Glocalising Education: Reflections from an International School in Delhi, India

Abstract

This article documents, describes and discusses the dynamics of an international school located in south Delhi, India. It discusses the means and ways via which the international school designs and delivers its curricular and pedagogic content that tend to shape and reinforce an element of ‘internationalism’ among its pupils. The international school form of education primarily embeds teaching and learning processes within the domain of the school as well as outside of it. While the school places enormous emphasis on the concept of ‘global’ or at times even ‘international’ to promote and brand itself, it is deeply rooted to the local and national conditions and cultures as well. This aspect of inter-mixing the global with the local and national is strongly emphasized by the school, whose stakeholders believe that the true spirit of internationalism lies in becoming ‘glocal’ and not simply global. The school as well as parents want their students and children to possess a holistic understanding of the world, and not an exclusive one. Thereby, it can be argued that there is a transition from the much-hyped era of globalisation to one of ‘glocalisation’. Thus, this system of schooling is critically analysed through this article, which centrally argues that the school functions in a manner that enables students’ global compatibility of body and mind, and aims to lend them a competitive edge in the global education and job market.