Preface (Mary Hayden & Jeff Thompson), 7-7
Introduction. International Schools: the developing agenda (Mary Hayden & Jeff Thompson), 9-16
Nicholas Tate What Are International Schools For?, 17-36
George Walker International Schools and International Curricula, 37-51
Tristian Stobie The Curriculum Battleground, 53-70
Martin Skelton What Should Students Learn in International Schools?, 71-83
Judith Fabian A Pedagogy for International Education, 85-103
Michael Fertig, Chris James The Leadership and Management of International Schools: very complex matters, 105-127
Margaret Halicioglu International Education: the role of the residential school experience, 129-149
Neil Richards ‘Rage, Rage against the Dying of the Light’, 151-163
Sally Booth, Malcolm McKenzie, Edward Shanahan Lessons Learned from Opening a World School, 165-183
Mark Waterson The Corporatisation of International Schooling, 185-213
Tristan Bunnell International Schooling: implications of the changing growth pattern, 215-235
Notes on Contributors, 237-240
Preface (Mary Hayden & Jeff Thompson)
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Introduction. International Schools: the developing agenda (Mary Hayden & Jeff Thompson)
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What Are International Schools For?
Nicholas Tate
This chapter focuses on the purposes, pragmatic and ideological, behind the development of international schools and the extent to which these are being achieved. The ideological roots of the international schools movement are traced to the Enlightenment and to a set of ideas associated with democratic liberalism. The author argues for the continuing relevance of these ideas at a time when they are under attack. Four areas for reflection by international educators are identified: the structural function of international education in supporting local elites and promoting the global spread of English; the dangers of utopianism and sentimentalism; preparation for national, as opposed to global, citizenship; and the need for pedagogical debate to extend beyond constructivism. Although international schools are likely to be educating, at most, no more than 0.5% of the world’s school population, an important role for them is envisaged: in supporting, where appropriate, the ‘internationalisation’ of national education systems and as exemplars of educational practice freed from the pressures and social engineering imperatives of national governments.
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International Schools and International Curricula
George Walker
Challenging the common assumption that international schools necessarily use the programmes of the International Baccalaureate (IB), the author identifies distinctive features of the curricula of three international schools that pre-date the IB: the International School of Geneva, the United Nations International School in New York and Atlantic College in Wales. He applies these features to the recent dramatic growth of so-called ‘international schools’ to ask whether these new schools merit the use of the descriptor ‘international’. If so, will they be a vibrant force for the transformation of national education programmes; if not, can they be encouraged to contribute their substantial resources to the future development of international education?
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The Curriculum Battleground
Tristian Stobie
A rise in the number of international schools serving local populations who want to adopt what they perceive as international best practice raises a number of questions and issues explored in this chapter. Is there such a thing as international best practice? Does globalisation imply the need for a common curriculum and pedagogy? Curriculum must be a local construct, grounded in the school’s culture and context; one curriculum prescription does not suit all. Change, which is both desirable and inevitable, needs to be evolutionary and grounded in an understanding of local context and culture if it is to lead to beneficial outcomes. A few principles and approaches that might be helpful in building a curriculum that respects local and global realities are considered.
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What Should Students Learn in International Schools?
Martin Skelton
This chapter looks at the complex meanings within the terms ‘schools’, ‘international’ and ‘learning’. It suggests that, in Western democratic societies, different schools are increasingly reaching closer agreement about the kinds of children and students they are hoping to develop and, therefore, about the kinds of learning they should help their students achieve. It suggests that ‘international’ is a dispositional rather than a locational adjective. The chapter also describes how the goals of these schools and the learning that is connected to their purposes is problematic for a number of reasons. The chapter concludes by suggesting that schools that are both locationally and dispositionally international have a responsibility to take advantage of the situation they find themselves in and to lead the way in developing the learning necessary to lay the foundations for their students of an increasingly sophisticated awareness of ‘the other’.
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A Pedagogy for International Education
Judith Fabian
International education has most commonly been defined by the type of schools that teach it, and by the nature and content of the curriculum offered by those schools. This chapter argues that international education can be defined more meaningfully and productively by how students are taught, the quality and depth of their learning and the consequent relationship between teacher and student. Curriculum content is necessary but not sufficient. Furthermore, the nature and quality of the teaching and learning that takes place will have a more lasting impact than curriculum content or type of school; it will lead to students becoming internationally minded, that is, developing the values and attitudes that will lead them to respond actively and positively to making the world a better place. These teaching strategies value the knowledge and experience of students; they are inquiry based, concept driven and contextualised; they focus on teaching through collaboration and differentiation; they are informed by assessment and develop students as independent, lifelong learners.
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The Leadership and Management of International Schools: very complex matters
Michael Fertig, Chris James
The rapid and continuing growth of international schools has put their leadership and management under close scrutiny. In this chapter, the authors examine the nature of international schools as institutions. In doing this, they argue that, as with other schools, international schools are complex, evolving, loosely linked systems (CELLS), which has important implications for how they are led and managed. The authors then examine the relationship between leadership and management and argue that international school leaders and managers face important challenges in securing the legitimacy of their institutions as ‘schools’ and, also, as ‘international schools’. They conclude the chapter by examining the complexity of the different forms of international schools and the impact that this complexity has upon the leadership and the management of these institutions.
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International Education: the role of the residential school experience
Margaret Halicioglu
This chapter examines how schools with a residential/boarding facility can support and enhance the goal of international education. International understanding can be learned by children living alongside those from different cultures, facing authentic learning experiences. The responsibilities on staff who care for such children far from home are considerable. Some students may need academic support, including in terms of their language proficiency if their mother tongue is not the language of the school; other children may need psychological support, if they have a difficult transition, for example, or feel homesick. A defined residential curriculum, as well as a strong pastoral care programme, can provide the starting point. There will be a range of challenges for staff and students alike, but there is huge potential for a school to strengthen the realisation of its mission via the residential experience.
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‘Rage, Rage against the Dying of the Light’
Neil Richards
This is not an academic chapter. Neither is it a celebration. Rather it is one, probably over-long, self-indulgent, howl of protest. The teaching profession in the United Kingdom has been anaesthetised and stretched out – racked upon a corporate template, the better to enable a succession of weekend educationalists to fumble over, and tinker with, its body parts. The result is as ugly as it sounds. Fundamentally, the political approach seems to be based upon an almost complete lack of trust in the teaching profession. This chapter attempts to set out the flawed rationale of our political masters, where target setting and inspection make an outmoded, inadequate system function with even greater efficiency and where the end goal seems to be the creation of a teacher-proof education system and the replacement of dissidents with party functionaries. Meanwhile, lurking in the background, and hovering over the plump carcass of international education, there are ‘the men in dark suits’. For respite there is a brief sojourn among the Finns, with more than a hint of an alternative way forward.
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Lessons Learned from Opening a World School
Sally Booth, Malcolm McKenzie, Edward Shanahan
The three authors of this chapter write about their planning and implementation work with a small but growing team of international and Chinese educators to design Keystone Academy, Beijing. This school has a singular educational approach, blending the best of New England preparatory school boarding programs and international curricular frameworks with a unique Chinese Thread to deepen the knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the cultural heritage of China’s past, present, and future. Combining the global and the national in this way creates a new type of ‘world school’. The Academy is a K-12 bilingual boarding school that is already bringing a distinct learning experience to Chinese and international students. The stories narrated here about the myriad challenges and successes involved in opening a start-up school are intended to serve as a roadmap for others endeavoring to design new schools that will rejuvenate the educational experience of future students in an increasingly interconnected world.
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The Corporatisation of International Schooling
Mark Waterson
The number of international schools has grown significantly over the past fifty years. In a globalised world characterised by greater economic and cultural activity crossing national boundaries, the demand for such schools from expatriate families has grown, and continues to grow, at pace. Increasingly, this demand is being augmented by local parents wanting something different for their children than is being offered by their national school systems. This burgeoning market in international school education is attracting a wide range of private sector involvement including for-profit transnational corporations (TNCs) that are starting up, or buying up, multiple international schools around the world. Whenever for-profit providers enter the educational domain there is inevitable debate on both philosophical and practical grounds about the purpose and quality of educational provision. For better or worse, TNCs operating chains of schools are likely to be a permanent fixture in the global educational landscape and to exert a growing influence on the international school sector and beyond. This chapter explores some of the issues and questions raised by their entry into the market and hopefully will provoke discussions amongst proponents and detractors alike about the nature of the education they offer and their wider impact.
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International Schooling: implications of the changing growth pattern
Tristan Bunnell
The number of schools being classified or labelled as ‘international’ has grown enormously over the past decade. At the same time, there have been significant changes in the nature of purpose and operation of these schools, and in ways that warrant closer examination and critical discussion. In particular, there has been a shift from what might be deemed the ‘Ideal’ era of activity, towards a ‘post-Ideal’ era, characterised in the main by the growth of for-profit schooling aimed at educating the children of the emerging middle class within the host country. The growth of ‘non-traditional’ types of ‘international schools’ has been especially noticeable, and areas of the world such as Dubai and Singapore are now at the centre of activity. This chapter discusses these changes in scale and pattern of activity, and attempts to move the discussion forward by focusing on the possible implications of the changing growth pattern. In particular, the implications for legitimacy, strategy and further research are discussed.
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Notes on Contributors
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