The International Baccalaureate in England and Wales: the alternative paths for the future

The year 2007 was a significant one for the International Baccalaureate (IB) in England and Wales. Several milestones were reached, and the number of schools offering the curriculum reached one hundred. This article charts the growth and development in England and Wales of this continuum of international education and shows how the Diploma Programme, in particular, has reached a fundamental crossroads. On the one hand, the IB looks set for further growth and has the ability to be an influential and respected catalyst for the movement towards international education in curriculum development. On the other hand, the IB is emerging as an elite programme of study alongside other ‘baccalaureate’ curricula and in competition to A level, and other ‘Diploma’ developments. The ability of the IB to be a divisive force is explored.     

The International Baccalaureate and ‘growth scepticism’: a ‘social limits’ framework

The number of schools offering the programmes of the International Baccalaureate (IB) hit 3000 in July 2010. Since 2004 the IB has aimed for further growth within a ‘wider access’ and ‘greater impact’ paradigm. A further 7000 schools are expected to be involved by 2020. However, there is now considerable concern about growth, especially within the ‘international school movement’ who see it as compromising quality. This recent phenomenon can be termed ‘growth scepticism’ in the same way economic growth is now questioned as desirable. This paper charts this development and argues there is room for a much wider framework of analysis, viewing the global growth of the IB within a social and moral lens. This paper takes the economist Fred Hirsch’s 1976 Hirsch, F. 1976. The social limits to growth, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] book The social limits to growth as its core theoretical framework, linking growth to potential social externalities such as increased competition and the commercialization of society.     

Food Safety Education Using Music Parodies

ABSTRACT:  Musical parodies of contemporary songs with their lyrics altered to address current food safety issues were incorporated into a variety of food safety educational programs and the effectiveness of the music was evaluated by semiquantitative and qualitative measures. Audiences receiving the music-enriched curricula included school foodservice supervisors, school foodservice managers, culinary arts instructors, culinary arts students, Family and Consumer Sciences teachers, and youth aged 8 to 12 y and studies were conducted in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Delaware. Among school foodservice supervisors, school foodservice managers, and culinary arts students, most participants were able to recall the main points of each song that was introduced in the curriculum. The culinary arts students were less likely to recall the main points of each song than were the other 2 groups, possibly because of the lack of prior knowledge of food safety practices as well as a lack of preference for the style of songs used. Family and Consumer Sciences teachers were enthusiastic about the use of the music but also identified potential barriers to the successful use of the music, due to the potential lack of appropriate audiovisual equipment, a lack of skills in using such equipment, and time constraints for the use of music in curricula due to the strong emphasis on end of year testing. Participants in the summer youth groups demonstrated significant increases between pre- and posttest examinations of safe food handling behaviors and most were able to quote lines or phrases from the songs.     

What is international about International Schools? An institutional legitimacy perspective

In recent years, the number of International Schools around the world has increased rapidly largely as a result of growth of new forms of International Schools, which differ markedly from the traditional forms. These new forms: are often operated on a for-profit commercial basis; are usually for children from the local (indigenous), wealthy population; and have been defined as International Schools because they are located in a non-English speaking country and English is the school’s medium of communication. The growth of International Schools of the non-traditional type raises issues about the legitimacy of such schools. These new forms of International School face particular challenges in establishing themselves legitimately as ‘international’. In this article, we develop a framework which is grounded in institutional theory to analyse the institutionalisation of and the consequent legitimacy of International Schools. We use the three pillars of institutionalisation which, by means of carriers, underpin the institutionalisation of organisations. We employ this framework to analyse and illustrate the legitimacy of a school’s claim to be an International School and also to bring to light the challenges that schools face in establishing a legitimate claim to be ‘international’.     

Reframing the universal right to education

The universal right to education has been enshrined in a range of international rights instruments. Yet despite the considerable secondary literature on the subject, there has been little discussion of the notion of education underpinning the right. This article presents a theoretical exploration of the question, leading to a normative reassessment. The article first assesses the expression of the right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, identifying limitations in its focus on primary schooling. Other candidates for a basis for the right – namely learning outcomes and engagement in educational processes – are then assessed, and the latter is found to provide the most coherent foundation. Nevertheless, the positional benefits of formal schooling cannot be ignored. Consequently, a two‐pronged expression of the right is proposed, involving access both to meaningful learning and to institutions that confer positional advantage.     

Expansion without equity: An analysis of current policy on access to higher education in Brazil

Access to higher education in Brazil is to a large extent restricted to the higher socio-economic groups. Public universities have limited places and entry is determined by highly competitive exams, thereby excluding those who have not had a high quality secondary education or attended an expensive preparatory course. There has been considerable growth in the private sector to absorb the excess demand, but the majority of Brazilians cannot afford the fees. This paper develops a concept of equity in higher education in which, firstly, there should be sufficient places in the system as a whole and, secondly, all people should have a fair opportunity of attending the university of their choice regardless of socio-economic background. Recent efforts to expand access are analysed, including incentives for the growth of private universities, student loans and the new Prouni initiative, in which private institutions provide free places to low-income students in return for tax exemptions. While these initiatives have the potential to increase the total number of places, they will not lead to an equitable expansion, as disadvantaged students will still be confined to courses of lower quality or with lower subsequent value on the employment market. Initiatives aimed at the public sector such as the introduction of quotas and changes to entry examinations are also discussed. Finally, some implications for future policy development are outlined. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the World Congress of Comparative Education Societies, Havana, 25th–29th October 2004.     

Web 2.0 support for residents' and fellows' patient care and educational needs

This article discusses librarian support of medical education programs and patient care with blogs and wikis. Pedagogical background for using Web 2.0 tools in educational settings is explored and example applications given. A survey of health sciences libraries usage of blogs and wikis was conducted in 2009-2010. Using the results from the survey plus five years of experience using blogs and wikis at the University of Washington Health Sciences Library, best practices were compiled and are presented for guidance in establishing new blogs and wikis.