Thoughts on International Education

School’s have long in been in the business of preparing students for ‘life’. Recently, in terms of things like globalization, ‘life’ for many people has got a lot bigger and more complex. In response (or perhaps as a reflection) of such changes, one could argue that international education offers one of the most significant advances to education in the recent memory. Throughout the world, parents and governments are scrabbling to ensure young people are given the tools they need to survive and thrive in our rapidly changing, highly networked world. International education seems to hold much promise for these groups. At its core, an international education changes the parameters of traditional education; it effectively extends the traditional boundaries of student expectations as it requires students to contextualize problems and information beyond their local community and circumstances, while compelling them understand grapple with the complexity of the a global society and develop a sense of ‘international mindedness’ to shape their action.

‘International schools’ have been around in their modern form for almost a century, emerging first in Yokohama and Geneva in part as a response to the perceived need to enhance understanding between nations to avoid another global conflagration like the first world war (of course was referred to as the “Great War” back then). The notion that war is much less likely if people understand each other is not new either, and Lester Pearson’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech in the mid-50’s famously echoed this theme.

I see a strong and relatively obvious connection between elements of what we articulate as ‘emotional intelligences’ and an international education. I am reading a great book, “The Roots of Empathy”about a programme in Canada for aimed at building empathy in children. Amazing stuff actually and the results of the programme have been excellent (if the author’s research is to be believed). But the whole time I am reading it, I am thinking to myself that all we need to do is substitute a few words here and there, change the context of the case studies, and we could talking about the aspirations and application of international education. At very fundamental level international education is about empathy. International understanding cannot be separated from this emotional intelligence and I think international education research should turn it eye more to some of the research projects like the “Roots of Empathy” as I strongly suspect many of the findings and research will transcend geography, race and culture. And hey, anything that can transcend those things sounds pretty international to me.

Last week our IT Director, Brian Lockwood, communicated his desire to see all of the senior leadership at our school ‘blogging’. My immediate response to this request was, essentially, ‘why?’. After all, with an already busy schedule that never seems to get below 60 hours per week, if something is to added then there needs to be proper justification. But after hearing Brian’s arguments and knowing the passion behind rationale, I thought I would give it go. And here we are.

But perhaps ‘we’ is an overstatement. I would be flattered to think than of more than one person read my blog (I of course include myself in this count). As such, I guess I will follow CS Lewis’s lead who purportedly wrote the Chronicles of Narnia because the stories were ones he wished he could have read as a child.  Please don’t expect any profound or wise insights!

Which brings me to topic #1. ‘Why’ is the quality of schooling important? This week I was reading a summary of research into the affects of the quality of schooling and—get this—there is conflicting research in this area. But various researchers have ‘answers’. So how much of an effect does can a ‘high quality’ school have on student achievement? Here are some of the results:

10% (Coleman, 1966)
10% (Jencks, 1972)
23% (Rosenthal, 1991)

I have two concurrent reactions when I read these numbers. The first is to laugh. We really like our numbers don’t we! This reminds me Douglas Adams reporting in a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that the meaning of life is “42”. The influence of a school can be, depending upon the research, between 10-23%. I guess it’s your call.

The second thought is one of admiration for the research. While any exact metric—especially when grappling with a concept like quality—must be impossible to ascertain given the complex sociological soup which contextualizes schools, the research question itself and the chosen methodology have great importance to educators. As we move into the 21^st, it’s generally accepted that schools will need to seriously evolve to meet the needs of today’s (and tomorrow’s) learners. There is probably no better time to look at the quality of schooling and attempt to inch closer to a fuller understanding of influence that school organizations have children and learning. Learning more about how we can influence student development should then translate into ensuring the focus of the schooling processes maximizes its positive influence.