This mixed-method study, grounded in critical pedagogy, explored teachers of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP) in Costa Rican public and private schools and examined the growth of the IB there. It surveyed the global mindedness of the teachers to understand their perceptions of the IB. The study also aimed to understand the IB’s Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) as a form of global education. Furthermore, neoliberalism was explored as a force driving the IB’s growth in Costa Rica. The study collected quantitative data from the Global Mindedness Scale (GMS) (Hett, 1993) from teachers of the IB in Costa Rica, assessing their level of global mindedness, factors that may have contributed to their score, and what differences, if any, existed between public and private school teachers. In the qualitative phase, four teachers were interviewed to explore how they perceived the IB in Costa Rica. It also critically analyzed the CAS requirement of the IB, as well as the neoliberal forces that have driven the growth of the IB in Costa Rica. The findings show that the type of school does not affect teachers’ global mindedness. Participants’ age and whether they have lived outside their country had a positive but weak relationship to teachers’ global mindedness. Teachers of STEM courses had slightly lower GMS scores. The interviews showed that teachers had positive perceptions of the IBDP and saw benefits for themselves, their students, and Costa Rica. The teachers were mostly uncritical in their responses, but the highest GMS scoring interviewee did express critical ideas. An analysis of the CAS requirement of the IB concluded that it reflects both soft and critical approaches to global citizenship education. Finally, the document analysis confirmed neoliberalism as a force behind the IB’s expansion in Costa Rica. Several recommendations were offered. First, an instrument is needed that can measure global mindedness on an international scale. Second, teacher education should incorporate issues related to global education. Third, implementation of the IBDP and other global education curricula requires ongoing support from policymakers, organizations, and schools. More research should examine the growth of the IB in other countries. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis (MPA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The In-Service Basic Education Teacher Diploma Programme (BETD Inset Programme) is a Namibian educational programme under the Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture. It is a unified general preparation for unqualified and partly qualified teachers in Basic Education, with opportunities for specialisation in both phases of schooling and in subject areas. It seeks to strike a balance between professional insight, skills and subject knowledge. A process of evaluation was implemented to assess the programme management and the programme workers’ knowledge, skills and expertise, including their choice of methodology for implementing the BETD Inset Programme. The aim of the programme evaluation was to determine the effectiveness and sustainability of the BETD Inset Programme. The problem statement of this study takes as its point of departure the prevalence of development programmes that are not implemented in an effective and sustainable manner, particularly in Third World countries. Many researchers and scholars have identified programme management as crucial to the effective implementation of development programmes. It is in response to this argument that this researcher decided to conduct a study on the National Institution for Educational Development (NIED)’s implementation of the BETD Inset Programme. The objective was to establish whether the existing programme management strategy implements the BETD Inset Programme effectively, and to explore the possibilities of recommending supporting strategy. This study also referred to the issue of gender balance in the appointment of BETD Inset Programme management staff. Qualitative methodology was used to obtain information from the BETD Inset Unit and Regional Education Offices, who play an important role in the implementation process of the BETD Inset Programme. The senior managers were interviewed and they provided information about the BETD Inset Unit management structures and the objectives achieved during the BETD Inset Programme implementation process. The implementation process plans set by the NIED were based on terms of reference provided by the Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture to determine their effectiveness in achieving the set objectives. The literature review of this study reflects the conceptual categories identified from an overview of programme management objectives in development programmes and distance education programmes. These conceptual categories are based on management models that are useful for programme management evaluation. The conceptual categories point out characteristics fundamental to the effective implementation of the BETD Inset Programme. These characteristics were used to formulate measuring criteria, and they formed the basis for the analysis of the study’s results in chapter 5. BETD Inset Programme is defined as a distance education programme. It was deduced that the BETD Inset Programme faced a number of challenges, and that consequently the NIED management had to implement the programme with a limited infrastructure and work force. All these challenges are linked to one major factor, which is the lack of sufficient resources required for the effective implementation of the BETD Inset Programme in a sustainable manner. This study recommends that a strategy for potential stakeholder participation should be redesigned and effectively implemented, in order to secure sufficient resources to support the programme in a sustainable manner. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Indiensprogram vir ’n Basiese-Onderrig-Onderwysdiploma (BOOD-Insetprogram) is ’n Namibiese onderwysprogram onder leiding van die Ministerie van Basiese Onderrig, Sport en Kultuur. Dit is ’n samevattende algemene voorbereiding vir ongekwalifiseerde en deels-gekwalifiseerde onderwysers in Basiese Onderrig, met geleenthede vir spesialisering beide in skolingsfases en vakgebiede. As algemene doelstelling streef dit na ’n balans tussen professionele insig, vaardighede en vakkennis. Program-evaluering is gedoen ten einde die programbestuur en -werkers te beoordeel volgens hulle kennis, vaardighede en kundigheid, insluitend hulle keuse van metodiek vir die implementering van die BOOD-Insetprogram. Die mikpunt was om die effektiwiteit en volhoubaarheid van die BOOD-Insetprogram te bepaal. Die probleemstelling van die studie is daarop gebaseer dat ontwikkelingsprogramme, spesifiek in Derdewêreldlande, nie effektief en op ’n volhoubare manier geïmplementeer word nie. Navorsers en studente het die bestuur van ontwikkelingsprogramme as die sleutel tot die effektiewe implementering daarvan geïdentifiseer. Dit het daartoe gelei dat die navorser ’n studie onderneem het oor hoe die Nasionale Instelling vir Opvoedkundige Ontwikkeling die Indiensprogram vir ’n Basiese-Onderrig-Onderwysdiploma implementeer. Die doelwit was om vas te stel of die bestaande strategie vir programbestuur die Indiensprogram vir ’n Basiese-Onderrig-Onderwysdiploma effektief implementeer, en ook om ’n moontlike ondersteuningstrategie voor te stel. Die studie het ook die kwessie van geslagsbalans aangeraak ten opsigte van poste wat beklee word deur bestuurspersoneel wat die Indiensprogram vir ’n Basiese-Onderrig-Onderwysdiploma implementeer. ’n Kwalitatiewe metode is gebruik om inligting te verkry vanaf BOOD-Implementeringseenhede en Onderwysstreekkantore wat ’n sleutelrol vervul in die implementeringsproses van die BOOD-Aanvangsprogram. Onderhoude is gevoer met lede van die topbestuur wat ook inligting verskaf het oor die BOOD-Inseteenheid se bestuurstrukture, en doelwitte wat in die implementeringsproses van die BOOD-Insetprogram bereik is. Implementeringsplanne, daargestel deur die Nasionale Instelling vir Opvoedkundige Ontwikkeling aan die hand van riglyne van die Ministerie van Basiese Onderrig, Sport en Kultuur, word gebruik om vas te stel hoe effektief hulle hulle doelwitte bereik. ’n Literatuur-oorsig vir hierdie studie weerspieël die konseptuele kategorieë wat geïdentifiseer kan word uit die gesamentlike bestuursdoelwitte van ontwikkelingsprogramme en afstandsonderrigprogramme. Hierdie konseptuele kategorieë is gebaseer op bestuursmodelle wat ook aangewend kan word vir die evaluering van programbestuur. Die konseptuele kategorieë identifiseer fundamentele kenmerke vir die effektiewe implementering van die Indiensprogram vir ’n Basiese-Onderrig-Onderwysdiploma. Hierdie kenmerke is gebruik om evalueringskriteria te formuleer asook die basis daar te stel vir die ontleding van die studie se resultate in hoofstuk 5. Die Indiensprogram vir ’n Basiese-Onderrig-Onderwysdiploma word getipeer as ’n afstandsonderrigprogram. Die gevolgtrekking word gemaak dat die Indiensprogram vir ’n Basiese-Onderrig-Onderwysdiploma uitdagings in die gesig staar wat die bestuur van die Nasionale Instelling vir Opvoedkundige Ontwikkeling noop om die program met beperkte infrastruktuur en menslike hulpbronne te implementeer. Al hierdie uitdagings hou verband met een hooffaktor, naamlik die gebrek aan voldoende hulpbronne vir die effektiewe en volhoubare implementering van die Indiensprogram vir ’n Basiese-Onderrig-Onderwysdiploma. Die studie stel voor dat ’n strategie herontwerp en effektief geïmplementeer word vir deelname deur potensiële belanghebbendes ten einde voldoende hulpbronne te verseker om die program op ’n volhoubare wyse te ondersteun.

Thesis advisor: Hans de Wit / Thesis advisor: Gerardo L. Blanco / Today’s global knowledge economy has become complex, dynamic, and competitive. In this environment, the talented workforce is increasingly diverse, educated, and mobile. International talents tend to migrate to anglophone countries and contribute to technological innovation, scientific discoveries, and economic growth. The largest international student population in the top destination countries comes from Asia. At the same time, research has shown that Asian international students reported lower satisfaction and higher adjustment challenges due to linguistic and cultural barriers, negatively impacting their learning and living experiences. This dissertation aims to understand and explain the transnational transition process through a subset of the Asian international student population. Thirty-five current university student interviewees are purposefully selected. They are graduates of the “International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme,” a rigorous education pathway program popular in Asia for families to prepare their children for Western higher education. Asian International Baccalaureate (IB) alums, who received education in linguistically and culturally diverse settings, offered more nuanced and complex answers to what traditional literature has indicated about international student transitions and experiences. A Successful International University Transition Model is generated from the grounded theory analysis. This model illustrates the causal and intervening conditions that impact international transitions, with the central tasks of being a university student and becoming an adult. Further, the results are discussed with Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus/practice to explain the heterogeneity in the process amongst the diverse international student population. Lastly, recommendations to stakeholders suggest ways to support globally mobile young adults in their transition and development journey. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

The aim of this essay is to analyze the implementation process of the International Baccalaureate’s Diploma Programme in four of the approximately 30 schools currently offering the IB at upper secondary level in Sweden. The starting point is a comparison between definitions in fundamental documents in the national programmes for Natural Science (NV) and Social Science (SP) on the one hand, and the IBDP on the other. The evaluation, based on Program theory, focuses in particular on the consistencies in the Organizational plans of each system.  The basic assumption is that the IB due to a deviating organizational system, different structures, aims and objectives makes a challenge for the dominating educational discourse, to use a concept by Michel Foucault, and that resistance against the IB therefore is to be expected. As a second part of the evaluation five people who either play, or have played the role of coordinators of the IB, and who thereby are responsible for the implementation, have been interviewed. The questions have been focused around in what sense the informants can confirm resistance in their implementation work due to the differences found in the first part of the evaluation, and in what ways it manifests itself. Finally, Michel Foucault’s power structures in connection to discourse analysis have been applied on the results of the two previous parts of the essay. Foucault claims a school to be one of the state institutions acting on its behalf in conserving and defending its discourse against outside enemies. Two configurations of power are according to Foucault used in the defence; ‘marginalization’ and ‘normalization’. The result of the study confirms evidence of both power structures being found in the implementation of the IB in the four schools included in the analysis and that the resistance against the IB in these schools can be interpreted accordingly. / Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att analysera implementeringen av International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) i fyra av det 30-talet gymnasieskolor som för närvarande erbjuder utbildingen i Sverige. Utvärderingen är indelad i två delar baserad på ’programteori’, och fokuserar på delar i respektive utbildnings organisationsplan.  Den första delen har sin utgångspunkt i styrdokument i respektive utbildning och utgör en jämförelse av olika grundläggande definitioner för, å ena sidan de nationella Naturvetenskapsprogrammet (NV) och Samhällsprogrammet (SP), och å andra sidan IBDP. Detta är av relevans för att IB-utbildningen skiljer sig tillräckligt mycket från de nationella programmen för att utgöra en utmaning av det nationella systemet, det som Michel Foucault skulle kalla den dominerande diskursen. Den andra delen består av fem intervjuer med nuvarande eller före detta coordinatorer, de personer som ansvarar för implementeringsarbetet på de enskilda skolorna. Här är frågorna fokuserade runt de områden där implementeringsarbetet antas vara svårast utifrån de skillnader som framkommer i den första delen av utvärderingen. Slutligen används de maktbegrepp som Foucault anger i sin diskursanalys på de två första delarna av arbetet. Foucault hävdar att skolan är en av de institutioner som agerar för att bevara och försvara en stats diskurs mot utomstående makter. Enlig Foucault uttrycks detta i två maktkonfigurationer; ‘marginalisering’ och ‘normalisering’. Resultatet av studien visar att det finns tecken på att båda maktmedel i implementering av IB på de fyra aktuella skolorna och att motståndet mot IB går att förstå enligt denna modell.

Academically failing schools are under scrutiny from government education administrators, policymakers, and the general public, due to chronic inabilities to lower dropout rates and to educate students who can pass high-stakes graduation assessments. States’ efforts to adhere to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act have led to the development of accountability systems to determine adequate yearly progress (AYP) and to assign schools grades, as well as wholesale reassessment of current educational programs, which are often replaced with more rigorous curricula. Among curricular programs that have been sought as reform measures for academically failing schools is the International Baccalaureate Program (IBP). The IBP’s exacting curriculum has attracted many schools to adopt it as an alternative course of study for advanced students, as well as a rigorous option to build academic capacity among students who have failed to make AYP. This case study examined teachers’ perceptions of the effect the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) had on the culture of an academically underperforming high school in Valdosta, Georgia. Teacher volunteers from within the IBDP, in addition to teachers who taught standard classes, participated in a series of three semistructured interviews over 1.5 years, during which time the school made its initial application to the International Baccalaureate Organisation and subsequently began implementing the program with the school’s first cohort of students. Additionally, documents relating to the IB application process were examined, and observations of the IBDP teachers with students in their classrooms were conducted. Data analysis utilized the frameworks of educational criticism and narrative analysis. Teachers within the IBDP reported feelings of increased self-efficacy resulting from their work with both students and community stakeholders. Participant teachers in both IB courses and other programs described an overall improvement in the school’s culture.

The focus of this research was to compare the student membership population proportions, by race and gender, of Brevard County Public School students with the actual participation in select choice programs offered to Brevard County public high school students. This study was based on an analysis of the scores of 1,152 eighth-grade students who received a score of 4 or 5 on the 2008 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) mathematics and a score of 4 or 5 on the 2008 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) reading and their participation in high school advanced academic courses. The advanced academic choice programs selected for this study consisted of the four Florida articulated accelerated college credit seeking programs: Advanced Placement (AP), Dual-Enrollment (DE), International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme, and the Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE). The proportion comparison consisted of student membership data and eighth-grade FCAT scores from 2007-2008 and the student membership data and high school course load data from the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, and 2011-2012 academic school years. Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests were run to analyze the proportions by race and gender of the sample groups and student membership populations. For each respective year involved in this study, there was a statistically significant difference in the race and gender proportions of the samples and the student membership populations.