Azzi, Iman;
(2023)
International Education, Methodological Nationalism and the Formation of Student Civic Identities: A postcolonial exploration of an IB World School in Lebanon.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
The International Baccalaureate (IB) is both a major producer of, and a dominant influence in, International Education (IE). The IB’s approach to IE reflects methodological nationalism, which positions the nation state as a natural and central focus for study. Additionally, this approach, conceived while colonial rule was being challenged and physically dismantled, positions IE as promoting global citizenship, including the IB’s flagship, yet contested, concept of international mindedness (IM). This thesis explores how such a model of IE is interpreted by teachers and how it informs conversations about the local, national, and international. It also investigates how students enact, reproduce, re-contextualise, and challenge civic identities ascribed by IB programming. Using ethnographically informed data collection methods, including classroom observations and creative interview techniques, this two-year single case study followed teachers and secondary students at an elite international school in Lebanon. Data was analysed through a postcolonial lens, inspired by Edward Said. This thesis finds that the IB model of IE compartmentalises states into self-contained units. Further, the school’s interpretation of IM encourages international examples at the expense of local ones. These approaches not only perpetuate methodological nationalism but also reinforce a hierarchy that prioritises certain nations’ knowledge and perspectives as more central to IE. Therefore, a disconnect exists between the IB’s ideals of global citizenship, which purport to be equally accessible to any student regardless of nationality or class, and how IB is practised at the case study school. Despite past claims that international schools are isolated from Host countries, this thesis argues that the local is present daily within classrooms. This postcolonial exploration highlights the distorting effects of methodological nationalism within IB programming and discusses how students negotiate these limitations of formal instruction and desire opportunities to develop localised civic identities alongside lessons on elite global citizenship.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | International Education, Methodological Nationalism and the Formation of Student Civic Identities: A postcolonial exploration of an IB World School in Lebanon |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. - Some third party copyright material has been removed from this e-thesis. |
| Keywords: | Citizenship education, global citizenship education, international baccalaureate, international education, Lebanon, Middle East, postcolonial theory |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10171833 |
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