Hidden Curriculum 2.0 (Inter)National Identities: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

The foundational core of all the four International Baccalaureate programmes (Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme, Diploma Programme and Career-related Programme) centers around ‘international mindedness’ (IM). Thus, discussions about national identity in International Baccalaureate schools may raise some concerns. There is a gap in research in that studies on national identity have not been addressed through the lens of the ‘hidden curriculum’. The theoretical framework of this study is grounded in Philip Jackson’s scholarly work on the hidden curriculum, alongside Michael Billig’s influential contributions to the study of nationalism. The study, undertaken in three International Baccalaureate schools in Europe, found that while the mission of the International Baccalaureate is highly absorbed in the everyday routine of the studied schools, often it comes at the expense of muting one’s national identity. The study described here explores the extent to which national identities are reproduced through means of the hidden curriculum, leading to what is described here as the Hidden Curriculum 2.0, a term attributed to educational scholar, Daniel Tröhler. The study is one part of a larger study on the interplay between the hidden and the taught curriculum and construction of national identity.

Keywords

International Education Hidden Curriculum Hidden Curriculum 2.0 Banal Nationalism International Baccalaureate National Identity

Introduction

Against a backdrop of continuous and explicit discourses emerging in opposition to internationalization, and the apparent resurgence of nationalist sentiment across Europe, the United States, and South America, the research described here raises questions about the extent to which matters of identity are addressed in international schools. In addition, the rise of conflict and turmoil around the world merits a conversation about the ‘national’ in the ‘international’ within International Baccalaureate (IB) schools. International schools, many though not all of which offer one or more of the IB programmes, play a pivotal role in unpacking the concept of the ‘national’ within the ‘international’ as in many cases they attract not only globally mobile elites but also affluent segments of the local population (Fail, 2011; Fitzsimons, 2019). According to ISC Research (2024), as of January 2024 there were 14,010 English-medium international schools worldwide that enrolled 6.9 million students.

Anthony Smith described mass education as ‘potentially the most significant feature of territorial nationalism and the identity it seeks to create’ (Smith, 1991: 110). Historically, nation-states employed education and schooling as tools to shape their ideal future citizens. Education has long been positioned as the primary remedy for societal ills and social problems, a process referred to as educationalization (Smeyers & Depaepe, 2008; Tröhler, 2016). The educationalization of this citizen-making process simultaneously plays a crucial role in reinforcing and legitimizing the authority of the nation-state (Gotling, 2022; Tröhler 2016). According to Gotling, educationalization in the making of future citizens was attained through nationally-minded subjects such as ‘history and geography and the national educational historiography and textbooks that went along with them’ (Gotling, 2022: 37). Much of this indicates the role of the taught curriculum in creation of future citizens without empirical research conducted on the role of the hidden curriculum. In the post–Cold War era, amid rising discourses of ‘globalization’ and ‘global citizenship’ the notion of the ‘national’ began to be viewed as an ‘ugly duckling,’ as Daniel Tröhler aptly describes:

‘for many scholars in the field of education, globalization is not necessarily a phenomenon with which they sympathize, but a dazzling white swan, a fascinating opportunity to perform on the academic stage, while the nation has become an ugly duckling’ (Tröhler, 2020: 16).

Tröhler argues that, under the influence of globalization, educational researchers largely abandoned the study of how national identities are reproduced. He notes that ‘freed from the enchantment connected to globalization, it has become more than evident that it was precisely during [the] period of the last 20 years that all the bold and crude nationalists we know today came to power’ (Tröhler, 2022: 9). In the concept of the ‘national’ being cast as the ‘ugly duckling’, it has been positioned in opposition to the ideals of internationalism and globalization. Globalization has led to the rise of highly mobile families, thereby generating a growing demand for international education – such as that offered in international schools and schools providing IB programmes. It has also allowed the IB to ‘emerge as one of the world’s leading international education providers’ (Poonoosamy, 2014). It was time to part with the national and embrace the international. Unlike national systems, international education aims to prepare ‘young people to cope with life in an increasingly interdependent world’ (Hayden and Thompson, 1995: 328). Over time, ‘not only mobile families, but also the national elites, are demanding international education for their children, which shows that international education is largely perceived as a prerequisite for the best jobs in the global market’ (Resnik, 2008: 147).

Yet many IB schools protect their internationalism through the symbolic shield of nationality. One need only look at the websites of international schools to see that many such schools pride themselves on the diversity of nationalities they embrace, though students will not necessarily have lived in the countries of which they hold those passports. In his 1995 text, Banal Nationalism, Michael Billig argues that we are continuously reminded that we live in nations through less visible manifestations of nationhood that are embedded in our consciousness. Within the broader discourse on belonging in international schools, it is worth considering whether it is the ‘national’ within the ‘international’ that prevents some students from fully experiencing a sense of belonging in certain schools, prompting them to align more comfortably with an international rather than national identity. Perhaps as educators and scholars we may want to inquire about what the concept of ‘national’ may mean to our students and the extent to which the ‘national’ morphs itself into their daily lives.

It should be noted that the research described here took place during a turbulent and conflict-ridden time in the world, and that the reality of the world manifests itself in the interplay between the hidden curriculum and the taught curriculum. Michael Billig’s scholarly work ruptures the notion that nationalism has lost its relevance; rather nationalism is ‘very much alive, simmering just beneath our consciousness, pervading our actions and decisions’ (Koh, 2010:18). Undertaken not during what Bonikowski (2016) refers to as ‘settled times’ but rather amidst a global resurgence of nationalism, this research illuminated a pronounced willingness among students across all three schools to critically engage with discussions concerning contemporary global conflicts. The aim of this study is to decipher the extent to which ‘national’ is extrapolated in various discourses within IB authorized schools through the lens of banal nationalism and the hidden curriculum.

Research Context

The International Baccalaureate

Founded in Geneva, Switzerland, the International Baccalaureate (IB) is a non-profit educational foundation serving students aged 3 to 19. The two-year IB Diploma Programme (DP), studied at grades eleven and twelve, is recognized by many universities worldwide. The IB began with the intent to ‘develop content from an internationalist perspective (reducing nationalist bias) with modern pedagogical approaches aiming for depth of learning and promoting international understanding’ (Tarc, 2009: 12). Gardner-McTaggart argues that in an increasingly interconnected world, one that transcends national borders, programs such as the IBDP are essential in addressing the needs of a new kind of citizen: one who is ‘truly a representative of the globe’ (2016: 8). A small study conducted by Hayden and Thompson in 1995 indicated that mixing with students of other nationalities helped to make students ‘international’ in their outlook. The IB mission statement highlights the need to mobilize young people ‘to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect’ (IBO, 2023):

The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These 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.

One distinguishable feature of the IB has been the focus on International Mindedness (IM). According to former Deputy Director General of the IB, Ian Hill, schools may claim that they are internationally minded, but this does not mean that they are. Hill notes that being internationally minded ‘does not depend on being in a particular geographical location, having a culturally diverse group of students and staff, or being an expatriate school overseas. It is an attitude of mind translated into actions within the school’ (Hill, 2014: 177). In other words, it is a ‘way of thinking’ about the world that students have inherited, and global issues as well as challenges facing this world. In a larger study conducted in Australian schools, Singh & Qi (2013) proposed that international mindedness is based on three elements: intercultural understanding, global engagement and multilingualism.

IBDP English courses

IB Diploma Programme (grades 11/12) English classes, also labeled as Language and Literature, or Literature, courses, require of students to read texts translated from another language into English and ‘that the texts chosen should be representative of a variety of perspectives’ (IB, 2019). Much emphasis has been placed on student agency in choosing texts, and this is something that has become increasingly important as IB courses moved from traditional methods of teaching to more student-centered. The IB Language and Literature guide (IB, 2019: 10-11) is saturated with phrases including ‘different views’, ‘offer perspectives which may be different from their own’, ‘create diverse identities’, ‘interaction between the local and the global’, ‘aware that representations of the world vary across cultures’, ‘to get acquainted with perspectives of the world’ – all negotiating the definition of what ‘international’ ought to be. For IB DP English classes, one internal assessment requires of students to identify a global issue in literary works they studied. This approach mobilizes students to think about global issues in parallel with literary analysis of textual features. And sometimes those global issues include war and conflict.

Navigating Global Conflicts and Teaching Them

To lead discussion on global conflicts is a challenging task and many educators do not feel comfortable or well-equipped in addressing these issues. Such discussion has often been left to social studies or history teachers. How students and teachers respond to the nature of conflict is of particular importance in the realm of international schools as these schools are perceived by many as beacons of quality education, and may often have students in the same class from countries in conflict with each other. In referring to the US state school context, Michael Apple (1971; 2019: 35) argues that there is an implicit consensus that certain topics are given legitimacy over others and for example in terms of protests, ‘one does not find reference to Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, or others who offered a potent critique of existing modes of activity’. Apple referred to this as a ‘consensus perspective’.

In How Might International Schools Position Themselves In Times of Armed Conflict? (2023), Conrad Hughes, Director General of the International School of Geneva, emphasized that ‘the purpose of an international school is not to publicly condemn nation states or governments, individuals or groups, nor is it to encourage our students to take sides, it is always to stand on the side of peace’ (Hughes, 2023). Hughes further highlighted the importance of thinking independently and critically, providing support for those students who are affected by global conflicts and being aware of ongoing prejudice that may be a result of these conflicts. Hughes (2023) goes on to state that ‘the bottom line is that international schools, and perhaps all schools for that matter, should never allow the armed conflict of the outside world to enter the classroom’.

About a year later, the director of the International School of Luxembourg, D J Condon, wrote a response to Hughes stating, ‘it strikes me that while our international schools may not be taking a stand against aggressor nations or groups, we are not really standing up for peace either’. (Condon, 2024). Condon emphasizes the need to teach students various theories of peace highlighting the importance of restorative justice, and to ‘unequivocally oppose violence and physical aggression in all their forms, on both macro and micro scales’ (Condon, 2024). In different ways, both Condon and Hughes underscore the need to strengthen peace education and highlight the importance of preparing educators to engage thoughtfully with discussions on global conflict.

On the English Language

English is one of the working languages of the IB, and the language that is by far the most widely used. In Linguistic Imperialism (1992), Phillipson states ‘the dominance of English is asserted and maintained by the establishment and continuous reconstitution of structural and cultural inequalities between English and other languages’ (1992: 47). According to Phillipson, linguistic imperialism creates hierarchies and reinforces social and economic inequities. Grimshaw (2015) highlights that within English-medium international schools there is much emphasis on ‘native speakerism’ so much so that ‘parents frequently prefer their children to be taught by native speakers [of the English language] on the assumption that they know the target language better’ (2015: 227).

An ethnographic study conducted in an international school in Indonesia by Tanu (2017:111) argued that Western cultural capital is marked by speaking English. Tanu observes that ‘the failure of Korean students to integrate with the English-speaking students and the Korean parents’ efforts to ensure their children retained Korean cultural capital were seen as a failure to be international’, suggesting that to be considered ‘international’ one must master proficiency in the English language.

Literature Review

National Identity and Banal Nationalism

Anthony Smith argues that it is nationalism which constructs national identity. If such be the case, then one must list configurations for the creation of those national identities. Smith lists the following features that characterize national identity (1991:14):

an historic territory, or homeland

common myths and historical memories

a common, mass public culture

common legal rights and duties for all members

a common economy with territorial mobility for members.

Another scholar in the realm of nationalism, Benedict Anderson, perceived nations to be imagined communities ‘because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion’ (1991: 6). Thus, Anderson amplified the spatial imaginings and our ability to connect with fellow countrymen across time and space merely through imagination, suggesting that the ‘nation’ is always there, somewhere within us. Mavroudi and Holt (2021) explored the role of memory-making and childhood, as interviewees of the Greek diaspora in Australia constructed their own idea of nationhood. Images of homeland were conveyed through discursive strategies (Wodak, 2009) and nostalgia for the nation that became an imagined community (Anderson, 1991). A concept of ‘national’ was negotiated through memory recollection and nostalgia permeated not just for homeland but for remembering time spaces of growing up in a long-gone diasporic community. Collective memory is a key ingredient of a diaspora, and descendants of one’s homeland cultivate collective myths about it (Safran, 1991).

In his scholarly work National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life, Tim Edensor provides a different argument. He claims that ‘a sense of national identity then is not a once and for all thing, but is dynamic and dialogic, found in the constellations of a huge cultural matrix of images, ideas, spaces, things, discourses and practices’ (2002:17) and ruptures the traditional notion that accounts of national identity be presented through the lens of the romanticized past. For Edensor, national identity is a process performed in various ways and through everyday social interaction, from cultural to religious rituals and sports. He evokes Stuart Hall’s conceptualization of identity, where identities are ‘increasingly fragmented and fractured; never singular but multiply constructed across different, often intersecting and antagonistic, discourses, practices and positions’ (Hall, 1996, p. 4). Images of a national culture are ‘constructed and conveyed in discourse, predominantly in narratives of national culture’ (Wodak et al, 2009: 22). If ‘national’ is indeed a form of discourse then the way students talk about their identity, the world around them and global conflicts may help us anchor an understanding of what ‘the national’ is within an international school setting.

A remarkable shift in literature on nationalism took place with a focus on the ‘taken for granted’ everyday nationalism (Billig, 1995; Edensor, 2002). Billig demonstrated the implicit nationalism in the established nation-states of the ‘West’. Billig tells us, ‘the citizenry are daily reminded of their national place in the world of nations’ (Billig, 1995: 8). The underlying approach to ‘everyday nationhood’ considers the social practice and discursive construction of a ‘nation’ through mundane, routine practices and implicit cues of everyday life. He argues that, for ‘us’ to exist, there must be a ‘them’. And to precisely detect what he describes as banal nationalism, Billig argues that we must be ‘linguistically microscopic’ (1995: 94) and pay close attention to the use of language. Billig highlights the importance of taking the bottom-up rather than top-down approach in deciphering the everyday nationalism. According to Billig (2023: 260), research on nationalism and educational practice requires examining everyday practices of schooling, and such empirical research must reflect the student-teacher discourse. It means that we must revisit the interplay between the hidden and the taught curriculum in construction of an (inter)national identity.

Hidden Curriculum

The term ‘hidden curriculum’ refers to implicit messages conveyed to students that are not part of the official or taught curriculum. Coined by Philip Jackson (1968), ‘hidden curriculum’ refers to the tacit and implicit teaching of attitudes, norms and values that is characterized as a means of social control. Jackson’s work on hidden curriculum centered around crowds, praise and power (Jackson, 1968: 10) in a primary school classroom. According to Jackson, students are implicitly taught to be rather than to do. For Jackson, schools are perceived as evaluative settings (praise), teachers are authoritative figures (power) and implicitly students are taught to be obedient and patient amongst many other things.

Jackson emphasizes that students must cope with institutional demands and navigate the crowds in schools. The ability to navigate crowds also means students must manage conflict-like situations that may arise, learn to be patient and at times experience deferment of gratification, and it is that which ultimately determines quality of a student’s life:

Learning to live in a classroom involves, among other things, learning to live in a crowd. This simple truth has already been mentioned, but it requires greater elaboration. Most of the things that are done in school are done with others, or at least in the presence of others, and this fact has profound implications for determining the quality of a student’s life. (Jackson, 1968: 10).

The concept of the hidden curriculum has been used to classify notions of class structure (Goodman, 1964; Reimer, 1971; Illich, 1971). Other studies on the hidden curriculum centered around the reproduction of the dominant discourse (Anyon, 1980; Apple, 1982; Hannay, 1984; Brownell, 2017). The educational reformer John Dewey referred to it as ‘collateral learning’ and while some educators tended to focus on the negative connotations to the term ‘hidden’ it is important to recognize that the studies on the hidden curriculum have centered around ‘not only what is hidden, but by whom and from whom’ (Portelli, 1993: 348).

Viewing education as a process of socialization (Jackson, 1968; Freire, 1974; Vygotsky, 1978) is nothing new, yet inability to recognize domination and exploitation, intricacies of cultural capital is a phenomenon which many educators are not equipped to address because they themselves may be active participants. This ultimately means that the hidden curriculum has a potential to normalize and empower hegemonic structures of society. It has also been argued that this interplay between the hidden and the taught curriculum is not given much attention in teacher education programs (Wren, 1999). The school is depicted as an entity that lacks correlation to class and power, and students are passive subjects and conformists. Giroux (2024), however, insisted that students possess the ability to resist and confront the hidden curriculum.

Some scholars argue that we cannot assume that teachers perpetuate the hidden curriculum as they may not be aware of its existence, and ‘perhaps it is produced by the learners themselves through learning experiences presented within the educational setting or the surrounding environment’ (Hannay, 1984: 8). Others have suggested that teachers are active agents of the ‘hidden curriculum’ (Rist, 1970; Snyder, 1970; Eggleston, 1977) even if they do not intend to be. Scholars have also emphasized the connection between the hidden curriculum and its detrimental effects on specific groups, such as women, non-white individuals, and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (Anyon, 1980; Kirk, 1992; Martin, 1976; Rist, 2000).

I contend that it is through the hidden curriculum that a certain type of national is indeed constructed in IB international schools and that teachers may not be aware of their agency in the manifestation of the hidden curricula.

Hidden Curriculum 2.0

Billig’s concept of banal nationalism, in conjunction with Jackson’s foundational work on the hidden curriculum, is employed to operationalize the concept of Hidden Curriculum 2.0 (Tröhler, forthcoming), a term attributed to educational scholar Daniel Tröhler. According to Billig, national identity manifests itself in our habits of social life from the way one talks about nationhood to the way language is used to reproduce nationhood. These routine practices and ‘the daily grind’ of schooling have been captured in Jackson’s conceptualization of the hidden curriculum. I argue that the hidden curriculum through the nexus of crowds, praise and power is at the core of determining the extent to which the national morphs into international and determines the quality of a student’s life.

Thus, reproduction and prioritization of a specific type of a national identity may not only occur in the classroom but through a school’s physical surroundings, and ‘students may also be learning from the division of labor at the school and its effects on social relations’ depending on who occupies certain roles within a school setting (Tarc, 2013). The diversity of staff members and roles they occupy, the everyday interactions between members of school community, the school calendar, what is celebrated and what holidays are omitted in the school calendar, all contribute to discourses that prioritize certain values and elicit a type of ‘national’.

The moments where certain topics are omitted are labeled here as ‘everything but’ moments. ‘Everything but’ moments, as I define them, refer to glimpses and moments in the classroom where it’s ‘understood’ that selective topics are not to be addressed in the classroom or if they are in fact addressed, it is either in an overly delicate manner or in an identity-molding way which may protect dominant ideology and discourse but also protect a type of ‘national’. This parallels Apple’s ‘consensus perspective’, where Apple (2019) argues that there is a consensus that certain topics are given legitimacy over others.

Operationalization of Hidden Curriculum 2.0

Wodak et al (2009) suggest that national identities are discursively constructed according to context. Consistent with Wodak’s assertion, as the researcher I constructed a theoretical foundation for operationalizing Hidden Curriculum 2.0 (Tröhler, forthcoming), on the basis of the following three research questions:

Whose national values are represented in an IB school and to the exclusion of whom?

How are nations mentally constructed in an IB school?

How are certain national identities ‘flagged’ in IB schools through Jackson’s modality of crowds, power and praise?

Addressing these questions involves examining how students evoke notions of ‘home’ and how these associations influence the formation of their identities. These questions aim to highlight the ways students talk about the nation and what the nation means to them. Bonikowski (2016: 435) asserts that:

by understanding the variety of meanings attached to the nation, we can begin illuminating nationalism’s relationship to politics and inequality: how symbolic boundaries are drawn in daily life to the exclusion of particular categories of people, how popular beliefs about the nation’s history and core principles affect the possibility for political change, and how views of the nation’s role in the world shape policy preferences.

In his work on the hidden curriculum, Jackson addressed the theme of patience and affirmed that students are asked to be someone rather than do; ‘they are expected to bear with equanimity, in other words, the continued delay, denial, and interruption of their personal wishes and desires’ (Jackson, 1968: 18). The ways in which international students negotiate the ‘national’, as highlighted in a number of semi-structured interviews, allows us to see whether students delay their desire to talk about their national identity or whether they embrace the discourse on national identity.

Key Terms

The (Inter)National

While the emphasis is indeed on intercultural understanding and international mindedness, past studies have indicated that there are hierarchies of Western identities at international schools. In one research study centered on the IB Diploma Programme in post-colonial Mauritius, Poonoosamy (2010: 21) notes, ‘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’. Furthermore, Poonoosamy argues that the IB prioritizes globalization and not internationalization since the ‘global is defined by the West and assimilated, customized and negotiated by the IB schools to integrate a culture of power through Western knowledge’ (2010: 22). Another study by Fitzsimons in three international schools in Europe concludes that ‘the Anglo-Western perspective promoted by the school is the globally accepted perspective’ (2019: 286) and that Anglo-Western identities were prioritized over others. The construction and manifestation of primarily Western identities, particularly within the taught curriculum, casts a shadow over the otherwise cosmopolitan mission statement of the IB. Cosmopolitanism is involved with cultural diversity (Gunesch, 2015) and for critical proponents of cosmopolitanism ‘internationalism is inadequate because it assumes the existence of the nation-state’ (Sarup, 1996: 142-43).

Lack of desire to embrace one’s national identity is not unusual in international schools and ‘stems from the universalism, egalitarianism and individualism that lie at the ideological heart of western liberalism’ (Tate, 2017: 77). Tate argues that being an individual rather than a citizen sets a dangerous precedent, and if there is a lack of identification with one’s national identity ‘nation states run the risk, behind a democratic façade, of turning into oligarchies dominated by small political elites devoted to the perpetuation of their own power’ (2017: 77). Tate recommends balance and cautions that amplifying the need for the universal can eliminate the importance of improving the quality of life at home. In studies on the history of curriculum in Europe, Tröhler (2019) reminds us that ‘the intentional teaching of continental histories rather than national histories has resulted in enhancement of national sentiments’ (533). Thus, we must not necessarily focus on how the national is separated from the international but rather on how they are connected and embroiled. The mutation of the ‘national’ into ‘international’ and vice versa is labeled here as (inter)national.

Methodology

The conducted study took place from October to November 2023 in three international schools in Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. It involved classroom observations of IB Diploma English classes, along with interviews conducted with both students and staff. This article focuses exclusively on the student interview data.

All three schools are IB schools that are accredited by the Council of International Schools. Some 30 years ago, Hayden and Wong (1997) interviewed a small number of IBDP teachers and alumni, and concluded that the IB does not ‘promote an international education as well in a monocultural, monolingual national school as it does in a diverse school environment’ (1997: 359). They found that the school environment and the informal curriculum have more impact on the development of international perspectives than the formal curriculum. In the present study, it was considered essential to conduct the research in schools with a diverse student demographic. All three schools had student populations drawn from many different nationalities. The schools could each be described as meeting in some respects both of the following two international school criteria as outlined by Hayden and Thompson (2013):

‘Type A’ ‘traditional’ international schools: established principally to cater for globally mobile expatriate families for whom the local education system is not considered appropriate.

‘Type B’ ‘ideological’ international schools: established principally on an ideological basis, bringing together young people from different parts of the world to be educated together with a view to promoting global peace and understanding.

Nine English DP classes were observed, and 53 students who were part of these classes volunteered to participate in individual semi-structured interviews, which were also conducted with staff (though neither lesson observation nor staff interviews are included in the analysis discussed in this article). Student interviews lasted for 10-15 minutes and students’ age ranged from 16-18. It was pertinent to conduct the research with grade 11 and grade 12 students. As these students near the end of their Diploma Programme journey, their lived experiences and learning trajectories offer valuable insights that can broaden existing research on (inter)national identities. Moreover, their reflections may provide a glimpse into whether they are aware of the hidden curriculum as it unfolds in the classroom. Participation was voluntary, and confidentiality was guaranteed.

Semi-structured interviews allow for in-depth responses from the interviewee (Creswell, 2014) which may add additional layers in extrapolating the ‘national’ within the ‘international’. To decode banal nationalism in practice, Fox (2017: 42) emphasizes that we cannot ask our participants directly about the ‘national’ for it might incite alarm in the interviewee, be irrelevant to everyday context, and may not be the best indicator of one’s national belief. The questions for the interview included, but were not limited to, the following:

What is home to you?

What aspects of schooling remind you of home?

What does the concept ‘national identity’ mean to you?

What does ‘international’ mean to you?

To what extent is your identity validated in the English curriculum?

Do you learn about other cultures from what is being taught in the classroom or through interactions with other students?

In what ways are you encouraged to participate in values and traditions of others?

What do you think is a challenge of attending an IB school?

Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) is a method for interpreting the meaning of qualitative data. Student interviews were analyzed through the QCA method, which involves assigning segments of the material to predefined categories within a coding frame. This coding frame is central to QCA, as it encompasses all the key meanings used to describe and interpret the content. Margit Schreier (2012) suggests that qualitative content analysis relies on what is being said rather than how things are said. A seven-step structure for Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) was applied, following the approach outlined by Kuckartz and Rädiker (2023: 102):

Phase 1: Read, write memos and case summaries

Phase 2: Develop main categories

Phase 3: 1^st coding cycle – code data with main categories

Phase 4: Develop sub-categories inductively

Phase 5: 2^nd coding cycle – code data with sub-categories

Phase 6: Simple and complex analyses

Phase 7: Write up results, document process

Despite the limitation of data here being based solely on student interviews, the study holds relevance and value, particularly given the IB’s emphasis on student agency. Moreover, the schools where the research was conducted are well-established and experienced in offering the IB Diploma Programme, further reinforcing the significance of students’ perspectives.

Results

National Identity

Throughout the application of the coding process, it became apparent that benefits of international education outweighed the tensions created within the respective international schools. The overwhelming majority of students emphasized the benefits of international education and precisely those ingredients outlined by Singh and Qi: intercultural understanding, global engagement and multilingualism. When talking about international mindedness (IM), students stated that ‘it’s just a way of thinking’ which aligns with Hill’s aspirations for international mindedness in international schools (Hill, 2014). Other students perceived benefits in the ability to reflect on their own privileges while some students simply didn’t have anything to say on that topic.

When discussing their national identity students alluded to the past, childhood, or grandparents, which evokes Billig’s ‘flagging’ of a nation. They described their national identity as ‘home’ and a place of stability and consistency: something that is stable in the ever-changing and mobile world they inhabit, something that is always there. While the ‘international’ is a floating signifier, the ‘national’ is always there, weaving in the background. For some of the students, national identity is an intimate and personal matter and triggers powerful emotions as genuinely expressed by one student:

[I]t’s the country where my family is, the person that I love the most, my mother.

This student associated national identity with his mother, for whom he expressed gratitude and love. We see nationhood reproduced for ‘it can still call for ultimate sacrifice; and daily, its symbols and assumptions are flagged’ (Billig, 1995: 8). When asked about any aspects of schooling that remind another student of home, the same student responded:

There are some people who I find, teachers or directors who are very kind. They remind me of my home. There are people at school who give you a sense of belonging and those people remind me of home.

This indicates that the discourse on national identity is one of belonging, consistency, home and stability. By closely examining interpersonal interactions and the ‘crowds’ component of Jackson’s work on the hidden curriculum, we can observe the subtle or ‘banal’ ways in which nationalism is manifested. Billig argues that banal nationalism is evident with ‘routine’ and ‘small’ words, words that are ‘reminders of the homeland, making our national identity unforgettable’ (Billig, 1995: 93). This dynamic also reveals the presence of an ‘us versus them’ dichotomy. People who are depicted as ‘cold’ are ‘them’, and those perceived as ‘kind’ are ‘us’ and thus symbolize homeland.

When asked about home or the meaning of national identity, students evoked Benedict Anderson’s concept of ‘imagined communities’ (1991). A way to capture ‘home’ was negotiated through the lexical field of ‘grandma’ and ‘anchoring’, signaling that there is a base to which one returns:

Well, for me, that is quite a hard question to answer. I usually when I think of home, I think of my grandma’s. So that’s where my mother grew up. And so that’s why I sort of go back every year, every two years. So I sort of anchor myself there.

Another student echoed this sentiment:

I’m Swiss. Every year we go back to Switzerland to visit family and visit friends. And so I have a lot of family and friends in Switzerland, and [we] have an apartment there, which was basically the one consistent thing in my life. I guess, one place I had all my life. Yeah, so I guess that’s what I would call home.

This focus on the ‘inner self’ (Smith,1991) in relation to national identity emerged as a recurring theme throughout the coding process:

National identity to me is where I am from, where my family is from. I am French originally, so I would consider that my national identity, and associate my culture to be French, rather than places I lived in.

The reliance on consistency as a marker of national identity permeated in all three international schools. Furthermore, students continued to allude to their childhood; ‘most of my memories from middle school, maybe kindergarten, and some of the primary school, still lie there. Being South Korean is my national identity.’

I think it’s also good that our cultural differences are not the main thing that’s on our minds. And I think it’s good for it to be normalized that there’s interaction between cultures. And I think that overly celebrating that can take away from the normalization because something normalized can be negatively viewed or positively viewed to the point where it’s still an idea of division.

Another student captured the fragile nexus of the national in the international in a powerful way:

National identity, I would define it as now that I moved to this country, how I act, and my behavior got affected. I kind of adapted myself to act in a way that aligns with everyone else and where I live. How I behave gets affected by that. I come from another country, and everyone there is loud, and outgoing all the time. Here people are stricter. That is where my behavior changes, and I don’t mind it. This is where national identity matters, it helps me understand how to act in certain places differently.

Here we have another student who associated warmth with their national identity and being ‘strict’ with ‘other’ national identities. It is apparent here that the ‘national’ is amplified when students encounter other nationals (Banks, 2017). This student highlights that they need to adjust their behavior and their ‘inner self’ (Smith, 1991) or even mute their national identity in order to belong. Responses such as this denote that ‘the consciousness of national identity normally assumes an international context, which itself needs to be imagined every bit as much as does the national community’ (Billig, 1995: 83). This suggests that students may need to reshape or mold their identities to align with the expectations of this ‘imagined’ international community.

Another response was elicited from a Russian student who claims that home is when they are surrounded by other Russian people who speak the same language, but since that is not the case in their international school setting, this student responded:

I find that Eastern Europeans are much, much, much more different to Western Europeans. And I find myself finding it easier . . . to find contact with Eastern Europeans and not necessarily Russians. Many Ukrainian friends, many Polish friends, but I find it much, much easier to be on the same note, honestly, on the same vibe on the same level.

Although this student could not fully articulate what was meant by the same ‘vibe’ or ‘level’, their words suggest that encounters with certain nationalities can heighten one’s awareness of their own national identity. In this case, the student’s nationality became more pronounced when interacting with peers from Eastern Europe, but feels less visible, or even muted, when among Western European students.

The interplay between the Hidden and the Taught Curriculum

It is difficult to discuss the hidden curriculum without also considering its interaction with the taught curriculum. When asked whether there is something that could be altered within the English curriculum, one student proposed:

Bring more texts from other cultures and translate them. We now focus more on European and American literature, but I don’t see a lot of Asian, or African literature, so it would be interesting to translate them.

When asked if one’s identity is validated in the taught curriculum, another student responded:

I feel like a lot of the topics are centered around European Affairs, which makes sense. But I know that there’s a lot of things that I learned when I was in Brazil, the history of Brazil, or history [of] Southern Asia, and parts that aren’t necessarily mentioned as much in the curriculum.

Since this student was able to experience an IB education in Brazil, they were able to notice the gaps in what was being taught. One student argued that teachers were aware of these biases, even prefacing their teaching with ‘please understand that we as teachers have our own backgrounds and biases’. Another student who experienced the national system in the United States placed emphasis on teachers’ own identities and the role those identities play in what is ‘legitimate knowledge’ (Apple & King, 1977):

I feel that America is the most represented country in class, as the majority of teachers are American or Canadian.

When asked why such a claim was made, the student said there was:

a lot of vocabulary, a lot of references, a lot of things to do with either America or Britain in terms of politics . . ., because the political landscape, the power dynamic, and the cultures are pretty similar. So that comes across, and discussions and even references. But I think that there’s more variety here, definitely, than in the US.

This comment indicates two main points in deciphering the hidden curriculum and banal nationalism. Firstly, the way educators frame lessons is indeed evaluated by students and, as Jackson indicated, students learn to evaluate teachers. This student has embarked on this process and concluded that the subtle references and cultural allusions remind them of United States as a nation that is being ‘flagged’ (Billig, 1995) throughout the classroom discourse. Secondly, the student compares their experience within the international school system to that of the US national school system, concluding that the international curriculum offers a broader range of perspectives than what is typically encountered in the American context.

Religious Customs and Traditions

Jackson noted that ‘most of the things that are done in school are done with others, or at least in the presence of others, and this fact has profound implications for determining the quality of a student’s life’ (1968: 10). The quality of a student’s life can be measured in various ways but when it comes to crowds, there is a positive element of the hidden curriculum. Students in all three international schools valued the multiple perspectives they are exposed to. Interestingly, it is through these crowds and intercultural exchange that students learn about each other’s customs and traditions, but the massiveness of representation of certain religions compared with others is noticeable for some students:

The school seems very biased towards well, I think more Christianity in the sense of, for example, because they celebrate Christmas, they celebrate Halloween, and they celebrate Easter. But I think those are the main three things that actually come up. Like there probably could be a bit more awareness for other cultures, celebrations and holidays.

It is evident that some students are able to detect the hidden curriculum as it unfolds, and this also speaks of a school’s ability to produce reflective students. Upon a student being asked about how she gets to appreciate other traditions and values, she responds:

Like, for example, there’s a few things, but I think mainly, the school is focused on Christianity, and I learn about it through interactions with these kids. I know a lot of people from different places, and . . . sometimes they feel less seen because they don’t [see] their culture represented.

When I inquired from the student how exactly she noticed this lack of representation and what she means by ‘interactions with those kids’, they added:

The way that things are represented. They still mention other events but don’t make a big deal out of it like some other events. During advisory, for example, school also puts slides, “Happy Ramadan” or something. But like, when it’s . . . going to Christmas we have . . . events and stuff; first of all, the school is all decorated.

The making of a ‘big deal’ out of Christmas unlike other holidays confirmed to me that this student noticed the ‘massiveness’ (Apple, 1971: 35) of the hidden curriculum as it unfolds. The student affirmed Giroux’s assertion that students are not passive conformists to the hidden curriculum but may be able to recognize it. This student was one of the few who detected the minimal representation of other religions through mere ‘advisory slides’ whereas for Christmas, school is ‘all decorated’. While one might argue that since these schools are in Europe, it makes sense to dedicate more time to Christmas holidays, at the same time, it needs to be noted that through the ‘crowds’ component of the hidden curriculum, non-Christian students have indicated that their religious values are not equally celebrated. The passive approach to religious celebrations at schools that are ideologically international as indicated above, can be problematic.

While the positive outcome is that this student learned about her friends’ religious celebration, in this case Ramadan, it became clear that her friends pointed out the gap in cultural celebrations. The benefits of encountering students from various backgrounds are evident here. The question remains, what happens to all the other students who are not aware of the hidden curriculum, or are aware but do not articulate these gaps? This is important to note, since in words of one student, who views her religion as a key ingredient of their national identity and who has spent much of their life living outside of their home country:

even though I lived here my whole life, my culture is not here, and my religion isn’t either. I feel this is who I am and I feel that that nationality represents more of who I am, and who I identify as, and it’s part of my personality.

Billig argued that nationhood was being reproduced by well-established states, organizations and individuals through a continuous display of practices, beliefs and habits. But what happens when the massiveness of the display of one’s religious beliefs is even noticeable by those of that dominant religion and yet those in the minority are silent for the purpose of harmony? Adaptability is a respectable trait, but it may result in identity harm if one is implicitly asked to sacrifice a belief, a habit, or tradition.

The English Language

While a significant number of students articulated that the English language is the reason why they attend their respective international schools, one student observed:

there can be some cliques in school, I noticed like a clique of students who speak the same language and do not speak English well.

The meaning negotiated here is that to speak English means to be international and to speak English means to acquire cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1995). When speaking about a group of French students, another student noted:

There is the French group, everyone knows in school, there are people from France who all speak French very well, they all find themselves together. There are also groups where nationality does not matter.

Students who socialize with other students in a language other than English are not perceived as ‘international’ and this highlights the notion that language is a marker of one’s nationality. When asked how their identity is validated, one British student responded:

Yeah, I think my culture is validated. I mean, I’m not really from anywhere that’s far away; it’s in Europe. English is everywhere. Like we’re speaking English right now. It’s a very popular language. I feel validated for sure. Because it’s the main language for everything.

Within the context of global discourse, learning and speaking English is often equated with economic advancement. It serves as a marker of power not only on the global stage but also within international school settings. Through the interplay of crowds, praise, and power, students come to understand that mastering English is essential to achieving success.

Global Conflicts and Hidden Curriculum

The discourse on war and conflict has not been explored through the discursive lens of the hidden curriculum. Each school where research was conducted placed significant emphasis on educating for peace. In one English class, the teacher began the lesson by emphasizing that the school’s agenda is ‘to educate for peace’. When interviewed, students in the three schools had different perceptions of how this knowledge is ‘filtered through teachers’ (Apple, 2019: 52). One student, who is very proud of her nationality, when asked about how global conflicts are addressed in the classroom commented that:

I think it’s a little taboo since it’s an international school. If someone needs personal help, teachers will find you and ask you if you need support, but it will not be further addressed in the classroom, as it is so sensitive. I think there are moments where we can show where we are from. I feel that a lot of people will stay with their nationalities sometimes and close themselves off. I feel that people don’t want to come out with their opinions because it’s sensitive. I think that a lot of people in this school have different perspectives of things, so that could easily create conflict. I think in the classroom they don’t discuss things like that, like national topics.

While this reflects the perspective of a single student, it brings to light three important themes: (1) the taught curriculum strives to be culturally responsive, with educators encouraging students to express their backgrounds; (2) through the crowds elements of the hidden curriculum, we learn that students who share the same nationality often gravitate toward one another, particularly during times of conflict; and (3) although students generally approach global issues with consideration for diverse viewpoints, differing opinions may lead to conflict avoidance by both teachers and students. This tendency stands in contrast to the IB’s mission, which emphasizes the importance of understanding that ‘other people, with their differences, can also be right’ (IBO, 2023).

When asked about the challenges of attending an international school, one student reflected:

I don’t think there are many challenges. The school is really good for me. Sometimes we have disagreements about what is right, and what is wrong, so that creates some negative vibe. When there are global conflicts, we hear both sides of the story and don’t necessarily agree.’

Although this question did not explicitly invite discussion on global conflicts, the student returned to the topic, suggesting that such issues are a common source of disagreement. While the student acknowledged that agreement is not always necessary, they do not offer any examples of how disagreements are addressed or resolved.

The avoidance of discussions about global conflicts is concerning, as it limits an important opportunity for students to develop agency. By examining global conflicts from diverse and respectful perspectives, students can gain deeper insights into global affairs. This is what Giroux (2020) was alluding to when addressing the dangers of neoliberalism and globalization on the field of education. It also aligns with my conceptualization of ‘everything but’ moments. The diversity of student body allows for students to exchange perspectives and learn from each other, only if those perspectives maintain the hegemony of the dominant narrative and thus perpetuate the notion that ‘if you have a problem, you are the problem’ (Ćeman, 2021). For the purpose of maintaining a harmonious environment, students in some classes are implicitly taught to steer clear of such discussions.

Naturally, there are many more moments, particularly classroom observations, that are worth sharing. Still, my choice here is to focus on student perceptions of how global conflict is addressed in an IB Diploma English classroom. This reveals important qualities of the interplay between the hidden and the taught curriculum.

Conclusion: What are students asked to ‘be’ rather than ‘do’?

Hidden Curriculum 2.0 (Tröhler, forthcoming) highlights the tension between the ‘national’ and the ‘international’, and for the international to thrive, we need the national. Many students talked about those beautiful childhood memories when describing their national identity. Through the taught curriculum, school calendars, and interactions with each other, they learn that Western national identities are reproduced. Childhood is an innocent and fragile journey and topics of national identity must be responded to. Student responses result in the notion of ‘loose coupling’ (Weick, 1976) where the relationship between the school and its inner activities needs some adjustment. The loose coupling model, borrowed from the field of sociology, displays the disconnect between an organization’s formal structures and everyday practices.

Students are aware that values such as global citizenship, international mindedness, and intercultural understanding are celebrated by those in positions of power and other students they interact with. Consequently, by navigating the nexus of crowds, praise, and power, they are implicitly expected to conform to these normative ideals. Returning to Jackson’s provocation regarding what students are asked to be rather than to do, it becomes evident that these students are primarily expected to be adaptable, but that adaptability may come at the cost of interference with their own identity.

Some educators made a point of informing students that teachers’ backgrounds could influence how subjects are taught, and that personal biases may be present. This was a crucial step by staff to help students recognize and critically engage with the hidden curriculum. Raising consciousness about the existence of the hidden curriculum is the first step in deciphering it, but not necessarily in eradicating the harmful effects of it (Martin, 1976: 148). Thus, school administrators and staff must be aware of what hidden curriculum is and the potential effects of the hidden curriculum on identity formation.

Students should be given meaningful opportunities to reflect on their (inter)national identities, and educators should consider these identities when engaging in discourse on global citizenship. Moving beyond surface-level cultural celebrations, the focus should shift toward cultivating (inter)national experiences within the taught curriculum. It is through these deeper efforts that we may foster genuine peace education and promote human flourishing.

Footnotes

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Dženana Kurtović Ćeman

Author biography

Dženana Kurtović Ćeman is a PhD student in the Department of Education at the University of Vienna, Austria. She is also currently teaching IB Diploma Theory of Knowledge and IB Language and Literature classes at Vienna International School.

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