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Centre for the study of Education in an International Context (CEIC)

INTERCOM ARCHIVE

INTERCOM 12 ENGLISH AS A KEY TO INTERNATIONALISM? A personal view by Peter MacKenzie

At a rather acrimonious meeting some years ago I witnessed one international school parent interrupt and admonish another thus: "This is an international school. Speak English!" What are we to make of this? Clearly, English is the lingua franca of the international school world but was this exasperated parent putting her finger on something deeper?

I have recently conducted research among parents in a European international school aimed at discovering what they perceive 'being international' and 'international education' to be. Many readers of Intercom will be familiar with the pioneering work of Jeff Thompson and Mary Hayden and my own small-scale exercise was modelled on their studies of students and teachers. The results were unambiguous. When asked to rank eleven factors which had contributed to their decision to choose the school, parents consistently placed "a desire for my child(ren) to be educated in the English language" first. Any attempt to break down my sample produced the same result. It was the most important factor for parents of Primary School students and for those of Secondary School students.

The three largest cultural/linguistic minorities within the sample – parents from continental Europe, the UK and North America – considered it the most important factor. The sub-group of parents who were native English speakers ranked it first out of the eleven items as did those parents who were not native English speakers. By contrast, "a desire for my child(ren) to have an international education" was placed sixth out of the eleven items overall and although it was held in higher esteem by some minorities (notably European parents) it came nowhere near challenging the primacy of English.

Interviews with parents (conducted, of course, in English) served to underline the importance they attach to the English language. One Jordanian mother volunteered, "It seems to me like English is the language of the future. […] So, it's very important to me that my children have their education in English. That will provide them with wonderful opportunities later on in life." Another (American) parent agreed: "People want children in this school because of the English language – I really think so. Because they view English as the key to the world – to internationalism".

English as a key to internationalism? It is not difficult to advance such an argument but I suspect that it would be met with hostility or at least an embarrassed silence by some. Central to many sincere definitions of internationalism and international education is a celebration of cultural (and linguistic) diversity and a reluctance to value one tradition more highly than others. Some parents, it appears, have no such qualms. A German mother, when asked if the school should have a deliberate policy of recruiting teachers from a diversity of religious, ethnic, racial and linguistic backgrounds, agreed enthusiastically but cautioned, "What I like is the requirement, as I understand it, […] for the teachers to be either native English tongue or very good at it. So the aim, the goal, would be to have English native speakers from as many countries as possible". She was certainly all in favour of multiculturalism yet it is clear where her priorities lay.

There is an understandable reticence among international school teachers, many of whom are themselves native English speakers, to elevate the status of their own language above others. When asked what constituted an 'international education', teachers in international schools did not consider "learning English fluently" to be of more than modest importance. Parents, apparently, believe otherwise. A striking and rather heartening consensus between the opinions of teachers and parents concerning the necessary elements of an 'international education' collapses when it comes to learning English. Indeed, out of forty items it is the only one where there is a dramatic difference of opinion. The parents I surveyed and interviewed seemed to be sending a clear message: an education that is 'international' necessarily involves learning English.

I should emphasise that there was scant evidence that English/British/American culture was what parents valued and that their pride in their own cultures – and languages – was undiminished. No more were they dismissive of other cultures and languages. Indeed, they explicitly valued and appreciated the great diversity within the student and parent populations at the school. But they appear to acknowledge that the English language is the medium through which they and their children can interact with those of other cultures and it occupies a position of central importance in their perception of 'international education'.

My own work was a snapshot of a sample of parents from one European international school. Further research may corroborate or contradict some or all of the above. But the parent who wrote to me, "I sincerely doubt that 'international' schools would be a big hit if the language were German or French or Japanese" may have a point. An 'international education' equals an English language education? It does rather look as if some parents may believe so.

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