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Over the years, there have been accusations of widespread discrimination in the hiring practices of various educational establishments in China, and it seems that these accusations are continuing to intensify. This research study aimed to explore race and ethnicity in the hiring process in K-12 international schools in China and provide data that can be used to discuss and further study race and ethnicity in international schools. Using the context of for-profit and non-profit international schools, the researcher used an observational quantitative research design to explore international school staff perceptions of racial demographics, hiring practices, and the projection of equal opportunity in the hiring process of foreign staff in China. This study revealed few statistically significant differences between for-profit and non-profit international schools in China in the areas mentioned above. Additionally, the data revealed similar percentages of blacks and whites between the survey participants and the demographic data for those groups in the United States. Further, the data showed that foreign administrators are the primary decision-making agents in the hiring process at most international schools. Furthermore, only one-fourth of the participants were aware that their school maintained an equal opportunity clause in the hiring document or on the school's website. The findings from this study may be used to counter accusations of widespread discrimination in the hiring practices of international schools in China and elsewhere. Further, findings from this study should motivate administrators of international schools to examine staff perceptions of the hiring process in their schools.

The number of English-medium international schools implementing a second language acquisition instructional model using push-in language support is increasing. With the escalation of push-in comes increased interaction between English language learner (ELL) teachers and classroom teachers. This quantitative survey-based study aimed to explore ELL push-in support in the early and primary years in international schools. Within the construct of English-medium international schools, the researchers sought to investigate teacher expectations during push-in. Areas explored include language policy and the specification of teacher roles, availability of planning time, in-class expectations for ELL teachers, and teacher satisfaction with push-in. The study results revealed that slightly less than half of the participants reported having a school language policy that defined teacher roles, and approximately one-third of the participants in schools using push-in were not provided with planning time. The researchers also found statistically significant differences in the rankings of ELL teacher roles during push-in between ELL and classroom teachers. Further, the study revealed no statistically significant difference in the reported level of satisfaction with push-in between the two groups; however, when the two groups were combined, only about half of the participants reported that teachers were satisfied with push-in ELL support in their school.

Wersja zdeponowana w repozytorium i wersja opublikowana jest ta samą wersją (VoR). Z artykułem powiązane są dane badawcze: "Badania porównawcze funkcji międzynarodowych programów kształcenia w Polsce (NCN 2020/38/E/HS6/00048) - Dataset" http://hdl.handle.net/11089/47338. This study discusses International Baccalaureate schools in Poland from the perspective of their educational function to serve as a resistance to counterbalance trends toward nationalisation in the Polish educational landscape. To address this aim, a review of the relevant legislation has been carried out, accompanied by interviews with teachers and students from 9 IB schools in Poland. Results show that during the 30- year history of IB in Poland, international schools seem to have become places where international education is not opposed to its national education programme, however, they do demonstrate their potential to break away from intra-national education in this country. IB programmes have come to represent a counter-revolutionary force that supports grassroots initiatives in schools. International schools potentially remain safe from any authoritarian interference from the government and become ‘islands of educational resistance’ against intra-national tendencies in education. ‘Planned and attained functions of International Baccalaureate Programmes in Poland’ [grant number 2018/02/X/HS6/00596] and ‘Comparative study on functions of International Programmes in Poland’ [grant number 2020/38/E/HS6/00048], both financed by the Polish National Science Centre.

This article situates international expatriate schools in their cultural and political economy by drawing attention to the tensions between a cosmopolitan educational ethos and processes of social, economic and legal enclavement. Based on extensive multi-sited ethnographic research in the international school sector, we show how cosmopolitan claims of openness mirror a relative closure and ‘offshore-like’ enclavement. To do so, we build upon the notions of modularity and extractivism, which we use as heuristics to analyse social and spatial practices of defining boundaries. Gazing beyond the main foundational myth of international schools, we first outline their concomitant extractive roots. Second, we shed light on the conditions of international teachers’ circulation worldwide. Third, we examine the territorial entanglements and disentanglements that characterise international schools. Finally, we investigate the tensions induced by a cosmopolitan educational ethos whose discourse of inclusion is inevitably paired with practices of exclusion.

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to address the Problem of Practice (PoP) of the marginalization of English Language Learners (ELLs) in an English-medium International School (EMIS) by leveraging teacher-leaders as advocates for cultural and linguistic equity via asset-based approaches starting in the classroom. Underpinned by colonial modes of thought disguised as neoliberal internationalism, EMISs often perpetuate the elevation of English as the language of academia while neglecting their normative aspirational mission commitments to equity, diversity, and social justice by failing to provide pathways to foster multilingual development. Deficit-based language programs illustrate this by approaching ELLs as academically deficient based on their English abilities while neglecting to leverage their capabilities in their first language to accelerate the development of their second language using constructivist, asset-based approaches. Transformative leadership in conjunction with critical and postcolonial theory constitutes the critically-oriented dimensions of this OIP, while transformational leadership linked to constructivist learning theory represents the plan’s commitment to improving organizational effectiveness while affirming current practices that are already in alignment. From the positionality of a middle leader, a critical organizational analysis is conducted using Bolman and Deal’s (2017) multi-frame approach, and Nadler and Tushman’s (1989) congruence model. The process of implementing, monitoring, and evaluating the solution to leverage data to institutionalize an equitable English Language Acquisition program structure is then framed using Deszca et al.’s (2020) change path model and Deming’s (1993) plan, do, study, act model.

The International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme places service learning at the core of its curriculum. Yet, challenges with implementing it successfully are omnipresent in international schools. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to support teachers with the implementation of service learning projects at a private, non-profit international school in Western Europe. It is guided and framed by a Problem of Practice (POP) that addresses the current state of service learning at Mountain Range School (MRS) where curriculum and independent service projects are inconsistently designed, implemented and supported. It includes an evaluation of school policies, curriculum, teacher capacity, resources and systems. The underlying leadership approaches to this OIP are authentic and transformational leadership. A consideration of the cultural and logistical aspects that are impacting the implementation of service learning is evaluated. A gap analysis is conducted between the current and future state of service that analyzes inputs, outputs, resources and materials. Four solutions are considered and evaluated against a cost-benefit criteria, resulting in a fifth hybrid solution that combines professional development support for teachers and curriculum implementation strategies. A change path model (CPM) is used to outline the proposed changes and the plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycle is used to monitor change. The communication and tracking of change is aligned with authentic, transformational leadership approaches that leverage the ethos of service through human interactions that emphasize dialogic, cyclical growth in order to institutionalize change and ultimately improve the program’s effectiveness to impact change in the local community.

International Baccalaureate (IB) Directors of international schools command a paradoxical space of progressive futures, cloaking injustice and whiteness. This is enacted daily through policy, recruitment, teaching and remuneration which privileges the empowered, exploits the marginalised and thereby delivers a critical education of questionable efficacy. This original research applies the theory of Bourdieu.Social agents (Directors) lead a field wherein symbolic violence is normalised in recruitment and operations towards the non-white, non-Anglo Europeans. By deploying whiteness theory, these directors of diversity champion norms of internationalism, but do not ‘see’ the advantage of white, that defines the field. In turn, students learn to engage in whiteness and understand that the knowing, being and doing of whiteness and Englishness is synonymous with internationalism and power. Fundamental change is needed with a formalisation of recruitment/remuneration/teaching policy that operationalises the IB’s progressive educational values and reverses the automatic injustices levied at the non-white/non-Anglo European.

A growing portion of international schools are franchised branches of schools originally founded in other countries. The first of such schools opened in 1996 and there are now almost 100 globally. Expansionist schools are primarily elite, English private schools, with concentrations of their franchises developing in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and East Asia over the past quarter of a century—and particularly in mainland China in the past decade. This study explores how such schools adapt the language and focus of their marketing and, in doing so, sustain their privilege across various contexts. A qualitative textual analysis is conducted of the websites of 11 schools run by Dulwich College and Harrow School, both the first brands to expand overseas and those with the most extensive networks of schools today. A lens of international schools as enclosures of privilege is used to demonstrate how schools adapt themselves and their framing. The study finds the promotional focus of the schools depends not just on whether they are the founding school or a franchise, but also on their relative ages, and on their varying locations within specific sociocultural contexts. An emergent hybrid model, catering to both local and international curricular requirements, blends the local with the global and complicates the conventional notion of the international school. Finally, the study suggests that further research is focused on the franchising of elite education, particularly as the focal point of expansion begins to shift away from the mainland Chinese boom of the past decade.

Drawing on empirical data regarding educational strategies among internationally mobile families in the Stockholm-Uppsala region, this study questions the notion of a global middle class. First, a quantitative analysis shows that immigrating middle class professionals and their children are few, having marginal impact on the demand for international education. Furthermore, they far from constitute a homogeneous class, instead comprising of fractions opting for different types of schools. A second, qualitative study on capital conversion among mobile families illustrates that even well-educated international movers face serious challenges converting their existing knowledge, skills and contacts into well-informed social, professional and educational strategies in their new context. This suggests the limitations of concepts such as international capital. It is argued that the GMC concept overshadows the fact that social groups within the middle classes have varying degrees of international mobility that constitutes just one dimension of what separates them from each other.

This research found out the relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement with a special focus on the secondary level students in an international school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The main objective of the current research was to find out the significant difference in student achievement among international school students in respect to parent participation in teacher-parent meetings and their help for their childs homework. The selection of the research method was based on the quantitative research approach and the type of methods available within this broad approach. The sample of the study comprised of 542 students, 542 parents, and 35 teachers in an international school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Data was collected through questionnaires. The findings concluded that (1) there was no significant difference in student achievement among international students with respect to parent education. (2) there was a significant difference in student achievement among students with respect to their parents participation in the teacher-parent meetings but (3) there was no significant difference between student achievements among students with respect to parental help on students homework. (4) Teachers in the International school are strongly agreed: their school offers workshops and provide resourceful information to help families to understand how children learn, their school has a clear understanding of the defined policies for teachers that encourage communication with the parents discussing the curriculum, student achievement, and ways a parent can be involved, their school provides productive professional developers that train them on the value of parents and ways to encourage partnerships between the school and home, their school encourages the use of our Learning Management System that provides classroom resources and items parents can access. their school assists families in guiding students to set academic goals, and monitor and discuss schoolwork at home, their school provides information to families on how to assist students with the skills they need to improve. However, (5) teachers in the school disagreed that their school trains parents on developing home routines, conditions, and environments that support their childs learning respectively. &nbsp

This study is a critical evaluation conducted by a Youth-led Participatory Action research team that has, over the course of five years, sought to investigate culturally responsive pedagogies in international schools populated with Third Culture Kids. Previous to this work, the youth researchers and I developed an interdisciplinary, choice and project-based honors program which we called the Small Learning Community. As such, this program became the object of and context for this review. We were guided by the question, What are, if any, the perceived learning benefits for students in the Small Learning Community?, and we sought to critically evaluate the program’s perceived impact on meaningful learning experiences, student agency, and transference of skills. We leveraged constructivist-oriented Grounded Theory—in part because of the value this approach assigns to emic knowledge—to examine interview transcripts of SLC participants. I then developed case studies and argue for pedagogical shifts in the international classroom that center more deliberately on (1) active participation, (2) the perception of new, (3) choice, (4) attention to process, (5) personal interest, and (6) social emotional learning, while addressing the need for more intentional and systematic practitioner research.

For comparative educational research the analysis of the field of international schools, from a global perspective, is a challenging area. In the last few decades the number of international schools has increased worldwide, particularly in economically strong regions. Despite this the state of research remains generally modest, especially at the level of empirically consistent studies where a research deficit can be observed. Additionally, a shortage of analytical tools for researching international schools can be identified as this segment of education, determined by transnational phenomena, crosses over the national-states which are the traditional reference point of comparative educational research. In this contribution, firstly development tendencies such as the first appearance of the international school segment, influenced by international organisations such as UNESCO, as well as their growth and diversification processes will be presented. Secondly, attention will be paid to the international state of research on international schools and research deficits will be shown. In the third part, there will be a reflection on the challenges of investigating international schools for comparative educational research. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This Organizational Improvement Plan proposal will consider how the directors of our group of international schools can begin the work of aligning values, standards and practices to meet the needs of both the individual international schools and the nationalized quality assurance frameworks -- working with individual school principals in our home nation. The international school system provides alternatives to local and expatriate parents in an ever-increasing number of schools across the globe. As this number of international school increases, so too does the number of those schools which are required to align their international curriculum standards and practices with nationalized quality assurance requirements in their countries of operation. This often presents widely differing and sometimes divergent norms, values and expectations within a school environment. Taken from the perspective of the leadership of a large group of international schools, this paper explores the complexity of this issue. A cross-cultural perspective which is informed by the work of Hofstede (2011) will employ the action of Distributed Leadership (Gronn, 2002) and various change management drivers to consider how the directors of this large multinational organization can build the capacity and motivation of a group of principals to enact the changes required in each of their individual schools.

RANGSIT JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES, 6, 1, 65-84

We explore the factors that influence the relationship between mathematics and culture in the international school context. First, we share some thoughts about international schools in general and the international mathematics curriculum implemented at the middle grades level at our school in particular. Second, we present some interesting snapshots from our culturally-diverse mathematics classrooms.

The purpose of the current study is to explore the predictors of the Diploma Program scores in biology to resolve the dilemma regarding which international school curriculum is better to prepare students for the Diploma Program. A purposive sample of 135 high school students was drawn from a private international school in Turkey. Data was analyzed with a multiple regression approach. A statistically significant and relatively strong relationship was found between the Diploma Program scores in biology and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education science exam scores. © 2014 by iSER.

Article presented the design and utility of ESP materials which were self – accessible for the SBI students which required careful thoughts and preparations. The study began by determining the students’ needs of ESP, continued by the course developer who collected the required materials from four different source, those are published materials, authentic material, self-made materials and materials from students’ contributions. The use of the materials were still needed the active role of teachers in setting visiting time, counseling or even assessing students’ works. It is concluded that the less autonomous nature of the self access context for the SBI context is based on the assumption that younger students still require guidance and supervision from their teachers.

Sri Lanka is a multi-cultural state comprising of four major ethnic groups speaking three languages. The ‘Swabasha’ policy requires all students to be educated in their mother tongue perpetuating ethnic segregation along linguistic divides. State owned, semi-governmental and private schools follow the National Curriculum under the Ministry for Education. In 1961, Sri Lanka banned the establishment of any new private schools in the country. Private schools as well as English medium education started during British rule were seen to evoke colonial pro-elitist sentiments and symbolize a driving force for social stratification. Since then, there has been a profusion of institutions claiming to be ‘International Schools’. These schools exist within a loophole in the legal framework, established under the ‘Company’s Act’ and welcome students from all linguistic backgrounds to study in the English medium. However, by imposing high fees, these schools accentuate class-based discrimination. Since the majority of students attending these international schools are locals, this study looks at the government concerns as well as the various stakeholder consternations via a mixed method study conducted in four contrasting case studies. It was found that opting for an international education was a privileged option open to a minority of Sri Lankans, which ascertained their competitiveness in a global society. However, although English proficiency and foreign credentials allow for a competitive edge in neo-liberal times, grounding oneself in the local culture was of paramount importance. These international schools were giving rise to a generation of Sri Lankans that had more in common with those from the countries where their pedagogical system originated rather than their local counterparts from their immediate vicinity. International schools hence need to incorporate both the local and the global if they are to truly achieve the internationalism that they take pride in.