Washing the world in whiteness; international schools’ policy

ABSTRACT

International Baccalaureate (IB) Directors of international schools command a paradoxical space of progressive futures, cloaking injustice and whiteness. This is enacted daily through policy, recruitment, teaching and remuneration which privileges the empowered, exploits the marginalised and thereby delivers a critical education of questionable efficacy. This original research applies the theory of Bourdieu. Social agents (Directors) lead a field wherein symbolic violence is normalised in recruitment and operations towards the non-white, non-Anglo Europeans. By deploying whiteness theory, these directors of diversity champion norms of internationalism, but do not ‘see’ the advantage of white, that defines the field. In turn, students learn to engage in whiteness and understand that the knowing, being and doing of whiteness and Englishness is synonymous with internationalism and power. Fundamental change is needed with a formalisation of recruitment/remuneration/teaching policy that operationalises the IB’s progressive educational values and reverses the automatic injustices levied at the non-white/non-Anglo European.

KEYWORDS:

• Whiteness in education
• international schools
• educational leadership
• international education
• Bourdieu

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Alexander Charles Gardner-McTaggart is lecturer in Educational Leadership at the School of Enviornment Educaiton and Development (SEED), of the University of Manchester where he is programme director of the MA Educational Leadership in Practice. He is co convenor of the Comparative and International Educaiton Special Interest Group of the British Educational Research Association (BERA). His work is located in the critical paradigm and seeks to uncover truth and power in international education and educational leadership. Alex lives between Manchester and his family home in the Austrian alps.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Emphasis added.

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3 Emphasis added.