The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme supports the learning of languages and cultures, but the role of the additional language within this programme is often unclear. There remains a great variability in schools regarding the frequency of lessons and the way that the additional language is taught within the Primary Years…

This ethnographic study examines the role of Japanese students' culture and its effects on the rate of acquisition of academic English. It is based on observation of classes in Japanese schools, both in Japan and Germany, as well as in an international school, together with interviews, questionnaires, student responses and case studies over a…

This article explores student attitudes and perceptions relating to peer assessment, as observed at the International School of Lausanne, where the case study was restricted to students in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Economics course of the programme. Informed by a review of literature on the relative merits of peer assessment,…

The International Baccalaureate (IB) organisation, through its three programmes (Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme and pre-university Diploma Programme), aims to develop students who contribute to a more peaceful world through promoting intercultural understanding and respect. The aim of the study on which this article is based was…

This essay draws on the author's personal experiences as a head of school on three continents, over 20 years, as well as on some of his recent writings and talks. From Martin Luther King Jr's idea of a world house is derived the concept of a "world school". This project charts a way for national schools to develop world-minded graduates. It is…

A growing internationally mobile community is served by international schools. Their students are seen as adjusting to moves by identity development, acquiring new values and norms through cultural influences from national, individual and perhaps global sources. This occurs by emotional attachment to significant others and subsequent adoption of…

Internationalization and intercultural competence are key issues in higher education institutions across the globe. In times of accelerating globalization, intercultural competence emerges as one of the most desirable graduate capabilities for those who are likely to work in international environments. This article focuses on the development of…

The European Union Bologna Process is a significant agent for internationalization of education. Acknowledging fiscal and political drivers, this article shows that Bologna inclusion of the doctoral degree offers potential for enhanced doctoral experience. Interest in transferability of doctoral education across national borders, standardization…

This article describes a study that examined evidence of the enduring effects of United World Colleges (UWC) education, arguably the only purely ideology-driven international education model. The study adopted an interpretive phenomenological analysis of an autoethnography by a UWC graduate. The study found that the graduate has incubated her own…

This article examines the potential of international schools to act as agents of social transformation in developing countries. The method comprises a case study at two international schools in the Philippines. The case study explored ways in which schools foster host-national students' sense of social responsibility, particularly through…

Through narrative inquiry, this study investigated the role of personal and professional aspects of teaching and learning which teachers have developed and practiced, in relation to the dispositions, values, beliefs and knowledge that may assist them in successfully transforming to inquiry-based teaching, specifically in the implementation of the…

This article presents a summary of the findings of a recent study that points to the importance of informal, out of classroom, interactions in effecting change in student attitudes as they pass through the two-year International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, designed as an internationally recognized pre-university programme for students…

Dual-language education has many different meanings and there is much variation to be found among international schools. Is it possible to combine both concepts to the satisfaction of all stakeholders? This article reports the findings of a qualitative study at a dual-language international school that examines the views of the students, parents…

This article explores the response to cultural diversity and international mindedness at international schools in Malaysia and Brunei. It shows that the curriculum at these schools is set within a liberal-humanist framework, which some might suggest facilitates the project of "Westernization". It argues, however, that under the (local)…

During the past decade, tertiary education providers in the English-speaking Western world have enjoyed the significant economic and societal benefits that result from a substantial level of participation by students originating from the People's Republic of China. However, a sharp decline in student numbers between 2003 and 2007 has prompted many…