Third culture kids’ sense of international mindedness: Case studies of students in two International Baccalaureate schools

Abstract

This paper uses part of the data from a larger qualitative inquiry in two International Baccalaureate schools, one in Australia and one in an Indian Ocean Island Nation (a pseudonym), to identify the factors and forces that contribute to the sense of self and understanding of and engagement with the notion of international mindedness in two ‘third culture kids’. Socio-cultural theory is used as a conceptual framework to explore cross-cultural differences and similarities between the students and the schooling contexts. Analysing the students’ perspectives about their understandings of international mindedness through grounded theory methods, the paper also develops hypotheses on the notions of being, belonging and becoming.

Keywords

Third culture kids identity international mindedness International Baccalaureate socio-cultural contexts grounded theory

The International Baccalaureate: a curriculum for mobile learners

In the interconnected global world, ‘borders are weakening, multiple citizenships are more commonplace, migration has reached record levels, and we have encountered the ‘death of distance’’ (Walker 2010: 69). Many mobile professionals live and work in a number of different countries and their children are exposed to different cultures. The lifestyle of these families can be accommodated by the International Baccalaureate’s (IB) global curriculum and transferability from one IB school to another across different countries. The IB offers four educational programmes to over six million students aged three to nineteen (from the primary to the end of secondary cycles) in 4000 schools in 150 countries (IB, 2017a). Importantly, the students enrolled in high schools offering the IB Diploma Programme can exit with a ‘diploma which is globally recognised by universities’ (IB, 2017b).

Third culture kids’ cultural agility and sense of international mindedness

Often because of the nomadic lifestyle of their families, many IB students lead trans-cultural lives. Their diverse cross-cultural encounters and experiences allow them to be culturally agile; they have the capacity to relate to and identify with people from diverse cultural referents. Many IB schools are also characterised by myriad cultures and nationalities in student and staff populations. This has the potential of further broadening the IB students’ sense of intercultural awareness. As noted by Bennett (1993, 2008) and Willis et al. (1994), many IB students evolve within more than one sphere of cultural reference and have competencies in many cultures. This feature has often been referred to as intercultural competency, which Poonoosamy (2016: 5) defines as ‘the ability to understand and engage with cultural difference’. Many of these IB students are also ‘third culture kids’ (TCKs) whose ability to engage with cultural difference is heightened by their life journeys that are often culturally rich and diverse. Pollock and Van Reken (1999: 19) define TCKs as ‘Individuals who, having spent a significant part of their developmental years in a culture other than their parents’ culture, develops a sense of relationship to all of the cultures while not having full ownership in any’.

Defining the extent and limits of the ownership of a culture is complex. The reality is that TCKs, many of whom attend international schools and IB schools, have multiple identities. Individual stories, encounters with people from diverse cultural backgrounds as well as the learning experiences moulded within the enactment of the values and ethos of their school, can construct their sense of self. TCKs’ sense of identification with people around them, with the cultures of host countries and schools, and the ties they create with people of different cultures, languages and nationalities are significant factors that can shape their sense of belonging. These factors are multiple and unique to each school context. As pointed out by Allan (2002: 63), ‘an international school experience is far from homogenous’. TCKs’ unique stories and experiences determine how they perceive themselves and envisage their place in the world, how they relate to others, where they feel they belong, and who they are becoming. Pollock and Van Reken (1999: 19) note that, for TCKs, ‘Elements from each culture are incorporated into the life experience, but the sense of this belonging is in relationship to others of similar experience, which results in the sense of belonging everywhere and nowhere at the same time’.

TCKs’ ability to embrace multiple cultural identities within diverse cultural spheres where they feel they have some degree of belonging has been recognised by Gunesch (2007), the IB (2013a) and Tarc (2009) as contributing to the understanding of international mindedness. Gunesch (2007: 94), for instance, associates international mindedness with a ‘multi-faceted cultural identity in the cosmopolitan world’. Deardorff (2006: 5) notes that it is ‘the ability to interact effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations, based on specific attitudes, intercultural knowledge, skills and reflection’. Even if, as suggested by Pollock and Van Reken (1999), TCKs seem to have as a common feature the inclination to relate to other TCKs with whom degrees of similarity of life journeys can be established, the fact remains that each TCK has unique stories and experiences that shape their understanding of what it means to be internationally minded.

TCKs and international mindedness in the IB

The IB (2015) emphasises the connection between intercultural understanding and international mindedness – notions which the organisation claims are both ‘critical components of the learner’s experience in the IB Diploma Programme’. A key attribute of international mindedness in IB schools is fostering intercultural understanding amongst students from diverse cultures and nationalities (Hill, 2006; Tarc, 2009). The IB (2013a) states that international mindedness has the potential of bridging cultures by promoting the ‘appreciation of universal values that are common to all humanity. The organisation further posits that ‘Education for international mindedness values the world as the broadest context for learning … International-mindedness … is a philosophy students will carry with them through the rest of their lives’ (IB, 2015: 6).

But there have been some criticisms and concerns about IB’s development of international mindedness in students. For instance, Paris (2003: 235) stated that ‘Each culture that chooses to run with the IB DP [Diploma Programme] potentially relinquishes its values and practices of education in exchange for those of the western world’. More recently, Sriprakash et al (2015: 2) criticised IB’s focus on equipping its students predominantly with ‘Western cultural capital’, through knowledge content they acquire in their courses. In that respect, Sriprakash et al (2015: 2) deplored the IB’s lack of engagement with ‘non-western knowledges’.

There are critical questions about the ways in which TCKs negotiate their multiple cultural sense of self within the IB Diploma Programme in which they are enrolled, and the extent to which they are becoming ‘westernised’, whether through the knowledge they are acquiring or through cultural norms and philosophical stances that may characterise – and within which are moulded and enacted – their IB school experience. As noted by Hayden and Wong (1997), the influence of the cultures of the host countries and schools on TCKs can shape their identity in IB schools, but these are different for each TCK and each school. Furthermore, the constantly evolutionary nature of the TCKs’ cultural sense of themselves, through experiences of mobility, travelling and home, remain dynamic forces that affect their identity formation and development of international mindedness. There are deep layers of complexity that need to be understood in regard to what is local and global for TCKs, their degree of attachment to the cultures and country or countries, their sense of connectedness to the larger world, their own understanding of what it means to be internationally minded, and the extent to which their IB experiences further this sense of international mindedness.

Being at home in a global world

Walker (1998) and Gunesch (2007) associate home with a sense of belonging that is achieved mainly through significant relationships. Connecting emotionally to people and places helps young people to find their identity. But home is particularly complex for TCKs; it often can represent a mosaic of (sometimes conflicting) experiences and memories. Fail et al. (2004) and Greenholtz and Kim (2009) note that some young people have strong feelings of attachment and belonging to adopted countries which allow them to construct an identity that they feel is different to the one they had in their home country. Others may experience a reverse culture shock; a sense of belonging to their home country that is deeply challenged when they return to that country (Bennett, 1993, 2008). In that respect, Fail (1995) recommends TCKs can be effectively prepared for their experience in IB schools by helping them to negotiate cultural differences. Davy (2011: 4) notes that ‘belonging and sense of self in this global context can be elusive, as many people are growing up in two or more cultural and citizenship contexts’. Tarc (2009: 101) however notes that ‘Whereas the international understanding of IB set itself against the rootless citizen, student-subjects now grow or transport their roots – if less deep or linear - wherever they find themselves, which is likely already a heterogeneous terrain.’

The heterogeneousness of IB schools is usually displayed by their multicultural and multi-ethnic student and staff population, of which Hill (2006) and Walker (2010) suggest such schools need to be particularly proud. Encouraging the harmonisation of cultural differences amongst students has always been one of the epithets of the IBO (2013a) which believes that there are values that are common to all people on our planet, irrespective of cultural belonging and practices. The aim of the IB organisation is ‘developing citizens of the world in relation to culture, language and learning to live together; building and reinforcing students’ sense of identity and cultural awareness; fostering students’ recognition and development of universal human values’. (IB, 2012)

These messages are also endorsed by many IB schools around the world, including the two case study schools of this research project. In principle, the multiple cultural identity of TCKs could contribute to the cultural capital of their schools by further broadening and deepening the nuances in the schools’ understandings and enactment of international mindedness. TCKs are agile intercultural beings who can adapt to different cultural situations (Eidse and Sichel, 2004), where adaptability is a precious asset. Besides, the conceptions of cultural hybridity (Bhabha, 1994) have moved from the largely negative representations epitomised by Park (1928) and Stonequist (1935) of marginal, rootless and anxiously adrift beings in unresolved ambiguity and identity, to generally favourable characterisations of the cultural hybrid, which Hoogvelt (1997: 158) notes is ‘celebrated and privileged as a kind of superior cultural intelligence owing to the advantage of in-betweenness, the straddling of two cultures and the consequent ability to negotiate the difference’.

Tensions In Developing International Mindedness Through The IB

IB schools embracing the IB adage that ‘the world is the broadest context for learning’ (IB, 2015: 6) should hypothetically be able to help TCKs feel at home in any given geo-cultural location on the planet. But this is not always the case, as highlighted by Bunnell (2008), Hayden & Wong (1997), Hughes (2009) and Tarc (2009), who raise issues about students’ different sense of engagement with the IB programmes, depending on their cultural identity, their familiarity with western knowledge content and western learning traditions. The extent to which TCKs feel at home in their school requires investigation, as does the degree to which the IB curriculum respects local knowledge, identities and cultures while at the same time enacting the values and messages of international mindedness. Reconciling the local with the international is not however a problem that is exclusive to IB schools; it is a dilemma that is faced by many educational institutions that aim to infuse the messages of internationalism in their philosophy and practices. The Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the 21^st Century (Delors, 1998) argued that one major tension that education needed to overcome was harmonising the global and the local. Delors (1998: 17) stated in this report that ‘People need gradually to become world citizens without losing their roots and while continuing to play an active part in the life of their nation and their local community’.

The 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (UNESCO 2018a) and the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (UNESCO 2018b) reiterated Delors’ (1998) concerns. In this context, harmonising international mindedness and national mindedness needs to happen in reciprocally connected global and local conditions. Such a glocal configuration in which an IB school operates can be conflictual for any students (Paris, 2003; Tamatea, 2008; Sriprakash 2015), and even more so for TCKs (Fail, 1995). A question that can – and must – be asked is whether the world is not too big and too generic to be home for TCKs? How do they manage being and belonging to everywhere and nowhere at the same time? And where does their national and/or cultural allegiance lie?

Tamatea (2008: 61) notes that the achievement of international mindedness constructs the ‘socio-cultural and economic context in which schools are located, [especially] contexts characterised by cultural diversity and ethno-nationalism’. Even if, as pointed out by Hill (2006), the IB ‘does not own, operate or manage schools’, it nonetheless formulates certain expectations of the schools in which its programmes are offered, including the view that ‘The school encourages student learning that strengthens the student’s own cultural identity and celebrates and fosters understanding of different cultures’. (IB, 2006: 7)

Hill (2006: 98), former Deputy Director General of the IB, makes the ambiguous statement that the ‘cultural composition or location (of IB schools) is not important’. Reflecting on the IB Learner Profile, that represents critical attributes that IB students must possess according to the IB (2018), Walker (2010: 3-5) concedes that it ‘reflects the strong Western humanist foundations of the IB’. He nonetheless states that the ‘organisation’s successful growth makes sudden change unlikely and undesirable’. There is a tension within the IB itself regarding the extent to which the Western humanist framework from which the IB originates can truly successfully incorporate, respect and value knowledge, cultures and modes of thinking beyond the western humanist sphere. And this has influenced over the years how the IB has been understood and used by schools. Tarc (2009: 23-25) has identified ‘operational tensions’ in IB’s aim of developing international mindedness through ‘the contradictions at work between the wider normative aims in the dreams of the IB (internationalism, making a more modern and peaceful world) and how IB actually operates in this world … constrained by the demands of developing a diploma of acceptable standards for university admissions in multiple countries’.

In addition to this tension comes the issue of the IB’s own understanding of international mindedness, which Hughes (2009), Tarc (2009) and Poonoosamy (2016) have argued could rather be described as western mindedness.

Socio-cultural theory

Helping students to develop a deep understanding of the world, cultures and their own identity is a complex process – a process that is even more complex for third culture kids whose cultural beliefs, values, attitudes, and social practices within a particular context construct their identities (Cole and Engeström, 1993; Lantolf, 2000). In that respect, socio-cultural theory is the appropriate initial conceptual framework to be used in identifying the factors and forces that shape TCKs’ identity and sense of international mindedness. Socio-cultural forces are first experienced at an individual and family level; they shape young people’s identities and perceptions of the world (Alexander, 2000; Chick, 2001; Hall, 1997). These forces are also present in society and are shaped by historical forces (Cole, 2012; Mouzelis, 1995), thereby contradicting Hill’s (2006) argument that contextual conditions (cultural and, by extension, historical) in which IB schools operate are not important. Educational practices are also socio-culturally constructed (Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990; Cole, 2012; Mouzelis, 1995). In society and in schools, identities are also shaped by intercultural encounters (Hernandez, 1989; Meier, 2007; Sen, 2003). Allan (2002, 2003) claims that, in international schools, there is a dominant school culture that moulds intercultural experiences. Each school has its own values and practices; an ethos, an expectation of student and staff regarding a certain way of behaving and being that is considered appropriate. Students’ experiences within the school, in and outside the classroom, affect their identities, their perspectives of the world and how they interact with others (Alexander, 2000; Chick, 2001; Hall, 1997). And in the interconnected world, education has glocal dimensions (Marginson and Rhodes, 2002). As Dang and Marginson (2012: 3-5) noted, nowadays ‘context is more complex and multiple … fluid and volatile … and blurred’ than it has ever been. Being a TCK and IB student, developing a sense of belonging to a host school, and becoming an internationally minded global citizen, is indeed a very complex process. But contextual factors in schools could help TCKs to have a better understanding of who they are, and where they belong. These factors can also foster identities that develop further intercultural competence and international mindedness (Hayden and Wong, 1997).

Being, becoming and belonging

Former IB Director General Roger Peel (1988: 56-57) notes that ‘Ideally, at the end of the IB experience, students should know themselves better than when they started, while acknowledging that others can be right in being different’. This process of growth and self-discovery is an important component of the international mindedness promoted by the IB, but it is different for each TCK in different contexts. TCKs’ development can be explored through the philosophical concepts of being, belonging and becoming. Belonging recognises a sense of identification with others and with places as contributing to who we are. Heidegger (1967: 178) states that ‘understanding the most alien cultures and synthesising them with one’s own may lead to dasein’s becoming’. Dasein (German: da – there; sein – being; being there), can be seen as an important aspect of the lives and identity of all adolescent learners, and even more so of TCKs. In searching for who they are, they can negotiate their sense of being, make connections with their sense of belonging, and shape their sense of becoming through their own conceptualisation of the present, past and future, but with a particular focus on here and now. In other words, as also noted by Deardorff (2006), negotiating one’s cultural identity with reference to the cultural identities of others can construct who TCKs are, and develop their sense of becoming. TCKs in international schools who are given opportunities to broaden their cultural horizons through interaction with other cultures and nationalities (Hill, 2006) can develop their sense of becoming internationally-minded.

Gunesch (2007: 94) notes that international mindedness is associated with ‘multi-faceted cultural identity in the cosmopolitan world’. He argues that internationally minded students can adapt to different cultures, which are being brought together through globalisation, travels and a shrinking world. Whilst exploring the relationship between what is local and what is global, Gunesch (2007) raises questions of cultural mastery, meta-culturality (evolution of culture), mobility, travelling, home, and nation-state attachments, as dynamic forces within the development of international mindedness. There are layers of complexity that need to be understood in regard to what is local and what is global for the students, their attachments to their cultures and country or countries, and their sense of connectedness to the larger world. Tarc (2009: 5-7) discusses the ‘contemporary moment or historical present (and) the conditions of the changing present (that) conceptualise globalisation through its uses … in the shifting landscape of Educational Studies’. Tarc’s (2009) views on globalisation can be associated with Heidegger’s (1967) dasein. Students’ sense of being, belonging and becoming and other socio-cultural forces are critical lenses through which identity formation and international mindedness can be explored.

The case study schools

Marvel School (a pseudonym) is an elite independent girls’ school in Victoria, Australia. It has strong past ties to traditions inherited from the British school system. Marvel School was founded in the late 1800s to provide a Christian education for students in the British colonies. At that time it was a ‘modern school of the first order with buildings that formed a collegiate institution for girls unsurpassed in the colonies’ (Marvel School, 2018: 5). Marvel School introduced the IB Diploma Programme in 1998. From its creation to date, all the school principals have been British or Australian. At the time of writing, the tuition fees at Marvel School can be afforded by parents who are middle-income earners or high-paid professionals. Indian Ocean Island School (a pseudonym) is located in the Indian Ocean Island Nation (IOIN). It was the first school in IOIN to offer the IB Diploma Programme. It is comparatively much younger than Marvel School as it was founded in the early 1990s, aiming to provide local students with an internationally recognised qualification other than the British High School Certificates and French Baccalaureate inherited from the country’s colonial past. It also caters for the needs of an increasing number of expatriates in the country. In IOIN, there is to date no local education system as such. 95% of the schools offer Cambridge Higher School Certificates and, whilst examination scripts are marked locally, qualifications are nonetheless awarded in England in collaboration with IOIN’s examination body. The other 5% of schools are IB Diploma Programme schools and French lycées that offer the French Baccalaureate. The school fees at IOIS can be afforded only by highly paid professionals who are expatriates or upper middle-class locals who belong to a social and economic elite that represents less than 0.5% of the local population.

The student populations of Marvel School and IOIS are diverse. They are culturally and ethnically, though not economically, representative of the two countries in which they are found. Both case study schools claim an international dimension in their educational cultures, beliefs, visions and practices. They do so by embracing and promoting what they perceive are the messages and vision of international mindedness. Marvel School ‘reinforces and supports the values and messages of being internationally-minded in every aspect of day to day school life, from the classroom to the playground, to the library, and back home to friends and families’ (Marvel School, 2018: 1). Indian Ocean Island School, meanwhile, ‘appreciates cultural diversity, as well as promoting pride and a sense of belonging to the school and IOIN (and) encourages awareness of global and environmental issues’ (Indian Ocean Island School, 2018: 2).

Methodology

The data for the larger study from which the work reported here derives were collected and analysed using a qualitative approach (Strauss and Corbin, 1990). The study assumed multiple and dynamic realities that are context-dependent (Guba and Lincoln, 1994). It was concerned with piecing together TCKs’ representations and perceptions of their identity formation and the development of international mindedness within an interpretivist paradigm (Guba and Lincoln, 2005). It also involved two case studies, through what Baxter and Jack (2008: 544) refer to as ‘describing a phenomenon in context, using a variety of data sources’.

Data collection

Data was collected over 14 months: from March to December in Marvel School and from the following January to April in IOIS. Even though the duration of the research differed for each school, rich data were collected from both sites. All other research procedures were replicated. Data were collected through a survey, journal entries and interviews. The survey, comprising 25 semi-structured questions, was administered to 60 volunteer senior school students in each school. It collected their perceptions and understandings of the notions of identity, international mindedness, international education, culture, cultural belonging, nationality and global citizenship. Ten students in each school consented to write self-reflective journals about the different factors and forces that develop their sense of self, and how their identity was represented in their understandings of international mindedness. At Marvel School, the students wrote on a fortnightly basis for ten months, while at IOIS the students wrote in their journal for four months. These students from the two schools were also involved in the interviews. To allow the participants to express themselves with spontaneity and freedom on the themes under investigation, flexibility was privileged, ‘to insert other questions into the interview in order to capture elaborations’ (Burnard, 2005: 5). Participants could, for example, also refer to anecdotes to best articulate their narrations and reflections. Open-ended questions were also asked. In each setting, the interviews started with recording details of students’ age, nationality, where they lived, where they had been brought up, and their family life (details of their family structure, for example parents and siblings).

Analysis: grounded theory methodology

Even though socio-cultural theory was a conceptual starting point, adjusting this framework to the philosophical concepts of being, belonging and becoming required a novel methodological approach that could faithfully analyse and discuss findings that were specific to the participants and the contexts of the study; hence data were analysed using grounded theory methodology. Data from the ten selected participants established the ‘theoretical sensitivity’ (Glaser, 1978: 96) of the coding process, whereby themes and patterns emerged which led to a ‘theoretical sampling’ (Glaser, 1978: 101) that helped find categories within themes. The reasons for which particular sub-categories existed under the dimensions of a category or the relationship between categories were also identified (Glaser, 1998). This helped with conducting a comparative analysis (Bryant & Charmaz, 2010; Reichertz, 2007), which brought together the stories and experiences of the students through a process of concurrent data collection and analysis. The comparison of critical experiences led to more refined codes and categories, through a ‘cognitive logic of discovery’ (Reichertz, 2007: 220). An emergent analysis design (Guba and Lincoln, 2005) identified the concepts linked to identity development and international mindedness which became the analytical framework (Table 1), unearthed from the data and findings arising from the ten participants. For the purposes of this article, only the responses of one student from each school are presented, whose stories provide both individuality and contrast.

Table 1.

Being, belonging and becoming: framework of identity formation and international mindedness.

Philosophical perspectives	Forces and factors
Being ● Students’ sense of themselves through their current state and condition ● Being locally-minded and internationally-minded Belonging ● Student ties and sense of identification with family, school community, the broader global community, the intellectual identities they perceive they need to develop in the IB ● Belonging to an internationally-minded community of learners, and the wider world Becoming ● Process of growth; becoming internationally minded	1. Students’ identity and sense of self a) The student’ values, expectations and perceived expectations of themselves and understanding of their school programme; b) Forces at a personal level reinforcing or challenging who the student is, and giving meaning to their actions, values, behaviour and practices; c) Personal travels, life and study in different countries, and intercultural encounters.
	2. Family values and cultures The family’s socio-cultural background, family upbringing of the student and where the student feels they belong.
	3. School contexts a) Parents’ and students’ expectations of school and curricula choices; b) Intercultural encounters, travels, participation in international events and partnership with local and international organisations through school programmes.
	4. School culture and ethos a) The expectations and perceived expectations of teachers; b) Perceived ethos and cultures of schools.
	5. Societal factors Socio-cultural and historical factors operating in the host country.
	6. The local and the global a) Globalisation at a cultural level, affected by and also challenging and redefining the forces above; b) ‘Normal’ tensions of the adolescent in search for themselves in the local and wider worlds; c) Tensions of third culture kids, through sense of belonging to a host school and becoming a global citizen with an acquired or developing sense of international mindedness. International mindedness seen as dynamic and changeable, sometimes conflicting; d) Negotiated definitions of self as a global citizen through and beyond an international curriculum; e) International mindedness perceived as a state of mind informing one’s actions rather than a goal that must be achieved.

Findings

The study found a diverse range of factors and forces shaping students’ experiences of international mindedness and their sense of self. What follows are accounts provided by the two students, under the headings of story, identity formation and development of international mindedness, each of which are then analysed and discussed.

Seon-yeong

Seon-yeong’s story

At the time of the research, Seon-yeong (a pseudonym) was 17 years old, in Year 11 and studying the IBDP in Marvel School, Melbourne.

“I was born in South Korea. I went to a public primary school there. I came to Australia when I was 12 years old as an international student. I joined Marvel School in Year 7. My parents are both South Koreans. I am an only child. My father is a businessman and my mother is a secondary school teacher. They both work and live in Korea. In 2004, my father came to Melbourne on a business trip with my mum and I. It was then that I was enrolled in an IB school, because my father believed that the IB would give me the best chances to go to university in Australia, Europe or North America. I stay in the school boarding house, and sometimes with some friends of the family in Melbourne. I am happy and excited to return to South Korea each year for the Christmas holidays in December. I think that I have adapted to life in school and in Australia, but it is not always easy. I am happy to have progressed in English. I am proud that my parents tell me that I have picked up the Australian accent! The biggest challenge for me is that I miss my parents a lot, since the family is very close.”

Seon-yeong’s identity formation

“Cultural values, my family upbringing construct who I am, my identity. I have lived five years in Australia, but Australians consider me as Korean, not Australian. Living here does not change who I am. I feel like the ‘other’ always refers to me when we talk in class about the necessity to respect different perspectives in TOK [Theory of Knowledge] lessons. It seems the class is separated into two: Asians and non-Asians. Of course, Australians feel at home in Marvel School, which is an Australian school, with Aussie values, and cultures, even if it is a very multicultural school … When I say Aussie values, I mean Anglo-Australian attitudes and ways of thinking. But it seems that non-Asians and Australians understand and engage with the IB better. In IB, we are encouraged to respect that people have different perspectives, but it is always me, the Asian girl, who is different. This embarrasses me more than anything. But even if it would have been easier, I don’t want always to stick with Asian students. I have been able to develop strong friendships with Australian students who accept who I am … Local for me would be a mixture of where I come from; that is the traditions, culture and values of my parents who have kept the Korean values. To some extent, because I am in Australia, my local values are also from the Australian culture. Home is sometimes Korea, but most of the time Australia. But the Korean values are stronger, even away from home. I have to wear many hats: with my friends at school, I have to identify myself with the Australian culture; with my parents, I need to get back to the South Korean culture; and when I study the IB, I have not only to be a Korean who tries to be an Australian, but a Korean who tries to be Australian who tries to be a world citizen. It is complicated! My parents do not understand the western ways which they criticise a lot; I do not think that they could live in a non-Asian country. I could, I do, because I am in Australia. When I am with my parents I need to be discreet, silent, obedient. I see the contrast with my Aussie friends and their parents. Unlike them, I would never dare be that casual with my parents!”

Seon-yeong’s development of international mindedness

“International mindedness is to have an outlook of things which is not my vision of things, to value more the opinion of the international cultures rather than my own Korean opinions, otherwise it would be only national mindedness … I must forget that I am Korean and try to be Aussie, because I cannot develop international mindedness by being Korean. Developing international mindedness is something that we talk about in class, especially in TOK and language lessons. I see it as a passport to the western world, which I could not ever have acquired had I stayed in Korea … In TOK, the concept of reason is complex for me because ‘reason’ in Australia does not have the same meaning for Koreans. I didn’t really understand why reason is universal; can it be universal if I don’t agree it is? … ‘Critical thinking’ in Marvel School and in the IB is very complex for me, because I still like rote learning. I am expected to develop my own opinions and critically reflect on knowledge in all IB subjects, especially in TOK and languages. But I hold on; because of my culture, perseverance is part of who I am. Also, I think I am learning how westerners learn and this will be useful for me when I will go to university in Europe, North America or even here in Australia. Even the course; it is meant to be international, but it is western-international, isn’t it? We learn most of the time about North America, UK and Australia, which are western countries. If it were truly international, we would have explored things happening in Asia and Africa, which we do, but only in a superficial and exotic way.”

Seon-yeong: discussion and implications

Seon-yeong’s identity conflicts

Seon-yeong has to negotiate her sense of self with cultures and values of her parents and her country of birth, with the temporary country of adoption (Australia), and Marvel School. Yet within the cultural context of Australia and Marvel School, she feels she is the other. Beyond the clichés of mateship (an Australian cultural idiom that embodies equality, loyalty and friendship that is central to the Australian people), and being given a fair go, what it means to be Australian is an ongoing philosophical discussion regarding a concept difficult to fathom for a country where 25% of the population was born overseas (Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection, 2013). Bell (2003: 75), for instance, notes that there is an on-going conceptualisation of Australian identity, in which ‘the myths of the nation are forged, transmitted, reconstructed and negotiated constantly’, while Theophanous (1995: 281) claims that there are ‘two strands to Australian identity: one that emphasises our British heritage, and one that emphasises … egalitarianism and commitment to social justice’. But Seon-yeong does not feel she is given the means to integrate her Korean identity in what Theophanous (1995) and Jones (1997) perceive as dynamic and inclusive conceptualisation of an Australian identity. Being Korean is and remains a strong source of tension for Seon-yeong. She is evolving in a cultural context which she perceives is dominated by cultures and values of what Day (1998: 9) referred to as those of an ‘Anglo-Saxon society or country’, shaped by what Jones (1997: 290) highlighted as ‘a strong British heritage’. Seon-yeong finds tension between her sense of being Korean and her unfulfilled desire to establish a sense of belonging to the Australian culture and Marvel School.

Seon-yeong also tries to develop a sense of identification with the IB’s vision of international mindedness, which aims at ‘fostering students’ recognition and development of universal human values’ (IB, 2013a: 1). She feels that establishing a common intellectual identification with the IB would make her more accepted in her school. But her experiences and perceptions of the IB’s international education is that it develops ‘global mindedness … not Australian or Korean mindedness’, which is for Seon-yeong another source of tension. Being Korean and trying to establish a sense of identification with Australian culture means needing to understand a common cultural western sphere of reference which is out of her reach. In that respect, Seon-yeong develops a borrowed understanding of international mindedness. She perceives that her Korean identity, values and cultures are obstacles in the development of international mindedness as she understands it is expected in the IB and in Marvel School. In that respect, Seon-yeong feels marginalised because of the unresolved ambiguity over her identity. She is an example of the marginal and adrift beings that Park (1928), Stonequist (1935), and Eidse and Sichel (2004) describe who struggle to find a sense of belonging because of their condition of in-betweenness.

The IB report to UNESCO in Hill (1994: 250) claims that an international approach to education ‘does not seek to deprive individuals of their national heritage; on the contrary, maintenance of their cultural identity is the condition for attaining an international outlook’. For Seon-yeong, the international knowledge content she was expected to develop in IB was not Korean, but western. The IB’s (2013a) claims that international mindedness recognises and celebrates the unique identities and cultural attributes of all students do not apply for Seon-yeong. Conversely, what is relevant is Allan’s (2003: 84) description of ‘cultural dissonance’ in international schools, which is the tension between multiple minority cultures and the dominant school culture; in this case also the country’s culture – Anglo-Australian – according to Theophanous (1995) and Tranter & Donoghue (2007). Such cultural dissonance, Allan (2003: 84) argues, can lead ‘relatively few students to the desired outcomes of multiculturalism’. Seon-yeong has to repress her Korean identity, which she feels could not help her become internationally minded. She validates Mela’s (2011: 104) argument that ‘the claim of universality requires detachment of the contents associated with the ethos of specific communities’. But it is more than a community for Seon-yeong; it is more than sense of belonging. It is her own cultural essence, her Korean-ness, her sense of being, from which she must detach herself in order to become internationally minded.

Meier’s (2007) argument that intercultural acquaintances create a sense of belonging to cultural groups other than their own is relevant for Seon-yeong who ‘built strong friendships with students from different cultures’. Fail et al’s (2004) claim that people’s sense of belonging is stronger to relationships than to a particular country, and Walker’s (1998) view that a sense of belonging is an integral part of feeling at home based on significant relationships, are also relevant. Walker (1998) argues that home should offer the means of helping the young person find his or her identity. For Seon-yeong this means a sense of belonging and becoming which is in progress, based on the necessity to evolve in a cultural sphere that is different from where she originates, and to embrace a multiple identity. When asked where home is, Seon-yeong replied ‘sometimes in Korea, most of the time Australia’. At the same time, Hernandez’s (1989: 20) claim of ‘culture as a dynamic process’ modifying ‘our assumptions as we grow and learn from our contact with external influences’ reinforces this desire to integrate and develop a sense of belonging for Seon-yeong, despite many challenges. But also, there is an overwhelming source of motivation which is a strong practical factor: the passport to the western world is sought by Seon-yeong as a means of achieving a deeper integration into this western world; her future aims include university study in the Western Anglo-Saxon world.

The unresolved ambiguity of Seon-yeong’s identity, and finding who she is between her country of origin and her country of adoption, is a strong source of tension. Seon-yeong’s identity is multiple and complex. She ‘must wear many hats … be Western … outspoken, give [her] opinions with her Aussie friends and in class, and be conservative with [her] family. Pollock and Van Reken (1999) explain that TCKs tend to define their identity through difference. This is clearly the case for Seon-yeong, for whom being different is more an inevitability than a choice. Paradoxically, Seon-yeong is having a painful experience of what international mindedness can be, by having to negotiate cultural differences. Even though she feels she is supported by the school, through a ‘caring staff and students who want me to feel at home here’, she nonetheless feels she is always the ‘other’.

Seon-yeong’s tensions in engaging with knowledge

Seon-yeong believes that a sense of belonging and becoming means becoming western-minded, not internationally minded, in the way she engages with knowledge in Marvel School and in the IB. Seon-yeong’s Korean learning culture and traditions are in conflict with the expectations of critical thinking engendered by the IB Diploma in the Theory of Knowledge and language programmes at Marvel School. The IB has been working diligently for years with IB schools to promote inquiry-based teaching and learning models. The organisation even affirms that ‘didactic models are being challenged and, in many places, supplanted by a process in which the IB has played an ever-growing role’ (IB, 2011). Hill (2006: 105-107) explains that ‘The IB educational philosophy has been developed from a western humanist tradition of learning (through) an open-minded, inter-active teaching approach and the development of critical thinking skills, neither of which sits well in some non-western cultures’.

Western humanist traditions of learning originate from the 16^th century and place reason and critical thinking at the centre of learning and knowledge (Descartes, 1984). Despite having spent five years in Australia and at Marvel School, Seon-yeong understands that her current learning style is still influenced by the rote learning that is part of her learning culture. Since the IB clearly opposes the ‘emphasis placed on rote learning and didactic teaching’ (Hill, 2006: 100), the transition from this mode of learning to a western humanist intellectual disposition that would allow Seon-yeong to embrace the IB’s learner profile of ‘applying thinking skills critically and creatively’ (IB, 2018) is a painful and difficult experience. As noted by the IB (2007), Hill (2006) and Walker (2010), the IB is not going to change its stance on learning and teaching frameworks that promote analytical and critical thinking, which are part of the IB’s core philosophical foundations. In that respect, it is the responsibility of the school to help Asian or non-western students like Seon-yeong who come from different educational backgrounds to make this transition. Still, one can understand Paris’s (2003: 235) argument that ‘each culture that chooses to run with the IBDP potentially relinquishes its values and practices of education in exchange for those of the western world’. Hill (2006: 105) responds to this criticism by affirming that ‘No one culture adopts an IB programme. The situation is more nuanced. It is individual schools that are approved to offer IB programmes, not any particular culture as such’.

It is nonetheless clear that the way in which certain cultures engage with knowledge is dependent on the values and traditions of these cultures. And cultures also react differently to the notion of authority. While critical thinking is encouraged in certain cultures, in others it is not. For instance, Seon-yeong noted how ‘discreet, silent, obedient’ she is when she is with her parents ‘because that is just the way I am expected to behave’. Her Anglo-Australian friends would challenge the teacher, just as they would not hesitate to speak their mind. It is true that there are excessively simplistic stereotypes about Australians being nonchalant in terms of how people interact with each other and their relationship to any form of authority – parental or societal, based on historic factors. That said, one can understand that the interactions between Australian parents and their children may not be as codified and hierarchical as those of Korean families.

Rebecca

Rebecca’s story

At the time of the study, Rebecca (a pseudonym) was 17 years old, in Year 12 and studying the IB DP in Indian Ocean Island School in IOIN.

‘I am a local student, but I am South African, British and IOIN national. It’s amazing: I hold three citizenships! My father is English and my mum is South African, white South African, as skin colour seems to matter a lot here in IOIN. I am white too. I am an only child. My father is an IT consultant who works for a multinational company. My mum does not work. She is not quite a typical housewife though; she is involved in charitable work in different parts of the world where the family travels. My father’s origins are a mix of Irish and British, whilst my mother’s origins are British and Dutch. In 1995, my parents left England for IOIN, where the multinational company for whom my father works sent him. One year later, I was born here. This is why I have the IOIN passport. The family left IOIN for the UK in 1997, when I was one year old. We stayed in England for nine years, and then moved to South Africa for two years. It was still because of my dad’s work. After that we went to Switzerland – still because of my father’s job. We stayed there five years. I did part of the IB Primary Years and full Middle Years Programme in Switzerland. In 2009, the family moved backed to IOIN, where I am currently doing the IBDP in IOIS.’

Rebecca’s identity formation

‘My identity is complex and evolving. I am proud that that I have been able to adapt wherever I have studied and lived. My identity is mainly characterised by my ability to identify with different cultures, people and countries. I am British, South African, Swiss and a national of IOIN. Well, not really truly Swiss though. In Switzerland, I was in a boarding school with students from so many different nationalities and very few Swiss nationals, so what united us and made us become friends were our different nationalities. So there I was British-South African. In South Africa, I was South African. Locals there enjoyed the fact that a White girl could speak Afrikaans. In IOIN, because of the colour of my skin I am perceived as being British, not a local from IOIN, despite the fact that I hold the IOIN passport. When I try to speak in the local language Creole to locals here in class and outside the class, they reply to me in French or in English, but they still talk amongst themselves in Creole … I don’t feel integrated. I am treated with a strange kind of respect, which puts so much distance between them and me, which alienates me. In class, the perspectives of White students are more valued by most students and staff than those of others, like as if White people were better … Maybe it is because all the headmasters of the school have been White foreigners. I feel that I tend to be more accepted by Franco-Islanders and also international students, probably because of the colour of my skin. I identify with people for whom skin colours and nationality do not matter so much, so I have only two good friends in school and they have many nationalities like me and have travelled and lived in different countries like me. I have always been brought up by my parents in a way not ever to judge a human being by the colour of their skin, and I tend not to be comfortable with people who do that.’

Rebecca’s development of international mindedness

‘International mindedness is being tolerant and accepting, and cherishing where you are in the world and also appreciating people from other parts of the world. It also means dealing with your prejudices. I do not know where I will be in five years’ time; it depends on the university that I get after the IB. But since the IB is recognised anywhere in the world, I guess I could go anywhere I want, if my results were good. I think that international mindedness in the IB is all about the capacity to adapt to any place you are in the world; to show tolerance and understanding despite cultural differences that may exist between people of different countries and cultures … CAS (Creativity Activity Service) for me is where I can be internationally minded and think of other people and help them by being engaged in local and international community projects. All humans are equal, and I have also the responsibility to help other less privileged human beings. My mum is a big influence, of course. I think I am in a strong position to understand international mindedness. The IB is made for people who are already internationally minded anyway, and who are on the move like me … Knowledge that is local for locals is international for me, because even if I have the IOIN passport, I am a foreigner here. I want to learn more about IOIN in the IB, but I am not given this chance because most texts we study in the languages programme are international texts, and the discussions we have in TOK refer to things that happen in America and in Europe. Maybe it is what ‘international’ means in international schools; it was not too different in Switzerland where I was also in an international school. There we talked a lot about Switzerland and about Europe, but no so much about Africa or Asia. So, international mindedness may after all be American or European mindedness.

Rebecca: discussion and implications

Rebecca’s dilemma

Rebecca understands that identity and international mindedness in IOIS is framed within strong racial and ethnic parameters. International mindedness, as she experiences it, is associated with Whiteness and perceived superior knowledge. (Rebecca has too much of ‘home’ in IOIS, where international mindedness is associated with Whiteness and perceived superior knowledge.) This was translated into a status higher than the non-White students, which Rebecca resents strongly, because it makes her question the philosophical idealistic messages of IOIS and IB mission statements and values. The dominant cultural ethos in IOIS is the perception that international mindedness is associated with White foreigners and White Franco-Islanders. Neumann’s (2004: 1) views that ‘colonial societies were usually stratified according to race’ still apply in post-colonial IOIN, where Whiteness is still a measure of perceived (greater) status. Whether this status is praised or resented, through distance and quiet respect, it is still, in colonised minds, accepted (Collen, 2001). Locals in IOIN would talk amongst themselves in Creole, but in French or English to foreigners, which are respectively the languages of culture and knowledge, whereas Creole is the language of equity (Stein, 1997). But speaking in Creole can also be interpreted in terms of deficiency in not being able to speak the languages of the former colonial masters. In IOIS, because of the socio-historical factors present in the host country (Nave, 1998; Neumann, 2004; Toorawa, 2000), the experiences of international mindedness and identity developments led to what Allan (2002: 84) has defined as ‘incomplete outcomes of multiculturalism’. The dominant cultural ethos in the school is based on the historical factors, past colonisation and memory of past colonisation.

For Rebecca, Afrikaans is a language like any other, which she felt enabled her to establish ‘a sense of belonging with the African continent and African people. Through Afrikaans, I consider myself African’. Chick (2001) encourages learners to learn languages that are native to the countries or regions where they are studying, which helps to build a sense of belonging to the cultural contexts and promotes racial tolerance through intercultural understanding. But the literature relating to Afrikaans language suggests that this sense of linguistic connectedness is more likely to be exclusive to the White people in South Africa (Davis and Leroux, 2009; Korf & Malan, 2002; Weinreich, 1983). Rebecca did not go so far as being able to develop ‘the critical and political awareness of intercultural knowledge and understanding’ of the language she was learning (Byram, 1997: 92). She was probably not aware of the geo-political and racial complexities around her own linguistic, racial and cultural identity in South Africa when she lived there. It is perhaps too much to ask of that bubbly, young, idealistic and optimistic adolescent who sees ‘the best in everything’. Her family upbringing may also have shielded her from certain harsh realities in South Africa. As she herself notes, ‘I am a British White South African, but race and skin colour was never an issue for me. My parents always taught me never to judge a person by their skin colour, but [by] what is in their hearts’. Speaking Afrikaans can be value laden because of the history of South Africa. It is a language that reinforced the racial identity of Afrikaners after the end of apartheid in 1994 when they were scared that certain of their economic and social privileges would be threatened (Korf & Malan, 2002).

Missed opportunities

Rebecca’s intellectual and cultural experiences in the IBDP at IOIS are so close to her own local British cultural sphere of reference that her development of international mindedness is consequently limited in her school life, where she deplores the lack of opportunities to explore local IOIN knowledge. But Rebecca also raises the questions of what is international in the IB, arising from her experiences in an international school in Switzerland, where European and North American content was privileged. Questions are also raised regarding the identities and cultures of the host schools and countries when adopting an IB curriculum, based on the delivery of international knowledge content, whilst at the same time respecting local identities (IB, 2013a). Rebecca deplores the fact that, ‘unlike many other countries’ where she has been able ‘to discover the cultures of the host countries’, she was not given such opportunity in the IBDP at IOIN. If we consider Hill’s view (2006: 89) that ‘cultural composition or location … of the IB school is not important’, Rebecca’s experience of international mindedness is limited; the socio-cultural context of IOIS is still affected by the past colonisation which creates a certain level of cultural homogeneity between the IB in Switzerland and in IOIN, thereby making Rebecca’s experiences of international mindedness incomplete. Hoogvelt’s (1997) trans-cultural experiences and advantage of in-betweenness were not sufficiently celebrated for Rebecca. However, her understanding and development of international mindedness has been significantly influenced by her mother, who did humanitarian work in South Africa and in IOIN, and reinforced by the IBDP’s Creativity Activity Service (CAS) where she was involved in local projects through which she could help others. Rebecca’s idealism matches the mission of the IB to improve the state of the world through education (IB, 2013b). Rebecca’s international mindedness is expressed by the fact that, for her, ‘all humans are equal and I have … the responsibility to help other less privileged human beings’. The ability to reflect critically about her situation and to offer critical insight into the prejudices she witnesses around her in IOIS has been developed through intercultural knowledge from her travels, studies and life in diverse cultural locations, but mainly from her family upbringing. Rebecca matches Hoogvelt’s (1997: 158) views of a third culture kid who has ‘superior cultural intelligence owing to the advantage of in-betweenness, the straddling of two cultures and the consequent ability to negotiate the difference’. But this ability to critically reflect causes certain tensions for Rebecca in a school context prone to racial prejudices because of historical and socio-cultural factors.

Comparing the views of the students

The two students’ cultural identities, family upbringing and life experiences shape their identity formation. They are also important factors in determining their sense of engagement with the notion of international mindedness. Rebecca has been ‘always on the move’; she has three citizenships and a multiple and evolving sense of being, belonging and becoming. For her, national identity is not so important. Her experience of international mindedness has been constructed by family, travels and varied intercultural encounters in the different countries. Using Tarc’s (2009: 101) terms, Rebecca ‘grows and transports her roots wherever she finds herself on the world map’. Rebecca enacts Bennett’s (2008) and Heyward’s (2002) notion of intercultural competence, because she is able and willing to engage ‘with people from diverse cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds’. For Seon-yeong, meanwhile, ‘the Korean values and identity are more conservative compared to Australia’s’. In that sense, her vision of international mindedness is shaped by her efforts to develop a sense of belonging with Marvel School and Australian society. Hill’s (2006: 107) argument that ‘non-Western students … have an enriched international, cultural perspective in which their own culture is an important point of reference for understanding the other does not apply for Seon-yeong, who confesses that ‘my parents do not understand the western ways which they criticise a lot; I do not think that they could live in a non-Asian country’. But Seon-yeong’s parents sent off their only child to a foreign country which has a different culture from their own, not in the name of the ideality of developing intercultural understanding as suggested by Hill (2006), but for a far more pragmatic objective; they ‘favour the objective of university access over international understanding’ (Tarc 2009: 33).

Socio-cultural theorists argue that every individual is a product of culture (Daniels, 2001; Wertsch & Toma, 1995). For both students, culture and the sense of self started from their own upbringing, influenced by their family values. This sense of self was then negotiated within the values and cultures of their respective schools and IB programme. But intercultural experiences are far more significant than the theoretical and idealistic sets of principles in forming the identities of the two adolescents. Even if education is shaped in global, national, and local dimensions where ‘context is more complex and multiple … fluid and volatile (and) blurred’ (Dang & Marginson, 2012: 3-5), a humanist learning culture binds together students who study the IB in different socio-cultural contexts. In that respect, Rebecca’s and Seon-yeong’s sense of engagement with the IB’s international mindedness is different because of their prior schooling experiences in England, South Africa and Switzerland (for Rebecca) and Korea (for Seon-yeong). Hill (2006: 107) claims that ‘IB educational philosophy has been developed from a western humanist tradition of learning … which, because of that very tradition, seeks to accommodate and validate other modes of thinking and acting’. Hill (2006) and Walker (2004) however concede that these models of learning propose certain challenges to non-western contexts where other modes of learning are privileged, while Tarc (2009: 42) argues that the situation is more nuanced and complex:

‘Under the western-centrism (of the IB), national diversity is largely constituted by content or teaching methods while processes of schooling and Western metaphysical assumptions of being and learning are naturalised and thereby made universal’.

IB’s claims of universality in its mission of ‘fostering students’ recognition and development of universal human values’ (IB, 2013a: 1) are based on a western philosophical framework which makes key assumptions about the nature of knowledge and the goal of education, as stated by Hill (2006). In that respect, there are tensions in regard to the identity formation of non-Western learners through the development of IB’s international mindedness. Clearly, Seon-yeong experiences far more conflicts in adapting to the IBDP at Marvel School than Rebecca does at IOIS.

Conclusion

International mindedness from local perspectives

The findings of this study support the claims made by many influential writers that the IB is perceived as serving predominantly the needs of Western learners in the English-speaking world, as it was the case in the late 1960s when it was created (Tarc, 2009; Bunnell, 2008). Notwithstanding Hill’s (2006) argument that the cultural location of the host IB school is not important, these findings clearly suggest that host IB schools need to encourage students to develop a stronger sense of understanding of and belonging to the host culture and local identities. This is particularly important for third culture kids – who, as per their passport identity, can be local or international students - to develop through what the host school can offer culturally. With regard to the development of international mindedness, the schools’ ethos and learning and teaching practices are indeed important (Hill, 2006), but the findings strongly support the view that cultural composition is critical in giving an identity to the host IB schools. This identity can enable TCKs to articulate their understandings of international mindedness from local perspectives. Walker’s (2004: 51) argument that a ‘monocultural’ IB educational philosophy can allow students of diverse cultural origins to share a global sense of belonging must be carefully addressed. The 21^st century global educational world is mainly Western in the sense that it is dictated by the intellectual needs and demands of the Western world (Tarc, 2009). This means that IB learners who are not originally from Western cultures can experience identity conflicts when developing international mindedness through IB programmes. Our findings support the view that international mindedness is often interpreted as Western mindedness. The ensuing tensions of this conflation must not be ignored; they must be dealt with by schools within the IB’s critical thinking pedagogical focus and international mindedness development, to render students’ learning experiences in school – as well as cultural and intercultural experiences – meaningful, inclusive, broad, rich and fulfilling. Also, while one can appreciate the IB’s insistence on the virtues of endeavouring to develop in students critical and analytical skills, there is nonetheless a need to have a more comprehensive and yet nuanced understanding of how students from non-Western backgrounds engage with knowledge. As revealed by the findings, this engagement is often based on the cultural traditions of learning. The IB is indeed firm in its opposition to didactic learning models. Such opposition, however, though understandable, needs to acknowledge that the IB learning model may not be easily accessible to learners from non-Western cultures. Ergo, the IB needs to continue to work with IB schools to help all learners establish a sense of connectedness with the IB learning and teaching philosophy - a philosophy that could also be further enriched by considering multiple cultural referents of learners’ school contexts and the diversity of learning traditions.

Being and the Western world

The Western biases in the IB and in the development of international mindedness through the IBDP cause some tensions for non-western students. It is important that the IB, school managers, and teachers understand that international mindedness is not only the convergence of flows, ideas, values, and cultural and academic standards that originate from overseas, especially from western Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. International mindedness does not mean the homogenisation of cultures and values as severely criticised by Paris (2003). It cannot be achieved by inclusiveness through a mono-cultural philosophical lens as imagined by Walker (2004), but rather needs to be developed through both the divergence and convergence of ideas, and the celebration of diversity and difference. In the context of international schooling, home for the learner is often more than a geographical location; it implies a sense of identification with and belonging to the socio-cultural settings, school and country’s cultures. As for Third Culture Kids, home is a multi-faceted, constantly evolving philosophical entity. In the global interconnected world, contexts that are (or privilege) western cultural spheres of reference and identities will always be home for the Western learners, sometimes depriving them of the inclusive idealistic nature of international mindedness. From a Heideggerian perspective, ‘not-at-home’ could mean ‘anxiety and alienation’ for the non-Western third culture kids, in the realms of ‘nothing and nowhere, as too much absorbed by the world’ (Heidegger, 1967: 245) as they struggle to maintain their cultural essence when international mindedness is defined, perceived and constructed through a Western and sometimes monolithic ideoscope.

Footnotes

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author biography

Mico Poonoosamy teaches English and French at Josai International University in Japan. Before that, he worked in Australia at Monash University, Melbourne University and Victoria University, and at a number of international schools around the world. His main research interests include identity construction within internationalisation contexts and philosophical perspectives of the self in society.

References

Alexander

. (2000) Culture and Pedagogy, Malden MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Allan

. (2002) Cultural Borderlands: A Case Study of Cultural Dissonance in an International School. Journal of Research in International Education, 1 (1): 63–90.

Allan

. (2003) Frontier Crossings: Cultural Dissonance, Intercultural Learning and the Multicultural Personality. Journal of Research in International Education, 1 (2): 83–110.

Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection (2013). Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond. Retrieved September 27, 2013, from http://www.citizenship.gov.au/learn/cit_test/test_resource/_pdf/our-common-bond-2013.pdf

Baxter

Jack

(2008) Qualitative Case Study Methodology: Study Design and Implementation for Novice Researchers. The Qualitative Report, 13 (4): 544–559.

Bell

. (2003) Mythscapes: Memory, Mythology, and National Identity. British Journal of Sociology, 54 (1): 63–81.

Bennett

. (1993) Cultural marginality: Identity issues in intercultural training. In: Paige

R. M.

(2 ed) Education for the intercultural experience. Yarmouth: Intercultural Press, l09–135.

Bennett

. (2008) On becoming a global soul: A path to engagement during study abroad. In: Savicki

(ed) Developing Intercultural Competence and Transformation: Theory, Research, and Application in International Education. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus.

Bhabha

H. K

. (1994) The Location of Culture, London: Routledge.

10.

Bourdieu

Passeron

J. C.

(1990) Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. London: SAGE Publications.

11.

Bryant

Charmaz

(2010) The SAGE Handbook of Grounded Theory: London: SAGE

12.

Bunnell

. (2008) The global growth of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme over the first 40 years: a critical assessment. Comparative Education, 4 (44): 409–424.

13.

Burnard

. (2005) Interviewing. Nurse Researcher 4 (13): 4–6.

14.

Byram

. (1997) Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

15.

Chick

. (2001) Constructing a Multicultural Identity: South African Classrooms as Sites of Struggle between Competing Discourses. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics 17 (1): 27–45.

16.

Cole

. (2012) Critical Race Theory in Education, Marxism and abstract racial domination. British Journal of Sociology of Education 33 (2): 167–183.

17.

Cole

Engeström

(1993) A cultural-historical approach to distributed cognition. In: Salomon

(ed) Distributed Cognitions: Psychological and educational considerations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1–46.

18.

Collen

. (2001) Mutiny, London: Bloomsbury.

19.

Daniels

. (2001) Vygotsky and Pedagogy, London: Routledge Falmer.

20.

Dang

K. A.

Marginson

(2012) Global learning through the lens of Vygotskian sociocultural theory. Critical Studies in Education 37 (1): 1–17.

21.

Davis

Le Roux

(2009) Precedent & Possibility: The (Ab)use of Law in South Africa, Cape Town: Juta and Company Limited.

22.

Davy

. (2011) Learners without borders: A curriculum for global citizenship. Available at: http://repository.smsd.org/docs/Public/Education/IB/RS5JNB5QAG/A-CURRICULUM-FOR-GLOBAL-CITIZENSHIP-en.pdf.

23.

Day

. (1998) Australian Identities, Melbourne: Australian Scholarly Publishing.

24.

Deardorff

(2008). Intercultural competence: a definition, model and implications for education abroad. In Savicki

(ed.), Developing Intercultural Competence and Transformation: Theory, Research, and Application in International Education. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus.

25.

Delors

. (1998) Education for the twenty-first century: issues and prospects, Paris: UNESCO Publishing.

26.

Descartes

. (1984) Principles of Philosophy. edited by Miller

V.R.

Miller

R.P.

London: Springer Verlag.

27.

Eidse

Sichel

(2004) Unrooted Childhoods: Memoirs of Growing Up Global: Intercultural Press.

28.

Fail

. (1995) Some of the outcomes of international schooling. MA dissertation: Oxford Brookes University.

29.

Fail

Thompson

Walker

(2004) Belonging, identity and third culture kids. Journal of Research in International Education 3 (3): 319–338.

30.

Glaser

B. G

. (1978). Theoretical sensitivity: advances in the methodology of grounded theory. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.

31.

Glaser

B. G

. (1998) Doing grounded theory: Issues and discussions, Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.

32.

Greenholtz

Kim

(2009) The cultural hybridity of Lena: A multi-method case study of a third culture kid. International Journal of Intercultural Relations 33 (5): 391–398.

33.

Guba

E. G.

Lincoln

Y. S.

(1994) Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In: Lincoln NKDYS (ed) Handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 105–117.

34.

Guba

E. G.

Lincoln

Y. S.

(2005) Pragmatic Controversies, Contradictions and Emerging Confluences. In: Denzin

Lincoln

(eds) The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE

35.

Gunesch

. (2007) International Education’s Internationalism: Inspirations from cosmopolitanism. In: Hayden

Levy

Thompson

(eds) The SAGE Handbook of Research in International Education. London: SAGE, 90–99.

36.

Hall

. (1997) Representation: Cultural Representation and Signifying Practices, London: SAGE.

37.

Hayden

Wong

(1997) The International Baccalaureate: International Education and cultural preservation. Educational Studies 23 (3): 349–361.

38.

Heidegger

. (1967). Being and time, Wiley-Blackwell.

39.

Hernandez

. (1989) Multicultural education: A teachers’ guide to content and process, New York: Merrill.

40.

Heyward

. (2002) From International to Intercultural: Redefining the International School for a Globalised World. Journal of Research in International Education 1 (1): 9–32.

41.

Hill

. (1994) IB Report to UNESCO. Geneva: IB.

42.

Hill

. (2006) Do International Baccalaureate programs internationalise or globalise? International Education Journal 7 (1): 98–108.

43.

Hoogvelt

. (1997) Globalization and the postcolonial world: The new political economy of development, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

44.

Hughes

. (2009). International education and the IB Diploma Programme. Journal of Research in International Education, 8(2), 129–141.

45.

IB (2007) Inspiring international mindedness. Available at: www.ibo.org/…/InspiringinternationalmindednessIBAEM2011FINAL.pdf

46.

IB (2012) How do you define “international education”?, available at: http://blogs.ibo.org/blog/2012/06/06/international-education/

47.

IB (2013a) How does the IB define “international education”? Available at: http://www.ibo.org/programmes/

48.

IB (2013b) Diploma Programme curriculum framework. Available at: http://www.ibo.org/diploma/curriculum/

49.

IB (2013c). IB World Schools. Available at: http://www.ibo.org/school/

50.

IB. (2015) What is intercultural understanding? Available at: https://ibanswers.ibo.org/app/answers/detail/a_id/3340/~/what-is-intercultural-understanding%3F

51.

IB (2017a) IB quick facts. Available at: http://www.ibo.org/about-the-ib/facts-and-figures/

52.

IB (2017b) Recognition of IB programmes. Available at: http://www.ibo.org/university-admission/recognition-of-the-ib-diploma-by-countries-and-universities/

53.

IB (2018) IB Learner Profile. Available at: https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/fd82f70643ef4086b7d3f292cc214962/learner-profile-en.pdf

54.

Jones

. (1997). Ethnic Diversity and National Identity. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology 33 (1): 285–305.

55.

Korf

Malan

. (2002). Threat to Ethnic Identity: The Experience of White Afrikaans-Speaking Participants in Post-apartheid South Africa. The Journal of Social Psychology, 142(2), 149–169.

56.

Lantolf

. (2000) Introducing sociocultural theory. In: Lantolf

(ed) Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning. Oxford: Oxford University Press

57.

Marginson

Rhodes

(2002) Beyond national states, markets and systems of higher education: A glonacal agency heuristic. Higher Education 43 (3): 281–309.

58.

Meier

. (2007) Enhancing intercultural understanding using e-learning strategies. South African Journal of Education 27 (4): 655–671.

59.

Mela

. (2011) MacIntyre on Personal Identity. Public Reason 3 (1): 103–113.

60.

Mouzelis

. (1995) Sociological Theory: What Went Wrong? London: Routledge.

61.

Nave

. (1998) The Institutionalisation of Communalism: The Best Loser System. In: Carter

(ed) Consolidating the Rainbow: Independent IOIN, 1968-1998. Port Louis, IOIN: Center for Research on Indian Ocean Studies, 19–26.

62.

Neumann

. (2004) Anxieties in colonial IOIN and the erosion of the White Australia Policy. Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 32 (3): 1–24.

63.

Paris

P. G.

(2003) The International Baccalaureate: A case study on why students choose to do the IB. International Education Journal 4: 232–243.

64.

Park

R. E.

(1928) Human migration and the marginal man. American Journal of Sociology 33: 881–893.

65.

Peel

(1988) Report of the Director General, Roger Peel, to the Council of Foundation. Geneva: IB.

66.

Pollock

D. C.

Van Reken

R. E.

(1999) The Third Culture Kid Experience: Growing up among Worlds, Yarmouth: Intercultural Press.

67.

Poonoosamy

(2016). Aspirations and tensions in developing international mindedness: case study of two students in an IB school in an Indian Ocean Island Nation, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 36 (4), 583–598

68.

Reichertz

. (2007) Abduction: The Logic of Discovery of Grounded Theory. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research 11: Art. 13 [39 paragraphs].

69.

Sen

. (2003) Changing the focus: a discussion of the dynamics of the intercultural experience. In: Alred

Byram

Fleming

(eds) Intercultural experience and education. Yarmouth, Me: Footprint Books, 155–179.

70.

Sriprakash

Singh

Jing

(2014) A comparative study of international mindedness in the IB Diploma Programme in Australia, China and India. Available at: https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/publications/ib-research/dp/international-mindedness-final-report.pdf

71.

Stein

. (1997) The English language in IOIN: Past and present. English World-Wide 18 (1): 65–89.

72.

Stonequist

E. V

. (1935) The problem of marginal man. American Journal of Sociology 41 (1): 1–12.

73.

Strauss

Corbin

(1990) Basics of Qualitative Research, Newbury Park, California: SAGE.

74.

Tamatea

. (2008). A practical and reflexive liberal-humanist approach to international mindedness in international schools: Case studies from Malaysia and Brunei. Journal of Research in International Education, 7 (1), 55–76

75.

Tarc

. (2009) Global Dreams, Enduring Tensions: International Baccalaureate in a Changing World. New York: Peter Lang Pub Incorporated.

76.

Theophanous

. (1995) Understanding Multiculturalism and Australian Identity, Melbourne: Elikia Books.

77.

Toorawa

. (2000) Mapping Communities and their Cultural Territories – A Reflection. In: Nirsimloo-Gayan

(ed) Towards the Making of a Multi-Cultural Society. Moka, IOIN: Mahatma Gandhi Institute Press, 10–17.

78.

Tranter

Donoghue

(2007) Colonial and Postcolonial Aspects of Australian Identity. British Journal of Sociology 58 (2): 165–183.

79.

UNESCO (2018a) Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. Available at: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13179&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

80.

UNESCO (2018b) 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Available at: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=31038&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

81.

Walker

. (1998) Home Sweet Home: A Study, through Fictional Literature, of Disoriented Children and the Significance of Home. In: Hayden

Thompson

(eds) International Education: Principles and Practice. London: Kogan Page, 11–27.

82.

Walker

. (2004) To Educate the Nations: Reflections on an International Education, Woodbridge: Peridot Press.

83.

Walker

(2010) Challenges from a New World. Melton, UK: John Catt Educational.

84.

Weinreich

. (1983) Emerging from threatened identities: Ethnicity and gender in redefinitions of ethnic identity. In: Breakwell

G. M.

(ed) Threatened identities. New York: Wiley, 149–186.

85.

Wertsch

Toma

. (1995) Discourse and learning in the classroom: A sociocultural approach. In Gale

S. J.

(ed), Constructivism in education (pp. 159–174). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

86.

Willis

D. B.

Enloe

W. M.

Minoura

(1994) Transculturals, transnationals: The new diaspora. International Schools Journal 14 (1): 29–42.