Social class and the construction of international mindedness: A comparative study of International Baccalaureate schools in Ecuador

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine how students inhabiting distinctive social spaces and experiencing considerably different material realities define, value and problematize the concept of international mindedness. Drawing on a larger multi-sited ethnographic study of two International Baccalaureate schools in Ecuador, the study found that while students from distinct social backgrounds provided similar definitions of what international mindedness entails, they differed notably in what they considered to be the value and potential pitfalls of embodying the concept as a personal disposition. These differences emerged primarily as a result of how students related to their immediate surroundings and the assumptions they made about their future lives. Focusing on students’ constructions of ‘place’ and their imagined futures provides an important insight into how students engage with international mindedness specifically, and the International Baccalaureate more broadly. Furthermore, it attests to why matters related to ‘social class’ deserve a greater degree of scholarly attention.