject, and explorations of relations among
different subjects, will be encouraged and em- phasized despite the introduction of more
specialized subjects and subject teachers.”
The Middle Stage utilizes the capacities and dispositions developed during the Preparatory
Stage and introduces the students to different forms of understanding. Students gain
systematic knowledge through rational thought and enquiry. The capacities for critical
thinking and prob- lem-solving are consolidated in this stage and they acquire the desirable
values and dispositions for democratic/economic/cultural participation.
The Middle Stage expands the curricular areas to include the Sciences – the study of the
natural world, and Social Sciences – the study of the human world, and students get
exposure to Vocational Education. Based on the capacities and dispositions in the
Preparatory Stage, students engage more formally with knowledge and values in the Middle
Stage. Curricular Areas are dealt with as ‘forms of understanding’ with explicit engagement
with paradigmatic theories and conceptual structures that frame each area. The more
generic capacities (like observation and data collection) developed in the Preparatory Stage
are now specialized into specific methods of inquiry that is appropriate for each form of
understanding. For e.g., students gain an understanding of the scientific method of inquiry
and also contrast it with methods of inquiry in history or in the arts. The conventions and
protocols of each form of understanding are also introduced in the middle stage.
