International Study of City Youth Education

Volume 4

Series EditorStephen Lamb, CIRES, Victoria University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

This series is based on the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), a new and innovative international study that considers how well education systems are working, for whom, and why.

ISCY is a longitudinal study of 10th Grade students in 15 cities: Barcelona, Bergen, Bordeaux, Ghent, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Montreal, Reykjavik, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Tijuana, Santiago, Turku and Wroclaw.

The ISCY project compares how well different education systems prepare young people for life beyond school. It aims to measure the impacts of the distinctive institutional arrangements of each system, including programs and courses, curriculum and assessment practices, types and locations of schools, and the structure of education and training opportunities beyond school. ISCY provides unprecedented insight on how educational paths and achievement impact young people’s education and career trajectories, civic engagement, and overall well- being. It offers a unique opportunity to measure the relationship between student academic performance, attitudes and aspirations, and future outcomes.

The series features volumes on various topics written by researchers based across the ISCY network. Current volumes to be released in the series involve work on educational opportunity and inequality, social and cultural contexts, skills for the 21st Century, school effects and student engagement.

The series:

• Compares diverse international systems using common measures• Focuses on systemic and contextual factors and their contribution to student

outcomes• Provides strong theoretical foundations in studies of educational inequality• Develops measures of 21st Century skills and consider their relationship to

schools and system context• Analyses longitudinal information about student pathways and post-school

destinations• Please contact Astrid Noordermeer at Astrid.Noordermeer@springer.com if you

wish to discuss a book proposal.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15447

Quentin Maire

Credential MarketMass Schooling, Academic Power and the International Baccalaureate Diploma

ISSN 2524-8537 ISSN 2524-8545 (electronic)International Study of City Youth EducationISBN 978-3-030-80168-7 ISBN 978-3-030-80169-4 (eBook)https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80169-4

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AGThe registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Quentin Maire Centre for International Research on Education SystemsVictoria UniversityMelbourne, VIC, Australia

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Preface

This book revisits central questions in the sociology of credentials by focussing on a new type of high school certificate, the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma, a private qualification studied in over 3500 schools from more than 150 countries. It seeks to explain the history and currency of this new certificate in a context of mass credential awarding and decline in the overall social value of high school certificates (i.e. credential inflation). By developing the concept of credential market and apply-ing it systematically, the book examines what makes credentials valuable, how new credentials become appropriated by different social groups, and what this means for social inequality in education systems.

The book argues that the social logics of educational credential acquisition can only be understood if contextualised within specific credential markets. This prin-ciple applies to the IB Diploma as much as to mainstream high school certificates. Since credential markets are state-fashioned to a significant extent, and since this affects the different certificates on offer, detailed country-level analyses are indis-pensable to sociological research on emerging certificates.

In this book, the substantive analysis of the IB Diploma in high school creden-tialing systems is used as a means to progress credential theory. The empirical coor-dinates of much of the study are the Australian education system. Three chapters are international in scope to make sense of the ways in which a private certificate comes to occupy distinct positions in different credential markets. Most importantly, the logic of inquiry in these national and international contexts has bearing not only beyond Australia but also beyond the specific case of the IB Diploma.

A key argument of the book is that the distribution of academic capital (or aca-demic power), understood as specific forms of knowledge valued through curricu-lum and examination systems, presides over the making of credential value and educational inequality. Investment in the IB Diploma by students endowed with recognised academic competence (i.e. academic capital) explains how this private credential has become a distinctive high school certificate. I contend that long- standing social inequalities in the distribution of academic capital institutionalised in the stratification of school systems, the nature of cultural competence valued in the curriculum, and the unequal distribution of family resources contributing to its

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cultivation, have led to the quasi-monopolisation of the IB Diploma by middle and upper classes in Australia and internationally for its promises of academic distinction.

The argument that the appropriation of a new credential by dominant social groups as a means of educational distinction is based on the unequal distribution of recognised academic value, whilst decisive, must be supplemented with an analysis of the symbolic making of credential value. The social power of credentials always depends on recognition of their legitimacy, a fact of great importance in understand-ing the means through which new certificates come to acquire value. A specific labour of legitimation was needed for the IB Diploma to become a profitable cre-dential. I argue that this labour required an investment of social energy and has been conditioned on the dominant social positions of its promoters, users and supporters.

The different chapters offer a comprehensive analysis of the ways in which the value of a private certificate becomes defined by the education system in which it is located. Most of the analysis is new and has not been published elsewhere. The text has been constructed to flow logically from chapter to chapter, but readers interested in specific aspects of the analysis can refer to the summaries at the beginning of each chapter (included in the online version of the book on the publisher's website) to contextualise the argument made in different parts of the book.

Melbourne, VIC, Australia Quentin Maire

Preface

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Contents

1 Introduction: Revisiting Credential Sociology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1The Sociology of Educational Credentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Education Credentials and the Modern Social Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Credentials and Economic Metaphors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Credentialism as Generalised Credential Inflation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Credential Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Value in Social Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Credential Value and Belief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12From Value to Valuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Credential Legitimacy and the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14The Value of Educational Credentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Credential Distribution and Structural Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Credential Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Markets, Market Position and Market Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Credential Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Credential Market Position as Academic Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Credential Theory and the IB Diploma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Method and Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21The Argument Summarised . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

2 The IB Diploma from Globalisation to Credential Theory . . . . . . . . . 29A Global Imaginary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Shortfalls of Assumed Global Class Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Re-embedding the IB Diploma in Credential Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . 34Framing the IB Diploma Internationally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Uneven Country Distribution and Private Schooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38A Domestic and Gendered Student Recruitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Universal University Aspirations and Domestic Destinations . . . . . . . . 41The Structure of the Global IB Diploma Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

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The Differentiated Insertion of the IB Diploma Across High School Credential Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

3 The IB Diploma and the Nation-State: Positional Competition and Academic Distinction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53The United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61East and Southeast Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64South America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68The Middle East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Generalisations and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

4 The Definition of Recognised Academic Competence in Credential Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Curriculum and Educational Inequality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Credentials, Curriculum and the IB Diploma in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . 84Curriculum Hierarchy and Credential Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Curriculum Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Curriculum Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Curriculum Assemblage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Curriculum Variety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Academic Profitability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Examinations and Inequality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Academic Risk, Self-Exclusion and Credential Value Predictability . . . 98Credential Hierarchy: Student and Teacher Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100The Comparative Social Stratification of Credentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

5 Urban Schooling, Private Schooling and the IB Diploma in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Schools as Credential Retailers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110A Credential Market Within Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110The Spatial and Institutional Structures of IB Diploma Schools . . . . . . 112The IB Diploma and Private Schooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

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The Price of the IB Diploma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Explaining Schools’ Investment in the IB Diploma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

6 Resource Concentration, Social Segregation and Academic Power in IB Diploma Schools in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Resource Concentration and the IB Diploma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Social Segregation and the IB Diploma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Schools’ Academic Power and the IB Diploma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

7 Families, Credential Choice and the IB Diploma in Australia . . . . . . 153Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Families as Credential Acquirers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154The IB Diploma as an Urban Credential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Families, Private Schooling and Private Credentialing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155A Gendered Credential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Choosing the IB Diploma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161Reproduction Strategies and Family Conatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165The Price of the IB Diploma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

8 The Socio-Academic Structure of the Australian Credential Market . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173The Concentration of Academic Capital in the IB Diploma . . . . . . . . . . 174Family Social Position as a Source of Credential Market Power . . . . . . 178The Social Space of Credentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

9 Academic Power and the IB Diploma in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195The Bottleneck of High-School University Transition in Australia . . . . 195The IB Diploma and Elite University and Degree Aspirations . . . . . . . . 199Academic Power and Tertiary Admission Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Fulfilling University Aspirations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

10 The Institutionalisation of High School Credential Value . . . . . . . . . . 221Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221The Institutional Architecture and Symbolic Foundations of High School Credential Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Quantifying the Value of High School Certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

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Credential Value and the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234Credential Value Predictability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Value Codification as a Social Stake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

11 Mass Schooling, Academic Competition and the International History of the IB Diploma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245The Mythology of Origins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246The Dominance of Examination Over Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249The Social and Symbolic Capital of Early IB Promoters . . . . . . . . . . . . 254Labour of Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255A Socially and Academically Exclusive Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257From Primitive Capital Accumulation to Sustained Academic Power . . 258Explaining the Constitution of an IB Diploma Market: Mass Schooling and High School Credential Inflation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

12 Credential Stratification in a Unified Market: The History of the IB Diploma in Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283Universities: From Social to Academic Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284Massification in Secondary Education Until the 1970s . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285Massification and Credential Competition Since the 1980s . . . . . . . . . . 288Neo-Liberalising Australian Education Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293The Twenty-First Century and the Consolidation of the IB Diploma Market Segment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

13 Credential Markets and Credential Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305The Dynamics of Credentialing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306Credentials and Positionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314Credential Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320Credential Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324Credentials and the Social Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

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14 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339The Transformation of the Australian Credential Market and the IB Diploma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340Private Credentialing and Mass High School Certification Markets . . . 342Credential Market and Credential Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Appendix 1: Methodological Annex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 Appendix 2: Data Samples (Tables A.1 and A.2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356 Appendix 3: List of Recoded Categories for Course Preferences of 2006 School Leavers with ENTER Applying for Three Most in-Demand Institutions (Melbourne University, Monash University and RMIT University) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

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List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Number of IB Diploma schools in countries with at least 50 IB Diploma schools (2020) Source: International Baccalaureate Organization website........................................................................ 39

Fig. 2.2 Percentage of IB Diploma/Certificate graduates who completed their IB Diploma/Certificates in their country of (first) nationality, by country (2011–12) Source: IGI Services, The IB Diploma Programme: Graduate Destinations Surveys 2011–2012 ................ 41

Fig. 2.3 Percentage of private schools among IB Diploma schools and secondary schools, by country (2018 and 2020) Sources: PISA 2018 and International Baccalaureate Organization website........................................................................ 45

Fig. 2.4 Socioeconomic status difference between public and private school students (PISA 2018) and relative over-representation of private schools among IB Diploma schools, by country (2018 and 2020) Sources: PISA 2018 and International Baccalaureate Organization website. Note: the chart includes all countries with at least 50 IB Diploma schools in early 2020, except Ecuador and India for lack of PISA 2018 data ........... 47

Fig. 3.1 Ethnic representation in IB Diploma/Certificate relative to representation in overall senior high school student population (%, 2015–16) Source: Digest of Education Statistics 2018 (Snyder et al., 2019) for the ethnic profile of US students in grades 9–12 in 2016 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data for the ethnic profile of IB enrolment for the 2015–16 school year .................................................................. 58

Fig. 4.1 Percentage of Australian twelfth grade students studying different curriculum areas (2013) Source: ACARA (2016) ............. 89

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Fig. 4.2 Academic profitability of IB Diploma subjects (2019) Source: International Baccalaureate (2020) Note: the graph includes all subjects with at least 1000 candidates. Subjects labelled ‘A’ are Group 1 subjects; subjects labelled ‘B’ are Group 2 subjects; subjects labelled ‘Ab.’ are Ab Initio language subjects (i.e. foreign language initiation); ‘Lit’ refers to Literature and ‘Lal’ refers to Language and Literature. The curriculum area to which a subject belongs is indicated in brackets. ‘SL’ are standard level subjects and ‘HL’ are higher level subjects ......................................................................... 94

Fig. 4.3 Percentage of candidates scoring 4 or above, by IB Diploma subject area (2019) Source: International Baccalaureate (2020) ..... 95

Fig. 4.4 Academic profitability of commonly studied twelfth grade VCE subjects (2019) Source: VCE 2019 Unit Completion Outcomes data and VTAC (2019) Note: the graph includes all subjects with at least 2000 candidates. The number of candidates refers to the number of students completing the highest unit (typically Unit 4) in a given subject. The scaling of VCE studies is analysed below ................................ 96

Fig. 4.5 Percentage of IB Diploma students who agree or strongly agree with comparative statements on the IB Diploma (2015) Source: IB Diploma student survey, 2015 ..................................... 101

Fig. 5.1 Percentage of IB Diploma schools offering study programmes for one or two high school academic certificates, by school sector (2018) Source: IB Diploma school websites ....................... 111

Fig. 5.2 Distribution of high schools and IB Diploma schools across urban and non-urban areas (2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: only high schools offering a twelfth-grade programme are included in the analysis ............................................................ 113

Fig. 5.3 Schools offering the IB Diploma in Melbourne (2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: the grey shaded area represents Melbourne, using the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ ‘Urban Centre and Locality’ definition ......................... 114

Fig. 5.4 Schools offering the IB Diploma in Sydney (2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: the grey shaded area represents Sydney, using the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ ‘Urban Centre and Locality’ definition .......................................... 115

Fig. 5.5 Mean twelfth grade enrolments in high schools, by IB Diploma status and school sector (2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: only high schools offering a twelfth-grade programme are included in the analysis ......................................... 117

Fig. 5.6 Mean school percentage of LBOTE students, by IB Diploma status (2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: only high schools offering a twelfth-grade programme are included in the analysis ................................................................................. 119

List of Figures

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Fig. 5.7 Distribution of high schools and IB Diploma schools across Australia’s three schooling sectors (2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: only high schools offering a twelfth-grade programme are included in the analysis ......................................... 123

Fig. 6.1 Average annual senior secondary tuition fees charged by IB Diploma schools, by state (AU$, 2019) Source: IB Diploma school website data ........................................................................ 138

Fig. 6.2 Percentage of high schools and IB Diploma schools with ICSEA (socio-educational advantage) scores above selected thresholds (2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: only high schools offering a twelfth-grade programme are included in the analysis ........................................................................................... 141

Fig. 6.3 Mean ICSEA (socio-educational advantage) score of high schools, by IB Diploma status and sector (2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: only high schools offering a twelfth-grade programme are included in the analysis ......................................... 142

Fig. 6.4 Mean percentage of students from each socioeconomic quarter, by IB Diploma status of high school (weighted, 2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: only high schools offering a twelfth-grade programme are included in the analysis ............... 144

Fig. 6.5 Mean percentage of students from each socioeconomic quarter in high schools, by sector (weighted, 2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: only high schools offering a twelfth-grade programme are included in the analysis. The graph excludes Catholic schools as only one Catholic school offers the IB Diploma ..................................................................................... 145

Fig. 6.6 Mean percentage of students from each socioeconomic quarter in IB Diploma schools, by sector (weighted, 2018) Source: ACARA school data. ......................................................... 146

Fig. 6.7 Percentage of students in the two highest achievement bands in NAPLAN (national standardised test) grade 9 grammar, by IB Diploma status of high school (2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: only high schools offering a twelfth-grade programme are included in the analysis ......................................... 149

Fig. 6.8 Percentage of students in the two highest achievement bands in NAPLAN (national standardised test) grade 9 numeracy, by IB Diploma status of high school (2018) Source: ACARA school data Note: only high schools offering a twelfth-grade programme are included in the analysis ......................................... 149

Fig. 7.1 Victorian high school certificate acquirers, by credential and geolocation of school attended (%, 2017) Source: On Track 2017 survey data Note: VET refers to vocational education and training. VCAL refers to the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, a vocationally oriented alternative to the Victorian Certificate of Education ....................................................................................... 155

List of Figures

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Fig. 7.2 Distribution of high school students and IB Diploma students across school sectors (%, 1998–2017) Source: Longitudinal Study of Australian Youth (LSAY) data ......................................... 156

Fig. 7.3 Victorian high school certificate acquirers, by credential and school sector (%, 2017) Source: On Track 2017 survey data Note: VET refers to vocational education and training. VCAL refers to the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, a vocationally oriented alternative to the Victorian Certificate of Education ................................................................................... 157

Fig. 7.4 Senior high school students and IB Diploma students, by gender (%, 1998–2017) Source: LSAY data .................................. 158

Fig. 7.5 Percentage of Australian PISA 2015 students who (strongly) agree with the following statements, by gender (weighted, 2015) Source: OECD PISA 2015 data ..................................................... 160

Fig. 8.1 Percentage of students receiving high scores (bands 9 and 10) in NAPLAN (national standardised test) competencies in ninth grade, by IB Diploma and parental education status (2012) Source: IB Diploma 2015 survey data and NAPLAN National Report for 2012 (ACARA, 2012). Note: IB Diploma students’ NAPLAN results are self-reported. ................................................................. 175

Fig. 8.2 LSAY twelfth grade and PISA 2012 students’ mean PISA mathematics, reading and science test scores, by IB Diploma status (2003–2017) Source: LSAY data and PISA 2012 data ........ 177

Fig. 8.3 Twelfth grade students’ mean scores in PISA mathematics, reading and science tests, by IB Diploma status (2003–2017) Source: LSAY data ......................................................................... 178

Fig. 8.4 Socioeconomic status of Victorian twelfth grade students, by credential (%, 2017) Source: On Track 2017 survey data Note: VCE refers to the Victorian Certificate of Education, VCAL to the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, and VET refers to vocational education and training (see Chap. 4) ..... 182

Fig. 8.5 Socioeconomic status of Victorian metropolitan non-Catholic private school twelfth grade students, by credential (%, 2017) Source: On Track 2017 survey data ............................................... 183

Fig. 8.6 Percentage of Australian adults and IB Diploma students’ parents who completed a bachelor’s degree or above, by gender (2015) Source: IB Diploma student survey data and Australian Bureau of Statistics Education and Work data (ABS, 2019). ..................... 188

Fig. 8.7 Percentage of university-qualified parents among twelfth grade students, by parent and IB Diploma status (2003–2017) Source: LSAY data ......................................................................... 189

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Fig. 9.1 Hierarchical structure of the Victorian university selection market based on mean tertiary admission score of students’ first preferences and offers (2006–07) Source: VTAC 2006–07 tertiary admission data (unpublished), CIRES, Victoria University Note: the analysis excludes non-university tertiary institutions as well as the Australian Catholic University and Charles Sturt University as these are not primarily Victoria-based. The University of Ballarat is now known as Federation University Australia ....................................................................... 198

Fig. 9.2 Percentage of Australian students expecting to complete a university degree (PISA 10th grade or above students) or enrol at university in the following year (12th grade IB Diploma students) (weighted, 2015) Source: PISA 2015 data and IB Diploma 2015 survey data Note: for PISA, the data refers to the level of education students expect to complete. University refers to bachelor’s degrees or above. The results are weighted using the w_fstuwt variable. For the IB Diploma student survey, the data refers to twelfth grade students’ enrolment plans for the following year. Differences in university intentions among the IB Diploma cohort in LSAY (previous table) and in the IB Diploma-specific survey (this figure) are due to the time coverage of the data, which is more recent and focussed for the IB Diploma-specific survey ............................................................................................. 202

Fig. 9.3 University preference of twelfth grade IB students’ aspirations (2015) Source: IB Diploma 2015 survey data Note: when several institutions were mentioned by the student, the first one was retained for the analysis ................................................................. 203

Fig. 9.4 Percentage of student applying for the most in-demand Victorian higher education institutions, by IB Diploma status (first preference, 2006) Source: VTAC 2006–07 tertiary admission data (unpublished), CIRES, Victoria University ........... 204

Fig. 9.5 Percentage of school leavers with an ENTER scores above three thresholds, by high school credential (%, 2006–07) Source: VTAC 2006–07 tertiary admission data (unpublished), CIRES, Victoria University ......................................................................... 211

Fig. 9.6 Percentage of 2006 school leavers applying for university through VTAC having their first preference met, by high school credential (%, 2006–07) Source: VTAC 2006–07 tertiary admission data (unpublished), CIRES, Victoria University ........... 214

Fig. 9.7 Rate of offers made to first preferences submitted for VCE/VCAL and IB Diploma graduates applying to the three most in-demand Victorian universities (2006–07) Source: VTAC 2006–07 tertiary admission data (unpublished), CIRES, Victoria University ............................................................ 215

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Fig. 11.1 IB schools presenting candidates for the IB Diploma/Certificates, 1975–2019 (N, May and November examination sessions) Source: IB Diploma statistical bulletin series Note: the data point values displayed on the chart correspond to the calendar years displayed on the horizontal axis, except for the final value which represents the number of IB Diploma schools in 2019 ....... 263

Fig. 11.2 IB Diploma and Certificate candidates, 1975–2019 (N, May and November examination sessions) Source: IB Diploma statistical bulletin series Note: the final data point values displayed on the chart show the number of IB Diploma and IB Diploma/Certificate candidates in 2019 .......................................................................... 264

Fig. 12.1 Schools offering secondary education compared to base year of 1984, by sector, 1984–2018 (indexed) Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Schools, Australia time series Note: in the base year (1984) when the number of schools is set to 100 in each sector, there were 1559 public schools, 464 private Catholic schools and 365 non-Catholic private schools ............................................ 294

Fig. 12.2 FTE students in public and private school compared to base year of 1975, by sector, 1975–2018 (indexed) Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Schools, Australia time series Note: in the base year (1975) when the number of full-time equivalent students is set to 100 in each sector, there were 2.3 million public school students and 620 thousand private school students ................................................................... 295

Fig. 12.3 Number of IB Diploma schools in Australia, 1978–2020 Source: IB Organization website ................................................... 298

Fig. 12.4 Conversion of IB Diploma scores into tertiary admission scores, 1999–2019 Source: Coleman (2009) for 1999 and 2009 data, Universities Admissions Centre (UAC) for 2019 data Note: the 1999 and 2009 data refer to South Australia’s Tertiary Entrance Ranks (TER) and the 2019 data refers to the country-wide notional Australian Tertiary Admission Ranks (ATARs) .............................................................................. 299

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List of Tables

Table 2.1 Top 12 countries in number of candidates presented at the IB Diploma examinations (%, May and November 2018) ................. 40

Table 2.2 Top five universities attended by IB Diploma/Certificate graduates, by country of school attended (2011–12) ..................... 42

Table 5.1 Average enrolments in high schools, by IB Diploma status (2018) ................................................................. 116

Table 5.2 Percentage of high schools offering the IB Diploma, by state and sector (2018) ............................................................ 121

Table 5.3 Percentage of high schools in major cities offering the IB Diploma, by state and sector (2018) ............................................ 123

Table 6.1 Average income of high schools, by IB Diploma status (AU$, 2017) ................................................................................. 134

Table 6.2 Average staffing levels in high schools, by IB Diploma status (2018) ................................................................................ 135

Table 6.3 Lowest, highest and average annual senior secondary tuition fees in Victorian private schools and Victorian IB Diploma private schools, by region (AU$, 2019) ........................ 139

Table 6.4 Average ICSEA (socio-educational advantage) score of high schools, by IB Diploma status (2018) ............................. 140

Table 6.5 Mean NAPLAN (national standardised test) grade 9 scores of high schools, by IB Diploma status (weighted, 2018) ............ 147

Table 7.1 Victorian twelfth grade certificate acquirers, by credential and gender (%, 2015 and 2017) ................................................... 158

Table 7.2 Students’ reasons for enrolling in the IB Diploma (%, 2015) ..... 162

Table 8.1 Percentage of twelfth grade students self-assessing as doing ‘very well’ or ‘better than average’ compared to most students in their year level at school, by IB Diploma status (1998–2012) ...................................................................... 174

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Table 8.2 Twelfth grade students’ mean Index of economic, social and cultural status (ESCS), by IB Diploma status and LSAY cohort (2003–2017) ..................................................................... 184

Table 8.3 Parental occupation of Queensland public school students (%, 2013) and IB Diploma students (%, 2015) ........................... 186

Table 8.4 Twelfth grade students’ mean WEALTH score, by IB Diploma status and LSAY cohort (2006–2017) .......................... 187

Table 8.5 Twelfth grade students’ mean CULTPOSS score, by IB Diploma status and LSAY cohort (2006–2017) .......................... 190

Table 8.6 Twelfth grade students’ mean HEDRES score, by IB Diploma status and LSAY cohort (2006–2017) .......................... 191

Table 9.1 Hierarchical structure of the Victorian university selection market based on undergraduate first preferences and offers (%, 2019) ..................................................................................... 197

Table 9.2 Post-secondary intentions of twelfth grade students, by IB Diploma status (%, 1998–2017) ........................................ 200

Table 9.3 Selected first course preferences of 2006 school leavers applying for a course in one of the three most in-demand Victorian universities, by high school credential (%, 2006) ........ 206

Table 9.4 Selected first course preferences of 2006 school leavers from IB Diploma schools applying for university through VTAC, by high school credential (%, 2006) ............................... 209

Table 9.5 ENTER score of 2006 high school completers applying to enrol in Victorian higher education through VTAC, by high school credential (2006–07) ........................................... 210

Table 9.6 ENTER score of 2006 high school completers from IB Diploma schools applying to enrol in Victorian higher education through VTAC, by high school credential (2006–07) .................................................................................... 213

Table 9.7 Percentage of offers made by the three Victorian universities making the most offers to 2006 school leavers, by university and high school credential (%, 2006–07) .................................... 216

Table 9.8 Selected offers made to 2006 school leavers through VTAC by the three most offer- making Victorian universities (combined), by high school credential (%, 2006–07) ................. 216

Table 9.9 Selected offers made to 2006 school leavers from IB Diploma schools through VTAC by the three most offer-making Victorian universities (combined), by high school credential (%, 2006–07) ................................................... 218

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Table 10.1 Conversion of selected IB Diploma scores into notional ATARs, 2010–2019 ........................................................ 238

Table 12.1 Apparent retention to twelfth grade, by school sector, 1968–1999 ................................................................................... 295

Table A.1 Australian IB Diploma student survey sample (2015) ................ 356Table A.2 Distribution of twelfth grade students across LSAY cohorts

(n, 1998–2017) ............................................................................ 356

List of Tables

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About the Author

Quentin  Maire is a French-Australian research fellow in the Centre for International Research on Education Systems at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. He is a recognised scholar in educational sociology, international educa-tion and comparative education. He completed his PhD on the International Baccalaureate (IB) in 2016 and has published in various academic outlets, including in International Studies in Sociology of Education, Educational Review and Discourse. His work uses both quantitative and qualitative research methods and combines empirical analysis and theory building. He is developing an original soci-ological agenda to propose new ways of understanding social inequality in educa-tion systems. He is currently co-authoring a comprehensive volume on educational inequality with Stephen Lamb and Esther Doecke. The book builds on the large- scale International Study of City Youth (ISCY) project and will be published with Springer in 2022.