The purpose of the study was to investigate the "international mindedness" (IM) of a group of pre- and in-service international school teachers. This included an analysis of their beliefs about teaching and learning successfully in international settings. Ninety respondents completed a 55-item survey, eight of whom then participated in eight-item…

This article considers the issue of school culture within the context of international schools worldwide. Focusing on three main points--cultural differences, educating the human spirit, and the importance of relationships--a number of challenges are raised for the international educator and, especially, for the leaders of such schools.

This article explores the importance of the host culture in the development of international mindedness in the pupils of an international school. It puts forward a model for engagement based on Allport's contact theory and examines the success of one such model resulting from co-operation between the International School of Maastricht and its…

This article compares the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IBPYP) as implemented at three schools in the USA. The author hypothesizes that the schools each offer a unique form of the program based on the respective context and capacity to implement the IBPYP. The author found consistency among the faculties in their explanation…

This article explores the appropriateness and implications of adopting and adapting the business-oriented concept of "best practice" in international schools. Because businesses and international schools tend to have contrasting goals and time-frames within which they seek to achieve their objectives, it is expected that "best practice" in schools…

This article is based on a multiple case study which examines the lives of a group of 11 former international school students who all attended an international school between 20 and 50 years ago. The research design was based on a review of the literature on third culture kids and adult third culture kids, covering emotional and relational issues…

This article discusses commonalities that exist between two popular educational approaches that provide options for a wide range of student achievement levels, the Schoolwide Enrichment Model and the International Baccalaureate, especially the Primary Years Programme, in classroom practice. Introductions to the International Baccalaureate and…

This article presents a model of cosmopolitanism, taken from the conceptual part of the author's research study into "The Relationship between Multilingualism and Cosmopolitanism". Cosmopolitan cultural identity is introduced as straddling the global and the local, encompassing questions of cultural mastery, metaculturality, mobility and…

It has been suggested that the International Baccalaureate Organization could be expected to "influence" as many as 100 million people in the foreseeable future. This article focuses on some of the cultural dissonances that may be produced from attempts to "clone" on to non-Eurocentric models, educational systems and methodologies designed to…

This article discusses the contribution made by Joseph Conrad's fictional writing to our understanding of cultural awareness. Never comfortable with his adopted English culture, Conrad used his experiences in different parts of the world during his career in the merchant navy to explore in his writing aspects of cultural dissonance and cultural…

International schools are increasingly identifying Functionally Multi-Lingual children in their student populations. These students, bilingual or multilingual at surface levels of conversation, have not established academic competence in any single language. In many cases, the teacher may assume that another, more robust language exists, when in…

The article begins by setting out a confluence of events that initiated a proposal to attract students from Taiwan to a new EdD program in Australia, and then explores the tensions and congruities that ensue from this scenario. The main tensions and congruities revolved around issues of standards, quality, English-language levels, profit motives,…

The issue of parental choice of school for their child has been a topical one in many contexts worldwide, and work has been undertaken in a number of national contexts to investigate the many factors at work in influencing such choice. This article considers parental choice within the specific context of bilingual (Spanish/English) schools in…

The potential of online learning for enhancing international education is substantial, yet few studies have explored the conditions under which students feel motivated and engage productively in cross-national online interchange. This article examines the significance of social affordances, specifically social presence, on university students'…

This article analyses the literature on staff induction into international schools. It defines what is meant by the term "induction" and identifies the benefits to both individuals and organization if it is done well. It stresses that induction is a process, not an event, and discusses the various stages involved: the initial recruitment, the…