the international baccalaureate diploma programme in post-colonial mauritius: reaffirming local...
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This article was downloaded by: [Newcastle University]On: 19 December 2014, At: 23:53Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
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The International BaccalaureateDiploma Programme in post-colonialMauritius: reaffirming local identitiesand knowledgesMico Poonoosamy aa Faculty of Education, Monash University , Melbourne, AustraliaPublished online: 01 Apr 2010.
To cite this article: Mico Poonoosamy (2010) The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programmein post-colonial Mauritius: reaffirming local identities and knowledges, Asia Pacific Journal ofEducation, 30:1, 15-30, DOI: 10.1080/02188790903503569
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The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in post-colonialMauritius: reaffirming local identities and knowledges
Mico Poonoosamy*
Faculty of Education, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
(Received 15 June 2009; accepted 19 August 2009)
The world becoming a global village is a recurrent notion, but for the learner, where tosituate oneself intellectually and culturally remains a crucial issue. The challengesare complex for former colonized states of Africa in the quest of a national identityafter colonial rule. The transition from a national educational programme to a (more)recognized internationalized programme, the International Baccalaureate DiplomaProgramme, is a demanding task. Yet, to achieve this necessitates going beyond one’sgeographical location and assimilating a dominant culture through knowledge. Thepaper presents a review of the existing research on the International BaccalaureateProgramme and its impact on local students’ identities and knowledges in formercolonized states in Africa with a focus on Mauritius, a former French and Britishcolony. While also arguing that the International Baccalaureate functions in the matrixof the Westernized knowledge industry, privileged knowledges and identities in theInternational Baccalaureate Diploma Programme are discussed.
Keywords: globalization; international baccalaureate; post-colonialism; knowledge;identity
Mauritius and its educational landscape
Mauritius has the seventh highest adult literacy rate in Africa (84.3%) and a sustained
youth (15–24 years) literacy rate of over 95% from 1995 to 2009 (United Nations, 2009).
Between 2004 and 2008, 12.7% to 14.1% of government spending went to education
(Ministry of Education & Scientific Research, Mauritius, 2009). The elitist academic class
and high working class can read and write English, and 80% of the population can speak at
least two of the five most spoken languages in the island – Creole Morisien, Bhojpuri,
French, English and Hindi (Stein, 1997). English is associated with knowledge, French
with culture, Creole Morisien with egalitarianism, Bhojpuri with the rural area, and other
languages with ancestral heritage. Creole is the most widely spoken language in the
country, French predominates in the media, and English is the official language of
government and school instruction (Chiba, 2006; Mauritius Institute of Teaching, 2009;
Stein, 1997). Mauritius was colonized both by the French (1515–1810) and the English
(1810–1968). The country gained independence from the British in 1968 and became a
republic in 1992. The country’s colonial heritage can still be distinctively perceived in the
educational arena where, from 1968 till 1990, the only two secondary schooling options
available to Mauritian students were the Cambridge High School Certificate (HSC) and
the French Baccalaureate.
ISSN 0218-8791 print/ISSN 1742-6855 online
q 2010 National Institute of Education, Singapore
DOI: 10.1080/02188790903503569
http://www.informaworld.com
*Email: [email protected]
Asia Pacific Journal of Education
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In 1990, the first international school opened its doors and offered the International
Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). A second IBDP school followed in 2004.
There are three French Baccalaureate schools. These are French institutions based
overseas and are administered in the same way as in French overseas departments and
territories. The two IB schools have very much kept an Anglo-Saxon administration.
Indeed, all the school principals (except for the founder member of the first IB school, who
is Mauritian) have been foreigners from Western countries: England, Ireland and Canada.
The students in the local IBDP schools, aged 12 to 19, comprise 30 different nationalities.
Local students are ethnically (but not economically) representative of the Mauritian
society as a whole. Tikly writes:
Colonial education was also highly selective and elitist in the opportunities it offered forsecondary and higher education and was, therefore, deeply implicated in the formation ofindigenous elites who (after independence) in turn have become part of the emerging globalelite. (2001, p. 158)
In Mauritius, the IB is reserved for the economic elite. The two IB schools’ medium of
instruction is English. They offer French as a foreign and first language at all levels, from
Form 1 to Form 7, (UK Years 7–13, US Grades 6–12), that is, from the start to the end of
the secondary schooling programme.
The applicability of the IB for Mauritius is justified in the hopes of having an education
system different to the ones that have been inherited from colonial rule. Yet Tikly writes
that “colonial education . . . has provided the basis on which postcolonial reform efforts
have had to build . . . colonial forms of schooling and the pedagogies and forms of
knowledge that they engendered have proved remarkably resistant to change” (2001,
p. 157). In Mauritius, the preferred systems are French and British, both inherited. Sadly,
there is no Mauritian system as such. For Mauritians, the appeal of the Diploma
programme proposed by the two IB schools resides in a comparatively more pronounced
international etiquette than what the more classical British HSC and French Baccalaureate
programmes can offer.
International education
While the phrase “international education” has been in existence for over a century
(Walker, 2002), and the concept can be traced as far back as Socrates, via Montaigne
(Walker, 2000; Wilkinson, 1998), it has yet to acquire a consistent meaning (Cambridge &
Thompson, 2004; Hayden & Thompson, 1995a, 1995b, 1998; Hayden, Rancic, &
Thompson, 2000; Hayden, Thompson, & Walker, 2002; Pasternak, 1998). Even the
Director General of the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) is apparently
unsure what it is (Walker, 2002, p. 20). More developments are outlined by Peterson
(1972, 1987), Hayden and Thompson (1995b), Walker (2002), Sylvester (2001, 2002),
Hill (2003), Heyward (2002), and Crossley and Watson (2003). They posit that
international education is the encouragement given to individuals to improve the state
of the world. Also agreed upon is “international mindedness” as an essential aspect of
international education because it is the accompanying acceptance of the responsibility to
do so (Haywood, 2007) and as a means to further democratize human rights (Myers &
Williams, 1954; UNESCO, 2002) and bridging cultures (Bochner, 1981; Euwema & van
Emmerik, 2007; Wachter, 2003). International education is contemporarily explained
and understood as a process, that of the internationalization of education. For instance,
Knight (1994) writes that internationalization is the “process approach of integrating an
international/intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions . . . and delivery
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of education” (p. 7). Linking the notion of international education to the contemporary
relevance of the knowledge society, Knight underlines the “increased importance attached
to the production and use of knowledge as a wealth creator for nations” (p. 76). Soderqvist
(2002) views international education as the “inclusion of an international dimension in all
aspects of its holistic management in order to enhance the quality of teaching and learning
to achieve the desired competencies” (p. 29).
The IBO defines “international education” according to the following criteria:
† Developing citizens of the world in relation to culture, language and learning to livetogether
† Building and reinforcing students’ sense of identity and cultural awareness† Fostering students’ recognition and development of universal human values† Stimulating curiosity and inquiry in order to foster a spirit of discovery and enjoyment of
learning† Equipping students with the skills to learn and acquire knowledge, individually or
collaboratively, and to apply these skills and knowledge accordingly across a broadrange of areas
† Providing international content while responding to local requirements and interests† Encouraging diversity and flexibility in teaching methods† Providing appropriate forms of assessment and international benchmarking. (IBO,
2009a)
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme curriculum model
The Diploma Programme for students aged 16 to 19 is a two-year curriculum that leads to
a qualification that is recognized by leading universities around the world. The diploma
curriculum is modelled as a hexagon with six academic areas surrounding three core
requirements (see Tables 1 and 2) (IBO, 2009b).
A context for the International Baccalaureate
“The International Baccalaureate Organization aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable
and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through
intercultural understanding and respect” (IBO, 2008e). The IB, with its global curriculum
and associated assessment processes, is spreading rapidly throughout many countries of
the world (Paris, 2003). It presents itself as an alternative to local assessment and
curriculum offerings. “It thereby offers a clear example of the globalization of knowledge
and the knowledge industry” (Paris, 2003, p. 3). South Africa in the south, Russia in
the north and the east, and Iceland in the west mark the borders of the IB
Table 1. The three core requirements.
Subjects Description and aims
Extended essay A topic of individual interest acquaintingstudents with the independent research andwriting skills expected at tertiary level
Theory of knowledge (TOK) Exploration of the nature of knowledgeacross all disciplines, through an appreciationof other cultural perspectives
Creativity, action, service (CAS) Involvement in artistic pursuits, sports andcommunity service work, fostering awareness andappreciation of life outside the academic arena
Source: (IBO, 2009b)
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Africa/Europe/Middle East region. In 2008, there were more than 620 schools in 79
countries teaching one or more of the three IB programmes in the Africa/Europe/Middle
East region. All three IB official languages – English, French and Spanish – are
represented among the IB World Schools in this region where the growth rate has been
10–15% over the last five years (IBO, 2008b).
The International Baccalaureate in post-colonial Mauritius
The African region has generally been the theatre of political turmoil and economic
recession during the past seven decades (World Bank, 2000) and education, from colonial
times to the present day, remains a gateway for improved standards of living (Grant Lewis,
2006). Like many other colonized states of Africa, Mauritius needs to assimilate the
rhetorical existential representations of the world to be identified internationally. The
potency of this requirement is enhanced by the island’s geographical smallness and
relative remoteness. The IB provides one gateway to a locally acquired education that is
recognized worldwide and where “student results are determined by performance against
set standards, not by each student’s position in the overall rank order” (IBO, 2008d). So,
through the international and external assessment of the IBDP, Mauritian students are able
to conquer the world academically and pursue their tertiary education without the
colonially academically-inherited tag of secondary schooling – yet a schooling whose
benefits have been the relative high proficiency in English and French, two of the three
official languages of the IB. The rigorous, exam-orientated and syllabus-centred inherited
British and French schooling systems would also facilitate the transition of local students
to the IBDP framework with the added promising prospect of valuing local knowledge.
Table 2. The six groups.
Groups Description and aims
Group 1: Language A1 The study of literature ina student’s first language, including thestudy of selections of world literature
Group 2: Second language Promotion of an understanding ofanother culture through the studyof a second language
Group 3: Individuals and societies Learning about human experience andbehaviour, the varieties of physical,economic and social environments thatpeople inhabit and the historyof social and cultural institutions
Group 4: Experimental sciences Acquisition of scientific knowledge andmethods and learn about theenvironmental, social and ethicalimplications of science
Group 5: Mathematics and computerscience
Development of knowledge, concepts andprinciples towards logical, critical andcreative thinking and employ andrefine their powers of abstractionand generalization
Group 6: The arts Encouraging creativity in the contextof disciplined, practical researchinto film, music, theatre and visual arts
Source: (IBO, 2009b)
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The IB provides Mauritian students with those means to access and implement a
curriculum which, for Hill “represents the best from many different countries rather than
the exported national system of any one” (2006, p. 101). Yet this educational aspiration,
though noble and grandiloquent, is vague, and the best from many different countries may
still be decided by the Western knowledge industry. For instance, the education in Africa,
though acquired locally, is not truly local, as what is being taught in the IB curriculum is
influenced by the worldwide mechanisms of the normalization of educational standards
and benchmarks. These benchmarks are often not relevant to the local cultural and
intellectual values. This may be explained by many different factors – geopolitical and
historical, amongst others.
Latouche (1996) and Gandhi (1998) argue that the rise of the West to world domination
has brought widespread social, cultural and material destruction in its wake, and that global
uniformity has its limitations and poses many dilemmas – the most complex from a post-
colonial perspective being to develop a national identity after colonial rule. Identity, argues
Gandhi, is often reclaimed from the colonizer. Yet, ironically, for sustainable economic
stability through trade prospects and networking with the world, strong connections are
maintained with the former colonizers. The decolonization process is sometimes neither
complete nor desirable in absolute terms. For Mauritius, for instance, the historical ties
with England and France are maintained in the educational field. This is to facilitate entry
of secondary students to universities worldwide through the acquisition of a secondary
qualification which is internationally recognized. In 2009, 41 years after independence, out
of the 189 secondary institutions in the island, 185 continue to adopt the Cambridge HSC
programme. Most exam scripts of students from these Mauritian institutions are still sent to
England to be marked and certificates are granted from England. Two other schools, which
are implanted French schools, offer the French Baccalaureate. This programme prepares
students for university studies in France. The remaining two schools offer the IB
Programme. The two IB schools, also, in many ways, hold very strongly to the mentioned
historical tie and, despite the diploma being an international one, the schools’
administrations have always preferred the school’s principal to be a foreigner, that is, a
non-Mauritian. Also, as underlined by Neumann (2004), taking Mauritius as a case study
for research from a post-colonial perspective:
Colonial societies were usually stratified according to “race” and those who occupied aprivileged position in British colonies did so not least because of their ancestry and its visualevidence. Even if held in low regard on account of their race by their European compatriots,those of partly European descent usually identified with the colonial masters rather than witheither the country’s indigenous people or those whose ancestors had been imported as slavesor indentured labourers. They considered themselves to be “white”, to be Europeans, ratherthan Asians or Africans. (pp. 2–3)
Srilata (2007) also depicts the history of concurrent colonial forces and free and forced
migrations, describing racial tension in Mauritius and other post-colonies. The statuses of
races and ethnicities streamlined from the colonial heritage of Mauritius have long created
a geopolitical battlefield where subtleties in different complex ethnographic identities
exist. More developments are outlined by Collen (2001), Carter and Torabully (2002),
Kern (2004), Rajah-Carrim (2007), Allen (2008) and Benedict (2008), who describe the
Mauritian complex colonial history and national and transnational identities before and
after independence. In ideal terms, an international education as defined above should go as
far beyond geographical configuration as national boundaries, and the potential envisaged
by the international Africa/Europe/Middle East regional office is evidenced below:
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“We are a region with a wealth of cultural and linguistic varieties that provide an ideal
platform for a discussion about the nature of international education” (IBO, 2008b).
This educational aspiration can be linked to Hill’s vision of an internationally-minded
school that embraces the following international education components while proclaiming
international education:
† understanding cultural identities across national frontiers,† knowledge about global issues and the interdependence of nations,† critical thinking skills applied to trans-national issues and world cultures, and† an appreciation of the human condition around the world. (2006, p. 99)
Hill (2006) argues that “it is the attitude of mind reflected in both the teaching and
administration of the school, rather than the cultural composition or location, which is
important” (p. 98). Hagoort (1994) also claims that the Diploma Programme has
developed “from a programme for international schools, to an international programme for
schools” (p. 11). His argument underlines perfectly the internationalization of the IB
curriculum. Peterson (1972) claims that those involved in the development of the IB set
out to create an educational programme that would provide students with a sense of
international understanding and citizenship. However, there are outstanding issues as to
what extent the IB is Westernized as opposed to truly internationally-minded and whether
it globalizes more than it internationalizes. In addition to these potential biases, a further
issue for former colonized states of Africa is whether ultimately the aspiration for an
international education through the IB is a healthy and relevant process of decolonization
and thereby a means to affirm their identities. In an educational context, decolonization
would ideally lead to the incorporation of local knowledge within the curriculum. The
aspiration of the IB is consistent with an educational programme that would facilitate this
process of decolonization and recognition of all identities. Indeed, the IB Programme
encourages students to “develop a strong sense of their own identity and culture” (IBO,
2008c).
The International Baccalaureate, globalization and internationalization
It is relevant at this stage to clarify the terms “globalization” and “internationalization”.
Both are different but related processes. Held, McGrew, Goldblatt, and Perraton (1999)
define globalization as:
a process (or set of processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatial organizationof social relations and transactions – assessed in terms of their extensity, intensity, velocityand impact – generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity,interaction, and the exercise of power. (p. 16)
Knight and de Wit (1997) further suggest that “globalisation affects each country in a
different way due to a nation’s individual history, traditions, culture and priorities” (p. 6),
but Knight (2003) maintains that “internationalisation is a meaningless term without a
conscious effort to integrate an intercultural dimension into the teaching, research and
service of the institution”. The power referred to by Herd et al. is expressed in the recessive
relation of the Western world towards the non-Western world. This recessive relation is
even more pronounced towards the former African colonial states. The overpowering
influence of the West and its ideological discourses are embraced by the IB and the
transformation in the spatial organization refers directly to the slogan of the IB exercising
the same academic benchmarks and standards in countries “irrespective of their
geographical location”. In that respect, former colonized states of Africa undergo the
ideological and educational setbacks of globalization through the substitution of their local
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values, beliefs and knowledges for more overpowering contemporary Western credos.
Their only hope to retain their identities and local knowledges without lagging behind in
regard to the global/international flow of the knowledge development is through a healthy
internationalization process. According to Kalantzis and Cope (1997) and Kalantzis, Cope
and Howard (1997), a key to internationalization is the recognition and valuing of global
diversity and the capacity to understand and respond to cultural differences, with a
combination of local and global values, such as openness, tolerance, multicultural
awareness and cosmopolitanism. For IB learners all around the world, and perhaps more
importantly for those in the post-colonial world, educational globalization represents
opportunities to acquire the rhetoric and understanding of the knowledge transmission
mechanism of the Western world as well as international recognition through a system of
administered knowledge that is international in its form. The IBDP presents such an
opportunity. Yet, though global in its ideologies, international in its discourses, the IBDP
remains Western in essence. Kress affirms that “internationalisation means that the generic
forms and with these, the social values and forms of organisations travel without let or
hindrance from one cultural place to another totally different place” (1996, p. 190).
Taylor notes that “internationalization” refers more to “multi-lateral relationships
between nation states whereas ‘globalization’ focuses on the supranational level and tends
to be interpreted as an ideology which privileges market approaches to public policy
making” (2003, p. 138). Gough (2003) also distinguishes between internationalization and
globalization:
producing a global knowledge economy in/for an internationalized curriculum field can beunderstood as creating transnational “spaces” in which local knowledge traditions can beperformed together, rather than trying to create a global common market in whichrepresentations of local knowledge must be translated into, or exchanged for, the terms of auniversal discourse. (p. 54)
The key notions linked to globalization and internationalization are knowledge and
identity. But these “transnational spaces” defined by Gough are ignored by the IB. The
IBDP’s mission statement is noble as it prepares students for university and encourages
them to “develop the ability to communicate with and understand people from other
countries and cultures” (IBO, 2008f); however, lacking in post-colonial Africa are practical
strategies and incentives directed at the recognition of the culture, intrinsic knowledge and
identities. What is being taught and learnt in the IBDP is the knowledge and understanding
to integrate a powerful culture, in this case Western, without recognition of local identity
and knowledge. The negative connotations of the term “globalization” are reiterated
by Smith (2003) who underlines that “globalisation is fraught with various new kinds
of identity crises, ranging from eroding senses of national identity to unprecedented
losses of indigenous languages and cultures under the homogenizing pressures of global
capital” (p. 36).
The issues of internationalization, globalization, identities and knowledge are at the
heart of the debate about the IB, so are the challenges of decolonization and realities of
post-colonization for African states that have opted for the IBDP. These colonized states,
like Mauritius, attempt, through an international education, to affirm a post-colonial
identity while renewing the perception and understanding of modern history. The IB, in its
discourses, could be a relevant pathway to do so. But Paris states that “each culture that
chooses to run with the IB-DP [diploma programme] potentially relinquishes its values
and practices of education in exchange for those of the western world” (2003, p. 235).
Paris even insists that “from this perspective, the IB-DP is very much a process
of globalization rather than a process of internationalization . . . the homogenization of
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educational ideas which subsumes cultural and national diversity” (pp. 235–242). On the
other hand, Peterson (1987) suggests that “IB leaves much room for the national
curriculum”, that “IB programs do not seek to supplant or over-ride national systems;
national (government and private) and international schools choose to do them or not”
(p. 97). This argument is rather simplistic; if the benchmarks of knowledge are
Westernized, then the national curriculum has at heart to assimilate these Western
standards to guarantee the success of IBDP students, irrespective of their geographical
location. This is the case for students in Mauritius, whether they opt for the Cambridge
HSC, the French Baccalaureate or the IB.
For the IB, the equation is simple: if one chooses success in the IBDP, then one has to
understand that the measure of success is itself Westernized. But Paris still argues that “IB
programs are developed by sharing ideas amongst practicing teachers and curriculum writers
from different corners of the globe and program committees, representing different cultures,
(making) collective decisions about curriculum, assessment and pedagogical approaches”
(p. 117). Nonetheless, the Westernization of knowledge is not a geographical debate;
collectivism invites IBDP teachers and students to gather around a Western set of cultural
and pedagogical practices, rather than acknowledging local knowledge and identities. Wylie
(2008) suggests that “students from non Western countries (and their parents) see a Western
education as a means towards accessing international elite institutions” (p. 5). Hill, however,
argues that the reason why non-Western countries opt for the IB to “qualify to attend
universities in North America, the United Kingdom or Australia . . . is because they develop
intercultural understanding” (2006, p. 105). In essence, is it intercultural understanding or
rather cultural assimilation that allows integration into the universities in the mentioned
countries? Hill suggests that these non-Western students and their parents represent “those
of the national culture who see value in international connections and moving beyond their
own frontiers” (p. 107). Hill even insists that the mentioned non-Western students adopt
Maalouf’s (2000) “multiple allegiances” approach to other cultures: “They have an enriched
international, cultural perspective in which their own culture is an important point of
reference for understanding the others” (Hill, 2006, p. 107).
Walker states that “the educational philosophy of the IB is monocultural” (2002, p. 51).
Hill (2006) concedes that Western education, whether deliberately to Westerners or not,
makes “key assumptions about the nature of the learner, the nature of knowledge and the
goal of education” (p. 25). These assumptions, for former African colonies, basically
perpetuate the colonization process through education. It would seem, rather, that the
nature of the learner relates to the identity of the learner. The nature of knowledge relates
to the relative place of certain knowledges within a specific context. That context, in this
case, is the IB. While the goal of the IB education is internationalization, the Western
orientations of the IB tend to favour globalization rather than internationalization. The
global is hence defined by the West and assimilated, customized and negotiated by the IB
schools to integrate a culture of power through a Western knowledge. They do so
irrespective of their geographical location. For Hayden et al. (2000), the IB is a valid claim
for international education. Those who consider their education international claim an
“international attitude” or “multicultural awareness” as its defining feature (Kohls &
Knight, 1994). But the orientations of this “international attitude” and this “multicultural
awareness” are obscure in the African context. What is their relationship with local
knowledges and local identities in the IBDP?
It is necessary at this stage to define the West. Although the West can be depicted as a
distinct regional entity, it is restrictive to think of it in territorial and geographical terms.
Balagangadhara and de Roover (2007, pp. 67–92) argue that the West has emerged as
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“the becoming of a people”. Berman also writes: “The West . . . is not to be found by
recourse to a compass. Geographical boundaries help to locate it, but they shift from time
to time . . . It is not, however, simply an idea, it is a community” (1983, p. 2). Similarly,
Nandy argues that the concept of “the West” should be generalized from a geographical
and temporal entity to a mental category. “The West is now everywhere,” he writes,
“within the [geographical] West and outside; in structures and in minds” (1983, p. 11).
African states, for instance, have long suffered and are still suffering from the perceptions
of superior Western knowledge challenging, annihilating or marginalising the local
knowledge, identity and culture (see Kanneh, 1998). The IB does not successfully manage to
change this situation. For instance, the IBO acknowledges that the Diploma Programme grew
from a “Western humanist” tradition, but also states that the “increasing influence of non-
Western cultures on all three programmes is not only being acknowledged, but is becoming
increasingly significant” (IBO Council, 2002, p. 4). In the IB community, however, one can
still very often hear individuals complain that the IB is “too Westernized” or “Eurocentric”.
George Walker (IBO Director General, 1999–2005) comments on these complaints:
When I hear the oft-repeated criticism that the IBO is too “westernized,” I ask myself exactlywhat that comment means. That the headquarters is in Geneva instead of Jakarta? That [thecurriculum and assessment centre] IBCA is in Cardiff instead of Cairo? That the three officiallanguages of the IBO are European in origin? None of that matters unless they are symptomsof a deeper problem, namely that the educational philosophy of the IBO is largelymonocultural. (Walker, 2002, p. 51)
Walker continues: “IB teachers should ensure that their students appreciate the diversity of
models of learning, of which the western humanist is (but) one” (p. 51). Still others reinforce
the fear that, despite these good intentions, the IB programmes could play a role in the
perpetuation of cultural imperialism (Drake, 2004; Fox, 1985). In Nairobi, the Eurocentrism
of the language courses became evident when African teachers made the point that English
literature written by Africans was as much integrated in their native language as English
literature written by authors from Britain or the United States. They also made the case for
oral literature as a legitimate literary genre alongside poetry, short stories, theatre and novels
(Fox, 1985, 1998). In the post-colonial African context, in the study of World literature,
hardly any Mauritian texts are studied. Not that the texts do not exist, nor that they could not
be studied if the IB school asks for permission to do so, but because local teachers and
learners have not developed the mindset to acknowledge the rights and privileges that they
can do so. They privilege a text whose recognition and popularity is internationally
established. Also, McKenzie (2005) discusses which courses should be taught and which
skills should be acquired; he raises the question of internationalism through education at the
content level. Ideally, the nature of an international education should be determined by why
it is “international” (epistemology) and how the content is international (curriculum).
In analysing the IBO’s educational philosophy, the question about which kind(s) of
knowledge(s) are being transmitted and perpetuated therefore cannot be left out. The IBDP
encourages students to “ask challenging questions” and to “learn how to learn” (IBO,
2008c). Again, what are these challenging questions, who are in a position to define them for
an international context, and which learning methodologies and (international) curriculum
and curriculum development are privileged in IB schools in Africa?
IB, curriculum development and identity
Hagoort (1994) claims that the Diploma Programme has developed “from a program
for international schools, to an international program for schools” (p. 11). His argument
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underlines perfectly the internationalization of the IB curriculum. There are yet issues
about whether IB is Westernized or whether it globalizes more than it internationalizes.
What remains the same is that, ideally, in the words of Roger Peel (IBO Director General
1983–1998), students should after their IB experience “know themselves better than when
they started, while acknowledging that others can be right in being different” (Peel, 1997,
p. 57). Again, here we refer to a process of formation of one’s cultural and intellectual
identity while assimilating a culture of power. My question is: What needs to be forsaken
in terms of identity to know a “better self”, or to reach a sense of fulfilment to reach the
better self?
Learning theories: which knowledges to privilege?
Internationalising the curriculum means to allow local knowledges and identities to have
more than an anecdotic or exotic relevance in the global context. The IB, in the name of
international education says aiming at “providing international content while responding
to local requirements and interests” (IBO, 2008a). For post-colonial African states this, at
best, is perceived as a Western incentive to add value to the local knowledges, which is a
(conscious or unconscious) pretentious, insulting educational colonial approach. Ideally,
the mentioned international content is the multiplied echo of many local contexts, just like
a curriculum, perceived by Grummet as “the collective story we tell our children about our
past, our present and our future” (1981, p. 115). But with some irony, Luke and Luke
(2000, p. 278) perceive globalization as the epitome of meta-narratives and warn against
the “overlapping complexities and concurrent relations of the local site, community,
nation, and region in the globalisation of knowledge” (p. 278).
Henry, Lingard, Rizvi and Taylor suggest that “globalization is not necessarily a
homogenizing force, but also provides considerable opportunities for heterogeneity of
cultural tradition to exist side by side” (1999, p. 86). This argument is far too idealistic,
from the post-colonial perspective: for many cultural traditions to be able to exist side by
side, they should be given the same international recognition in the global arena. What is
happening instead is that some of these traditions, knowledges and values have been
overpowered and subsumed by the dominant Westernized ones. But, according to Dale
(2000), “Education systems, curricular categories and indeed the institution of the state
itself, are the product of a world culture based upon central ideas of modernization” (p. 88).
The term “world culture”, like the study of world literature in the IBDP, implicitly refers to
a Western way of looking at things, through a Western ideoscape. Internationalising the
curriculum demands epistemological (the philosophical theory of knowledge) disposi-
tions, attitudes and skills backed up by a strong and flexible ideological framework which
is present, valued and reiterated in everyday learning scenarios, and not only superficially
acknowledged by written discourses that are meaningful only for the IB, which have made
crucial assumptions about a knowledge that must be privileged.
The crucial issue is the incorporation of local content in a curriculum that allows it to
gain international recognition because it is the very international etiquette and mission of
the organization constructing that curriculum. Knowledge should not be at the service
of the curriculum; the curriculum should allow knowledge – all knowledges – to be
articulated in the context in which they are relevant. Gough (2000) writes:
Precisely how school curricula will change in response to the new restructuring agendasdriven by economic globalisation remains a very open question, especially as these arecombined with, and complicated by, the increasing (and interconnected) effects of globalmedia culture. (p. 79)
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Rizvi and Walsh (1998) write that what is required in the global curriculum “is a complex
multi-voiced approach to educational experiences, which does not assume fixed categories
of cultural difference but encourages instead their exploration” (p. 190) and recommend
that the global curriculum should be developed in a way that is “responsive to local needs,
values and traditions (p. 8). The word “exploration” must be taken in its noblest form from
a post-colonial perspective. Unfortunately, it is often interpreted as an anecdotic inquiry
into the life of the locals that, for instance, justifies the need for Western teacher trainers to
help the local IB schools better embrace the IB ideals. This is what happened in the IB
schools in Mauritius.
Learning theories
The learning theories of Balagangadhara (1994) and van den Bouwhuijsen, Claes, and
Derde (1995) explain what constitutes a culture of approximation and what makes human
differences into cultural differences. Human beings grow up and learn in the framework of
groups (Balagangadhara, 1994). Each generation, it is argued, decides what it wants to
transmit from its “reservoir” of knowledge, traditions and customs to the next generation.
By being instructed, the younger generation also receives an often implicit yet equally
important message about how to learn properly. Different groups draw from different
reservoirs; they structure their learning differently since their natural and social living
areas favour different emphases. This obviously puts constraints on what is taught and how
this is done; in other words, on the mechanisms of transmission of knowledge and culture
(van den Bouwhuijsen et al., 1995). These constraints prove to be significant, since they
determine how learning in a particular group is structured: which kinds of learning are
valued over other kinds of learning. For students in Mauritian institutions, because the
exams are set according to British and French standards for the Cambridge HSC and the
French Baccalaureate programmes respectively, the learnings which are privileged are
English- and French-based, not only in knowledge but also in knowledge development.
That knowledge still functions in a colonial matrix; so too, it seems, does the IB given the
Eurocentrism of the language courses (Fox, 1985, 1998).
Colonialism and identity
Hill (2006) suggests that “it is the attitude of mind reflected in both the teaching and
administration of the school, rather than the cultural composition or location, which is
important” (p. 98). With the aims of establishing benchmarks of international quality
through a “criterion based” grading system, where “results are determined by performance
against set standards, not by each student’s position in the overall rank order” to guarantee
that “validity, reliability and fairness are the watchwords of the Diploma Programme’s
assessment strategy” (IBO, 2008d). Nonetheless, although the assessment of the acquired
knowledge is heterogeneous, the very knowledges acquired are culturally biased.
Knowledge is always culturally biased. As suggested by van Oord (2007), the question of
which content must be taught in order to enable students to become internationally-minded
has occasionally been addressed and remains an ongoing debate, whereas “questions on
the philosophy and epistemology of such an international education have largely been
ignored” (p. 375). For the former African colonized states, the philosophical questions on
knowledge, knowledge development and perceptions of the world are linked to the
pressures – philosophical and academic – of how to understand the world and be
understood by the world. The crucial ontological deliberations (study of the nature of
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being and existence) of these are linked to the identities being affirmed and defended. The
challenges are indeed complex: the quest for a national identity is to be derived both from
colonial heritance and from the Africans’ intrinsic complement of values and beliefs once
freed from colonization. These two forces – competing but not necessarily incompatible –
then must leave their own a mark, to find an existence of their own in the world. For
Mauritius, the case is historically even more complex as there were no inhabitants prior to
European colonization. So, a sustainable national identity for Mauritius is one that starts
with its colonial heritance through European settlement, as well as the people coming
from Africa as slaves and from India as indentured labourers. These came with their
complement of values, history, knowledge and identity that construct a national Mauritian
identity.
Conclusion: imposition, negotiation or compromise?
The IBO says that it “aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people
who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding
and respect” (IBO, 2008e). The mission statement of the IB also states that “IB
programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and
lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be
right” (IBO, 2008e). Again, in theory, this is a grandiloquent and praiseworthy statement;
when the IB was first introduced in Mauritius in 1990, there were hopes that
internationalism as promised by the IB would help towards the respect of local identities
and local knowledges. The IB is apolitical and, irrespective of one’s geographical location,
IB would facilitate international mobility in a global world whilst still acknowledging and
respecting the local knowledge and local identity, which the two (the English and French)
educational systems inherited from colonialism have never done for Mauritius. Still, in the
two IB schools in Mauritius, students and teachers still do not understand the reasons for
White foreign headmasters only. Some relate the international etiquette of the IB to the
natural presence of a foreigner as their Head – the effigy of post-colonialism still in power.
While this power is decentralized because Mauritius is no longer a British or French
colony, to the locals, it is unconsciously deemed as necessary in order to benefit from
the historically-backed pathways created by those in power – the former colonists as a
centralized force. This force is more present in the mind, in ontological imaginations
(the account of existence), and in historical facts than in geographical locations. In those
post-colonial/global realms, cultural imperialism is also professed. There is no cultural
understanding, nor the notion that other people can be right – right to gain education and
knowledge without having to see their own identity and local knowledge ignored by the
process.
The impacts of the IBDP on local identity and local knowledge are real and it seems
that, although the IBDP claims international-mindedness, some Westernized knowledges
and knowledge developments remain privileged. For the sake of the preservation of the
local identities, the expansion of the Western knowledge industry in post-colonial
Mauritius should be challenged. Nonetheless, the nature of any resistance must be wisely
considered and poised. It cannot be radical. If an extreme form of resistance is exercised,
and if this is the only ideological agenda for the creation of a national identity, then in the
long term, problems are likely to occur; people will fight against those whom they consider
to have been the oppressor rather than implementing strategies that foster economic
stability and provide equal and valuable opportunities for locals in different industries,
especially education. Mauritius and former colonized states of Africa must learn to
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carefully acknowledge and reap the benefits of the West. Through education, the IB should
be an appropriate gateway to the recognized knowledges that are global and current. The
access to this knowledge industry is a means to effect change. However, these African
states, eager to progress in the educational field, should also be mindful of the dangers of
blind acceptance of Western ideologies by non-Western countries, ultimately leading to
ongoing erosion of local values, knowledges and identities. Post-colonial governance
systems embody distinctive ideologies and identities radically different from those of the
mainstream, of the colonizers. In the case of Mauritius, its historical past and origins
should be acknowledged; however, history should not repress contemporary Mauritians,
preventing them from moving forward. The IB, partly owing to its apolitical etiquette,
should offer Mauritians a real possibility for academic progression in the international
arena, particularly given that political biases have divided and frustrated African countries
over the past 70 years.
The customization of the IBDP to incorporate the relevant local context could be a
valid option. It should be possible to negotiate the global curriculum in order to value any
given culture, knowledge or identity. IB coordinators and principals in every school should
have a sound knowledge of both the IB philosophy and the local context in which the IB is
being implemented. Alfred (1999) asserts that:
We have a responsibility to recover, understand, and preserve these [minority] values, notonly because they represent a unique contribution to the history of ideas, but because renewalof respect for traditional values is the only lasting solution to the political, economic, andsocial problems. (p. 5)
Any values which contribute to the history of ideas become knowledge. Thus, continuous
efforts should be sustained to understand and appreciate knowledge within its specific
context – this renders it truly meaningful.
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