scholarly journals IB School Libraries as International-minded Learning Spaces and Environments

2021 ◽  
pp. 397-408
Author(s):  
Anthon Tilke

The International Baccalaureate Organization (IB) offers educational programs to schools world-wide. Originally established for international schools, programs are now typically offered in a variety of public and private educational institutions in many countries. The IB has developed four programs, covering a continuum of education from early years to courses for students aged 18 years of age. Programs are largely constructivist-based and IB ‘big ideas’ include inquiry, a holistic view of the learner (IB Learner Profile), international-mindedness and academic honesty, yet the role of the library, overall, is not as clearly identified as may be expected, given factors friendly to a library and information sector paradigm. This professional paper reviews IB documentation and thinking, identifies opportunities where the library can support and contribute to the programs and identifies good practice, focusing on conference themes of the school library as a learning space, learning environment and as a ‘window on the world’.

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Gardner-McTaggart

This article presents original research into International Baccalaureate international schools’ directors in Western Europe, based on multiphase contact with six director participants over two years and employing an aspect of critical-phenomenology. Successful leadership in this context responds to market demands with a commodification of Anglo identity. Service emerges as central to leadership, closely linked to cultural identity. Female participants appear as more successfully balanced directors. Directors indicate societal values as being more important than the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile.


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 766-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Gardner-McTaggart

Purpose:this study offers a rare insight into senior leadership in International Baccalaureate (IB) international schools. The IB international school profits from the perceived quality and consistency of the IB brand; international schools, however, suffer from an endemic culture of change and reinterpretation. The IB learner profile (IBLP) offers scope for consistency and an overarching ethos, and research finds that ‘buy-in’ to the IBLP and modelling of it in all aspects of school life are essential in achieving this. It emerges that buy-in to the IBLP in directors is split between the personal and the operational.Research method:This interpretive study explores IB directors in multiphase research over two years employing an aspect of critical phenomenology through the lens of the IBLP and Global Citizenship Education (GCE).Findings:Only one in six directors uses the IBLP in leadership. Generally, directors attribute the IBLP a junior status. Analysis through Bourdieu finds IB directors have higher loyalty to (loosely defined) GCE through their Christian values. A foregrounding of individual values over the secular IBLP places IB directors as primary catalysts for the change culture unravelling the consistency of the IB international school, confirming the value of the IBLP in leadership.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 220-232
Author(s):  
Hamdah Abdullah Alfaraidy

The Saudi Ministry of Education has recently begun to allow all Saudi families to enroll their children in international schools. The international curriculum offered by such schools represents a notably different choice compared with Saudi traditional public and private schools, both of which teach the same state-mandated curriculum. As a result of the change, there has been a surge in demand for international education; the number of schools has increased rapidly, and there has been a steady “student leak” towards them and away from traditional schools. Little is known about why Saudi parents choose to enroll their children in international schools. We explored this question by surveying 431 Saudi parents of children attending such schools to identify the main factors contributing to their choice. Although all factors examined were important to parents, curriculum and overall school quality emerged as the most important; socioeconomic status was not influential in their decisions.


Author(s):  
Maija Štokmane ◽  
◽  
Raimonds Ernšteins ◽  

The coastal territory is a complex socio-ecological system (SES), which needs to be governed using an integrated approach. Integrated coastal management (ICM) is considered as the main approach in coastal governance, offering a holistic view of the coastal zone by integrating different governance sectors and governance levels, but ICM is not a fixed approach and should be adopted to meet each particular unique national and local situation. Full scale ICM in Latvia is not applied, but the following problems are recognized as most significant in the coastal territory: the lack of qualitative infrastructure and the lack of good governance; the local level coastal SES is studied, monitored and evaluated insufficiently as well as good practice examples are not communicated enough. In the current study, the exploration of the legisla-tive regulations and planning documents was conducted, therefore, the main research methods are docu-ment studies and expert interviews. Both the vertical and horizontal integration were assessed for the coastal governance, as well as overview of ICM developments in the modern history of Latvia. In order to understand the situation of the coastal governance in Latvia, the scheme of coastal dune protection zone was prepared, based on Latvian coastal legislation, however it is often difficult to depict different protec-tion zones in practice in such a dynamic and changing territory as a coastal zone.


1980 ◽  
Vol 10 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Marylee Wiley

The concept of outreach has become associated with public service to community, media and business interests, to public and private educational institutions, and to African and Africanist academics at home and abroad lacking access to resources to pursue their studies and research. This paper is concerned chiefly with the role of colleges and universities in African studies outreach, which is not to minimize the importance of other agents of change, private and public, committed to the task of improving the quality and quantity of our understanding and knowledge of African affairs.


Soundings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (76) ◽  
pp. 128-157
Author(s):  
Celia Burgess-Macey ◽  
Clare Kelly ◽  
Marjorie Ouvry

Early years education in England is in crisis. This article looks at what is needed to better provide the kind of education and care that young children need outside the home, from birth to school-starting age. It explores: the current arrangements and varieties of provision and approaches in England; educational and developmental research about young children's development and early learning; the current national early years curriculum and how it contrasts to other international models and pedagogical approaches; the importance of play-based learning; the role of adults in observing, recording, assessing and supporting young children's learning; and the holistic nature of children's learning - which makes education and care inseparable in young children's lives. Neoliberal governments have had little interest in these questions: they have been focused instead on marketising the sector, which has led to great inequality of provision; and they have been unwilling to provide the necessary funding to train staff and maintain appropriate learning environments; most fundamentally, they have engaged in an ideological drive to impose on very small children a narrow and formal curriculum that ignores all the evidence about good practice in the sector, and is focused on making them 'school ready' - that is, ready to fit into the rigid frameworks they have already imposed on primary school education.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yo Nakawake ◽  
Mark Stanford

Previous studies showed that most children believe majority rule is the right decision rule, and prefer it to authority rule when making group decisions among peers. Yet, these were conducted mostly in Western or similar populations. Here, we conducted experiments with fifty-one Burmese children (4 to 11 years old) at three types of educational institutions: international schools, a monastery school and a day-care centre for street children. In the experiment, children were asked whether they prefer majority or authority rule in a hypothetical story. The result showed the educational institution influences the proportion choosing majority rule, suggesting that preference for majority rule may not be a universal pattern and decision preference may be shaped by cultural factors.


1985 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Fox

Elisabeth Fox traces the origins and development of the International Baccalaureate program as an outgrowth of continuing curriculum innovation in international schools. She describes its rapid expansion in North America, where many school systems are attracted by its challenging academic curriculum. Worldwide university recognition of the program is steadily increasing. Fox concludes by considering the prospects for future development, with particular emphasis on attempts to move the Baccalaureate beyond its Euro-centric origins.


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