Joanne Walker—International School of Nice (France)
The development of international mindedness is an explicit aim of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) and is described as a list of attributes in the IB Learner Profile. This qualitative case study used a questionnaire with thirty alumni from one international school situated in France and a smaller number of follow up interviews to elicit retrospective views about the IBDP experience. It investigates whether past IBDP students display the attitudes and dispositions related to the IB construct of international mindedness and whether this has been manifest in their post school trajectories. The most significant results showed that this group of alumni almost unanimously perceived the IBDP as having been influential in the development of international mindedness. This study also endorsed findings from previous studies that IBDP influence tends to be valued somewhat later in career development. Overall the study underlines the difficulty of separating the multiplicity of influences in the development of values and attitudes. Teachers themselves emerged as one of the most influential aspects of the IBDP experience which therefore carries a clear implication for both staff recruitment and new staff induction. There are also implications for the IBO in considering ways to heighten awareness of the IB mission and to assess its efficacy.
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