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This article presents the results of an empirical study of learners’ needs analysis to design a potential training course to adapt teachers to work in a middle school with International Baccalaureate (IB MYP) programs. The purpose of the study was to identify learning needs as well as gaps and expectations, preferred formats, amount of time that teachers in Russian schools have available for professional development courses in IB MYP programs. Using a survey method, the study identifies learning preferences of teachers as participants in a potential course: practice orientation, attention to documentation, preferred topics and formats of work. The learning needs analysis also revealed barriers that may prevent teachers from effectively engaging in professional development, including lack of time, conceptual complexity of the material, lack of institutional support and lack of professional guidance. The Learning Needs Analysis has proven to be a convenient, relatively simple, flexible, and effective tool for subsequent course design. The authors conclude that it is versatile for courses of varying focus and duration and suggest a number of ways to make the method more useful for understanding the learning context of specific groups by adding sociometric questions.