Introduction
Globalization causes the compression of the world; the distances between the countries are becoming shorter. There are more and more interactions between countries. According to Eriksen (2007), globalization as a concept refers both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness about the world as a whole. The compression of the world, in all of its forms, brings us closer to each other for better and for worse. Globalization is a major threat to traditional educational institution especially in developing countries like Thailand because of the emerging of international schools to cater to children of ‘global people’.
The most commonly used language in globalization is English. We are using English more and more in global communication. As such, there is an emphasis of the English language in the education curriculum. There are more and more international schools in every countries including Thailand. Even the local schools are providing bilingual program because of the realization that English is the most commonly used global language. Everyone from government ministers to concerned parents regularly voices their opinions in the press, and there is a real concern that the Thailand’s education system is being passed by its regional neighbors. One way a concerned parent can ensure has good fluency in English is to enroll that parent’s child in an international school.
It is generally accepted that schools that are duly accredited to use the Cambridge or International baccalaureate curriculum have met international standards. This paper will focus the quality indicators of educational administration for excellence in international schools. Moreover, organizational scientists commonly agree upon as characteristics of highly effective schools. Following this will be a description of selected international schools in Thailand that have been accredited as ‘World Schools’ by the International Baccalaureate Organization (Switzerland). The intention is to determine the extent to which the characteristics of the selected IB schools in Thailand are consistent with those commonly agreed upon by organizational scientists.
This paper will be divided into the following 3 sections; 1) The Characteristics of Highly Effective Schools 2) The IB World Schools in Thailand and 3) Case study of 2 IB schools; How do the IB schools in Thailand meet up to the standards of the IB world school and how do they portray the characteristic of an effective school?
1. The Characteristics of Highly Effective Schools
According to Owens and Lavesky (2011), it is generally agreed today that a school administrator who does not have a vision that is clear and well developed will find it difficult, if not impossible, to be an effective educational leader in the days ahead. The educational leader – like leaders in all fields of human endeavor- inevitably faces a career in which new, resilient responses are constantly required to meet the challenges that will inescapably and unremittingly arise in the future. Gray (1990) has argued that “the importance of the headteacher’s leadership is one of the clearest of the messages from school effectiveness research”. He draws attention to the fact that no evidence of effective schools with weak leadership has emerged in reviews of effectiveness research. These challenges are likely to occur in cycles, as they have for over a century. Rest assured: The problems that seem overwhelming to us now will in time recede into the background as new and apparently more demanding challenges emerge in the future. In view of this unyielding progression, educational leaders not only need to develop responses to the urgencies of the moment but also to develop a set of values, beliefs, and principles to guide them in developing effective strategies and actions in the uncertain future. Taken together, these values, beliefs, and principles mold and shape the educational leader’s vision of what the school ought to be like, the direction in which it should be going, and the end state for which it should be striving. A core element in such a vision must be the ability to see the school as a nimble, adaptive organization that is able to proactively detect problems as they are emerging and create effective solutions to them before the problems develop into crises.
For well over two decades, researchers have studied the characteristics of effective schools, seeking to find out what they tend to be like in contrast with less-effective schools. The result is an accumulated body of research that suggests that effective, or high-achieving, schools tend to be organized and operated on five basic assumptions:
1) Whatever else a school can and should do, its central purpose is to teach: Success is measured by students’ progress in knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Cohen (1983) noted that school effectiveness is clearly dependent upon effective classroom teaching.
2) The school is responsible for providing the overall environment in which teaching and learning occur.
3) Schools must be treated holistically: Partial efforts to make improvements that deal with the needs of only some of the students and break up the unity of the instructional program are likely to fail.
4) The most crucial characteristics of a school are the attitudes and behaviors of the teachers and other staff, not material things such as the size of its library or the age of the physical plant.
5) Perhaps most important, the school accepts responsibility for the success or failure of the academic performance of the students. Students are firmly regarded as capable of learning regardless of their ethnicity, sex, home or cultural background, or family income. “Pupils from poor families do not need a different curriculum, nor does their poverty excuse failure to learn basic skills,” Stewart Purkey and Marshall Smith have asserted, adding, “Differences among schools do have an impact on student achievement, and those differences are controllable by the school staff.”
1) Whatever else a school can and should do, its central purpose is to teach: Success is measured by students’ progress in knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Cohen (1983) noted that school effectiveness is clearly dependent upon effective classroom teaching.
2) The school is responsible for providing the overall environment in which teaching and learning occur.
3) Schools must be treated holistically: Partial efforts to make improvements that deal with the needs of only some of the students and break up the unity of the instructional program are likely to fail.
4) The most crucial characteristics of a school are the attitudes and behaviors of the teachers and other staff, not material things such as the size of its library or the age of the physical plant.
5) Perhaps most important, the school accepts responsibility for the success or failure of the academic performance of the students. Students are firmly regarded as capable of learning regardless of their ethnicity, sex, home or cultural background, or family income. “Pupils from poor families do not need a different curriculum, nor does their poverty excuse failure to learn basic skills,” Stewart Purkey and Marshall Smith have asserted, adding, “Differences among schools do have an impact on student achievement, and those differences are controllable by the school staff.”
Thus, the effective schools concept turns 180 degrees from traditional educational thought that tends to blame the victim, namely, the student, for low academic achievement. Though one of the outstanding characteristics of effective schools is that they take responsibility for meeting the educational needs of students to a greater degree than their less-successful counterparts, this is still a concept that many educational practitioners find difficult to accept. Nevertheless, this is the essential lesson from the effective schools research.
A survey of the research literature has identified a cluster of 13 organizational and operational characteristics that effective schools tend to exhibit. They fall into two groups. The first group contains nine characteristics that can be implemented quickly at minimal cost by administrative action:
1) School-site management and democratic decision making, in which individual schools are encouraged to take greater responsibility for, and are given greater latitude in, educational problem solving.
2) Support from the district for increasing the capacity of schools to identify and solve significant educational problems; this includes reducing the inspection and management roles of central office people while increasing support and encouragement of school-level leadership and collaborative problem solving.
3) Strong leadership, which may be provided by administrators but also may be provided by integrated teams of administrators, teachers, and perhaps others.
4) Staff stability to facilitate the development of a strong cohesive school culture.
5) A planned, coordinated curriculum that treats the students’ educational needs holistically and increases time spent on academic learning.
6) Schoolwide staff development that links the school’s organizational and instructional needs with the needs that teachers themselves perceive should be addressed.
7) Parental involvement, particularly in support of homework, attendance, and discipline.
8) Schoolwide recognition of academic success, both in terms of improving academic performance and achieving standards of excellence.
9) An emphasis on the time required for teaching and learning, for example, reducing interruptions and disruptions, stressing the primacy of focused efforts to learn, and restructuring teaching activities.
1) School-site management and democratic decision making, in which individual schools are encouraged to take greater responsibility for, and are given greater latitude in, educational problem solving.
2) Support from the district for increasing the capacity of schools to identify and solve significant educational problems; this includes reducing the inspection and management roles of central office people while increasing support and encouragement of school-level leadership and collaborative problem solving.
3) Strong leadership, which may be provided by administrators but also may be provided by integrated teams of administrators, teachers, and perhaps others.
4) Staff stability to facilitate the development of a strong cohesive school culture.
5) A planned, coordinated curriculum that treats the students’ educational needs holistically and increases time spent on academic learning.
6) Schoolwide staff development that links the school’s organizational and instructional needs with the needs that teachers themselves perceive should be addressed.
7) Parental involvement, particularly in support of homework, attendance, and discipline.
8) Schoolwide recognition of academic success, both in terms of improving academic performance and achieving standards of excellence.
9) An emphasis on the time required for teaching and learning, for example, reducing interruptions and disruptions, stressing the primacy of focused efforts to learn, and restructuring teaching activities.
These are not the only characteristics of effective schools and certainly they are not the most crucial. However, they are relatively easy and inexpensive to implement quickly, and they set the stage for the development of a second group of four characteristics that have great power to renew and increase the school’s capacity to continue to solve problems and increase effectiveness over time:
10) Collaborative planning and collegial relationships that promote feelings of unity, encourage sharing of knowledge and ideas, and foster consensus among those in the school.
11) Sense of community, in which alienation-of both teachers and students-is reduced and a sense of mutual sharing is strengthened. Lee, Bryk & Smith’s (1993) review of literature concerning the organization of effective secondary schools points to the importance of a sense of community “Such elements of community as cooperative work, effective communication, and shared goals have been identified as crucial for all types of successful organizations, not only schools.”
12) Shared clear goals and high achievable expectations, which arise from collaboration, collegiality, and a sense of community and which serve to unify those in the organization through their common purposes.
13) Order and discipline that bespeak the seriousness and purposefulness of the school as a mutual agreement on shared goals, collaboration, and consensus.
10) Collaborative planning and collegial relationships that promote feelings of unity, encourage sharing of knowledge and ideas, and foster consensus among those in the school.
11) Sense of community, in which alienation-of both teachers and students-is reduced and a sense of mutual sharing is strengthened. Lee, Bryk & Smith’s (1993) review of literature concerning the organization of effective secondary schools points to the importance of a sense of community “Such elements of community as cooperative work, effective communication, and shared goals have been identified as crucial for all types of successful organizations, not only schools.”
12) Shared clear goals and high achievable expectations, which arise from collaboration, collegiality, and a sense of community and which serve to unify those in the organization through their common purposes.
13) Order and discipline that bespeak the seriousness and purposefulness of the school as a mutual agreement on shared goals, collaboration, and consensus.
Clearly, the critical school characteristics listed in the second group are more complex than those in the first group, more difficult to achieve and sustain over time, yet they combine to produce great power to establish the improvement of educational effectiveness as a central focus of life within the school. The power, of course, lies in developing within the school a culture-norms, values, and beliefs-that unites those in the school in their unending quest for increased educational effectiveness. Many if not most school-improvement plans can be faulted precisely for seeking to “install” the relatively simpler first-order characteristics and falling short of seriously engaging in the culture-rebuilding suggested by the more complex second-order characteristics listed here.
Owens and Lavesky (2011) mentioned that the second-order characteristics are found in the research that Carl Glickman, Stephen Gordon, and Jovita Ross-Gordon call school-improvement research. They suggest that school improvement research indicates how we can, over time, sustain effective school characteristics that result in improved student and school outcomes. Their review of the school-improvement literature resulted in a list of the most important factors that are responsible for developing schools with second-order characteristics.
Factor of Improving Schools
· Varied sources of leadership, including teacher leadership
· Consideration of individual school context and culture
· Parental involvement
· Shared vision and continuous revisioning
· External and internal support, including time, moral, and technical support
· Focus on teaching and learning
· Ongoing professional development, including continuous analysis, reflection, and growth
· Instructional dialogue
· Teacher collaboration
· Democratic, collective inquiry, including action research
· Integration of improvement efforts into a coherent program
· Data-based feedback on improvement efforts using multiple measures
2. The IB World Schools in Thailand
The International Baccalaureate (IB) offers high quality programmes of international education to a worldwide community of schools. There are more than 900,000 IB students in over 140 countries. The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is an international educational founder headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1968 in Geneva, IB offers three educational programmes for children ages 3–19. The organization's name and logo were changed in 2007 to reflect a new image and for legal reorganization. Consequently, “IB” can refer to the organization itself, any of the three programmes or the diploma or certificates awarded at the end of the diploma programme. Some of the most effective schools in Thailand are part of the IB World schools. To be an IB World school, you have to adhere to the following standards:
Programme standards and practices for all
Section A: Philosophy
Standard A
The school’s educational beliefs and values reflect IB philosophy.
1. The school’s published statements of mission and philosophy align with those of the IB.
2. The governing body, administrative and pedagogical leadership and staff demonstrate understanding of IB philosophy.
3. The school community demonstrates an understanding of, and commitment to, the programme(s).
4. The school develops and promotes international-mindedness and all attributes of the IB learner profile across the school community.
5. The school promotes responsible action within and beyond the school community.
6. The school promotes open communication based on understanding and respect.
7. The school places importance on language learning, including mother tongue, host country language and other languages.
8. The school participates in the IB world community.
9. The school supports access for students to the IB programme(s) and philosophy.
Section B: Organization
Standard B1: Leadership and structure
The school’s leadership and administrative structures ensure the implementation of the IB programme(s).
1. The school has developed systems to keep the governing body informed about the ongoing implementation and development of the programme(s).
2. The school has developed a governance and leadership structure that supports the implementation of the programme(s).
3. The head of school/school principal and programme coordinator demonstrate pedagogical leadership aligned with the philosophy of the programme(s).
4. The school has appointed a programme coordinator with a job description, release time, support and resources to carry out the responsibilities of the position.
5. The school develops and implements policies and procedures that support the programme(s).
6. The school has systems in place for the continuity and ongoing development of the programme(s).
7. The school carries out programme evaluation involving all stakeholders.
Standard B2: Resources and support
The school’s resources and support structures ensure the implementation of the IB programme(s).
1. The governing body allocates funding for the implementation and ongoing development of the programme(s).
2. The school provides qualified staff to implement the programme(s).
3. The school ensures that teachers and administrators receive IB-recognized professional development.
4. The school provides dedicated time for teachers’ collaborative planning and reflection.
5. The physical and virtual learning environments, facilities, resources and specialized equipment support the implementation of the programme(s).
6. The library/multimedia/resources play a central role in the implementation of the programme(s).
7. The school ensures access to information on global issues and diverse perspectives.
8. The school provides support for its students with learning and/or special educational needs and support for their teachers.
9. The school has systems in place to guide and counsel students through the programme(s). 10. The student schedule or timetable allows for the requirements of the programme(s) to be met.
11. The school utilizes the resources and expertise of the community to enhance learning within the programme(s).
12. The school allocates resources to implement the Primary Years Programme exhibition, the Middle Years Programme personal project and the Diploma Programme extended essay for all students, depending on the programme(s) offered.
Section C: Curriculum
Standard C1: Collaborative planning
Collaborative planning and reflection supports the implementation of the IB programme(s).
1. Collaborative planning and reflection addresses the requirements of the programme(s).
2. Collaborative planning and reflection takes place regularly and systematically.
3. Collaborative planning and reflection addresses vertical and horizontal articulation.
4. Collaborative planning and reflection ensures that all teachers have an overview of students’ learning experiences.
5. Collaborative planning and reflection is based on agreed expectations for student learning. 6. Collaborative planning and reflection incorporates differentiation for students’ learning needs and styles.
7. Collaborative planning and reflection is informed by assessment of student work and learning.
8. Collaborative planning and reflection recognizes that all teachers are responsible for language development of students.
9. Collaborative planning and reflection addresses the IB learner profile attributes.
Note: “Collaborative planning and reflection” is used as a single concept as the two processes are interdependent.
Standard C2: Written curriculum
The school’s written curriculum reflects IB philosophy.
1. The written curriculum is comprehensive and aligns with the requirements of the programme(s).
2. The written curriculum is available to the school community.
3. The written curriculum builds on students’ previous learning experiences.
4. The written curriculum identifies the knowledge, concepts, skills and attitudes to be developed over time.
5. The written curriculum allows for meaningful student action in response to students’ own needs and the needs of others.
6. The written curriculum incorporates relevant experiences for students.
7. The written curriculum promotes students’ awareness of individual, local, national and world issues.
8. The written curriculum provides opportunities for reflection on human commonality, diversity and multiple perspectives.
9. The written curriculum is informed by current IB publications and is reviewed regularly to incorporate developments in the programme(s).
10. The written curriculum integrates the policies developed by the school to support the programme(s).
11. The written curriculum fosters development of the IB learner profile attributes.
Standard C3: Teaching and learning
Teaching and learning reflects IB philosophy.
1. Teaching and learning aligns with the requirements of the programme(s).
2. Teaching and learning engages students as inquirers and thinkers.
3. Teaching and learning builds on what students know and can do.
4. Teaching and learning promotes the understanding and practice of academic honesty.
5. Teaching and learning supports students to become actively responsible for their own learning.
6. Teaching and learning addresses human commonality, diversity and multiple perspectives. 7. Teaching and learning addresses the diversity of student language needs, including those for students learning in a language(s) other than mother tongue.
8. Teaching and learning demonstrates that all teachers are responsible for language development of students.
9. Teaching and learning uses a range and variety of strategies.
10. Teaching and learning differentiates instruction to meet students’ learning needs and styles.
11. Teaching and learning incorporates a range of resources, including information technologies.
12. Teaching and learning develops student attitudes and skills that allow for meaningful student action in response to students’ own needs and the needs of others.
13. Teaching and learning engages students in reflecting on how, what and why they are learning.
14. Teaching and learning fosters a stimulating learning environment based on understanding and respect.
15. Teaching and learning encourages students to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.
16. Teaching and learning develops the IB learner profile attributes.
Note: “Teaching and learning” is used as a single concept as the two processes are interdependent.
Standard C4: Assessment
Assessment at the school reflects IB assessment philosophy.
1. Assessment at the school aligns with the requirements of the programme(s).
2. The school communicates its assessment philosophy, policy and procedures to the school community.
3. The school uses a range of strategies and tools to assess student learning.
4. The school provides students with feedback to inform and improve their learning.
5. The school has systems for recording student progress aligned with the assessment philosophy of the programme(s).
6. The school has systems for reporting student progress aligned with the assessment philosophy of the programme(s).
7. The school analyses assessment data to inform teaching and learning.
8. The school provides opportunities for students to participate in, and reflect on, the assessment of their work.
9. The school has systems in place to ensure that all students can demonstrate consolidation of their learning through the completion of the Primary Years Programme exhibition, the Middle Years Programme personal project and the Diploma Programme extended essay, depending on the programme(s) offered.
3. Case study of 2 IB schools; How do the IB schools in Thailand meet up to the standards of the IB world school and how do they portray the characteristic of an effective school?
How do IB schools in Thailand meet up to the standards of the IB world school and how do they portray the characteristic of an effective school? The following 2 tables show the findings of this paper through the analysis and evaluation of the published information of Concordian International School and the New International School of Thailand with the characteristic of highly effective school as portrayed by organizational theorists, and the standard of IB World School.
Table 1: The Concordian International School
The characteristics of highly effective schools | The IB World Schools Standard | The Concordian International School |
SA 1. The school’s published statements of mission and philosophy align with those of the IB. | Providing a world-class education through effective and innovative teaching based on the principles and objectives of the International Baccalaureate Organization. (CIS guiding policy 2) | |
SC3-12 Teaching and learning develops student attitudes and skills that allow for meaningful student action in response to students’ own needs and the needs of others. | Providing a learning environment that equips students with essential skills, concepts, and knowledge.(CIS guiding policy 5) |
Table 1 (continue)
The characteristics of highly effective schools | The IB World Schools Standard | The Concordian International School |
SA 5 The school promotes responsible action within and beyond the school community. | Providing a truly international education that enables children to play a full and active role as global citizens and leaders. (CIS guiding policy 9) | |
School wide staff development that links the school’s organizational and instructional needs with the needs that teachers themselves perceive should be addressed. (pg 4, point 6 of characteristic of effective schools) | SB2-8 The school provides support for its students with learning and/or special educational needs and support for their teachers. | Providing students with faculty and staff of the highest quality and encourage continued professional development. (CIS guiding policy 10) |
Parental involvement, particularly in support of homework, attendance, and discipline. (pg 4, point 7 of characteristic of effective schools) | Providing a sense of community among the students, parents, faculty, and administration, based on open communication, mutual respect, cooperation and concern. (theme 1, point 7, pg4) | |
SB2-9 The school has systems in place to guide and counsel students through the programme(s). | A counseling facility is available. The Counseling Department supports the school's mission in educating the whole child by focusing on the social and emotional development of students. |
Table 2: The New International School of Thailand
The characteristics of highly effective schools | The IB World Schools Standard | The New International School of Thailand |
SA 1 The school’s published statements of mission and philosophy align with those of the IB. | There is IB curriculum in the school website. | |
SA 5 The school promotes responsible action within and beyond the school community. | The school believe that embracing diversity strengthens the individual and community. (Core values and Mission) | |
SC3-12 Teaching and learning develops student attitudes and skills that allow for meaningful student action in response to students’ own needs and the needs of others. | The school believe that people thrive in a safe, clean and caring environment. (Core values and Mission) | |
School wide staff development that links the school’s organizational and instructional needs with the needs that teachers themselves perceive should be addressed. (pg 4, point 6 of characteristic of effective schools) | SB2-8 The school provides support for its students with learning and/or special educational needs and support for their teachers. | There are faculty and staff of the highest quality and encourage continued professional development. (faculty and staff profile) |
Table 2 (continue)
The characteristics of highly effective schools | The IB World Schools Standard | The New International School of Thailand |
SB2-9 The school has systems in place to guide and counsel students through the programme(s). | Today's school counsellors are vital members of the education team. They help all students in the areas of academic achievement; personal/social development and career development, ensuring today's students become the productive, well-adjusted adults of tomorrow. (The role of school counsellor) |
Conclusion
How could we help the principals of other schools - such as government schools - raise the achievement levels of their pupils?
This section will be divided into the following 7 guidelines:
1) Home-School Partnership – Principals should seek the cooperation of guardian to reinforce learning. This could be done through guardians-teachers meeting, keeping guardians informed about what the children are learning. Parental involvement, particularly in support of homework, attendance, and discipline.
2) School-site management and democratic decision making, in which individual schools are encouraged to take greater responsibility for, and are given greater latitude in, educational problem solving.
3) A planned, coordinated curriculum that treats the students’ educational needs holistically and increases time spent on academic learning.
4) Schoolwide staff development that links the school’s organizational and instructional needs with the needs that teachers themselves perceive should be addressed.
5) The school promotes responsible action within and beyond the school community.
6) The school carries out programme evaluation involving all stakeholders.
7) .Collaborative planning and reflection ensures that all teachers have an overview of students’ learning experiences.
How do we develop competence in Thai language in addition to developing competency in English?
International schools are chiefly concerned with developing fluency in English. I would recommend that you include a paragraph or two that points out the importance of children developing fluency in their home language (in the case of Thai children that means Thai language). This means that Thai parents should be sure the school that they choose has a strong programme in Thai language.
Besides the emphasis on teaching in English, The IB School standards placed emphasis on the development of mother-tongue and other foreign languages. This emphasis can be seen in their Programme standard as follows:
SA-7 The school places importance on language learning, including mother tongue, host country language and other languages.
SC3-7 Teaching and learning addresses the diversity of student language needs, including those for students learning in a language(s) other than mother tongue.
SC3-8 Teaching and learning demonstrates that all teachers are responsible for language development of students.
References:
Cohen, M. (1983) Instructional, management and social conditions in effective schools, in
A. O. Webb & L. D. Webb (Eds) School Finance and School Improvement: Linkages in the 1980s, Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.
Eriksen, T.H. (2007). The Key Concepts: Globalization. New York: Berg.
Gray, J. (1990) The quality of schooling: frameworks for judgements, British Journal of
Education Studies, 38, (3): 204-233.
International Baccalaureate (2011). Programme standards and practices from January 2011.
Retrieved from http://www.ibo.org/become/guidance/
Lee, V., Bryk, A. & Smith, J. (1993) The organization of Effective Secondary Schools.
Chapter 5 in L. Darling-Hammond (Ed) Research in Education, 19, 171-226,
Washington DC: American Educational Research Association.
Owen, R.G &Valesky, T.C. (2011). Organizational Behavior in Education. New Jersy:
Pearson Education, Inc.
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