The turning tide of the International Baccalaureate in China: when global dreams meet national priorities

Nationalising the international in China: A phenomenological study on the purpose of international schooling in an era of regulation

“…While previous studies (e.g. Wright, Lin, & Lu, 2022;Wright, Ma, & Auld, 2022;Wu & Koh, 2023) have explored nationalism in relation to policy and regulation, our findings suggest that parental expectation is also a factor that contributes to the 'reining in'/nationalising of international schooling. Parents, therefore, sit at the centre of the local and global nexus, with their whims often being slavishly catered for owing to the for-profit nature of international schools and over-crowded and competitive market space.…”

“…We hope the findings from this study might inspire more studies on government regulation of international schooling. Aside from Wright, Lin, and Lu (2022) and Wu and Koh (2023), there appears to be little interest in this issue, despite the long-term impact it is likely to have. Following on from this, researchers may want to track changes in teachers' conceptions of international schooling over time.…”

“…Students are also required to undertake national curriculum courses during high school, such as moral education, as well as observe symbolic routines, such as singing the national anthem (Poole, 2021). The reason for the regulation has been attributed to the Chinese government's concern that international schools’ rapid expansion poses a potential threat to educational sovereignty, cultural identity and educational equity (Deng et al., 2023; Wright, Lin, & Lu, 2022). Significantly, China is not the only country to demonstrate a growing national focus by regulating the international school sector.…”

Expanding flexible citizenship: Chinese international school students and global mobilities for higher education

“…The latter requires more sophisticated and critical insights into global structures, assumptions, power relations, active engagement with global issues and informed and responsible action. One cause may be the global-national dynamics of international schools for local students in China, especially the need to comply with the state agenda and requirements (Wright et al , 2022a; Wu and Koh, 2022). Another reason could be embedded in the features of these schools where English instruction and expatriate teachers may be marginalised by a dominant Chinese community (Poole, 2020).…”

“…However, this type of education may be in tension with the Chinese state's agenda for citizenship education characterised by building a collective memory of history, patriotism and national pride (Law, 2013). International schools for Chinese citizens practice routines such as weekly national-flag-raising ceremonies, allow international curricula to be scrutinised by state authorities and exercise (self-) censorship over politically sensitive issues (Wright et al , 2022a; Wu and Koh, 2022). These schools were found to cultivate “cosmopolitan nationalism” among students by combining global aspirations and nationalistic roots (Wright et al , 2022b).…”