Question 2. - Some argue that the International Baccalaureate is a Western rather than an international curriculum. How international do you feel it is? Whose values and culture does it support?
We live in a world that is shrinking. Transport and communications revolutions have brought us closer together (Teasdale, 1999, p. 81). The field of international education is one which has grown rapidly over the past few decades. With increasing global mobility of professionals, and associated growth in the numbers of families being based for periods of time in countries away from their home environment. The International Baccalaureate (IB) is an internationally accepted pre-university qualification which, since its origins in the 1960s, has increased in popularity to the point where it is now offered in 141 countries worldwide. Providing international schools with a pre-university curriculum recognised by universities around the world. The educational programmes offered by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) claim to foster international understanding and an appreciation of the variety of cultures.
This paper will address the long-standing debate that the International Baccalaureate (IB) although overtly international at the content level it is thoroughly western at the epistemological level.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) was developed in the late 1960s with the purpose of providing the growing number of international schools with a pre-university curriculum recognised by universities around the world. Those involved in the development of the IB set out to create an educational programme that would provide students with a sense of international understanding and citizenship (Peterson, 2003). This Diploma Programme was initiated at the International School of Geneva with other international schools stepping on board during the developmental stage. The first trial examinations took place in 1967; the first official