Pub Date : 2024-09-04DOI: 10.1177/14752409241276293
Caroline Ferguson
This article addresses the question of how global citizenship, often an aim of international schools, is conceptualised as interculturalism by students and teachers. It presents selected findings of global citizenship expressed as interculturalism and perceptions of learning through interculturalism, from a larger empirical study which investigated articulations of global citizenship education in three International Baccalaureate international schools in different locations: Finland, The Netherlands and Australia. Reflexive thematic analysis of phenomenological interviews with students, school leaders and teachers in the three schools revealed two important themes: that global citizenship is interpreted as simplistic interculturalism, with students focusing more on relational aspects of intercultural experiences, and that global citizenship is perceived as being learned through intercultural engagement. The article contributes to research into the expressions and practices of global citizenship in International Baccalaureate international schools. The article proposes that school leaders, teachers and students could engage further with critical and human rights constructivist approaches to interculturalism.
{"title":"Interculturalism in student and teacher understandings of global citizenship education in three International Baccalaureate international schools","authors":"Caroline Ferguson","doi":"10.1177/14752409241276293","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409241276293","url":null,"abstract":"This article addresses the question of how global citizenship, often an aim of international schools, is conceptualised as interculturalism by students and teachers. It presents selected findings of global citizenship expressed as interculturalism and perceptions of learning through interculturalism, from a larger empirical study which investigated articulations of global citizenship education in three International Baccalaureate international schools in different locations: Finland, The Netherlands and Australia. Reflexive thematic analysis of phenomenological interviews with students, school leaders and teachers in the three schools revealed two important themes: that global citizenship is interpreted as simplistic interculturalism, with students focusing more on relational aspects of intercultural experiences, and that global citizenship is perceived as being learned through intercultural engagement. The article contributes to research into the expressions and practices of global citizenship in International Baccalaureate international schools. The article proposes that school leaders, teachers and students could engage further with critical and human rights constructivist approaches to interculturalism.","PeriodicalId":45854,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in International Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142209993","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-02DOI: 10.1177/14752409241275745
Vanessa Walker, Tristan Bunnell
This paper investigates the experiences of six British-trained teachers who moved from teaching GCSE in state-funded schools in England to teach in two separate English-speaking well-established traditional international schools in Northern Europe where they began to teach the International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme (IBMYP). The nature of the IBMYP, with its student-centred focus and conceptual framework, deviates greatly from the dominant, typically prescriptive approach of the GCSE. The demands of the IBMYP, which are represented in the IB’s institutional pillars, exert significant influence over both new and experienced teachers to induce a change in identity as they gradually shift to becoming an ‘IBMYP Educator’. Using semi-structured interviews and thematic data analysis, this qualitative study examines teacher identity factors and seeks to understand the process of this identity shift. Using Goffman’s Frame Analysis, the themes are presented as metaphors, helping us to realise the experience of transition, as the teachers shifted from feeling temporarily de-skilled to re-skilled. A sense of authenticity and freedom was felt to be the eventual outcome after an initial phase of being ‘adrift’ and in unsettled ‘survival mode’.
{"title":"Becoming a new type of teacher: The case of experienced British-trained educators transitioning to the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme abroad","authors":"Vanessa Walker, Tristan Bunnell","doi":"10.1177/14752409241275745","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409241275745","url":null,"abstract":"This paper investigates the experiences of six British-trained teachers who moved from teaching GCSE in state-funded schools in England to teach in two separate English-speaking well-established traditional international schools in Northern Europe where they began to teach the International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme (IBMYP). The nature of the IBMYP, with its student-centred focus and conceptual framework, deviates greatly from the dominant, typically prescriptive approach of the GCSE. The demands of the IBMYP, which are represented in the IB’s institutional pillars, exert significant influence over both new and experienced teachers to induce a change in identity as they gradually shift to becoming an ‘IBMYP Educator’. Using semi-structured interviews and thematic data analysis, this qualitative study examines teacher identity factors and seeks to understand the process of this identity shift. Using Goffman’s Frame Analysis, the themes are presented as metaphors, helping us to realise the experience of transition, as the teachers shifted from feeling temporarily de-skilled to re-skilled. A sense of authenticity and freedom was felt to be the eventual outcome after an initial phase of being ‘adrift’ and in unsettled ‘survival mode’.","PeriodicalId":45854,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in International Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142226672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-19DOI: 10.1177/14752409241271067
Leslie W Grant, James H Stronge, Paola Mendizabal, Amelie Smucker, Yanping Mo
Qualities of effective teachers matter because teachers are the number one school-related factor that impacts on student achievement. Although researchers in the United States have studied frameworks for evaluating teacher effectiveness, these frameworks are not focused on teachers working in international schools. Thus, they may not reflect the importance of understanding both the context of working in intercultural settings and the skills that allow teachers to flourish in international schools. Using a systematic configurative synthesis review of 23 studies, this study identifies qualities of effective teachers working in international schools through a synthesis of the study findings. We identified four key attributes that are emphasized, if not unique, in international school effective teacher research: a focus on teacher collaboration and teacher leadership; cultural awareness and responsiveness from multi-national perspectives; and host country language acquisition. Overall, we find that a focus on what makes an effective international school teacher is lacking in the extant research, particularly given the predicted enormous growth of international schools.
{"title":"Characteristics of Effective International School Teachers: A Systematic Review of the Literature","authors":"Leslie W Grant, James H Stronge, Paola Mendizabal, Amelie Smucker, Yanping Mo","doi":"10.1177/14752409241271067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409241271067","url":null,"abstract":"Qualities of effective teachers matter because teachers are the number one school-related factor that impacts on student achievement. Although researchers in the United States have studied frameworks for evaluating teacher effectiveness, these frameworks are not focused on teachers working in international schools. Thus, they may not reflect the importance of understanding both the context of working in intercultural settings and the skills that allow teachers to flourish in international schools. Using a systematic configurative synthesis review of 23 studies, this study identifies qualities of effective teachers working in international schools through a synthesis of the study findings. We identified four key attributes that are emphasized, if not unique, in international school effective teacher research: a focus on teacher collaboration and teacher leadership; cultural awareness and responsiveness from multi-national perspectives; and host country language acquisition. Overall, we find that a focus on what makes an effective international school teacher is lacking in the extant research, particularly given the predicted enormous growth of international schools.","PeriodicalId":45854,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in International Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142210017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-12DOI: 10.1177/14752409241269389
Rosamund Whaley
The four International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes provide an inquiry- and concept-driven approach to teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools around the world. This educational philosophy is often different to teachers’ previous training and experience, yet little research has been done into how continuing professional development addresses the challenge of understanding and implementing the IB programmes. This phenomenological study explored the professional learning experiences of seven experienced IB Diploma Programme teachers working in different international schools. The findings provide a rich narrative of the teachers’ lived experience to show that, while official IB workshops are helpful in developing understanding of certain aspects of the Diploma Programme, ongoing, job-embedded learning is also required for deep understanding and effective implementation of the IB educational philosophy. This study shows how the theory of social constructivism provides a foundation for exploring a range of formal and informal learning options for teachers and schools to develop individual and collective understanding and implementation of the IB educational philosophy.
{"title":"Professional Learning in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme","authors":"Rosamund Whaley","doi":"10.1177/14752409241269389","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409241269389","url":null,"abstract":"The four International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes provide an inquiry- and concept-driven approach to teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools around the world. This educational philosophy is often different to teachers’ previous training and experience, yet little research has been done into how continuing professional development addresses the challenge of understanding and implementing the IB programmes. This phenomenological study explored the professional learning experiences of seven experienced IB Diploma Programme teachers working in different international schools. The findings provide a rich narrative of the teachers’ lived experience to show that, while official IB workshops are helpful in developing understanding of certain aspects of the Diploma Programme, ongoing, job-embedded learning is also required for deep understanding and effective implementation of the IB educational philosophy. This study shows how the theory of social constructivism provides a foundation for exploring a range of formal and informal learning options for teachers and schools to develop individual and collective understanding and implementation of the IB educational philosophy.","PeriodicalId":45854,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in International Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142210016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-08-08DOI: 10.1177/14752409241269368
Marie P. Himes, Sarah B Bausell
This longitudinal, quantitative study utilised 2019-2022 survey data from teachers at one Chinese internationalised high school in Jiangsu Province, China to examine teachers’ immediate professional plans through the lens of teacher working conditions (TWCs). The relationship between teacher perceptions of working conditions and their immediate professional plans was further explored in light of teachers’ status as international vs local, and the primary factor affecting teachers’ willingness to stay at the school. Results from the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis revealed that teachers planning to leave or move; international teachers; and teachers who indicated primary stay factors (the most important factors affecting teachers’ willingness to continue teaching at the school) of instructional practices and support, school leadership, or time during the work day (adequate time during the school day to plan and collaborate) were associated with lower scores on the overall teacher working conditions perceptions index. These findings add to a growing body of research examining TWCs in international school contexts, specifically within Chinese internationalised schools. Given the transformational shifts these schools have recently experienced due to educational policy changes and COVID-19-related restrictions, school leaders may want to re-examine the organisational characteristics and supports at their schools with an eye toward retaining members of their ethnically heterogeneous teaching faculties.
{"title":"Exploring associations between teacher perceptions of working conditions and immediate professional plans at a Chinese internationalised school","authors":"Marie P. Himes, Sarah B Bausell","doi":"10.1177/14752409241269368","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409241269368","url":null,"abstract":"This longitudinal, quantitative study utilised 2019-2022 survey data from teachers at one Chinese internationalised high school in Jiangsu Province, China to examine teachers’ immediate professional plans through the lens of teacher working conditions (TWCs). The relationship between teacher perceptions of working conditions and their immediate professional plans was further explored in light of teachers’ status as international vs local, and the primary factor affecting teachers’ willingness to stay at the school. Results from the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis revealed that teachers planning to leave or move; international teachers; and teachers who indicated primary stay factors (the most important factors affecting teachers’ willingness to continue teaching at the school) of instructional practices and support, school leadership, or time during the work day (adequate time during the school day to plan and collaborate) were associated with lower scores on the overall teacher working conditions perceptions index. These findings add to a growing body of research examining TWCs in international school contexts, specifically within Chinese internationalised schools. Given the transformational shifts these schools have recently experienced due to educational policy changes and COVID-19-related restrictions, school leaders may want to re-examine the organisational characteristics and supports at their schools with an eye toward retaining members of their ethnically heterogeneous teaching faculties.","PeriodicalId":45854,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in International Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141926942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-06DOI: 10.1177/14752409241242688
John Stewart Clark, Matthew Terrett
National curriculum standards for different countries mean some International Baccalaureate (IB) schools must often balance IB and national standards. Literature on how schools find this balance is limited. Using a qualitative case study design, we examined the perspectives of teachers of English in a Chinese IB school that recently employed a two-model system to address government mandates while still adhering to IB policies. A two-model system occurs when the two curricula are taught separately rather than in an integrated way. Our findings describe teachers’ understanding of a two-model system, identify challenges for teachers in its implementation, and suggest improvements. Results are confined to a single context of an English department in China and cannot therefore be generalized. Our findings reveal an overall theme of separateness identifying structural and conceptual factors affecting the relationship between the two models. The article discusses new ideas for curriculum structures that might inform school decisions for similar IB schools and schools with integrated curricula.
{"title":"A Qualitative Case Study of Teachers’ Perceptions on a Two-model System; Adhering to Chinese and International Baccalaureate Mandated Standards","authors":"John Stewart Clark, Matthew Terrett","doi":"10.1177/14752409241242688","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409241242688","url":null,"abstract":"National curriculum standards for different countries mean some International Baccalaureate (IB) schools must often balance IB and national standards. Literature on how schools find this balance is limited. Using a qualitative case study design, we examined the perspectives of teachers of English in a Chinese IB school that recently employed a two-model system to address government mandates while still adhering to IB policies. A two-model system occurs when the two curricula are taught separately rather than in an integrated way. Our findings describe teachers’ understanding of a two-model system, identify challenges for teachers in its implementation, and suggest improvements. Results are confined to a single context of an English department in China and cannot therefore be generalized. Our findings reveal an overall theme of separateness identifying structural and conceptual factors affecting the relationship between the two models. The article discusses new ideas for curriculum structures that might inform school decisions for similar IB schools and schools with integrated curricula.","PeriodicalId":45854,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in International Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140735027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-06DOI: 10.1177/14752409241243000
Bianca Daw
This article documents, describes and discusses the dynamics of an international school located in south Delhi, India. It discusses the means and ways via which the international school designs and delivers its curricular and pedagogic content that tend to shape and reinforce an element of ‘internationalism’ among its pupils. The international school form of education primarily embeds teaching and learning processes within the domain of the school as well as outside of it. While the school places enormous emphasis on the concept of ‘global’ or at times even ‘international’ to promote and brand itself, it is deeply rooted to the local and national conditions and cultures as well. This aspect of inter-mixing the global with the local and national is strongly emphasized by the school, whose stakeholders believe that the true spirit of internationalism lies in becoming ‘glocal’ and not simply global. The school as well as parents want their students and children to possess a holistic understanding of the world, and not an exclusive one. Thereby, it can be argued that there is a transition from the much-hyped era of globalisation to one of ‘glocalisation’. Thus, this system of schooling is critically analysed through this article, which centrally argues that the school functions in a manner that enables students’ global compatibility of body and mind, and aims to lend them a competitive edge in the global education and job market.
{"title":"Glocalising Education: Reflections from an International School in Delhi, India","authors":"Bianca Daw","doi":"10.1177/14752409241243000","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409241243000","url":null,"abstract":"This article documents, describes and discusses the dynamics of an international school located in south Delhi, India. It discusses the means and ways via which the international school designs and delivers its curricular and pedagogic content that tend to shape and reinforce an element of ‘internationalism’ among its pupils. The international school form of education primarily embeds teaching and learning processes within the domain of the school as well as outside of it. While the school places enormous emphasis on the concept of ‘global’ or at times even ‘international’ to promote and brand itself, it is deeply rooted to the local and national conditions and cultures as well. This aspect of inter-mixing the global with the local and national is strongly emphasized by the school, whose stakeholders believe that the true spirit of internationalism lies in becoming ‘glocal’ and not simply global. The school as well as parents want their students and children to possess a holistic understanding of the world, and not an exclusive one. Thereby, it can be argued that there is a transition from the much-hyped era of globalisation to one of ‘glocalisation’. Thus, this system of schooling is critically analysed through this article, which centrally argues that the school functions in a manner that enables students’ global compatibility of body and mind, and aims to lend them a competitive edge in the global education and job market.","PeriodicalId":45854,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in International Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140599761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-06DOI: 10.1177/14752409241243011
Jose Marquez, Louise Lambert, Devi Khanna
Interest in how to promote student wellbeing in schools is growing. Research shows that some drivers of wellbeing are universal, but others are country-specific. No prior study has investigated this question in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where geographic, socio-demographic and school type differences in student wellbeing are substantial. We address this gap by using multilevel regression to analyse data from the PISA 2018 study. Our focus is on life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, meaning and purpose in life, and mental health symptoms of internalizing difficulties. We find large school effects on student wellbeing, the second largest school effects out of 56 countries. School resources are of little importance, whereas factors related to time use, social connections, health and body image, positive school climate, and feelings around school and education are important correlates. These factors help explain a substantial part of the wellbeing inequalities observed across types of schools in the UAE.
{"title":"Exploring factors associated with student wellbeing in the United Arab Emirates: PISA 2018","authors":"Jose Marquez, Louise Lambert, Devi Khanna","doi":"10.1177/14752409241243011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409241243011","url":null,"abstract":"Interest in how to promote student wellbeing in schools is growing. Research shows that some drivers of wellbeing are universal, but others are country-specific. No prior study has investigated this question in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where geographic, socio-demographic and school type differences in student wellbeing are substantial. We address this gap by using multilevel regression to analyse data from the PISA 2018 study. Our focus is on life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, meaning and purpose in life, and mental health symptoms of internalizing difficulties. We find large school effects on student wellbeing, the second largest school effects out of 56 countries. School resources are of little importance, whereas factors related to time use, social connections, health and body image, positive school climate, and feelings around school and education are important correlates. These factors help explain a substantial part of the wellbeing inequalities observed across types of schools in the UAE.","PeriodicalId":45854,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in International Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140599677","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-02DOI: 10.1177/14752409241241533
Lucy Bailey, Mark T Gibson
This paper explores the thesis of de-globalisation in relation to international education. Through interrogating accounts of international school leadership during the Covid-19 crisis, the tension between international expectations and localised realities is charted, with four central tenets of internationalism undermined by the pandemic experience. It is argued that the Covid-19 crisis, ostensibly a single global event, resulted in the fractalisation of international education; the conceptualisation of unified internationalism was undermined by the inherently localised material effects of the pandemic. In place of an internationalism that is unified, transcendent, inclusive and connected, international school leaders’ accounts of leading through the pandemic focused on their sense that their schools were fractured, rooted, privileged and isolated. It is suggested that this international crisis demonstrates the precarious nature of the respatialising of the global that is intrinsic to international schooling.
{"title":"International Schools and De-globalisation: Exploring the tensions during the Covid-19 crisis","authors":"Lucy Bailey, Mark T Gibson","doi":"10.1177/14752409241241533","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409241241533","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores the thesis of de-globalisation in relation to international education. Through interrogating accounts of international school leadership during the Covid-19 crisis, the tension between international expectations and localised realities is charted, with four central tenets of internationalism undermined by the pandemic experience. It is argued that the Covid-19 crisis, ostensibly a single global event, resulted in the fractalisation of international education; the conceptualisation of unified internationalism was undermined by the inherently localised material effects of the pandemic. In place of an internationalism that is unified, transcendent, inclusive and connected, international school leaders’ accounts of leading through the pandemic focused on their sense that their schools were fractured, rooted, privileged and isolated. It is suggested that this international crisis demonstrates the precarious nature of the respatialising of the global that is intrinsic to international schooling.","PeriodicalId":45854,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in International Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140599966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-03-30DOI: 10.1177/14752409241242092
T. Bunnell, Adam Poole
The number of international schools hit the 6,000-mark in 2012, and the 13,000-mark in 2022. In spite of continuous growth and diversity of provision, paradoxically some literature continues to paint a largely negative sociological imagination, associating the arena with micro-politics, high turnover, and increasing precarity. At the same time, the social reality of working in the arena remains under-reported and under-theorised. The largest number of international schools are now in China, where two-thirds are of the ‘non-traditional’ type. Our paper focuses on the experiences of two expatriate teachers in that relatively new field. In order to address the questions of ‘how do teachers cope?’, and ‘what strategies do they adopt?’, our paper delves into the under-reported social reality of ‘cliques’. By adopting a ‘positive sociology’ lens of inquiry, we begin to address the role that cliques-formation might have in dealing with precarity and insecurity, especially that of ‘friendship precarity’ caused by constant transitions and short-term contracts. It can be seen that cliques offer a natural, quick, and practical solution to addressing precarity, helping over time to create resilience, and should not be viewed solely within a negative sociological imagination.
{"title":"The social reality of working overseas in the ‘Chinese Internationalised School’: Exploring cliques as a precarity and insecurity coping strategy","authors":"T. Bunnell, Adam Poole","doi":"10.1177/14752409241242092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409241242092","url":null,"abstract":"The number of international schools hit the 6,000-mark in 2012, and the 13,000-mark in 2022. In spite of continuous growth and diversity of provision, paradoxically some literature continues to paint a largely negative sociological imagination, associating the arena with micro-politics, high turnover, and increasing precarity. At the same time, the social reality of working in the arena remains under-reported and under-theorised. The largest number of international schools are now in China, where two-thirds are of the ‘non-traditional’ type. Our paper focuses on the experiences of two expatriate teachers in that relatively new field. In order to address the questions of ‘how do teachers cope?’, and ‘what strategies do they adopt?’, our paper delves into the under-reported social reality of ‘cliques’. By adopting a ‘positive sociology’ lens of inquiry, we begin to address the role that cliques-formation might have in dealing with precarity and insecurity, especially that of ‘friendship precarity’ caused by constant transitions and short-term contracts. It can be seen that cliques offer a natural, quick, and practical solution to addressing precarity, helping over time to create resilience, and should not be viewed solely within a negative sociological imagination.","PeriodicalId":45854,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in International Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2024-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140361835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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