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Centre for the study of Education in an International Context (CEIC)
INTERCOM ARCHIVE
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Centre for the study of Education in an International Context (CEIC)INTERCOM ARCHIVE |
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One of the many features of global change is that the internationally mobile are becoming less predominantly Anglophone. This is reflected in the increasingly heterogeneous intake of international schools, with growing numbers of students from Japan, China and the ‘Tiger’ economies of South East Asia, as well as other growth areas in South America and Eastern Europe. This dynamic challenges international schools of all types. Some international schools may be overtly national in nature but they cannot ignore the effect of cross-cultural factors on academic outcomes - and neither can those international schools that profess the more ideological aims of intercultural education and the development of multiculturalism. A dilemma seems to lie in reconciling the wishes of parents for an internationally transferable curriculum with the diverse needs, experiences and cultural identities of the student intake. Up to now, an internationally transferable curriculum has been delivered via the common use of English as a teaching language and international curricula like the International Baccalaureate programmes. The use of English as a common teaching language brings inevitably its own ‘baggage’. Teachers tend to be predominantly Anglophone, with initial training and experience in their own educational systems, usually in Britain or North America. They will thus have a teaching philosophy that is culture-specific and familiar, approved and understood by students and parents from those countries. In those schools where Anglophone students are still in the majority, this may induce an overwhelmingly mono-cultural environment, whose values are also reinforced in the global media and youth culture. The combination of a culture-specific school and management ethos, with culture-specific lesson materials, forms of assessment, discipline and pastoral care, will work against the success of non-Anglophone students not only in their academic progress, but also in their development of self-esteem and a cultural identity. How then can international schools provide an ‘international’ education that does not require the adaptation or assimilation of minority cultures in order to achieve success, and promotes meaningful intercultural learning for the predominant culture? Cross-cultural research has shown that formation of cultural identity occurs at an early, even pre-school, age. Attitudes towards education, and expectations of it, are fundamental in the meaning systems that define and differentiate between societies. This will inevitably cause cultural dissonance, and often culture shock, as students socialised in conflict with the expectations of the school interact with both formal and informal school culture. Often this cultural dissonance has a profound and negative effect on academic achievement and the personal development of students. It provokes the tendency either to resort to ethnocentrism, or abandon native cultural values and adopt those of the school culture, in order to achieve success. However, cultural dissonance also presents opportunities for experiential learning of an affective nature that can lead to intercultural learning and the development of true multiculturalism. This is not the same as learning about other cultures, but constitutes a development of the personality of the student. This involves the examination, rejection and adoption by students of both their own and other cultural values. It involves losing fear of the unknown, and developing the ability to function in cultures other than one’s own or with which one has already had experience. The function of international schools in this process must be to mitigate the negative effects of culture shock in the school culture and, via the curriculum, enhance cross-cultural skills and those personal qualities of reflection, empathy and cognitive understanding which make the process less painful. The responsibility of promoting intercultural learning in the majority student culture lies in utilising cultural diversity as a resource for the intercultural education of Anglophone students, by incorporating it into the learning process, and promoting more than a superficial interaction with other cultures. A quality assurance programme for internationalism must look to beyond traditional processes in order to evaluate and improve effectiveness in this respect. Both the essence and medium of intercultural learning lie in differences, and the cultural dissonance they produce permeates all aspects of the school process. Factors such as peer group interaction, teacher/student interaction, teaching and learning styles and both formal and informal curriculum must also be analysed from a cross-cultural perspective. Development of the personal qualities necessary for successful intercultural learning should be seen to be part of the curriculum and culture of the school. Schools in many national systems around the world are taking up the challenge presented by their increasingly multicultural intake. International schools can not ignore this challenge and just assume that the effect of the host country and diversity of intake will automatically result in intercultural learning and multicultural education. If these are stated aims, then they should be evaluated, monitored and developed just as any more academic aims are. The development of a culture-critical pedagogy is essential in a rapidly changing global society, and international schools have both the opportunity and the responsibility to be in the vanguard.
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