The International Baccalaureate in its Fifth Decade: Cosmopolitan Ideals, Neoliberal Reality

Matthew Newton 613063 EDUC90420

1

Matthew Newton

613063

The International Baccalaureate in its Fifth Decade:

Cosmopolitan Ideals, Neoliberal Reality

The University of Melbourne

Melbourne Graduate School of Education

Master of Teaching (Secondary)

EDUC90420 Research Project

June 2014


2

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the tensions between the cosmopolitan ideals of the

International Baccalaureate (IB) and a contemporary global educational environment

that is increasingly influenced by neoliberalism. Employing a methodological approach

informed by critical discourse analysis and policy analysis, the study sought to identify

conceptual and practical issues facing the IB, by means of a critical review of research

and scholarly literature and an analysis of IB publicity, review and planning documents

and the IB Learner Profile.

A review of literature was conducted, with a focus on delineating key issues for the IB

arising from debates around cosmopolitanism and the question of the influence of

neoliberalism on international education. Consideration was also given to studies of IB

implementation. After identification of relevant conceptual issues for analysis, the study

considered these in relation to the IB, through an analysis of select IB documents

produced over the last five years. A methodological approach was employed that drew

primarily on critical discourse analysis but was also informed by policy analysis.

This study concluded that a number of significant challenges remain for the IB. These

include the diversity of environments in which the IB is implemented, possible dangers

of bias towards Western ideas and approaches in teaching, tension between the IB’s

status as an elite product and its goals of reaching as many students as possible, and

challenges involved in recent IB initiatives, such as its new Career-Related Certificate.

Finally, the study presented a number of recommendations for IB policy and further

research.


3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my parents and my wife, Sarah, for their invaluable support in

preparing this thesis. I would also particularly like to thank my supervisor Dr Katie

Wright for a great many helpful comments and suggestions.


4

CONTENTS

GLOSSARY .....................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ...................................................................7

LITERATURE REVIEW ...............................................................................................9

Cosmopolitanism ................................................................................................ 10

An underlying theoretical foundation for international education ..................... 11

Neoliberalism ..................................................................................................... 13

Neoliberalism as a problem in education ........................................................... 14

Related issues in the higher education sector ..................................................... 17

Cosmopolitanism, Neoliberalism and Citizenship: Broader and linking issues . 18

IB policies and implementation .......................................................................... 20

Broader issues in international education ........................................................... 23

Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 24

RESEARCH DESIGN..................................................................................................25

Significance ........................................................................................................ 25

Methodology ....................................................................................................... 26

Sources and Method ........................................................................................... 28

a) Documents analysed ................................................................................. 28

b) Rationale for document selection ............................................................. 28

Assumptions ....................................................................................................... 29

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ....................................................................................31

Annual Review documents ................................................................................. 31

The prominence of business discourse ............................................................... 32

New initiatives .................................................................................................... 33

The IB Learner Profile: Cosmopolitanism par excellence? ............................... 35

The IB’s Mission Statement: A mission for whom? .......................................... 36

Can ‘new imperialism’ be avoided? ................................................................... 38

Varied contexts and the hidden curriculum ........................................................ 39

RECOMMENDATIONS ..............................................................................................42

Methodological concerns .................................................................................... 44

CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................45

REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................47


5

GLOSSARY

International Baccalaureate (IB)

The IB is a collection of related educational programmes administered by the

organisation of the same name that has become arguably the most prominent

educational programme in the contemporary international education arena (International

Baccalaureate, 2014c, 2014h).

IB Career-Related Certificate (IBCC)

One of the IB’s newest initiatives, the IBCC aims to provide a flexible means for

students aged 16-19 to acquire career-related skills (International Baccalaureate, 2014g).

IB Diploma Programme (IBDP)

The IB’s flagship programme, its Diploma Programme, is available to students from

ages 16-19 and includes six subjects in addition to a core composed of Theory of

Knowledge, the Extended Essay and Creativity, Action and Service elements

(International Baccalaureate, 2014b).

IB Learner Profile (IBLP)

The Learner Profile is a set of ideal characteristics that the IB programmes to aims to

foster in students, including such qualities as open-mindedness, reflectivity and care

(International Baccalaureate, 2014d).

Cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitanism is a political ideal which has at its core a notion of working towards a

single, global community in which all human beings can potentially participate.

(Benhabib, 2004; Benhabib & Post, 2006; Brock & Brighouse, 2005).

Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism is a highly influential lens for understanding the contemporary political

and social paradigm. To its proponents, neoliberalism is a means of harnessing the

power of markets for social and economic progress, while to its critics neoliberal


6

policies serve to channel wealth towards an unaccountable elite, dilute democratic

safeguards, and create ripe conditions for economic exploitation (Fairclough, 2000a;

Harvey, 2005; Mudge, 2008).

Discourse

A discourse can be defined as “a particular way of talking about and understanding the

world (or an aspect of the world)” (Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002, p. 2). A key feature of

notions of discourse employed by scholars in recent decades has been an emphasis on

how knowledge can be produced through language (A. Lee & Petersen, 2011) and how

aspects of social life can be represented in different ways through different discourses

(Fairclough, 2005).


7

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The International Baccalaureate (IB), a collection of related educational programmes

administered by the organisation of the same name, has become arguably the most

prominent educational programme in the contemporary international education arena.

Founded in 1968, the IB has been remarkably successful in recent decades in attracting

new students to its expanding programmes and moving into new markets, building on

its prestige as the most well-known set of international qualifications for school students

(Drake, 2004; I. Hill, 2002; Walker, 2011). Though it began with a pre-university

Diploma Programme only, the IB now provides four programmes as part of its mission

to “develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a

better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect”

(International Baccalaureate, 2014h). These are its Primary Years Programme (aimed at

students aged 3-11), its Middle Years Programme (for those aged 11-16), the flagship

Diploma Programme (DP) (for those aged 16-19) and the Career-Related Certificate, a

new initiative targeted at those of DP age.

In November 2010, the IB adopted its Strategic Plan for the period 2011-2014

(International Baccalaureate, 2010). This plan outlined the IB’s guiding values of

quality, international-mindedness, pedagogical leadership and partnerships and

participation. It states that the IB will “work with and involve as many people as

possible in our work” (International Baccalaureate, 2010, p. 2), a challenging goal for

an organisation with a well-deserved reputation for delivering an elite product (Bunnell,

2011; Tarc, 2009).

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which the International

Baccalaureate has been able to maintain its founding ideals in the contemporary context

of global education. To explore this, the research proceeded by means of a critical

literature review of research on IB impact, together with an analysis of IB programme

documents, employing a combination of critical discourse analysis and policy analysis

methodologies. The study utilised a conceptual framework informed by debates about


8

neoliberalism and cosmopolitanism in order to delineate both conceptual and practical

tensions in the IB’s operation in recent years.

The central research question this study sought to address was:

To what extent has the IB been able to preserve its cosmopolitan ideals in a

global education environment increasingly influenced by neoliberalism?

The central research question suggested a number of sub-questions, which were also

investigated:

a) In what ways, and to what extent, is cosmopolitanism embedded in the IB’s

publicity, review and planning documents and in the IB Learner Profile?

b) To what extent is the notion of a neoliberal environment within international

education coherent and applicable to the International Baccalaureate?

c) What does the available evidence suggest, in light of the cosmopolitan-

neoliberal tensions referred to above, about prospects for preservation of the

IB’s cosmopolitan ideals in the current educational environment?

The study considered these questions over a timeframe of the past five years, in order to

ensure a workable period of focus for a project of this length, and to respond to the

balance of literature on this topic.


9

LITERATURE REVIEW

The international education movement as a whole has been the subject of a number of

monographs and historical overviews (Bunnell, 2006, 2008; Fox, 1985; Hayden, 2006,

2011; I. Hill, 2007a; Saavedra, 2014; Tarc, 2009). The first international schools were

founded in Europe in the inter-war period (Hayden, 2006) but it was not until the 1960s

that the movement began to experience significant and rapid growth, due to the need

for schools to serve the families of diplomats and businesspeople in the post-war era.

While the IB has never been totally synonymous with international education and a

number of competitor programmes exist, it has gradually acquired the status of being

the most prestigious and widely recognised international education programme (I. Hill,

2012a; Mathews & Hill, 2005). From the outset, significant debate took place over the

values and goals to be pursued in the IB’s initiatives and the most important underlying

issues shall be examined here.

This literature review aims to provide an appropriate context for undertaking the

research goals outlined in the previous chapter. In particular, it surveys issues relating to

cosmopolitanism and its role in international education, neoliberalism and its

applicability to international education and the IB, the development and implementation

of IB policies, and broader issues relevant to contemporary international education. A

number of findings emerge from the review. Cosmopolitanism can, it is argued, provide

an attractive and substantial foundation for international education and the IB’s

programmes in particular, although the literature makes clear a range of possible

concerns inherent in attempts to apply this perspective to education in practice.

Neoliberalism is found to be a highly significant and multifaceted phenomenon with

diverse manifestations, including in both secondary and higher education, and the

international education arena. A range of issues and challenges with regard to IB

policies and their implementation emerge from a review of the literature, and broader

issues concerning areas such as cultural challenges in international education and

pedagogy are also highlighted.


10

Cosmopolitanism

Cosmopolitanism is a political ideal which has at its core a notion of working towards a

single, global community in which all human beings can potentially participate (Appiah,

2010; Benhabib, 2004; Brock & Brighouse, 2005). A range of arguments have been put

forward to support the value of a cosmopolitan worldview. Authors advocating such a

position may draw upon, for example, suggestions that the interconnectedness of the

world’s problems requires global understanding (Hanvey, 1975). Other theorists submit

that true understanding of ourselves requires knowing others (Nussbaum, 1994) or that

we have a moral duty to seek to understand others and their cultures (Appiah, 2010).

Alternatively, some writers suggest that mere national citizenship is too narrow and that

global citizenship should also be explored (McMahon, 2011; Nussbaum, 1994), while

others propose that in order to arrive at a more peaceful world a strengthening of global-

level institutions is required (Archibugi, 2008; Tännsjö, 2006). A general imperative

behind cosmopolitanism is Nussbaum’s (1994, p. 156) call to “recognize humanity

wherever it occurs, and give its fundamental ingredients, reason and moral

capacity, our first allegiance and respect”. In other words, it is broadly argued that

our common humanity can transcend differences between races and cultures – an

idealistic plea that had considerable appeal for the founders of the IB in the 1960s

(I. Hill, 2002).

The development of understandings that rise above national boundaries is closely allied

with the values of international education in general. Cosmopolitanism has been a key

driver of the development of international education and the IB’s programmes in

particular (Gellar, 2002; Roberts, 2009b; Tarc, 2009). According to Ian Hill, former

Deputy Director General, of the IB, “the concept of ‘world citizenship’ is fundamental

to international education” (I. Hill, 2007a, p. 28). Several other possible justifications

exist for the development of international education, however. Walter Parker (Parker,

2008) argues that nationalism can in fact, paradoxically, play a key role in driving

trends towards increasingly international-focussed education. He suggests that

neoliberalism, as a driver of educational policy, plays a key role in the desire for

students to be successful in a ‘globalised world economy’. This also fosters nationalist


11

aspirations for a strong local economy as part of the broader global economy. Parker’s

analysis highlights the value of students learning additional languages to nationalistic

interests. He cites the example of the United States and its need for more speakers of

languages critical for national security, as seen in George W Bush’s “National Security

Language Initiative” (Parker, 2008). On the other hand, writers such as Bunnell point

out international education may not necessarily produce national benefits. He suggests

that programmes like the International Baccalaureate, as a “facilitator of economic

supremacy, operating within a global unregulated system of education… might be seen

as undermining the national interest and therefore not worthy of public funding” (2011,

p. 169).

An underlying theoretical foundation for international education

A fundamental challenge facing cosmopolitans is essentially an epistemological one,

which raises a number of questions: how are we to know what the ‘others’—with whom

cosmopolitanism challenges us to engage—really want? How are we to avoid

projecting our own values onto others? If we are to follow Nussbaum’s call to

“recognize moral obligations to the rest of the world that are real, and that otherwise

would go unrecognized” (1994, p. 159), how are we to do this? How can we avoid

assuming that what we feel morally obliged to do is actually what is desired and helpful?

Some writers such as Katharyne Mitchell (2003) argue that ‘multiculturalism’ as

presented to the world by Western societies as an example of tolerance, openness and

acceptance of difference, plays a particular role in narratives in service of the liberal

state. She suggests that “the concept of multicultural citizenship serves as an example of

the tolerant and munificent liberal state” and that “multiculturalism aids in the

exportation of liberalism, and hence capitalism, abroad” (2003, p. 391). This argument

is of crucial significance for the debate over values in international education.

A number of writers, however, argue that ‘universal values’ are meaningful and that a

reconciliation between Western and non-Western conceptions can be realised. For

Charles Gellar (2002), true international-mindedness must involve integrating non-

Western perspectives, including in, for example the IB’s signature Theory of


12

Knowledge courses. He also suggests that the arts, music and drama provide vehicles

for addressing those values that apply across cultures. Offering another perspective on

this issue, Paul Tarc (2013) presents a conception of ‘cosmopolitan literacy’ that

specifically addresses issues of the conflict between (perhaps hegemonic) Western

conceptions of knowledge and other possible conceptions. He argues that the aim of

education for cosmopolitanism should be “fostering a set of epistemic virtues that press

the learner to understand cultures as dynamic and relationally produced under specific

historical tendencies, geospatial relations and geometries of power” (2013, p. 104). If,

for example, IB Theory of Knowledge courses could achieve this aim, this might go

some way to mitigating the potential of international education as a means of promoting

hegemony of Western liberal conceptions of citizenship.

For Fazal Rizvi, cosmopolitan learning requires both criticality and reflexivity (2009, pp.

265-267). If these two elements are embedded in learning about other cultures and

values, the danger of the values being inculcated in students being merely superficial,

materialistic and lacking in nuance can be lessened. An important question for

investigation, then, is whether teaching methods and school and government policies are

facilitating such critical and rich learning. This is a difficult issue to examine. However

some important research has been done in this area. Don Weenink, for example,

investigated the perception of parents of children in Dutch international streams, finding

that parents in most cases viewed the opportunity for their children to receive a

cosmopolitan education “as a form of cultural and social capital” rather than curiosity

about other cultures (2008, p. 1089). Shedding light on a related issue, Lai et al. (2014)

found that parents’ expectations posed a challenge to IB Diploma Programme teachers

in a Hong Kong context. They suggest that a localised approach is needed, and that

assumptions about how international-mindedness might best be taught in; for example,

a Western context would not necessarily apply in an Asian one.

It is also vital to acknowledge that issues raised by cosmopolitan conceptions of

citizenship in educational policy are also linked in many ways to those suggested by the

controversial phenomenon of neoliberalism, that is, the dominance of global market

capitalism. Tristan Bunnell suggests that there has long been a “fundamental dilemma”


13

facing international education, namely between its goal of facilitating global peace and

universal values and its role as a provider of “branded” products to an “elite group of

candidates” and as a “facilitator of economic supremacy” (2011, pp. 168-169). Richard

Bates suggests that the world is now seeing “a detachment of education from its local

and national roots and the transformation of its historical purpose in consolidating

national identity and citizenship” (2011, p. 13). Neoliberalism is thus a prominent

discursive focus in analysing educational trends, and it is to that phenomenon that this

review will now turn.

Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism is a highly influential lens for understanding the contemporary political

and social paradigm. It is a much-contested term that is interpreted in radically different

ways by different writers. To its proponents, neoliberalism is a means of harnessing the

power of markets for social and economic progress (Friedman, 2009), while to its critics

neoliberal policies serve to channel wealth towards an unaccountable elite, dilute

democratic safeguards, and create ripe conditions for economic exploitation (Fairclough,

2000b; Giroux, 2002; Harvey, 2005; Mudge, 2008; Rizvi & Engel, 2009). Importantly,

debates about neoliberalism challenge the notion that the unrestricted flow of capital can

be naively assumed to be of universal benefit (D. Hill, 2010; Radice, 2013).

Neoliberalism is intimately connected to the equally complex and contested

phenomenon of globalisation (Lipman & Monkman, 2009). It is frequently seen by

those critical of globalisation as an ideologically related project. Rizvi and Engel, for

example, characterise globalisation in this sense as ‘hegemonic’ (2009, p. 529). Brown

and Lauder suggest that the exponential growth of international schools in recent

decades has occurred to cater to an increasingly internationally mobile global elite; thus

the burgeoning international schools movement should, they argue, be situated “within

the context of economic and cultural globalisation” (2011, p. 39).


14

Neoliberalism as a problem in education

Neoliberalism is not a static phenomenon without a temporal context. Rather, its critics

argue that it has gradually flowered over a period of several decades (Harvey, 2005).

For a writer such as Radice, neoliberalism has its historical origin in “the threats posed

to the post-war US-led global capitalist order in the period from 1961 to 1975. This

includes challenges from labour within the advanced industrial economy, from those

disadvantaged by race or gender within post-war national settlements, from the Soviet

threat to world hegemony, and from postcolonial challenges in the Third World” (2013,

p. 411). Later in its development, the influence of neoliberalism began to be felt in the

educational sector. Lundahl, for example, writes of a ‘neoliberal turn’ in Sweden in the

1990s that had a major impact on education (2007). Lundahl suggests that neoliberalism

has been central to a range of educational ‘reforms’, including greater support to

independent schools, greater openness to more diverse actors founding schools,

privatisation of certain school services, and greater connections with industry. Harriet

Marshall identifies a strong neoliberal emphasis in British educational policy in the

2000s, with overwhelming priority in government educational policy documents being

given to “equipping employers and their employees with the skills needed for a global

economy” (2011, p. 185). All these changes can be seen as clear examples of the

introduction of more extensive markets into education and the framing of business

practices as examples to be followed more widely. Michael Apple’s analysis of

neoliberal projects and their particular implications in schools is instructive in

understanding such developments (2001). He highlights the particular role of a rhetoric

of educational ‘crisis’ to which neoliberal market-based reforms are held to be the only

real answer (Apple, 2001, p. 409).

In a related line of analysis, Rizvi and Engel emphasise the role of intergovernmental

organisations in potentially undermining educational equality. They suggest that goals

of organisations such as the EU to become “the most competitive and dynamic

knowledge-based economy in the world” and of the OECD to link lifelong learning to

“preparing people for the world of work and a life of self-capitalization” betray a

significant neoliberal slant (2009, p. 533). Jennifer Chan argues that there is a need to


15

search for “ways of knowing and doing” beyond the “World Bank or World Trade

Organization ways” (2009, p. 554). The IB and its programmes could be ideal means for

engaging in such a search, and for promoting critical reflection on ‘ways of knowing’

that do not so easily reinforce the hegemony of neoliberal institutions. The question of

whether this can and is occurring will be explored to below.

In their characterisation of neoliberalism, Lipman and Monkman identify a trio of

different processes associated with liberalising global flows of capital, labour and

information, namely a) economic processes, b) political processes, and c) cultural

processes (2009, p. 256). It will be useful to consider the literature on each in turn and

possible connections to international education.

One example of economic processes associated with neoliberalism that is frequently

cited by authors in the field is that of creeping domination of business processes and

characteristics in social institutions that were previously quite unlike businesses

(Cambridge, 2002; Sklair, 2001). Writers such as Charles Gellar argue that the “culture

of perpetual economic growth needs to be questioned” (2002, p. 33). Jennifer Chan

suggests that the global neoliberal paradigm is “undemocratic, inequitable, imperialist

and unsustainable” and that the WTO-led capitalist order leads to slow, or even negative,

growth for large numbers of people worldwide and obstructs progress in obtaining

better healthcare for those in developing countries suffering from HIV/AIDS (2009, pp.

557-558). Joel Spring (2004) links many World Bank educational policies in developing

countries to a neoliberal agenda of privatisation and disregard for the local education

priorities of many countries in an a manner he sees as reminiscent of earlier Western

colonialism. He points, for example, to loans to the Dominican Republic to support

public-private collaborations in early childhood services and what he argues is a

disregard for indigenous cultures’ educational practices in Peru. It is important also to

note that the World Bank is the largest external financer of education in the world

(Spring, 2004); thus World Bank initiatives such as EdInvest which “facilitates

investment in the educational market” are of considerable impact in terms of furthering

a global neoliberal educational agenda (Spring, 2004, p. 65).


16

In the political sphere, neoliberalism has been accused of reversing social changes that

previously helped to promote social justice and limit excessive inequality (Harvey,

2005). If a transnational capitalist class is emerging (Sklair, 2001), then a key question

for international education would be whether it is helping to facilitate such a trend or

whether it is promoting social justice and global equality as some have suggested it

should be. In an era when ordinary workers’ earnings are stagnating relative to the

income of the richest (2010), a critical question is whether is the IB is becoming merely

as a global certification to ease freedom of movement for the world’s wealthy, helping

the global capitalist class to preserve and enhance their position of privilege?

A key related issue is that of cultural processes involved in neoliberalism. A number of

writers contend that neoliberal conceptions of students as potential workers for the

global market cannot easily be reconciled with due regard to the rights of young people

of minority ethnic background or with disabilities or with tackling issues of sexuality or

gender discrimination (Burke, 2013; Rizvi, 2004; Rizvi & Engel, 2009). For Duggan

(2012, p. 16), neoliberalism’s “legitimating discourse, social relations and ideology are

saturated with race, with gender, with sex, with religion, with ethnicity and nationality”

from which it cannot easily be separated. Thus neoliberalism may deprive young people

of a safe space to explore such issues. Keddie and Mills (2009) explore the tension

between gender justice and neoliberalism in subsuming broader goals by market

imperatives and a shift of notions of democracy from political to economic concepts.

They suggest that neoliberal trends lead to diminishing attention to social policy and

welfare services and, in relation to gender, a “homogenised view of women” which

“compounds issues of disadvantage for many women and girls” (2009, p. 115).

In relation to developing intercultural understanding, Harriet Marshall argues that

educational policy emphasis on language learning in the UK can be traced not to a

cosmopolitan goal of promoting international or intercultural understanding but to a

‘logic of consumption’ in which broader benefits of educational initiatives are neglected

in comparison to anticipated economic value. For Penny Jane Burke (2013), the overall

effect of neoliberalism is that it imposes significant obstacles to the success of widening

participation in the educational sector.


17

Related issues in the higher education sector

In surveying the issues regarding potential pressures from neoliberalism on international

secondary education and the International Baccalaureate in particular, it is important not

to neglect the factors and dynamics present in the higher education sector. If, as several

writers have argued, neoliberal doctrines and approaches are extending into that sector

at a rapid pace (Burke, 2013; Giroux, 2002; Radice, 2013; Suspitsyna, 2012), then this

also has significant implications for the secondary sector, as university-preparation

programmes have to take into account the needs and requirements (and underling

discourses and ideologies) of universities and higher education institutions generally.

The discourse that has evolved under the guidance of the OECD and other organisations

(Rizvi & Engel, 2009), for example, in secondary education is arguably paralleled by

similar discursive developments in higher education. Hugo Radice, for example, argues

that higher education is “a core component in the reproduction of élite power in

contemporary capitalism” (2013, p. 416).

As with critiques of neoliberalism and schooling, attention has also been directed

towards the tertiary sector. Giroux (2002) bemoans the influence of neoliberalism in

higher education, arguing that civic discourse has been replaced with corporate jargon

and that citizenship is being presented as an increasingly ‘privatised’ notion, leading

individuals to be excessively self-interested. A similar critique is made by Suspitsyna

(2012, p. 53), who suggests that in higher education, “neoliberal discourse subverts the

social functions of universities that are aimed at social justice and redefines individual

agency in terms of economic rationality” and that this “limits the repertoire of causes

that higher education may adopt” (2012, p. 59). If the discourse of higher education is

being reshaped, as Suspitsyna and others have argued, then it is reasonable to anticipate

that this shift will in turn have significant influence over the discourse and practice of

secondary education, particularly insofar as secondary school certification is concerned.

A danger is that this potentially limits and narrows the goals of education, which in turn

threatens the ideals the IB’s founders were seeking to promote. To explore this issue,

policy and other documents produced by the International Baccalaureate are examined

in the Results and Discussion chapter of this thesis. The trends identified in higher


18

education provide a focal point in that analysis, which seeks to ascertain the extent to

which this is also evident in IB secondary education. Certainly, scholars of secondary

education and international education have themselves identified comparable neoliberal

turns within those fields (Apple, 2001; Burke, 2013; Duggan, 2012; Nairn & Higgins,

2007; Rizvi & Engel, 2009; Suspitsyna, 2012; Tarc, 2009). The Results and Discussion

chapter of this thesis, therefore, investigates this specifically in relation to the IB. The

next section of this review considers broader issues emerging from links between the

above-discussed themes.

Cosmopolitanism, Neoliberalism and Citizenship: Broader and linking issues

Susan Robertson’s (2011) discussion of citizenship regimes and globalisation provides a

useful bridge between issues confronted in the literature on cosmopolitanism and those

regarding neoliberalism. Her analysis of the manner in which citizenship is socially

constructed in different ways across nation-states helps unearth several questions of

value to this research, namely:

Can the IB articulate a different conception of citizenship from those of national

governments? Should it attempt to do so if possible?

Can it ensure that such a conception does not exclude certain perspectives, such

as non-Western ones, and if so how?

Lai, Shum and Zhang’s (2014) research on international-mindedness in a Hong Kong

international school is highly instructive in responding to the question of the IB and

non-Western perspectives. Their findings suggest that there are considerable differences

in perspective between teachers and students in the school they surveyed. Lai et al. also

argue that strategies for teaching international-mindedness need to be adapted to

different contexts and that, for example, non-Western students may require different

approaches from Western students. In order to address the issues relating to possible

hegemony of Western liberal (or neoliberal) ideas relating to citizenship and

cosmopolitanism, it is necessary that more research is done into these issues.


19

Another important concern raised is that neoliberalism, together with privatisation, has

resulted in a cultural and educational dynamic in which diversity is used strategically

(Mitchell (2003). Mitchell argues that diversity acts to position students, and therefore

future workers, and in turn future elements of a national or the wider global economy, in

a way that is more suited to the economic benefits of an elite than true to the idealistic

visions of cosmopolitism, such as that advanced by Nussbaum (1994), Appiah (2010)

and, arguably, the IB’s founders (Peterson, 2003). For Mitchell, in the liberal state,

limits of ‘acceptable’ diversity are set which ensure that multiculturalism and diversity

promotion is only ever able to occur within narrow bounds. Furthermore, this (severely

constrained) cultural diversity is also available as a selling point for the export of

liberalism (and arguably, she suggests, hence capitalism) abroad. As Mitchell writes,

“multicultural education in liberal, Western societies is concerned with the creation of a

certain kind of individual, one who is tolerant of difference, but a difference framed

within certain national parameters and controlled by the institutions of the state” (2003,

p. 392). Such an individual arguably corresponds perfectly to the ideal of the (severely

constrained) ‘citizen’ under neoliberalism.

Harriet Marshall’s (2011) discussion of global citizenship also lends support to

arguments developed by theorists such as Rizvi and Engel who argue that globalisation

and neoliberalism lead to an ‘instrumentalisation’ of education in which the curriculum

and educational priorities are narrowed down to purely being focussed on economic

instrumental goals rather than broader ideals such as social justice, critical reflection,

and more wide-ranging conceptions of human flourishing. On this conception,

education is merely a means to an economic end, and global citizenship and

international-mindedness often simply marketing ploys to appeal to aspirational parents

(Weenink, 2008).

There are, then, a number of writers who have argued that neoliberalism has had a

significant and detrimental impact on education and in particular on international

education. However, it is important to note that there also exist contrary arguments.

Fischman and Haas, for example, suggest that “aspects of global neo-liberal policies

and practices have made, and can make, some positive contributions to school reform”


20

(2009, p. 566). They cite in particular the appeal of neoliberal discourses to those who

feel that schools have failed to cope with bureaucratic inefficiencies, and to those who

feel liberated by its emphasis on individualism and its appeal to the aspirational.

Neoliberal discourse can be highly attracted to schools attempting to ‘market’

themselves as catering to those who aim high and work hard. Yet, Fischman and Haas

also acknowledge “the effects of ‘naturalized’ and oppressive dynamics (embedded in

capitalism, racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression) on schooling” (2009, p. 569).

Having examined debate on cosmopolitanism and neoliberalism, a number of questions

for investigation remain, particularly in relation to the IB. These include:

Is the function of education in a neoliberal environment compatible with the IB's

cosmopolitan commitment to being true to all the world's cultures, including

political cultures?

Would the IB in a neoliberal environment thus privilege a particular political

system, contrary to its avowed cosmopolitan aims?

Has the IB been able to avoid this problem successfully?

These critical questions, further explored through analysis of IB documentation, will be

returned to in the Results and Discussion section. Next the issues of policy,

implementation and impact are explored.

IB policies and implementation

In the course of the IB’s development, a significant body of literature has developed

assessing the IB’s impact and degree of success, including many works authored or

commissioned by the IB itself (I. Hill, 2007a, 2007b, 2012b; Mathews & Hill, 2005;

Roberts, 2009a; Walker, 2011). There is also a substantial literature on the formation

and implementation of International Baccalaureate policies in various contexts, some of

which intersects with issues raised by the literature on cosmopolitanism and

neoliberalism. An important point to be noted in this regard is that while the IB is

concerned with international education, the take-up of IB programmes has not been

balanced across regions. In 2012, there were 3,716 schools that implemented at least


21

one of the IB’s programmes (known as IB World Schools). 1,490 of these were in the

US, 333 in Canada, 156 in the UK, and 151 in Australia (International Baccalaureate,

2014e). The concentration of the IB in particular localities has led to suggestions that

the IB and its programmes are too oriented to an Anglo-American ‘market’ (Tarc, 2009).

The ongoing evolution and development of the IB’s programmes has occurred at the

same time as a wider increase in focus on a more ‘internationalised’ curriculum

throughout the world (Rizvi, 2007). Much valuable literature addresses questions of a

broader nature, such as tensions within international education as a whole, including at

tertiary level, while several writers have focussed specifically on the IB and its

curriculum, goals, limitations and impacts. Particular attention is now also being paid to

issue of the geographical and cultural global context in light of the rapid growth of the

IB in areas such as China and India (Doherty & Shield, 2012; M. Lee, Hallinger, &

Walker, 2012; Mathews & Hill, 2005; Resnik, 2012). The IB has also begun to fund

research by practitioners through such schemes as its Jeff Thompson Research

Fellowships (ref). It is worth recalling that such commissioned research, though it may

have a high value, can also bring with it a particular agenda and focus which may limit

its applicability. As Bunnell writes, “relatively little critical discourse has occurred

[about the IB], while most of the major authors are IB protagonists, and much of the

more critical literature is contained within the ‘IB World’”. This statement, from 2011,

may perhaps have been somewhat over-exaggerated, as a significant body of critical

literature is now emerging from a number of authors, not least Bunnell himself;

however as a general concern it still stands.

An area of research that is highly relevant for this study relates to the effectiveness of

delivery of the IB’s Mission Statement (Lineham (2013). Richard Lineham has

investigated the IB’s claim to develop “inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young

people” who “help to create a better and more peaceful world” (Lineham, 2013, p. 260).

Lineham observes that within the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP), “both the academic

subjects and the core curriculum are used as a vehicle to help develop the ideals and

values outlined in the IB mission statement” (2013, p. 265). This direct link between

curriculum and overarching principles is highly significant, as captures the means by


22

which the IB seeks to transmit its ideological position, that is, directly to students

through the subjects they study. Thus the analysis developed in this thesis of those

documents will be of considerable value in untangling the interconnections between

possibly conflicting, and certainly complex, value frameworks. Lineham’s (2013)

findings in this regard are interesting. His case study research suggests that the principal

reason for students choosing the IBDP was the ‘global currency’ of the diploma rather

than, for example, a desire to broaden their thinking, perhaps gives weight to those who

emphasise neoliberal discursive hegemony in education.

A significant strand of the literature on the IB and international education is relevant to

discussions of cosmopolitanism and neoliberalism. The IB Career-related Certificate is

a significant new development by the IB of considerable relevance to the debate over a

neoliberal turn in secondary and higher education. If, as Fairclough suggests,

educational and related discourse has become “colonized by the economy” (1992, p.

215), or as Rizvi and Engel argue, there has been a large-scale realignment towards

what are seen as the “imperatives for education” of globalisation (2009, p. 532), then

such a certificate would be a fertile ground for analysis of the extent of such a change.

As with the IBDP, the certificate consists of a number of strands. These include a

“community and service programme”, an “approaches to learning” course, and a

reflective project (I. Hill, 2011, p. 133).

Another relevant component of the IB, one that has been part of the Diploma

Programme since its inception (though initially under a different name), is that of

Creativity, Action, Service (CAS). Kulundu and Hayden (2002) found in their research

on this programme that students found the activities involved to be of considerable

benefit to themselves and others. The continued existence and flourishing of such a

programme can be seen as evidence that the IB has been able to resist pressures

diagnosed by authors such as Suspitsyna (2012) for education’s repertoire of causes to

be limited as a consequence of a shift in the discursive terrain towards neoliberalism. It

can be seen as a healthy indication that the IB has preserved some of its founding ideals,

or at least as a corrective to excessively exaggerated fears that neoliberalism might drain


23

international education of its idealism and its concern for community and broader

society.

Broader issues in international education

There are a number of issues discussed in the literature on international education that

are relevant to this study. One significant topic is that of the culture and values found in

international schools. Many authors see this as significant (R. Brown, 2002; Drake,

2004; Hayden, 2006; Lai et al., 2014; Williams & Johnson, 2011; Zhang & McGrath,

2009). Drake (2004) argues that there is a danger of ‘cultural dissonance’ occurring if

curricula and teaching practices developed in a particular culture are applied too rigidly

or casually to other cultures. This is of particular significance in the case of the IB, he

suggests, as it could be argued that the IB curriculum remains somewhat Eurocentric

and may be “infused with culturally specific pedagogical expectations” (Drake, 2004, p.

190).

Hayden et al. (2000, p. 91) found in their worldwide survey of international students

that “open mindedness, flexibility of thinking and action” was seen as the most

important characteristic of people with an ‘international’ education. However, the

limitations of this study must be borne in mind: in addition to the fact that it was

conducted well over a decade ago, a further significant issue is that the authors do not

disclose in which countries the survey was conducted (mentioning only that it was

conducted in 28 countries), nor provide raw data in order to determine if any significant

exceptions to their overall conclusions were found. Thus, bearing in mind that the

international education environment has changed significantly since that survey was

conducted, particularly in terms of student distribution across countries, while this

survey is of value in suggesting possible plausible core features of an international

education, it cannot be regarded as definitive across all cultures.


24

Conclusion

This Literature Review has identified a number of topics of relevance to this study, to

which this thesis will return in the Results and Discussion chapter. In particular,

conceptual tensions within cosmopolitanism, the range of challenges posed by

escalating neoliberalism, and difficulties in implementing IB policies in practice have

emerged as significant themes. Analysis of IB documents later in this study will provide

evidence of discursive manifestations of these and other issues.


25

RESEARCH DESIGN

Significance

The IB and its policies and programmes are situated at the intersection of a number of

contemporary educational issues and global dynamics. The literature review above has

revealed a rich nexus of conceptual and practical issues which clearly merit further

exploration and attest to the significance of research in this area. The IB has had to

respond to increasingly diverse stakeholders and answer a number of challenges, such

as charges of elitism, of promoting ideas from certain parts of the globe in preference to

others, and of failing to live up to its ideals of cosmopolitanism, critical thinking and

respect for diverse points of view. These issues form the central focus of this research.

Neoliberalism is widely recognised as posing a major challenge to educational

programmes across the world (Alcántara, Llomovatte, & Romão, 2013; Giroux, 2002; D.

Hill, 2010; Mitchell, 2003; Nairn & Higgins, 2007; Rizvi & Engel, 2009). This research

provides an opportunity to connect the specific issues faced by the IB to a wider debate,

including questions of how a neoliberal social imaginary is influencing education policy

on a global level (Rizvi & Lingard, 2013) and the general role of cosmopolitan literacy

in an international school (not necessarily IB) setting (Tarc, 2013). Clearly, there are a

number of ways in which the challenges facing the IB in this regard are shared by other

programmes and institutions. On the other hand, the IB case is unique, as there is no

comparable school-based education programme with the IB’s global reach and impact

(Bunnell, 2010; I. Hill, 2012a). This study provides an opportunity to delineate such

issues in detail. Importantly, it also assesses how realistic the ambitious cosmopolitan

aims of the IB are and whether they are likely to succeed in all environments to equal

extents. In addition, the literature on how the IB is being implemented is constantly

evolving and would benefit from an up-to-date evaluation.

Finally, this study provides an opportunity, through analysis of a particular case, to

assess Norman Fairclough’s contention that society is being reconstructed along

neoliberal lines and that critical discourse theory can provide a means of understanding


26

and in turn, potentially ‘resisting’ this (2000b). The diversity of stakeholders involved

in the IB—including, for example, countries with very different political and social

systems within which neoliberal discourse and policy may have advanced to

significantly different degrees—suggests that this study can provide fertile ground for

assessment of this ideological stance. The research undertaken in this study thus makes

contributions that are conceptual, practical and methodological.

Methodology

The study adopts a methodological approach that draws primarily on critical discourse

analysis (CDA) (Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002), but is supplemented by both interpretivist

strands of policy and document analysis approaches (Blackmore & Lauder, 2005).

Critical discourse analysis proceeds from the assumption that analysis of the way

different aspects of social life are represented in language can provide means for social

transformation and responding to unequal power relationships (Fairclough, 2005; A.

Lee & Petersen, 2011); it aims to identify the “struggle and transformation in power

relations and the role of language therein” (Fairclough, 1992, p. 2).

There are a number of reasons why critical discourse theory is both ideal as a

methodology for this study and yet also benefits from being used in combination with

another approach. Norman Fairclough, the principal architect of critical discourse theory,

not only articulated a distinct and influential approach to discourse analysis (Fairclough,

2005; Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002; A. Lee & Petersen, 2011), but also, significantly,

called for this theory to be put to use in the critiquing of neoliberalism (2000b). He

suggests that critical discourse analysis can address “the shifting network of practices in

a way which produces both clearer understanding of how language figures in hegemonic

struggles around neo-liberalism, and how struggles against neo-liberalism can be partly

pursued in language” (Fairclough, 2000b, p. 148). It is not, therefore, in any sense

politically neutral (Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002). As Fairclough writes, “discursive

practice, the production, distribution, and consumption (including interpretation) of

texts, is a facet of the hegemonic struggle which contributes in varying degrees to the

reproduction or transformation not only of the existing order of discourse… but also


27

through that of existing social and power relations” (1992, p. 93). This can be seen,

writers in this tradition suggest, in a number of discursive phenomena such as

commodification: “the colonization of institutional rules of discourse, and more broadly

of the societal order of discourse, by discourse types associated with commodity

production” (1992, p. 207). Thus this methodology makes a number of strong,

ideologically-positioned, claims about how discourse operates.

However, neoliberalism, despite its key status as a focus for CDA critique, is itself a

highly contested term with numerous facets and interpretations (Mudge, 2008). In order

to provoke greater critical reflection on how it might influence IB policy and

programme implementation, it is fruitful to supplement the primary methodology of this

study, CDA, with other, complementary one. This facilitates the development of more

robust interpretations and at the same time enables reflection on the merits of

Fairclough’s programme of critique, using the issue of the relationship between

neoliberalism and the IB as a case study.

For that reason, the complementary methodology of policy analysis was also employed

in this study. Policy analysis seeks to answer such questions as “On whose authority is

policy produced and disseminated, what are the principles of allocation, whose values

are being promoted, who wins and who loses?” (Blackmore & Lauder, 2005, p. 190).

Ball’s (1993) distinction between policy-as-text and policy-as-discourse is useful here.

Clearly the discourse-focussed aspect of this study can be addressed through the prism

of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and in particular through an investigation of

Fairclough’s contention that CDA can illuminate and resist the creep of neoliberalism.

To set off that approach and provide a means of judging its efficacy and validity a

policy-as-text approach is also employed (Ball, 1993; Blackmore & Lauder, 2005). This

approach still allows for policies and documents under investigation to be interpreted

and seen in context; it does not, however, need to make any potentially contentious

assumptions about particular ideological lenses as CDA does (Jørgensen & Phillips,

2002). It provided a means of complementing CDA and allowing this study to reach

more robust and nuanced conclusions.


28

Sources and Method

This thesis took as its focus a number of documents produced by the International

Baccalaureate, employing a range of analytical and critical perspectives in order to

delineate key discursive characteristics of the documents and link ideas found in them to

debates in contemporary international education.

a) Documents analysed

This study considered the following documents issued by the International

Baccalaureate in its analysis:

IB Annual Reviews (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)

IB Learner Profile

IB Mission Statement

IB Career-related Certificate brochure

IB Strategic Plan: Impact through Leadership in International Education (2010)

b) Rationale for document selection

The rationale for the selection of the above documents is as follows. Tarc (2009)

undertook a book-length study of the IB’s policies, their evolution over time, and

tensions inherent in the IB’s development, including deriving from neoliberal trends, up

until the year 2007. Given the importance of his study there is considerable benefit to be

derived conducting research along broadly similar lines that brings his work up-to-date:

thus this thesis considered documents issued from the IB after 2007.

The IB Annual Review documents provide an overview of the IB’s perceptions of itself,

its achievements, challenges and goals for the future. They enable a survey to be made

of the shifting discursive and ideological conditions related to the IB over a period of


29

the last five years. The IB Learner Profile is a highly significant document in

determining and assessing the IB’s conceptions of internationally-minded education and

as such will provide a key focus of analysis. It is, according to the IB, “the IB mission

statement translated into a set of learning outcomes for the 21st century” (International

Baccalaureate, 2014d). The IB Mission Statement itself also provides useful

information on the goals of the IB as an organisation and a means of assessing to what

extent they are influenced by factors such as cosmopolitanism and neoliberalism. The

IB Career-related certificate is a new development, and one of significant interest for

this research. Finally the IB Strategic Plan, which covers a period ending in 2015, is

essential for investigating the current goals and aspirations of the IB as an organisation

and to interpreting the ideological assumptions underpinning them.

Assumptions

The study is premised on several assumptions, which are important to acknowledge as

they are implicit in the approach taken to investigate the central research question/s.

Critical methodologies, such as critical discourse analysis, have embedded in them

numerous assumptions, as discussed above and in the literature (Blackmore & Lauder,

2005; Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002). This includes a “commitment to work progressively

towards a more equal and democratic future” (Rizvi & Lingard, 2013) or an aspiration

to provide a means of social transformation through analysis of power relations (A. Lee

& Petersen, 2011). Many writers argue that these assumptions are highly desirable,

indeed essential (Fairclough, 2000b; Rizvi & Lingard, 2013), but it will, as I have

argued above, be beneficial for this study to avoid simply unhesitatingly adopting an

approach that can be very heavily laden with political and ideological baggage. In order

to do so, this study also draws on interpretivist approaches, which allow alternative, yet

complementary insights to be developed.

Interpretivist methodological traditions also make certain assumptions. Yet these differ

from critical methodologies. For example, a broadly constructivist approach, which

informs such frameworks, emphasise the role of people as creators and disseminators of

policy texts (Blackmore & Lauder, 2005; McCulloch, 2011). Such approaches do not


30

place the same degree of emphasis on power relationships and inequalities as critical

methodologies do. This study employed such an approach as a means of contrast and to

allow the advantages and disadvantages of critical discourse analysis to emerge with

greater clarity.

An important limitation of the present study is that it did not involve any activity in the

field, but rather took the form of literature and document analysis. This limited the

ability of the study to fill in gaps in the literature or correct imbalances in previous

research. However, research of this kind can still make significant contributions to

policy debate and suggest important changes.


31

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This study considered a range of documents produced by the IB in the past five years.

Documents such as Annual Reviews are published by the IB to act as publicity material

and also to summarise achievements and future goals for the existing IB community.

Other documents such as the Learner Profile have the function of articulating key IB

curriculum goals and values. This discussion shall first turn to the Annual Review

documents produced during the period under investigation. Consideration will then be

given to new initiatives being launched at the present time and to central value

statements such as the Learner Profile and Mission Statement.

Annual Review documents

The most recent IB Annual Review, from 2013, opens with a general phrase

summarising the IB’s activities, as the IB sees them. It states that 2013 “saw great

advancements in our work with countries around the world.” This statement raises a

number of questions: how is the IB working with those countries? What are the power

dynamics in such work? Is a hegemonic struggle taking place through that work, and, if

so, how is that struggle playing out? The IB, in the production of this text, is attempting

to shape the discourse of international education to present itself in a positive light and

to respond to the interests of its diverse stakeholders. The IB’s ‘work’ with various

countries and the students, teachers, parents and others who are involved in such

practice is complex and multifaceted. How the IB interacts with stakeholders in one

context will not be the same as the manner in which it interacts with others in a different

context. Critical discourse analysis and its approach to ideologies such as neoliberalism

provide a powerful lens through which to examine such work. It suggests, for example,

that a number of significant discursive phenomena may be operating simultaneously and

that it is always important to consider how audiences might receive different texts

(Fairclough, 1992).

The most recent IB Annual Review contains the statement that “the IB philosophy is

being implemented in countries that are seeking to internationalize their curriculums


32

and provide rigorous and holistic educational options for their students” (International

Baccalaureate, 2014a). A number of significant questions are suggested by this assertion,

namely: Why are these countries seeking to internationalise their curricula? What kind

of ‘rigorous’ and ‘holistic’ options are being sought? International education is a

competitive marketplace in which ‘products’ like IB programmes compete for attention,

student and school take-up and prestige. Several writers have suggested that neoliberal

dynamics have resulted in school and programme choice taking on the characteristics of

a ‘positional economy’ in which schools and programmes compete to outshine others

(Fiske & Ladd, 2000; Lauder & Hughes, 1999; Nairn & Higgins, 2007). Just as these

writers suggest that neoliberalism may be intensifying the pressure for schools to see

themselves as competitors in a marketplace, so it is reasonable to argue that countries

are also competing in such a marketplace. A neoliberal critique would call into question

whether such a market is in fact desirable and whether the ‘rigour’ that programmes

might seek to provide instead too easily buys into neoliberal discursive inclination

towards shallow educational aspirations and overwhelming emphasis on a ‘human

capital’ conception of educational objectives (Rizvi & Engel, 2009; Spring, 2004).

The prominence of business discourse

An analysis of the IB Annual Reviews suggests that the there is a market logic at work.

Indeed, there are numerous examples of business-influenced discourse, one of the most

significant being evident in the 2012 Review. In that document, there is discussion of a

new approach to conveying IB programmes through visual images of concentric circles.

It states: “the IB brand has provided clarity of purpose and consistency of strategic

positioning with both internal and external audiences” (International Baccalaureate,

2013). Such a remark would certainly not be out of place in any annual review of a large

multinational corporation and reflects the influence on education of business language

(Cambridge, 2002; Sklair, 2001). Such a concern with clarity of the ‘IB brand’ arguably

reflects a general trend towards international education being an international branded

product like many others in a competitive marketplace (Cambridge, 2002). The

influence of business discourse can also be seen in the opening sentence of the 2012

Annual Review, with its reference to “a number of critical initiatives that will help us


33

achieve our strategic goals” (International Baccalaureate, 2013). It is perhaps not

surprising that a programme that can be seen as aimed at serving a transnational elite

should adopt the language of the global corporate world. It is certainly, however,

evidence of the influence of a neoliberal market-based discourse on the IB and perhaps,

on international education more broadly. Writers such as Ozga and Lingard (2007)

suggest that this kind of change in educational policy discourse is part of a broader shift

due to globalisation. They argue that

Common-sense assumptions about effective management and modernisation

produce ‘hollowed-out’ terms—like client, consumer, stake-holder, excellence,

leadership and entrepreneurship—that apparently require no further elaboration

or scrutiny. Concepts that were once central to the organisation of public life—

for example equality, justice, professionalism—are removed from use on the

basis that they indicate ideological positions, while modernisation’s vocabulary

of economy, efficiency and entrepreneurship is advocated as if these terms

represented agreed values. (2007, p. 71)

This then, represents the challenge the IB is facing. We have seen that there are a

number of ways in which IB Annual Reviews reflect a neoliberal business discourse.

This discussion shall next turn to other areas of investigation, such as new projects

currently being introduced.

New initiatives

The IB Career-Related Certificate was launched in 2012 after a five-year pilot

programme (International Baccalaureate, 2013). As stated by the IB: “It responds

directly to the weakness in local and national labour markets by providing specific

pathways in order to create a professional and employable workforce” (International

Baccalaureate, 2012). This willingness of the IB to directly tailor a new ‘product’ to the

requirements of global markets can be seen as a clear sign of the broader influence

discussed by writers such as Rizvi and Engel (2009), of neoliberal doctrines in

education. The IBCC is specifically marketed to help students “ensure their success in


34

the workforce” (International Baccalaureate, 2014g). The IB also presents the

Certificate as helping to “support the goals of educators and governments seeking to

raise the profile of STEM (science, technology, education, mathematics)” (International

Baccalaureate, 2012). Critics such as Rizvi and Engel would suggest that governments

promoting such an agenda, and giving less prominence to education as a driver of social

welfare and democratic advancement, may be influenced by a neoliberal ideology of

human capital and market-driven education. That is not to say that STEM subjects

should be marginalised or ignored by educators opposed to neoliberalism; rather,

critical writers question whether the emphasis on such an agenda embraces too readily a

conception of education as merely a preparation for a worker to play a compliant role in

the global economy.

The IBCC can also provide schools with an incentive to extend their connection to the

broader ‘IB brand’, as students taking the IBCC have greater flexibility in course choice,

having only to take two IBDP courses in addition to the IBCC core and their career-

related study. The IBCC can be seen as an innovate approach to ‘bridging the academic-

vocational divide; but it also represents the clearest case thus far of the IB watering

down its commitment to cosmopolitanism and embracing a neoliberal conception of

education as “preparing people for the world of work and a life of self-capitalization”

(Rizvi & Engel, 2009, p. 533). Of significance is the IB’s claim that “as the IB’s fourth

programme, the IBCC provides a comprehensive link between the academic challenge

of the Diploma Programme and the international-mindedness of the IB classroom”

(International Baccalaureate, 2014g). The suggestion here is that as the classroom is

already cosmopolitan, there is little need for concern that the IBCC (in which students

will only be exposed to a limited number of IBDP courses) will dilute the IB’s values

and goals. Instead, it advances and optimistic view that the IBCC will open new fronts

for the IB’s cosmopolitan approach and values to spread. The success of this approach

is not yet clear, and the IBCC will require further evaluation and investigation over the

course of its roll-out; further discussion of the issue as to what extent it is reasonable to

expect IB classrooms to effectively deliver cosmopolitan values in all contexts will be

provided later in this section.


35

Another interesting new initiative being developed by the IB is the IB Alumni Advisory

Council. It promises to “create a bridge between the IB alumni community and the IB

organization’s staff, activities and programmes” (Baccalaureate, 2014). This joins other

developments such as Education Innovation Services, created in January 2011, aimed at

“facilitating the development and marketing of new high-profile, innovative educational

products and services” (International Baccalaureate, 2012). There has been limited news

of this division of the IB since its creation but as its head, Susan Sexton, formerly

worked for the commercial education company Laureate Education Inc., it may

represent a new move into providing commercial-style education products for the IB.

Ian Hill (2011) suggests that cooperation between the IB and national governments has

been a significant two-way process and contends that national education programmes

have considerable reason to try and reflect the international-mindedness that the IB is

renowned for. There are quite a few examples of national curricula being influenced by

IB ideas, such as in Malta, Singapore, Hong Kong and Lithuania (I. Hill, 2011).

Arguments can be offered both for and against such collaboration. For example, these

developments may reflect a welcome increase in commitment to cosmopolitan values;

on the other hand they could also arguably represent a loss of national sovereignty and

opportunity for the dominance of Western approaches to education to be further

entrenched. These arguments will be reflected on in more depth when considering the

IB’s Mission Statement below.

The IB Learner Profile: Cosmopolitanism par excellence?

It is arguable that the most clear and compelling expression of a cosmopolitan vision in

any IB document is found in the Learner Profile (International Baccalaureate, 2014d).

Developed in 2006, this document articulates and ten desired characteristics of IB

students. Many of those characteristics relate to ethical and moral desiderata, such as the

hopes that learners strive to be “principled”, “caring”, “reflective” and “open-minded”

(International Baccalaureate, 2014d). It is difficult to think of aspirations for young

learners that could be less neoliberal. At the same time, though, a case could be made

that neoliberal discourse has crept in to the Learner Profile. One of the desiderata is that

students be “thinkers” that can “analyse… complex problems” and make reasoned


36

decisions (International Baccalaureate, 2014d). Some writers suggest that neoliberalism,

however, is defining its own, narrow, conception of rationality: “Rationality is redefined

as achieving economic success through education or through the cultivation and

application of entrepreneurial qualities” (Suspitsyna, 2012, p. 53).

While there may, then, be no explicit reference to any neoliberal conception of

education in the Learner Profile, it is possible to argue that, in practice, the realisation of

some of its goals may in some cases further a neoliberal agenda. Writers such as Kaščák

and Pupala (2011) and Peters (2009) argue that neoliberalism can involve a shift in

pedagogic approach towards promoting conceptions of rationality based upon the

celebration of the idea of an individual entrepreneur rather than broader aspirations

towards social justice and responsibility. As Peters suggests, educational trends in

recent years have seen “the neoliberal revival of homo economicus, based on

assumptions of individuality, rationality and self-interest, as an all-embracing

redescription of the social as a form of the economic” (2009, p. 68). If the broader

discourse in a school environment is infused with neoliberal ideology, then, this

conception of how to approach problems may shape the thinking students are

encouraged to adopt even if documents such as the IBLP are not explicitly neoliberal.

Consideration of issues emerging from the IBLP leads us naturally to the Mission

Statement, the ultimate source of the Learner Profile’s ideas.

The IB’s Mission Statement: A mission for whom?

The IB Learner Profile is defined as “the IB mission statement translated into a set of

learning outcomes for the 21st century” (International Baccalaureate, 2014d). It is

therefore vital in assessing the values found in the Learner Profile to consider the IB’s

Mission Statement (International Baccalaureate, 2014h), and to try to determine whose

values and priorities it reflects. It is useful at this point to recall the insistence of writers

in the discourse analysis tradition that discourse fundamentally reflects power relations

and the hegemonic struggle that they suggest is continually taking place in the

discursive landscape (Fairclough, 1992, 2000b, 2005; Jørgensen & Phillips, 2002; A.

Lee & Petersen, 2011). It is also valuable to note the concern expressed earlier in this

thesis of the importance of maintaining sufficient critical distance at all times in

http://www.ibo.org/mission/index.cfm


37

assessing arguments in this area to be alive to the possible dangers of excessive reliance

on one interpretative approach. Consideration of the IB’s mission can provide a useful

moment to consider certain key issues in international education and the discourse

surrounding it. Fazal Rizvi argues that since the events of September 11, 2001, there has

been a transformation of the ‘discursive field’ in which globalisation is discussed,

resulting in a renewed need for education to respond to the growing narrative of ‘global

security’ (2004). This provides further reason to emphasise the importance of

international-mindedness in education and support for greater student understanding of

the complexities of the modern world – support that the IB’s proponents would argue it

is ideally placed to provide.

When recalling that the IB has been, since its foundation, dedicated to building bridges

between the peoples of the world and their cultures, we should also note that its

founders were all largely drawn from a relatively narrow class of people when

considered in a global context. To this day, the vast majority of IB schools are in

Western countries and many IB World Schools in non-Western countries drawn

significant portions of their staff from Western expatriates. Thus it is reasonable to

suggest that the IB’s conception of ‘international-mindedness’ has been developed in a

Western-dominated paradigm of international education. There are some writers who

call into question whether educational trends in the contemporary world adequately

reflect non-Western ideas and indeed suggest that the contemporary discursive terrain of

education may reflect a ‘new imperialism’ of Western dominance (Rizvi, 2004; Tikly,

2004). Wylie suggests that indigenous peoples “have been systematically dehumanised”

and that “globalisation has become a new form of imperialism and post-colonialism has

become a more refined form of colonialism” (2011, p. 29). Tikly (2004) argues that

developing countries are unable to set their own agendas for education as they must fit

within the ‘human capital’ paradigm promoted by the World Bank and other agencies

(see also (Rizvi & Engel, 2009; Spring, 2004). He suggests that this approach has not

resulted in the development that those agencies promised, and has instead lead to their

economies, and hence educational policies, being dependent on Western nations.

Furthermore, the neoliberal individualist model of entrepreneurialism as the salvation of

developing countries has also, Tikly argues, merely entrenched the dominance of a


38

Eurocentric perspective and prevented non-Western nations from fashioning their own

indigenous conception of the goal of education and its social role.

This line of argument could reasonably be extended to the educational policies and

programmes of the IB. As suggested earlier in this section, there is reason to argue that

some IB policies and initiatives indicate considerable discursive influence of neoliberal

ideology. There is also reason to question the extent to which the IB’s laudable goals of

cosmopolitanism and the promotion of mutual respect among all cultures can easily be

realised in practice. Lai, Shum and Zhang’s (2014) research at an IB school in China

highlights a number of potential pitfalls in an educational environment where teachers

and curricula may reflect Western values and perspectives that other stakeholders, such

as students, parents and local staff members may have difficulty accepting. They found

that the IBDP’s implementation posed considerable challenges in its implementation,

and that student and parent expectations were only met with difficulty by the teachers.

They further noted that international-mindedness could often be relegated to a

subordinate position in the curriculum as delivered due to the pressure of examinations

(which was derived not just from the IB requirements themselves, but also parent and

other stakeholder expectations). Furthermore, conflicts developed over particular issues

of cultural and political sensitivity. This may reflect a general danger in international

schools: that if local staff are ignored or under-utilized “links with the local community

will be tainted by the hidden, or not so hidden, messages being conveyed to students

(quite possibly in conflict with the explicit claims of the school’s mission statement)

about the superiority of those within the confines of the international school ‘bubble’”

(Hayden, 2006, p. 149).

Can ‘new imperialism’ be avoided?

Tikly (2004) may be too quick in his equation of Western values and practices with

imperialism. His, and other writers’, suggestion that it is necessary to reconstruct

education along totally different lines in order to avoid the hegemony of Western values

is perhaps a step too far. Western values do not necessarily have to be, by their very

nature, dominating. While Tikly and other writers (Fox, 1985; Wylie, 2011) are right


39

that many curricula developed with admirable aims of giving voice to multiple cultures

can in practice lead to a privileging of particularly ones, this can be avoided or

minimised with sensitive teaching and pedagogy. There can surely be a coexistence of

Western and non-Western values; however, there will certainly need to be more space

provided for alternatives to Western approaches to develop. Greater attention needs to

be paid to the dangers of certain values being emphasised in teaching and other

perspectives being forgotten. It is possible to speculate that may occur more easily as

non-Western nations, particularly China and India, gain in strength in economic terms

relative to Western nations. The increased prominence of non-Western countries and

cultures can be expected to constrain the hegemony of one value set.

While critical approaches to Western hegemony are vital, there are also dangers in

advancing what some may see as highly ideological arguments. Indeed it may be

counterproductive and perhaps even unfair to be too eager to inextricably link global

hegemony and the ‘West’. While it is clear, as many writers (Apple, 2001; Harvey,

2005; D. Hill, 2010) have suggested, that current trends in globalisation and the rise of

neoliberalism have done much to enhance the dominance of Western countries,

particularly the US, and transnational companies based in them, the key factors in this

phenomenon are arguably economic rather than cultural. It is not inevitable that global

society will remain dominated by the West, nor have these writers provided a clear

argument to suggest that neoliberalism and economic exploitation are uniquely Western

in character. Rather, some theorists such as Harvey (2005) identify significant

neoliberal turns in non-Western countries such as China in addition to the more well-

known cases such as the US and UK. The focus of resistance, then, should be on

unequal power dynamics in general rather than any one culture or part of the world.

This raises questions in relation to how such issues are manifested in the varying

contexts in which the IB operates, to which this discussion shall now turn.

Varied contexts and the hidden curriculum

The hidden curriculum may be defined as “the unstated norms, values and beliefs that

are transmitted to students through the underlying structure of meaning in both the


40

formal content as well as the social relations of school and classroom life” (Giroux &

Penna, 1979, p. 22). As Mary Hayden suggests, “individual teachers and administrators,

for instance, may unwittingly either reinforce or undermine through their own

behaviour the school’s mission… and the choice of teaching materials may convey

unintended messages to students as to who or what is values by making those choices”

(2006, p. 137). Further issues may arise due to the wide discretion the IB allows for in

terms of teacher and school choice in the curriculum. As Hayden suggests (2006), a

teacher at an African school may teach British rather than African history because the

teacher may feel more comfortable with that subject having studied it at university.

Teachers may also opt to teach, for example, periods of history that are popular with

colleagues and widely discussed at IB teacher-training workshops. As there are very

large numbers of IB World Schools in the Western world and relatively smaller

numbers in, for example, Africa and Asia, this may lead to a bias in favour of topics

taught in Western countries. (There are, for example only four current IB World

Schools in Nigeria, while there are 155 in the UK, despite the former having a

population more than double the size of the latter (International Baccalaureate, 2014f).)

Additionally, students may favour topics for the Extended Essays that are relatively

‘safe’ such as well-trodden areas of Western history and culture. More research into

student choice of topic in Extended Essays would help to determine to what extent non-

Western cultural paradigms are being explored or employed in such work.

Finally, it is vital to remember that all IB schools are different. Many of them may be

genuine ‘international schools’ with a highly diverse student and teacher makeup

though perhaps, in many cases, skewed towards particular nations and concentrated

with students of high socio-economic status. Weenink highlights the varied motivations

parents may have for enrolling their children in international schools, and distinguishes

between what he terms ‘pragmatic cosmopolitans’ whose goals for their children may

be more career-oriented, and ‘dedicated cosmopolitans’ whose aims may be more

idealistic. In many schools, then, parent and community commitment to

cosmopolitanism may be somewhat superficial. Some may have limited traditions of

internationalism and difficulty recruiting staff with varied backgrounds. Even in schools

with a long-established tradition of promoting international-mindedness, this may not be

equally vibrant with regard to all cultures. A further challenge in many schools may be


41

that of combining the IB with other programmes, perhaps competing for attention and

resources. Doherty and Shield (2009) assess the difficulties occurring in some

Australian schools as a result of a neoliberal agenda of ‘choice’ for school ‘consumers’

which, they suggest, leads in many cases to more resources being lavished on the

‘prestigious’ and aspirational IB and less on other competing programmes, often those

taken up by less academically strong students. There is considerable irony, then, in the

way in which a programme (the IB) with noble aspirations of reaching out to learners

around the world to help them achieve their potential may in some cases be creating

obstructions to the progress of some students (those in IB World Schools not pursuing

IB programmes).

In summation, analysis of IB documents has revealed a complex and sometimes

contradictory discursive state in which neoliberal and business-influenced discourse has

made some headway but cosmopolitan values are still to an extent apparent. This study

will therefore next present a range of recommended strategies for the IB to respond to

this state of affairs.


42

RECOMMENDATIONS

The IB was conceived and set up in a post-war environment of new potential for

international understanding yet significant threats to that. In an increasingly globalised

world, an expanding class of international diplomats and business people suggested an

opportunity for a standard-setting programme of world-class education capable of

global appeal (I. Hill, 2012a; Tarc, 2009). In terms of educational rigour and prestige,

the IB has largely met its potential. The increasing appeal to elite schools whose

students aspire to attend the world’s top universities is testament to this, as is the

inroads the IB is making in new markets like China and India whose students represent

the largest two national groups of internationally mobile students at the university level

(UNESCO, 2014). On the other hand, as the IB itself acknowledges (Bunnell, 2011), it

has been exceedingly difficult to succeed at the IB’s stated goal of “work[ing] with and

involv[ing] as many people as possible in our work” (International Baccalaureate, 2010).

That is, the world, and certainly not the IB, has not been able to bring an end to vast

global inequities of power and wealth. As many scholars have argued, the rise of

neoliberalism, typically associated with political developments during the 1980s, has

led to an entrenchment of global inequality and a new move towards a market-based

approach to much of national and international policy, including education (Harvey,

2005; D. Hill, 2010; Mitchell, 2003; Radice, 2013). In the 21st century, neoliberalism

continues to have a dominant influence in education and beyond (Alcántara et al., 2013;

Fischman & Haas, 2009; Jones, 2013). In the current era, the world is also being

reshaped by newly powerful developing countries such as China and, to a lesser extent,

India. Yet the IB still remains dominated by schools in the English-speaking and

Western nations, and teachers and administrators drawn, in many cases, from Western

backgrounds.

This study suggests that a number of significant challenges remain for the IB. These

include:

Issues of how best to respond to the global disparity in terms of IB school

location, such as the disproportionate concentration of schools in the

Anglosphere


43

Challenges in teacher training to ensure that classrooms can reflect a broad range

of global perspectives, even in those IB schools that may be less diverse in terms

of student or teacher makeup

The seemingly intractable issue of whether the IB as an educational programme

of considerable appeal for the global elite may be strengthening and entrenching

the status of that elite, and thus obstructing the development of educational

initiatives that genuinely meet the needs of and champion the perspectives of

those who are currently economically and socially marginalised in the world

order

Working to ensure that the education it offers is available to the broadest

possible range of students, rather than being concentrated in private and elite

schools, and that IB programmes are open to wide participation within schools

Ensuring that the Career-Related Certificate is able to adequately reflect the IB’s

commitment to cosmopolitanism and international-mindedness

As Tristan Bunnell (2011) suggests, the IB faces considerable challenges due to the

broad diversity of its stakeholders. It must appeal to both elite private schools in

developed nations and new frontiers in developing countries. Furthermore, tensions

remain between its aspirational ideals of developing international understanding and

creating “a better world” on the one hand, and the desire to be seen as a rigorous and

appealing product in the international market on the other. In serving a transnational

elite, the IB may face pressure to ‘water down’ some of its emphasis on international-

mindedness to allow more time and energy to be spent on exams that ensure academic

rigour. While many schools will see the international character of the IB as appealing,

this may not be the case across the board. For some schools, the principle value of the

IB may lie in its role as a passport to entrance at prestigious universities rather than its

cosmopolitan values. This may lead to pressures to dilute these aspects of the IB

programmes, and it is arguable that this is already the case with the IBCC. While the

IBCC may represent a commendable effort to bridge the academic-vocational divide, it

could also be indicative of a new trend of capitulation to a ‘human capital’ agenda

rather than one of cultivating tolerance, international-mindedness and cosmopolitanism.

It is important that the IB consider these issues with regard to the IBCC with care.


44

It is also important to note that the IB does not operate in an educational vacuum; it

provides certification for those often seeking to attend globally elite universities and

those institutions are not evenly distributed throughout the world. The dominance of the

English language in higher education has significant effects on the market for university

preparation programmes in which the IB(DP) operates (Tarc, 2009). It is arguable that

the lack of language equality in higher education has a very powerful effect on the

global education environment more broadly and leads to a high degree of inequity.

Methodological concerns

This thesis also sought to consider and evaluate critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a

methodology for addressing topics in international education policy. CDA suggests that

power inequalities in society have considerable deleterious effects, that these

inequalities are reflected in discourse, and that critical analysis of that discourse can

help to remedy such inequities by making their discursive manifestations clear

(Fairclough, 2000b, 2005). A number of examples of documents issued by the IB that

might suggest issues of unequal power relations and hegemonic struggle were discussed.

CDA was effective in teasing out the creeping discursive incorporation of business

phrases, market analogies, and suggestions of a degree of marginalisation of priorities

inconsistent with a neoliberal agenda. On the other hand, a policy-as-text approach was

also fruitful in elucidating key issues involved in some of the documents under

consideration. An approach purely reliant on CDA could have undermined the rigour of

this study’s findings due to that methodology’s explicit aim of serving as a critique of

neoliberalism (Fairclough, 2000b). The analysis developed in this thesis demonstrated

the value of drawing on a combination of analytical tools and remaining alive to the

dangers of excessive or uncritical reliance on one methodological framework.


45

CONCLUSIONS

The IB faces a number of challenges in its fifth decade. Many are due to factors outside

its direct control, such as the wider global educational context. Despite this, the IB

cannot afford to regard itself as powerless or without influence. Its prestige and

expanding global footprint mean that it must face up to the imperative to preserve its

ideals and continue to innovate with the goal of providing leadership in the international

education arena.

It is useful at this point to recall the main research question this study sought to answer:

To what extent has the IB been able to preserve its cosmopolitan ideals in a

global education environment increasingly influenced by neoliberalism?

The three sub-questions were:

a) In what ways, and to what extent, is cosmopolitanism embedded in the IB’s

publicity, review and planning documents and in the IB Learner Profile?

b) To what extent is the notion of a neoliberal environment within international

education coherent and applicable to the International Baccalaureate?

c) What does the available evidence suggest, in light of the cosmopolitan-

neoliberal tensions referred to above, about prospects for preservation of the

IB’s cosmopolitan ideals in the current educational environment?

Taking the three sub-questions in turn, it is evident that with regard to sub-question a)

this study has suggested that there are a number of clear links to cosmopolitan

aspirations and ideals in the documents under consideration. In particular, the Learner

Profile and Mission Statement reflect a number of admirable goals in terms of the

promotion of international-mindedness and cosmopolitanism, albeit from an arguably

rather Western perspective. With regard to sub-question b) this study identified a wide

range of phenomena within contemporary education, and international education in

particular, that corroborate claims of a neoliberal environment. In particular, a number

of recent IB review documents show indications of neoliberal shifts in the discursive

terrain of international education, as do the IB’s plans for new initiatives such as the

Career-Related Certificate. With regard to sub-question c) this study has shown that


46

there are still significant prospects for preservation of the IB’s founding cosmopolitan

ideals, as long as those issues identified in the previous chapter are addressed.

Education for international-mindedness is a vital project for the 21st century. The

cosmopolitan ideas of the IB, despite being developed by a rather narrow group of

educators not totally representative of the world as a whole, have great potential to

enhance intercultural understanding and global justice. The global neoliberal turn

represents a powerful challenge to many laudable educational goals, including those of

the IB (Giroux, 2002; Rizvi, 2007; Rizvi & Engel, 2009; Tarc, 2009); however, its

significance should not be overestimated. There is reason to be optimistic that the IB

can still play a significant role in promoting cosmopolitanism in 21st century

international education.


47

REFERENCES

Alcántara, A., Llomovatte, S., & Romão, J. E. (2013). Resisting neoliberal common

sense in higher education: experiences from Latin America. International

Studies in Sociology of Education, 23(2), 127-151. doi:

10.1080/09620214.2013.790661

Appiah, K. A. (2010). Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers (Issues of Our

Time). New York: WW Norton & Company.

Apple, M. W. (2001). Comparing Neo-Liberal Projects and Inequality in Education.

Comparative Education(4), 409. doi: 10.2307/3099552

Archibugi, D. (2008). The global commonwealth of citizens: toward cosmopolitan

democracy. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.

Baccalaureate, I. (2014). The IB Alumni Network. Retrieved 1 June, 2014, from

http://www.ibo.org/informationfor/alumni/

Ball, S. J. (1993). What is policy? Texts, trajectories and toolboxes. The Australian

Journal of Education Studies, 13(2), 10-17.

Bates, R. (2011). Introduction. In R. Bates (Ed.), Schooling internationally:

Globalisation, internationalisation and the future for international schools (pp.

1-20). Abingdon: Routledge.

Benhabib, S. (2004). The Rights of Others: Aliens, Residents, and Citizens: Cambridge

University Press.

Benhabib, S., & Post, R. (2006). Another Cosmopolitanism: Oxford University Press,

USA.

Blackmore, J., & Lauder, H. (2005). Researching policy. Research methods in the social

sciences, 97-104.

http://www.ibo.org/informationfor/alumni/


48

Brock, G., & Brighouse, H. (2005). The Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism:

Cambridge University Press.

Brown, C., & Lauder, H. (2011). The political economy of international schools and

social class formation. In R. Bates (Ed.), Schooling internationally:



Brown, R. (2002). Cultural dimensions of national and international educational

assessment. In M. Hayden, J. Thompson & G. Walker (Eds.), International

Education in Practice: Dimensions for National and International Schools (pp.

66-79). London: Kogan Page.

Bunnell, T. (2006). The growing momentum and legitimacy behind an alliance for

international education. Journal of Research in International Education, 5(2),

155-176.

Bunnell, T. (2008). The global growth of the International Baccalaureate Diploma

Programme over the first 40 years: A critical assessment. Comparative

Education, 44(4), 409-424.

Bunnell, T. (2010). The International Baccalaureate and a framework for class

consciousness: The potential outcomes of a ‘class-for-itself’. Discourse: Studies

in the Cultural Politics of Education, 31(3), 351-362.

Bunnell, T. (2011). The International Baccalaureate: its growth and complexity of

challenges. In R. Bates (Ed.), Schooling internationally: Globalisation,

internationalisation and the future for international schools (pp. 165-181). New

York: Routledge.

Burke, P. J. (2013). The right to higher education: neoliberalism, gender and

professional mis/recognitions. International Studies in Sociology of Education,

23(2), 107-126. doi: 10.1080/09620214.2013.790660

Cambridge, J. (2002). Recruitment and deployment of staff: a dimension of

international school organization. In M. Hayden, J. Thompson & G. Walker


49

(Eds.), International Education in Practice: Dimensions for National and

International Schools (pp. 158-169). London: Kogan Page.

Chan, J. (2009). The Alternative Globalization Movement,

Social Justice, and Education. In W. Ayers, T. Quinn & D. Stovall (Eds.), Handbook of

Social Justice in Education. New York: Routledge.

Doherty, C. (2009). The appeal of the International Baccalaureate in Australia's

educational market: A curriculum of choice for mobile futures. Discourse:

Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 30(1), 73-89.

Doherty, C., & Shield, P. (2012). Teachers' work in curricular markets: Conditions of

design and relations between the international baccalaureate diploma and the

local curriculum. Curriculum Inquiry, 42(3), 414-441.

Drake, B. (2004). International Education and IB Programmes: Worldwide Expansion

and Potential Cultural Dissonance. Journal of Research in International

Education, 3(2), 189-205. doi: 10.1177/1475240904044387

Duggan, L. (2012). The twilight of equality?: Neoliberalism, cultural politics, and the

attack on democracy. Boston: Beacon Press.

Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity.

Fairclough, N. (2000a). Language and Neo-Liberalism. Discourse & Society, 11(2),

147-148. doi: 10.1177/0957926500011002001

Fairclough, N. (2000b). Language and neo-liberalism. Discourse and Society, 11(2),

147-148.

Fairclough, N. (2005). Critical Discourse Analysis. Marges Linguistiques, 9, 76-94.

Fischman, G. E., & Haas, E. (2009). Critical Pedagogy and Hope in the Context of Neo-

Liberal Globalization. In W. Ayers, T. Quinn & D. Stovall (Eds.), Handbook of

Social Justice in Education (pp. 565-575). New York: Routledge.


50

Fiske, E. B., & Ladd, H. F. (2000). When schools compete: A cautionary tale.

Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.

Fox, E. (1985). International Schools and the International Baccalaureate. Harvard

Educational Review, 55(1), 53-69.

Friedman, M. (2009). Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Gellar, C. A. (2002). International education: a commitment to univesal values. In M.

Hayden, J. Thompson & G. Walker (Eds.), International Education in Practice:

Dimensions for National and International Schools (pp. 30-35). London: Kogan

Page.

Giroux, H. A. (2002). Neoliberalism, Corporate Culture, and the Promise of Higher

Education: The University as a Democratic Public Sphere. Harvard Educational

Review, 72(4), 425.

Giroux, H. A., & Penna, A. N. (1979). Social education in the classroom: The dynamics

of the hidden curriculum. Theory & Research in Social Education, 7(1), 21-42.

Hanvey, R. G. (1975). An Attainable Global Perspective. New York: Center for

War/Peace Studies.

Harvey, D. (2005). A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hayden, M. (2006). Introduction to international education: International schools and

their communities. London: Sage.

Hayden, M. (2011). Transnational Spaces of Education: The Growth of the International

School Sector. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9(2), 211-224.

Hayden, M., Rancic, B. A., & Thompson, J. J. (2000). Being International: Student and

Teacher Perceptions from International Schools. Oxford Review of Education,

26(1), 107-123. doi: 10.2307/1050953


51

Hill, D. (2010). Class, capital, and education in this neoliberal and neoconservative

period. Revolutionizing pedagogy: Education for social justice within and

beyond global neo-liberalism, 119-144.

Hill, I. (2002). The history of international education: an International Baccalaureate

perspective. In M. Hayden, J. Thompson & G. Walker (Eds.), International

Education in Practice: Dimensions for National and International Schools (pp.

18-29). London: Kogan Page.

Hill, I. (2007a). International education as developed by the International Baccalaureate

Organisation. The Sage handbook of research in international education, 25-37.

Hill, I. (2007b). Multicultural and international education: Never the twain shall meet?

International review of education, 53(3), 245-264.

Hill, I. (2011). Working with governments. In G. Walker (Ed.), The Changing Face of

International Education. Cardiff: International Baccalaureate Organization.

Hill, I. (2012a). An international model of world-class education: The International

Baccalaureate. PROSPECTS, 42(3), 341-359. doi: 10.1007/s11125-012-9243-9

Hill, I. (2012b). An international model of world-class education: The International

Baccalaureate. Prospects (00331538), 42(3), 341-359. doi: 10.1007/s11125-012-

9243-9

International Baccalaureate. (2010). Impact Through Leadership in International

Education: Our Vision and Strategic Goals 2011-2015. Retrieved 3 June, 2014,

from

http://www.ibo.org/mission/strategy/documents/IBExternalStratENG171102.pdf

International Baccalaureate. (2012). IB Annual Review 2011. Geneva: International

Baccalaureate.

International Baccalaureate. (2013). IB Annual Review 2012. Geneva: International

Baccalaureate.

http://www.ibo.org/mission/strategy/documents/IBExternalStratENG171102.pdf


52

International Baccalaureate. (2014a). IB Annual Review 2013. Geneva: International

Baccalaureate.

International Baccalaureate. (2014b). The IB Diploma Programme. Retrieved 9 June,

2014, from http://www.ibo.org/diploma/

International Baccalaureate. (2014c). IB Fast Facts. Retrieved 9 June, 2014, from

http://ibo.org/facts/fastfacts/index.cfm

International Baccalaureate. (2014d). The IB Learner Profile. Retrieved 5 March, 2014,

from https://www.ibo.org/myib/digitaltoolkit/files/brochures/LearnerProfile-

EN.pdf

International Baccalaureate. (2014e). IB World School statistics. Retrieved 5 March

2014, from http://www.ibo.org/facts/schoolstats/progsbycountry.cfm

International Baccalaureate. (2014f). IB World School statistics. Retrieved 5 March,

2014, from http://ibo.org/facts/schoolststs/progsbycountry.cfm

International Baccalaureate. (2014g). IBCC. Retrieved 1 June, 2014, from

http://www.ibo.org/ibcc/

International Baccalaureate. (2014h). Mission and Strategy. Retrieved 3 June, 2014,

from http://www.ibo.org/mission/

Jones, G. (2013). Afterword: rates of exchange: neoliberalism and the value of higher

education. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 23(3), 273-280. doi:

10.1080/09620214.2013.844943

Jørgensen, M. W., & Phillips, L. J. (2002). Discourse analysis as theory and method.

London: Sage.

Kaščák, O., & Pupala, B. (2011). Governmentality - Neoliberalism - Education: the

Risk Perspective Journal of Pedagogy / Pedagogický casopis (Vol. 2, pp. 145).

http://www.ibo.org/diploma/

http://ibo.org/facts/fastfacts/index.cfm

http://www.ibo.org/myib/digitaltoolkit/files/brochures/LearnerProfile-EN.pdf

http://www.ibo.org/myib/digitaltoolkit/files/brochures/LearnerProfile-EN.pdf

http://www.ibo.org/facts/schoolstats/progsbycountry.cfm

http://ibo.org/facts/schoolststs/progsbycountry.cfm

http://www.ibo.org/ibcc/

http://www.ibo.org/mission/


53

Keddie, A., & Mills, M. (2009). Global Politics, Gender Justice, and Education. In W.

Ayers, T. Quinn & D. Stovall (Eds.), Handbook of Social Justice in Education.

New York: Routledge.

Kulundu, F., & Hayden, M. (2002). Creativity, Action, Service (CAS) Activities as Part

of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme: A Case Study. Pastoral

Care in Education, 20(1), 30-36.

Lai, C., Shum, M. S., & Zhang, B. (2014). International mindedness in an Asian context:

the case of the International Baccalaureate in Hong Kong. Educational

Research(ahead-of-print), 1-20.

Lauder, H., & Hughes, D. (1999). Trading in Futures: why markets in education don’t

work. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Lee, A., & Petersen, A. (2011). Discourse Analysis. In B. Somekh & C. Lewin (Eds.),

Theory and methods in social research (pp. 139-146): Sage.

Lee, M., Hallinger, P., & Walker, A. (2012). Leadership challenges in international

schools in the Asia Pacific region: evidence from programme implementation of

the International Baccalaureate. International Journal of Leadership in

Education, 15(3), 289-310.

Lineham, R. (2013). Is the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme effective at

delivering the International Baccalaureate mission statement? Journal of

Research in International Education, 12(3), 259-282. doi:

10.1177/1475240913509765

Lipman, P., & Monkman, K. (2009). Globalization and Social Justice in Education. In

W. Ayers, T. Quinn & D. Stovall (Eds.), Handbook of Social Justice in

Education (pp. 525-528). New York: Routledge.

Lundahl, L. (2007). Swedish, European, Global: The transformation of the Swedish

welfare state The RoutledgeFalmer reader in education policy and politics (pp.



54

Marshall, H. (2011). Education for global citizenship: Reflecting upon the

instrumentalist agendas at play. In R. Bates (Ed.), Schooling internationally:



Mathews, J., & Hill, I. (2005). Supertest: How the International Baccalaureate can

strengthen our schools. Chicago: Open Court Publishing.

McCulloch, G. (2011). Historical and documentary research in education. In L. Cohen,

L. Manion & K. Morrison (Eds.), Research Methods in Education. Abingdon:

Routledge.

McMahon, M. (2011). International Education: Educating for a global future.

Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press Ltd.

Mitchell, K. (2003). Educating the national citizen in neoliberal times: from the

multicultural self to the strategic cosmopolitan. Transactions of the institute of

British geographers, 28(4), 387-403.

Mudge, S. L. (2008). What is neo-liberalism? Socio-Economic Review, 6(4), 703-731.

Nairn, K., & Higgins, J. (2007). New Zealand’s neoliberal generation: tracing

discourses of economic (ir)rationality. International Journal of Qualitative

Studies in Education, 20(3), 261-281. doi: 10.1080/09518390701281819

Nussbaum, M. (1994). Patriotism and cosmopolitanism. The cosmopolitan reader, 155-

162.

Ozga, J., & Lingard, B. (2007). Globalisation, education policy and politics The

RoutledgeFalmer reader in education policy and politics (pp. 65-82). Abingdon:

Routledge.

Parker, W. C. (2008). "International Education" What's in a Name? Phi Delta Kappan,

90(3), 196.


55

Peters, M. (2009). Education, enterprise culture and the entrepreneurial self: A

Foucauldian perspective. The Journal of Educational Enquiry, 2(2).

Peterson, A. D. C. (2003). Schools across frontiers: The story of the International

Baccalaureate and the United World Colleges: Open Court Publishing.

Radice, H. (2013). How We Got Here: UK Higher Education under Neoliberalism.

ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 12(3), 407-418.

Resnik, J. (2012). The Denationalization of Education and the Expansion of the

International Baccalaureate. La desnacionalización de la educación y la

expansión del Bachillerato Internacional., 56(2), 248-269.

Rizvi, F. (2004). Debating globalization and education after September 11.

Comparative Education, 40(2), 157-171.

Rizvi, F. (2007). Internationalization of curriculum: A critical perspective. The Sage

handbook of international education, 390-440.

Rizvi, F. (2009). Towards cosmopolitan learning. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural

Politics of Education, 30(3), 253-268.

Rizvi, F., & Engel, L. C. (2009). Neo-liberal globalization, educational policy, and the

struggle for social justice. The handbook of social justice in education, 529-541.

Rizvi, F., & Lingard, B. (2013). Globalizing education policy. Abingdon: Routledge.

Roberts, B. (2009a). Educating for global citizenship : a practical guide for schools /

Boyd Roberts: Cardiff : International Baccalaureate, 2009.

Roberts, B. (2009b). Educating for global citizenship: A practical guide for schools.

Cardiff: International Baccalaureate.

Robertson, S. (2011). The new spatial politics of (re)bordering and (re)ordering the

state-education-citizen relation. International review of education, 57(3-4), 277-

297. doi: 10.1007/s11159-011-9216-x


56

Saavedra, A. R. (2014). The Academic Impact of Enrollment in International

Baccalaureate Diploma Programs: A Case Study of Chicago Public Schools. 116,

6-6.

Sklair, L. (2001). The Transnational Capitalist Class. Oxford: Blackwell.

Spring, J. (2004). How educational ideologies are shaping global society:

Intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, and the decline of the nation-state.

Abingdon: Routledge.

Suspitsyna, T. (2012). Higher Education for Economic Advancement and Engaged

Citizenship: An Analysis of the U.S. Department of Education Discourse.

Journal of Higher Education, 83(1), 49-72.

Tännsjö, T. (2006). Cosmopolitan democracy revisited. Public Affairs Quarterly, 267-

291.

Tarc, P. (2009). Global dreams, enduring tensions: International Baccalaureate in a

changing world. Bern: Peter Lang.

Tarc, P. (2013). International Education in Global Times: Engaging the Pedagogic.

Bern: Peter Lang.

Tikly, L. (2004). Education and the new imperialism. Comparative Education, 40(2),

173-198.

UNESCO. (2014). Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students. Retrieved 9 June, 2014,

from http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/international-student-flow-

viz.aspx

Walker, G. R. (2011). The changing face of international education : challenges for the

IB / edited by George Walker: Cardiff : International Baccalaureate, 2011.

Weenink, D. (2008). Cosmopolitanism as a form of capital parents preparing their

children for a globalizing world. Sociology, 42(6), 1089-1106.

http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/international-student-flow-viz.aspx

http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/international-student-flow-viz.aspx


57

Williams, C. T., & Johnson, L. R. (2011). Why can’t we be friends?: Multicultural

attitudes and friendships with international students. International Journal of

Intercultural Relations, 35(1), 41-48.

Wylie, M. (2011). Global networking and international education. In R. Bates (Ed.),

Schooling Internationally: Globalisation, internationalisation an the future for

international schools (pp. 21-38). Abingdon: Routledge.

Zhang, Y., & McGrath, I. (2009). Teacher-Student Relationships in an International

Baccalaureate School in China. Journal of Research in International Education,

8(2), 164-190.

The International Baccalaureate in its Fifth Decade: Cosmopolitan Ideals, Neoliberal Reality

Documents

Transcript of The International Baccalaureate in its Fifth Decade: Cosmopolitan Ideals, Neoliberal Reality