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Abstract
This article reports on a research project which focused on the aspirations and identities of students in an international school. Ten boys and ten girls were interviewed using semi-structured and photo-elicitation interviews. This research indicates convincingly that socio-economic background and international capital are crucial factors framing and influencing young people’s aspirations. This study shows that in the worlds of these ‘third’ and ‘fourth’ culture young people, identities are not at all ‘fragmented’, as has been previously claimed. Additionally, the participants are very similar owing to their privilege, and are not naïve about their own advantage. This study might help schools maximize on the international experiences of students to reflect on their global citizenship and altruism. This project has the possibility to help international school educators and leaders, who are active players in this culturally complex field, better support young people in their process of identity formation in a global society.
Introduction
Schools in the twenty-first century need to become more responsive to the broadening array of cultures, languages and experiences of their student populations. An overlooked global educational development has been the growth of international schools (Bunnell, 2016: 543). Today, most major cities in the world have at least one international school (Brummitt and Keeling, 2013: 25). International schools represent a phenomenon worthy of academic research as they are a market force driving education globally (Brummitt and Keeling, 2013: 25; Tarc and Tarc, 2015: 34). The International Baccalaureate’s (IB) reputation targets academic high-achievers aiming for university entrance. In November 2014, there were 2,626 schools in 139 countries offering the IB Diploma Programme (Bunnell, 2015: 388). The IB expects to be serving 2.5 million children in 10,000 schools by 2020 (Bunnell, 2011: 268). International education, a term without a circumscribed meaning (Pearce, 2013a: xii), raises questions pertaining to globalization, social class, multiculturalism and identity formation (Resnik, 2012: 292). Although international schools existed before the term ‘globalization’ was coined, mobility and transience were influential factors in the creation of international schools (Hayden and Thompson, 2013: 4). Today, schools designating themselves as international may no longer be considered a peripheral dimension of educational provision (Bunnell et al., 2016: 2).
A global internationally minded citizen is someone who espouses the values of empathy, collaboration and compromise, and is committed to the recognition of basic human rights and their own responsibility to reduce the inequalities and injustices in the world. Empathy has the capacity to ‘generalise positive perceptions from those directly involved in the interactions to the groups of which they are each members’ (Hughes et al., 2013: 762). Schools should aim for children to understand others, apply and defend human rights and have children feel like they are part of a community (Dorling, 2011: 311).
The main research question for the study was:
How do a globalized lifestyle, international capital and an international schooling experience influence the identities and aspirations of young people?
The subsidiary research questions for the study were:
Is there evidence of a link between these students’ first-world citizenship privilege and the nature of their aspirations?
To what extent do parents influence aspirations?
To what extent do: (a) globally nomadic experiences; and (b) international schooling influence the identity and aspirations of young people?
How do young people of this transnational class: (a) define success; and (b) view their future selves?
Design
I interviewed twenty 8th-grade boys (10) and girls (10), individually in two phases. All participants were between the ages of 12 and 14. The two interviews for each participant were conducted between six and eight weeks apart. All participants took part in two interviews.
I recorded and listened to the interviews then manually transcribed the data, word for word, in English. I noted pauses and the use of ‘hmm’ and other soft utterances. Electronic and printed copies of all the data were generated and stored in both electronic and printed forms. Participants were then permitted to read the transcribed interviews before any marks were put on the printed transcripts in order to effect ‘respondent validation’ (Silverman, 2004: 233).
The transcriptions were read by me a number of times, and key words and phrases highlighted for coding. This process of collecting, and analysing and repeating the process is the format of the constant comparative method (Williams, 2007: 69).
Themes were drawn from the interview data based on frequency of occurrence of the coded issues. Theory was generated from what was grounded in the data.
Findings and discussion
Here, I present two main themes which I extracted from the interview data: Relationships and International privilege. Each theme is then divided into three sub-themes: home, family and friends under Relationships, and travel, international schooling and the future under International privilege. These themes were selected on the basis of the frequency of the responses in the interviews and their relevance to the research aims and questions. I also merge and discuss the themes, findings and data as they relate to the research questions. All names used are pseudonyms.
Relationships
The participants expressed having strong and solid familial relationships and friendships, which they value highly and communicated strongly in their interviews. These close bonds add to their concepts and feelings of security, place, belonging, a sense of ‘home’, allegiances and identity. I insert the research questions where they are addressed by the sub-themes and interview data.
Research question: To what extent does a globally nomadic experience influence the identities of young people?
Sub-theme which addresses the question: Home
Some of these ‘global nomads’ have spent time in a variety of locations, changing home and friendships, sometimes regularly, and having little geographical notion of ‘home’ (Hayden, 2011: 220). Anya illustrated this point perfectly when she commented that ‘the whole world is my home’.
Despite having to leave friends and family behind, the participants of this study view their nomadic but privileged circumstances with optimism: they see the opportunities this global lifestyle affords them and are content with their ‘trajectories’ (Friedman, 2014: 352). Allie reflects below, and her story supports these points made above.
I like more cultures around the world than just Belgian, and I am more interested in Lebanon and South Africa because it is where my family was born, kind of, and even though I was not born there, most of my family is in Lebanon, so I do feel Belgian because I have been here most of my life.
The participants shared their feelings of pride, emotional attachment and identification with their birth countries and the traditions each respective country enjoys as well as a feeling of belonging to the world. Jaap shared photos of his family and how they celebrate and keep their Dutch heritage and traditions alive.
This is a tradition we have – we do our birthdays in bed (new photo), and we get presents in bed and unwrap them in bed, and after we go downstairs to have breakfast.
Research question: To what extent do parents influence aspirations?
Sub-theme which addresses the research question: Family
The second sub-theme under Relationships is ‘family’. Every one of the participants in this study credited their families as being the major influence on their lives.
My parents because they have always been there for me.
Yeah family is like really important to me because I only have my dad and my mum in Belgium.
I have a really big bond with my parents cos I know that I can always trust them.
I also think that my mother and my father they are really big role models to me.
It’s my mum and dad cos they kind of educated me.
Definitely my family, all four of them, my sister, my brother and both my parents.
Friends
It was apparent that relational values underpinned feelings of belonging and happiness in schools and lives in general. These close relationships formed between members of the international school student community are in fact what is known as ‘bonding social capital’, that is, social capital networks that reinforce links between members of the same community, in this context the international school community (Huschke, 2014: 2020).
I think friendships are a really good part of, you know, our lives.
There was only like mainly English kids in that school, and me and my sister were the only Japanese kids there so when I first went there I was very nervous.
International privilege
The participants expressed genuine appreciation for their privileged positions and embraced the opportunities and possibilities afforded them, whether through travel, elite schooling or learning about different cultures.
Travel
The participants in this study all travel, some extensively. This cosmopolitan capital is accumulated while living abroad, visiting and hosting friends of different nationalities, maintaining a globally dispersed circle of friends and relatives, having extensive and extended connections, and possessing mastery of at least one other language (Weenink, 2008: 1092).
My favourite thing is probably the travel, I love to go like on our breaks and stuff, over the summer and Xmas.
My mum is French, my dad is German, my sister are I are adopted from China and my big sister is married to an Englishman and this photo is in Corsica at her wedding.
Research question: To what extent does an international schooling experience influence aspirations of young people?
Sub-theme which addresses the question: International schooling
Some participants in this study were involved in charity work through their families and possessed a commitment to do things without waiting, out of a ‘duty of kindness, decency, civility and care’ (Sen, 2008: 332). Two of the participants have direct contact with individuals outside of their social class context whom they visit and help regularly. Valerie’s parents run a charity in Belgium. She saw first-hand her parents’ charity work in 2012.
Bobbi has travelled to China to assist in the creation of a school for the underprivileged. For these young people, it is the normal thing to do. International schools have an opportunity to teach the privileged young people of the world about the underprivileged.
I have been to China in 2012…we helped them raise more money…we got to see how their life was because they were only there for like 5 years and once they reached 5th grade they could either just stop school or do it again.
Allie’s view was: ‘in an international school they want you to be open-minded and see everything…think about different things and not just one thing…there are so many cultures’. Juan added that ‘it is really cool because there are people from around the world and you respect more each other because everyone is different’.
Anya reflects: ‘An international school lets you meet people from a bunch of different places’.
Research question: Is there evidence of a link between these students’ first-world citizenship privilege and the nature of their aspirations?
In their discussions about their futures, these participants shared the following:
I would like to be a lawyer, and go to Harvard and I hope I will be successful and have a good career.
Like maybe a lawyer or something I guess.
I want to do something which has to do with art.
The participants in this study hold high educational and occupational aspirations.
I hope to go to university.
I would like to be a pilot.
I want to be an architect.
Research question: How do young people of this transnational class define success?
The participants in this study certainly possess both the ability to read a map of their journey into the future as well as having the confidence to explore unmapped possibilities (Appadurai, 2004: 76). Their future self-perception is one of expected fulfilment of their goals, ‘elite aspirations’, success, and to lead a ‘happy adult life’ (Kenway and Fahey, 2014: 183).
Being successful is pushing yourself to work, study to have good grades and after to have a good career.
To have accomplished something meaningful and important, which might not be important for other people but is for you.
Relevance to international education and implications of the study to leadership
Education is a paternalistic project that perpetuates authoritarian teacher–student relationships, and challenging this can create democratic schooling environments (Keddie, 2014: 317). Schools are all about relationships, and relationships are developed through caring, listening, trust and collaboration. Ethical leaders exhibit high levels of integrity and tend to show a high level of concern for other people. Ethical leaders find ways to promote student well-being. Elite schools can develop students’ understandings of themselves as significant players on regional, national or global stages (Kenway and Fahey, 2014: 193). International schools can also clarify their mission as to what they are trying to achieve with their students. For instance, is there an express intention to develop a sense of global citizenship and social responsibility? This project can serve as a useful reflective tool for teachers to explicitly think about the very conceptions of what it means to be a justice-oriented privileged person.
Schools do little to educate students about inequality in the world (Flanagan, 2014: 423), and doing so may go some way to reducing the social and class divisions which these schools are perceived to create. Inequality is more than the lack of income or capital; it is about how people suffer because of their lack of power, and is ultimately about social injustice (Jones, 2014: 731). A strong democratic civic education program, which comes from the leadership and is rooted in social justice, social trust, tolerance and the common good is important work in an increasingly self-segregated society, with a widening gap between the rich and the poor (Flanagan, 2014: 424).
Ethical policy would support young people in developing critical awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of the different future pathways they consider (Hart, 2012: 183). Schools are about connecting young people to their futures and ensuring they are well-equipped to face them (Thomas, 2015: 43). Part of this empowerment is careers guidance for students aged 13–14 and could be done through pastoral care programs which nurture students’ existing aspirations in school and helps them work toward clear and achievable goals in life. Education and the development of career-thinking are intertwined; young people value information on jobs and careers, and through such experience can be better prepared to make the education and training decisions that shape their futures (Hooley et al., 2015: 3).
Careers guidance can help privileged young people better see themselves in relation to the perceived opportunities they believe lie ahead of them. International schools should look at all options for their students, after secondary school completion, so as not to give the impression that university constitutes a higher aspiration than leaving school to do something else (Hart, 2012: 183). Hart (2012: 183) points out the ethical questions raised about how schools guide individuals in terms of their identity construction and aspirational development.
Guidance in how to deal with frustration, disappointment and rejection could also aid this cohort of young people in making career decisions which are right for them. After all, not every one of the participants will necessarily be working in the professions they mentioned in this study, and they need to be resilient in the face of loss, setback or rejection. Young people could greatly benefit from information based on a wide range of career options, and international schools are in a position to provide such valuable guidance.
Where international displacements put young people in social environments for which their upbringing did not prepare them, or where they feel a unique pressure to fit in, those who work closely with them can help those young people adjust and cope (Lee and Kramer, 2013: 19). These people who work closely with young people can include teachers, counsellors, special educators, librarians, nurses, secretaries, and other educational support staff who may be directly or indirectly related to the educational content of the school (Frelin and Grannas, 2015: 66).
The vast majority of international school teachers have domestic qualifications and upbringing, and the total output of teachers undertaking specialist programs available in international education is limited (Pearce, 2013b: 63). There is an opportunity for international schools to re-examine the qualifications they wish their teaching staff to possess before hiring them. I would propose four main recommendations for policy-makers, leaders and governance of international schools:
As some teachers find it difficult to communicate with their students, international schools would do well to consider professional development for teachers and teacher leaders in empathy, relationship-building and cultural awareness in both the workplace and in the classroom.
Have child psychology and behavioural psychology courses as compulsory components of teacher professional development programs.
Offer students professional guidance in their choice of subjects and on career/university decisions in the early years of secondary school.
Although it would be unrealistic to expect that provision for vocational education in this regard could ever be very extensive within the current international school structures, there is every possibility of exploring the feasibility of vocational courses so they are fit for purpose in the modern age, and offering such subjects to students aged 14–19 who may have a more practical inclination for their occupational aspiration. This is possible without compromising the needs of high academic achievers heading for elite universities such as the US Ivy League, Grandes Écoles and Oxbridge. The emphasis in this scenario would be on meeting individual preferences and needs and allowing wider choice across subject streams (Hayden and Thompson, 2013: 20).
International schools can capitalize on diversity by becoming practice grounds for intergroup encounters, broadening youth perspectives about the interdependence of their fates with the fates of others (Flanagan, 2014: 423). Skills such as openness, empathy, humility, tolerance of diverse opinions and the ability to engage productively in society are valued in the labour market, in school and in society. Living in diverse communities such as the international schooling environment helps young people to open up and become more tolerant as well as learning from others. Schools can therefore look at how they develop strategies for the complex existence of intergroup difference.
Today’s international school students are the diplomats of tomorrow who will broker peace through their ability to empathize and interact with those of different cultural backgrounds (Hayden, 2011: 221). International schools have a social and educational responsibility to transform pedagogy and curriculum to promote values of social justice and equality. In addition, so much learning for these young people is done outside of the classroom, is not ‘visible’ to educators and is not currently recognized (MacDonald, 2013: 52). If we take students’ life experiences into account, and well as their global competencies and mass socialization, we can then find new ways of measuring whether they are likely to be part of the solutions to the world’s problems and be justice-oriented citizens.
Conclusion
This article discussed the findings of a qualitative study involving a privileged cohort of young people who attended an international school. This study makes an important contribution to our understanding of agency in adolescence, highlighting how this particular group of young people imagine their futures within an intersection of multiple influences and a globalized lifestyle. The study was in many ways a cross-cultural comparison of personal identity formation, parenting and the linkages in between. The findings of this study could be of great interest not only to leaders in international schools, but to ethnically diverse schools anywhere. Those working closely with students in multicultural schools have an opportunity to better serve their pupils by listening to and working with them so they in turn can develop the capabilities necessary to flourish as human beings.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
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Author biography
Jonathan Young received his Doctorate of Education from the University of Leicester, UK, in 2016. His research project focused on the identities and aspirations of a cohort of young people attending an international school. In particular, he considered the importance of ‘international capital’ on their aspirations, self-perceptions and life experiences. He has taught secondary school students in international schools in Ukraine and Belgium over a career spanning 19 years. He is currently Head of Economics at European School IV, Brussels, Belgium.