“It makes me feel like part of the world”: How children in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme understand international-mindedness

Abstract

This thesis investigates how children learning within a Primary Years Programme international school understand international-mindedness, the goal of all International Baccalaureate programmes. Children in PYP schools are expected to develop international-mindedness as a consequence of the curriculum, yet international-mindedness is a difficult term to apprehend. It is defined through the IB learner profile, intercultural understanding, global engagement, and multilingualism, but remains a “fuzzy concept” making it difficult to assess its impact on learning. Investigating how children understand international-mindedness will help educators, and others, to ascertain the impact of international-mindedness on student’s thinking.
The research employed a qualitative phenomenographic framework and used focus group interviews and a thinking template to elicit children's views on international-mindedness. The data analysis resulted in four categories of description that represent how children understand international-mindedness. These are international-mindedness as friendship, international-mindedness as adapting to the world, international-mindedness as an outcome of social interactions, and international-mindedness as a change in thinking about yourself and the world. Underpinning these categories are three themes of expanding awareness that express the structural variations within the categories. These are 1) the contexts for the development of international-mindedness, 2) the attitudes, skills and knowledge children associate with international-mindedness, and 3) children’s thinking about themselves, others and their place in the world. The process of becoming internationally-minded occurs as children become consciously aware of the phenomenon through critical introspection of their life experiences and global realities. Through reflection on their friendships, their experiences of adapting to new situations, their social interactions with others, as well as their emerging sense of who they are vis-à-vis the world, children learn about the contexts, knowledge, attitudes, skills, and personal, social and global positioning that contribute to the development of IM, which can be enhanced through skilful educators.