Grappling with internationalisation of the curriculum at the secondary school level: issues and tensions for educators.

Increasing global flows of students, information and ideas, the realities of globalisation, and an increasingly interdependent world have meant that many educators at the secondary school level are currently grappling with the issue of how to internationalise the curriculum and increase inter-cultural understanding among students. In addition, complex and troubling issues in the world have added urgency to the need for consideration of what knowledge, skills, and pedagogies schools should focus on in the curriculum into the future. This article discusses views in the literature and research on how educators are grappling with the issues and tensions of internationalisation in Australian secondary schools.

Keywords

cultural interrelationships

curriculum

globalisation

internationalisation

skills

values

Introduction

While many of the current debates about internationalisation in Australia have focused on education at the higher education level, there has been increasing interest in the issue of internationalisation of the curriculum among educators at the secondary school level. More schools are grappling with this issue, and developing policies and strategies to encourage the inclusion of both international and intercultural dimensions in the curriculum. Increasing interdependence in the world, the realities of globalisation, and global flows of students, information and ideas have meant that many educators see the need to internationalise the curriculum. Australian schools are indeed more international, with students who feel that they belong to, are connected with, or are concerned about, issues that relate to multiple nations, and transcend national boundaries. Students in these schools require and deserve an intercultural education that encourages recognition of and dialogue about different cultures. A flow on from this should be respect and tolerance for difference in education settings.

In addition to these reasons for internationalisation in schools, complex and troubling issues in the world, including global terrorism, issues of ecological sustainability, and the global divides between rich and poor, have added urgency to the need for schools to re-consider what knowledge, skills and pedagogies they should focus on into the future, in planning whole school curriculum emphases, and teaching and learning in schools. There is no doubt that many educators are recognising the need to achieve what Bremer and van der Wende (1995) defined as:

   curricula with an international orientation in content, aimed
   at preparing students for performing (professionally/socially) in
   an international and multicultural context, and designed for
   domestic students and/or foreign students.

In considering how schools are grappling with this issue, this paper draws on views in the literature, and research which involved focus group discussions and interviews with senior school leaders and teachers from 30 Victorian government, Catholic and independent schools, and detailed case studies of three schools, to investigate their views on policies and practices to internationalise the curriculum. Their opinions on these questions were explored: 'Why should schools develop an internationalised curriculum, what should an internationalised curriculum include, and what teaching and learning strategies does your school use to engage young people in developing the understandings and skills they need now and in their future lives in an internationalised world?'. The research also included discussions with local and full fee-paying overseas students, to investigate their views on the school curriculum. The studies revealed many tensions in developing and implementing an internationalised curriculum and a range of views on what kinds of pedagogical practices and curriculum should be developed in the future. These issues do require further debate, as Kemmis (1990) argued:

   Curricula reveal how nations and states interpret themselves and
   how they want to be interpreted. Equally, debates about curriculum
   reveal the fundamental concerns, uncertainties and tensions which
   preoccupy nations and states as they struggle to adapt to changing
   circumstances.

One senior staff member involved in the study said that an internationalised curriculum should:

   enable students to develop the skills to become employable in
   international situations, and include strategies to promote
   cultural exchange, the development of tolerance and intercultural
   understanding, and curriculum perspectives that transcend national
   perspectives and incorporate global ones. These goals of
   internationalisation should be compulsory in schools to adequately
   prepare students for today's world.

The teacher acknowledged that his school was not effectively achieving these goals, and needed to develop a range of approaches through systematic whole-school planning in staff teams, with representatives from all faculties and interests across the school. Other teachers agreed that there is still a great deal of work to be done to achieve effective and meaningful internationalisation. In this article, Knight's (1999) list of varied approaches to internationalisation (Table 1) has been used as a framework for analysis of how various schools are grappling with the issue of internationalisation of the curriculum.

Activity-based approaches to internationalisation

Knight (1999) identified three main 'activity-based approaches' to internationalisation including: curriculum development, student/faculty exchanges, and international students. Although Knight's framework was developed with reference to higher education, it provides a useful starting point for analysis of internationalisation in secondary schools. In the following section, some of the tensions and issues identified in the research and in the literature in connection with each of these activities are discussed.

Curriculum development

There was a consensus view among students and teachers interviewed that the internationalisation of the curriculum and development of intercultural understanding should be a priority, and schools need to do more to tackle this issue. A few schools have already developed policies on internationalisation. In the early stages of the development of their international program, Stephen Newton, Principal of Caulfield Grammar school (CGS), Melbourne, commented that a commitment to internationalism is:

   a recognition that our students are not only citizens of Australia,
   but citizens of the world ... they will be faced with many
   opportunities to live and to work in countries other than our own,
   and they will be members of the competitive international workforce
   of the future. (CGS, 1998, p. 3)

At CGS, the internationalisation of the curriculum occurs in a variety of ways. Special programs to develop international understanding are offered for Year 9 students either through the five-week elective overseas campus experience in Nanjing, China, or through a specially designed 'International' course based in Australia. Malcolm Pritchard (2003), Deputy-Principal at CGS, commented that the underlying principles and structure of the Nanjing course aim to:

   prepare students to meet the challenges of contributing to an
   evolving and interdependent global community ... [and encourage
   the] ... education and nurturing of forward thinking and
   internationally minded citizens. This unit is designed as a
   student-centred and largely student-negotiated learning experience,
   with a focus on exposure to Chinese culture and language. The
   campus embodies CGS's commitment to preparing students for a future
   with a global focus. In establishing its first international campus
   in China, the school has chosen a target country that will have a
   most profound influence on the evolution of the global community in
   the coming century, politically, culturally, and particularly
   economically.

   Participants learn a great deal about themselves--cultural awareness
   [is] to enhance self-awareness ... [and] students are encouraged to
   question and modify their existing cultural paradigm through
   objective observation, critical examination, active participation,
   accurate reflection, and finally, a personal reconceptualisation
   of the participants' world view. The program promotes
   personal independence through active learning in a less structured,
   and less teacher-dependent, setting. Participants will acquire many
   practical skills associated with coping and operating in a foreign
   linguistic and cultural environment. These skills and experiences
   form an important part of each student's preparation for a future
   in a truly internationalised global economy.

However another teacher expressed a view that was typical of many others:

   Internationalisation is not clearly defined. It has grown
   topsy-turvy, not with an underlying philosophical agenda ... There
   has not been a global plan to consider the possibilities and
   problems that might happen.

Many senior staff shared this view:

   Teachers are beginning to conceptualise internationalisation by
   osmosis, both through having to respond to the needs of
   international students in their schools, and the reality that,
   in an increasingly globalised society, it is unavoidable.

Other educators said that the curriculum must, at the bare minimum, be audited to ensure inclusion of international perspectives. Both the nature of student populations and global realities were frequently cited as critical reasons for a review of curriculum and as core reasons for internationalisation. Teachers expressed the view that all students need to develop greater international understanding, but many staff emphasised that, where there are international students, the curriculum must meet the needs of these students, as well as the local population.

Senior staff from one school identified a number of humanities subjects where international perspectives occur naturally within the curriculum offered at the school because the content draws on content and examples from many parts of the world. These subjects included English, religious education, international studies and ethics. However the teachers were concerned that there was no coordinated approach to ensure that international perspectives were being included in a systematic way across the curriculum--this was left to individual teachers. They were worried that tensions arise because of the crowded curriculum, and suggested that teachers need professional development to challenge their thinking about big-picture global issues that should be dealt with in schools. They noted that the majority of students, especially at senior levels, do not choose humanities subjects, and opt instead for subjects perceived to be more vocationally valuable, but which limit their opportunity to engage in debates encompassing international perspectives.

In Australia, high quality print and electronic materials for students and teachers relevant to the internationalisation of the curriculum have been published by the Curriculum Corporation, who have worked with organisations including the Asia Education Foundation (AEF) which has developed nationally agreed approaches to learning about Asia. These include Studies of Asia: A statement for Australian schools (Curriculum Corporation, 2001), the Access Asia publications series and the Access Asia website. These materials provide valuable guidelines for educators developing curriculum approaches about Asia and the wider world. In the publication, Global perspectives: A statement on global education for Australian schools (Curriculum Corporation, 2002), the following view was presented:

   In Australia and worldwide, it ... [is] ever more widely accepted
   that issues of global poverty and development, human rights and
   social justice, environmental challenges, peace and conflict, and
   thinking about and creating better futures are inextricably linked.
   A future-focused curriculum demands approaches which see these
   interconnections, and fosters knowledge, skills and values to equip
   young people to involve themselves in building solutions. (p. 1)

Interviews with senior staff showed they were aware of these documents, but believed they were under utilised by teachers in planning curriculum. They argued that further professional development opportunities should be available for teachers to discuss internationalisation. They said that, although the curriculum should prepare students to function effectively in their personal and vocational lives in local and national settings, as well as in the wider global context, deciding on the pedagogies and strategies to ensure the achievement of these goals requires more thinking. Schools still need to question what is being taught in their schools, why, and how. They need to debate what the internationalisation of the curriculum might mean in theory and practice. Teachers also commented that there are tensions created by the competing demands in the curriculum between the need to develop educational goals for international understanding, and the focus on achieving students' focus on achieving high tertiary entrance scores. There was strong agreement that the crowded curriculum creates many tensions for educators.

Student/faculty exchanges

Knight's (1999) framework identified student/faculty exchanges as one approach to internationalisation. Kell (1997) agreed that these exchanges play an important part in:

   establishing long-term linkages in which Australian students and
   teachers can learn about Asian communities and connect with
   developments in those communities ... it means educational
   organisations will have to develop networks and links which span
   traditional disciplines; industries and corporations; and integrate
   with other multi-national corporations.

Although there are no statistics available in the literature quantifying the number of schools in Australia engaged in exchanges, most of the private schools represented in the research seminars were actively involved in student and/or staff exchange, not just in Asia, but worldwide. Many of the student exchanges were based on language study tours and the opportunities these provide for students to develop language skills. Students interviewed agreed that trips to other countries provided them with valuable insights into other cultures, particularly when they spent extended periods of time in home-stay accommodation. Teachers argued that in-country experiences provide worthwhile professional development and encouraged them to develop knowledge and understanding of other countries, and both the ability and motivation to develop international understanding in the curriculum. Clearly these opportunities are limited by financial constraints but, for more than a decade, the AEF has provided a range of scholarships for teachers' in-country experiences.

One teacher commented that two years of teaching at an international school in Malaysia provided her with invaluable professional development. She had the opportunity to teach subjects in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program with colleagues who had experience teaching in many other countries. She said that although the IB program cultivates internationalism and respect for other cultures, there is also an emphasis on students becoming active learners and engaged citizens, who gain practical experience of being part of an international community through service learning. Other schools in the research study agreed that teaching outside Australia meant that teachers gained an international focus in their teaching and in their own intercultural understanding.

International students in secondary schools

The numbers of overseas students in secondary schools provide another measure of increasing internationalisation. More schools are now juggling the varied needs of local and overseas students as they continue their push into the lucrative global education market. In 2004 in Victoria alone, there were 115 full fee-paying overseas students in government schools and in 2003, there were 942 students in independent schools. In addition, increasing numbers of students are 'global nomads': young people who move across borders and nations with their families for employment or other reasons.

Although international students can positively enhance international dimensions in schools and provide valuable education experiences for the overseas students who come to Australia, various tensions arise in meeting their educational, social and pastoral care needs. Teachers commented that they need to include overseas students in classes with local students, but are often grappling with the issue of how to provide appropriate curriculum, language, social and pastoral care support. Teachers need to tackle the question of how to enhance students' learning when conceptual understanding is limited by language. Overseas students frequently struggle with issues of unfamiliar content and pedagogies, alongside issues of cultural difference and adjusting to new school systems. Teachers argued that schools must commit adequate funding to provide appropriate levels of support to overseas students and to staff who lack experience in meeting the needs of students with limited English language skills and different cultural backgrounds. Many of the international students said that they found the student-centred approaches to learning very different from the more teacher-directed approaches in their home countries. Schools need to grapple with the curriculum and teaching and learning challenges, and teachers' professional development needs, so that they also have the opportunity to identify and improve their responses to the needs of international students.

Although there is no doubt that the commitment to providing staff and programs to meet the needs of overseas students is an issue, other teachers agreed with the following view:

   There should be greater consideration of the wider advantages of
   having international students in schools. International students
   enrich schools, both through the additional funds they provide
   for school budgets and, more importantly, through the potential
   opportunities for local students to develop cross-cultural
   relationships and understanding of a range of cultures.

In one school where there are more than 100 overseas students, staff commented that, in the first few years of the unabashed marketing drive to attract full fee-paying students, local students exhibited racist attitudes, and showed very little interest in mixing socially with the international students. Now that the reality of internationalisation is being embraced in a range of ways by the whole school community, attitudes have changed. As one teacher noted:

   Through the increased numbers of international students, cultural
   difference has been demystified. The local students are now less
   likely to hold exotic views of 'them' and 'us' and real friendships
   are developing amongst the students.

Evidence from conversations with Victorian school staff and students, and from Heyward's (2002) study of internationalisation, suggests that some schools need to work harder to meet the social needs of international students and develop strategies such as 'cultural mediation'; the pairing of students with a friend or mentor who can assist them to develop their repertoire of understandings of the host culture and, at the same time, become inter-culturally literate through interaction with their peers. If local students develop intercultural literacy, they can also benefit by developing enhanced insights into their own primary culture, and maybe even avoid becoming 'characteristically ethnocentric' (Heyward, 2002.) However Singh (2002) argued that there is still evidence to suggest that both local and overseas students are expected to assimilate to the dominant culture, and have no opportunity to explore non-western traditions in their studies or indeed in their social life here in Australia.

Curriculum and pedagogy to encourage internationalisation

More than 25 years ago, Pike and Selby (1988) argued the case for the internationalisation of education. They believed that students should learn about global ecological, social, technological, economic and political issues, and their interdependence, through a model that included learning for, through and about global perspectives in order to understand the world and their connections with it. They suggested that students should undertake a broad range of activities that include:

* experiential learning in which students learn from their own and other people's experiences and feelings;

* inquiry learning in which students form hypotheses, devise questions, determine how and where to obtain information, critically analyse their findings, take action and reflect upon outcomes;

* collaborative learning where students work in pairs, small groups or larger groups, cooperating and negotiating to solve problems or achieve intended outcomes. (pp. 49-50)

Further they suggested that students could experience what they are learning through the very nature of the classroom environment, for example, through students' and teachers' clear respect of each other's rights and awareness of responsibilities, and teachers' modelling of appropriate values, attitudes and behaviours. As students move beyond the classroom, they learn through active and positive participation in, and interaction with, the natural or social environment.

Cope and Kalantsis (1997) suggested that, in a progressive view of curriculum development, the substantive essence of the curriculum is not pre-determined, but arises from an open inquiry process, and the key content is based on contemporary issues. In this approach, students are far more engaged in the process of negotiating what they learn and how. Beane and Broadhagen (1993) argued that this approach to curriculum development can lead to worthwhile student learning outcomes, when students work through this model:

Stage 1 Personal concerns Students brainstorm a list of questions they have about themselves.

Stage 2 Finding common personal concerns Students in small groups share their questions about themselves and decide which are 'common' questions, and of interest to a number of members of the group.

Stage 3 World concerns Students brainstorm a list of questions they have about their world.

Stage 4 Finding common global questions Students in small groups share their questions about their world, and decide which are 'common' questions.

Stage 5 Finding themes Small groups (with adult support if possible) consider ways in which some of their personal and social questions may be connected and developed into themes.

Stage 6 Sharing themes Small groups share their ideas for themes.

Stage 7 Selecting themes Students vote on themes to identify the most popular themes and the curriculum is negotiated for working on the themes.

Stage 8 Connecting questions to themes A group of students decides on the questions.

Stage 9 Selecting activities Each question relating to the current themes is written on the top of a separate piece of butchers' paper. In pairs or groups of three, students walk around the room adding ideas to the sheets.

Stage 10 Unit planning Students' suggested activities (and teacher-chosen ones) are used as the basis for unit planning around the themes chosen by the students.

Broad topics that arise out of the intersection of these personal and social concerns and the associated skills and knowledge base form the basis of the curriculum. Some examples of commonly negotiated themes in classrooms are: interdependence among peoples, problems in the environment, political processes and structures, the place and future of current technologies, and self-destructive behaviours such as abuse and crime. Very few of the teachers interviewed from 30 schools said that negotiated curriculum was a common strategy in their schools.

Where schools develop approaches whereby subjects studied by all students, across the curriculum, are broadened by international content and ideas, the enrichment can be pervasive and deep (Edwards & Tudball, 2000). There is evidence that schools have sometimes been reluctant to re-appraise and re-consider whether the curriculum does meet the needs of all students and face the realities of new times (Edwards & Tudball, 2002). Regardless of their backgrounds, all students are affected by the realities of an increasingly interdependent world. The process of internationalisation must be a two-way street, meeting the needs of both local and international students (Edwards & Tudball, 2001; Fleming, 2003). There is now a need for all students, international and local, to experience an internationalised curriculum, otherwise we run the risk of accepting an inadequate curriculum that is inconsistent with the realities students will face in their day-to-day lives. As Tsolidis (2001) argued:

   We need to engage with reciprocal and egalitarian cross-cultural
   curriculum and pedagogy ... It is no longer a matter of 'us'
   providing 'them' with something they need. Instead, the consumer
   cooperative classroom requires a mutually beneficial relationship
   for all involved.

Competency-based approaches to internationalisation

Knight (1999) argued that, through internationalisation of the curriculum, both students and staff can develop new skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes, and their interest in defining global/international competencies grows. The Citizenship Education Policy Study project, discussed by Cogan & Derricott (2000), a four-year, cross-national, cross-cultural study, solicited trends and opinions from policy shapers in nine nations about what kinds of professional and social competencies and understandings students internationally will need as citizens in the future. Cogan (2001) said that the study concluded that students require: the ability to look at problems globally; the ability to work co-operatively and take responsibilities for roles/duties in society; the ability to understand, accept and tolerate cultural differences; capacity to think in a critical and systemic way; willingness to resolve conflict in a non-violent manner; willingness to change one's lifestyle and consumption habits to protect the environment; the ability to be sensitive towards and to defend human rights; and willingness and ability to participate in politics at local, national and international levels (p. 9). The development of these competencies does create a need for educators to review the curriculum.

The goals formalised by the Australian government in the nationally agreed National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century recognised the need for Australian students to develop new competencies and greater intercultural understanding. They include the following goal:

   Schooling should fully develop the talents and capacities of all
   students. In particular, when students leave school they should ...
   understand and acknowledge the value of cultural and linguistic
   diversity, and possess the knowledge, skills and understanding to
   contribute to, and benefit from, such diversity in the Australian
   community and internationally. (Ministerial Council on Education,
   Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, 2000)

It is difficult for teachers to translate this goal into tangible classroom practice, and teachers do struggle with the question of what knowledge and pedagogies schools should focus on into the future. Possible answers to this question will be contested, since the potential scope of an internationalised curriculum in schools is so broad. Add to this the issues of the crowded curriculum and the desire among many practitioners to protect the existing curriculum, and the challenge for individual schools to negotiate and decide what their internationalised curriculum should include becomes even more problematic.

What knowledge should students acquire in an internationalised curriculum?

Rawlings-Sanaei (2003) argued that students should develop an awareness of realities in their world.

   Dual processes of integration and disintegration are apparent. On
   the one hand, positive signs of a new global order are emerging: the
   rapid expansion of knowledge, increasing international
   interdependence and the electronic unification of the world. Also
   of significance are, inter alia, the promotion of universal
   education; the growing acceptance of racial equality of men and
   women; the unabated though encumbered efforts of the UN to establish
   world peace; the wider recognition of the importance of human
   rights; the marked increase in international gatherings to foster
   co-operation in matters of mutual interest; and broadening
   participation of NGO's on the world stage. (p. 4)

Although she argued that it is vital for young people to learn about these positive elements of increasing globalisation, Rawlings-Sanaei believes that students must also know about negative forces including:

   the absence of a common ethic; cultural domination; knowledge
   asymmetries; civil strife; the weakening of the family as a social
   institution; environmental degradation; poverty; terrorism; and
   drug trafficking ... [These] world problems cannot be dealt with
   in isolation--they demand unprecedented levels of co-operation and
   action for their effective resolution. (p. 5)

Singh (2002) argued that, through an internationalised curriculum, young people can be assisted to develop a more critical understanding of their own identity, who they are, and how they might position themselves and their views in relation to dominant views. For instance, Singh commented that 'many people around the world, including Australians, experience contemporary globalisation as US/Americanisation, or at least the global diffusion of US/American (southern) neo-conservative politics and economic ideology' (p. 4). Through classroom teaching and learning activities, teachers can make students aware of the dominating identity formation that is occurring through US/American movies, technology and other consumerist forces. Singh (2003) argued that teachers have an opportunity to 'confront the emptiness of dominating identities and offer alternatives including: ... constructing the family on an egalitarian basis; the de-gendering of public institutions; the use of science and technology for sustaining ecological and culturally diverse forms of life' (p. 5).

In Global perspectives (Curriculum Corporation, 2002), the following view is put:

   Learners should be able to move beyond simplistic media images and
   challenge stereotyped views. They should develop the ability to
   identify and deconstruct the assumptions behind the way the world is
   imagined and described in particular contexts.

Teachers say that students need to be able competently to clarify their views on what it means to be Australian. In addition, Singh (2003) believes that students need to be able to answer these questions: How do I relate to other people in the world? How do I relate to the nation-state in a changing world of relationships? How do I relate to trans-national and supranational organisations? How do I relate to humanity? How do I relate to the global/local ecology? (p. 5). There will be multiple answers to these kinds of questions depending on factors including students' own ethnicity and sense of connectedness with the world. Teachers agree that students must have opportunities to study content that empowers them to consider diverse and conflicting points of view and encourages them to think critically about their own identity and its social construction. Cogan (2001) believed that citizens of the future will see themselves as members of several overlapping communities: local, regional, national and multinational. The challenges of the 21st century will transcend national boundaries and require multinational solutions. However people's sense of identity is and is likely to remain rooted in the local and the personal in terms of nation and culture.

Singh (2003) commends the view of Castells (1997) that young people deserve the opportunity to:

   understand the type of human civilization needed to sustain the
   earth and its ecological support system. This means drawing from
   both the diversity of existing traditional (indigenous) cultural
   practices for sustaining eco-cultural systems, as well as efforts
   to create new identities committed to eco-cultural sustainability.
   (p. 8)

These are challenging ideas that will require many schools to reconstruct their curriculum. Educators are recognising that for students to be motivated in their learning, they must be engaged in critical thinking and discussion of issues that concern them and their world (Beane, 1999; Curriculum Corporation, 2002; University of Melbourne, 2001; Rawlings, 1999; World Council, 2003). Triolo (2000) argued:

   Few of our students consciously think of themselves living in an
   interdependent world, despite evidence such as international
   communications links, patterns of migration, and global
   vulnerability to environmental phenomena such as ozone deletion.
   Through incorporating a global perspective, teachers are able to
   help students understand challenges and opportunities, develop
   positive values, attitudes and behaviours and feel confident about
   their roles in creating a 'better world for all'. (p. 1)

Internationalisation and civics and citizenship education

In recent years, there has been substantial investment by the Australian government in developing curriculum materials and teacher professional development to lead to the enhancement of students' knowledge and competencies as citizens. There are clear links between the challenge to internationalise the curriculum and the renewed emphasis on civics and citizenship education (CCE). Australian teachers in the IEA civic education study said:

   The values they affirmed as the key learning outcomes of civic
   education are: to develop consciousness about the needs of the
   whole world (98%), to develop honesty (97%), to fight against
   injustice (96%), to stand up for one's own opinion (96%), and to
   ensure opportunities for minorities to express their own cultures
   (91%). What is more, 90 per cent of teachers thought that what is
   important in civic education could be taught in schools. (Mellor,
   2002)

The teachers showed that they see international understanding as a key part of active global citizenship, and they interpret the concept of CCE far more broadly than as a study of civic knowledge of Australian society. Rawlings-Sanaei (2003) agreed that CCE should include:

   [a] global ethic with significant implications for human development
   ... when individuals see themselves as world citizens--that is,
   their loyalties extend and they regard themselves as trustees of the
   planet ... prejudices disappear and a new sense of responsibility
   emerges ... it dispels feelings of selfishness and imbues a sense of
   self-worth. (p. 10)

Clearly the challenge is for teachers and curriculum planners to make choices about what the learning goals should be in an internationalised curriculum that has such broad possibilities.

An ethos supporting internationalisation

Knight's (1999) framework of approaches to internationalisation includes the creation of a culture or climate which promotes and supports international/intercultural initiatives as central to the process. Senior teachers in particular agreed that schools need to embrace the idea and ethos of internationalisation across school programs and policies. Many international organisations have also argued the importance of developing an ethos supporting internationalisation in schools. The World Council for Curriculum and Instruction (2003) stated:

   As members of the world community, educators have a responsibility
   to ensure that education contributes to the promotion of equity,
   peace, social justice and the universal realization of human rights
   ... Programs should aim to develop, in every person, self-respect,
   social awareness, and the capacity to participate at all levels of
   world society, from local to global. (p. 1)

In Learning, the treasure within: Report to UNESCO (International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century, 1998), Chairman Jacques Delors affirmed the belief that education has a fundamental role to play in personal and social development and internationalism.

   The Commission does not see education as a miracle cure or a magic
   formula opening the door to a world in which all ideals will be
   attained, but as one of the principal means available to foster a
   deeper and more harmonious form of human development and thereby to
   reduce poverty, exclusion, ignorance, oppression and war. (p. 2)

Delors did however recognise that there are tensions between the global and the local, since people need to become world citizens without losing their roots, and while continuing to play an active part in the life of their nation and their local community. Teachers find that these varied dimensions can create tensions as they try to choose and balance curriculum goals. Delors warned that it is difficult for schools to balance the tensions between long-term and short-term considerations in planning because of:

   the predominance of the ephemeral and the instantaneous, in a world
   where an over-abundance of transient information and emotions
   continually keeps the spotlight on immediate problems. Public
   opinion cries out for quick answers and ready solutions, whereas
   many problems call for a patient, concerted, negotiated strategy
   of reform. This is precisely the case where education policies are
   concerned.

Grappling with internationalisation of education is a complex process, and UNESCO reports have recognised the tensions between the extraordinary expansion of knowledge and human beings' capacity to assimilate it. These challenges can only be resolved through careful program planning and consideration of curriculum choices.

The process of internationalisation

Knight (1999) made the point that infusion of international/intercultural dimensions into the curriculum needs to occur through a combination of a range of activities, policies and procedures. At the most basic level, a school can be said to have an internationalised curriculum, and to be resolving at least some of these issues, if the curriculum includes specific subjects such as international studies or global education. But this can mean that only the students studying these subjects will develop international understandings. Where schools actively develop an approach whereby subjects across the curriculum are broadened by international content and ideas, then the enrichment has the potential to be more pervasive and deep. This could include studies with diverse perspectives on scientific, economic, political, environmental and social issues of international importance. But focusing on international content alone is insufficient to claim successful internationalisation. Whalley (1997) argued that there must be opportunities in the curriculum for students to develop intercultural competence with an awareness of other cultures and perspectives, as well as their own and, to achieve this, learning should draw on the ideas of local and international students. Further Whalley stressed that schools need to engage local and overseas students in the mutual construction of international knowledge so that they can empathise with other world views.

Lawton (2001) proposed the development of a 'reconstructionsist curriculum' aimed at individual and societal improvement, and suggested these questions as important in guiding the development of curriculum: What kind of society already exists, in what ways is it developing, how do its members appear to want it to develop, what kinds of values and principles should be central? (p. 28). Teachers need to debate these kinds of questions as they engage in conversations about curriculum reform.

Schools need to develop policies on internationalisation to inform curriculum planning. Existing curricula need to be audited and analysed for international perspectives. The possible scope of content and themes in an internationalised curriculum make the process of making curriculum choices daunting for teachers. In English studies, there are endless lists of potential texts and films and international issues for exploration through reading, writing, speaking and listening. Through studies of art and design in other cultures and periods, cross-cultural influences and varied art technologies can be investigated to increase international perspectives. In the health sciences, the study of food and nutrition can be enriched by international case studies. Through the investigation of the origins of mathematics, algebra and geometry, or the use of international statistics in authentic application of mathematical solutions, students' mathematical studies can be internationalised. Through the study of international sporting achievements or sport played in other parts of the world, students can also develop intercultural understanding and, through a study of world music or the international popular music scene, students' world views can be extended.

From her research study of the United World College (UWC) in Wales, Rawlings (1999) found that 'curricular and pedagogical interventions which aim to transmit a vision of a global society [author's emphasis] are effective tools for the development of globally oriented, participatory student communities' (p. 176). This vision can be operationalised through purposeful activities of the student community and through teacher-initiated activities in classrooms, the residential life, services and activities program, and the 'hidden curriculum' (Table 2).

Rawlings (1999) noted that UWC students genuinely want to be agents of change in their world and have expressed these various views of the college's explicit international education vision:

   [It] makes me realize that there is a world out there and if I want
   to succeed in life, it's me who is to make the effort. If I don't,
   failure is looking straight into my eyes.
   The future is not necessarily good, but we have the opportunity to
   do something with it.
   Now I see I am a citizen of the world
   When I look back, I was living in a little bubble. Now I have the
   tools to participate in society.

Students in the school are actively engaged in programs to generate social, political and environmental concern through groups such as Amnesty International, Crisis Response and World Affairs which meet weekly, and special programs such as a visit to Israel and the West Bank for 'project week' and a Peace and Conflict Resolution Program. The UWC principal argued:

   Students need to share in the concept that they are and certainly
   will be building the world of the future. They need to be part of
   that construction and delivery of this educational experience.
   (Jenkins, 1998, as cited in Rawlings, 1999)

There is also a critical need to ensure that staff can develop the knowledge, understandings and skills to engage confidently in the internationalisation process. It is vitally important that all stakeholders participate. Most importantly, the whole process should be a two-way street, meeting both overseas and local staff and student concerns about internationalisation.

Conclusion

Internationalisation has the potential to change schools' curriculum, character and culture. Schools are already primary carriers of the global flows of internationalisation, through people, information and communication technologies, cultures, and ideas. These flows increase education's trans-national potential (Dolby & Marginson, 2000). Kennedy (2000) argued that understanding complex global issues requires 'knowledge and values based responses':

   The kind of knowledge required is interdisciplinary and integrated,
   while the values must be firmly embedded in a vision that focuses
   on the good of all rather than the selfish demands of individuals
   ... Citizens of the future will be international citizens. They
   will require a knowledge base that will help them feel comfortable
   in other countries as they do in their own.

In this paper it has been argued that, in responding to these realities, there are many issues and tensions for curriculum planners, school leaders, teachers and students. There needs to be further debate about how school programs should be structured, and what they should include in a curriculum to give students the opportunity to grow into young global citizens with the knowledge, skills and abilities they will need in their lives now and in the future. In the past, curriculum has often been constructed without reference to big global questions but, in these times, such a response is not possible. The nature of school populations also necessitates an internationalised curriculum. Confronting issues, such as the events of September 11, the war in Iraq and its aftermath, and terrorism in Bali, Spain and Jakarta, were all brought vividly to students of all ages on television screens and through all facets of the media. These events should not be ignored in school classrooms. Young people should not be expected to bury their heads in the sand and carry on with the study of less relevant curriculum issues when events of such global magnitude occur. There are sensitive ways in which teachers can allow students to ask and explore questions which concern them. Young people deserve the opportunity to engage in civic realities and the chance to inquire, question, debate opinions, develop futures orientations, and decide on actions they might take for their world. But as Delors (International Commission, 1998) warned:

   People today have a dizzying feeling of being torn between a
   globalization whose manifestations they can see and sometimes
   have to endure, and their search for roots, reference points
   and a sense of belonging. There is, therefore, every reason to
   place renewed emphasis on the moral and cultural dimensions of
   education. (p. 3)

The new Essential learning statement developed by the Tasmanian Education Department (2003) in consultation with teachers, parents, students and other members of the community emphasised the need to prepare learners to live full and healthy lives and to equip them to help shape a future they want to live in. Curriculum for the future is to be organised around these ideas: thinking, communicating, personal futures, social responsibility and world futures. It is crucial that we remember that our main goal as educators is to develop curriculum that engages young people in issues of critical importance in understanding their world and their future. An internationalised curriculum, that also develops intercultural competency, is a vital element in that process. This challenges educators to be courageous about auditing and cleaning out the curriculum, to take away some content and strategies that do not have the same pressing relevance in today's world, and to develop strategies that empower young people to be active participants in an increasingly interdependent world.

Table 1 Approaches to internationalisation

Approach       Description

Activity       Curriculum development, student/
               faculty exchanges, international students

Competency     Development of new skills, knowledge, values,
               attitudes in students, faculty and staff
               Interest in defining global/international
               competencies grows

Ethos          Creation of a culture or climate on campus,
               which promotes and supports international/
               intercultural initiatives

Process        Integration or infusion of international/
               intercultural dimensions through a combination
               of a range of activities, policies and procedures

Source: Knight (1999, p. 15)

Table 2 Key interventions to build a globally
oriented and participatory student community

Interventions which transmit      ability to imagine alternatives in a
an idealistic vision, lead to:    global context, abandonment of fear
                                  and pessimism, and a will to act.

Interventions which transmit a    recognition of global
vision of the current world       interdependence, an informed
situation, lead to:               critical perspective, and
                                  commitment to action; student-
                                  initiated projects that develop
                                  individual responsibility and
                                  motivation.

Interventions which transmit a    promotion of tolerance, and
vision of the school community,   collective participation.
lead to:

Interventions which transmit a    increased sense of individual
vision of human potential, lead   responsibility--a pre-condition
to:                               for global responsibility.

Service learning leads to:        personal encounter with human
                                  diversity, a more acute observation
                                  of common humanity, and the
                                  knowledge that prejudicial barriers
                                  can be dismantled and people
                                  of diverse backgrounds can work
                                  together; also, a sense of
                                  fulfillment and participation
                                  in civic life.

Pedagogical interventions which   interest in the world's cultural
foster inquisitiveness and        heritage and cosmopolitan attitudes
curiosity, lead to:               and the will to act.

Residential activities (amongst   improved understanding of social
peers from diverse backgrounds)   relationships, and consciousness
lead to:                          of world citizenship through
                                  social encounters and a service
                                  ethic.

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Libby Tudball is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800.

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